Introduction
About five months ago, @JTshaves generously sent a sample of Rockwell Razors shaving cream for evaluation. (Thanks, Jeremy!) I finally got around to evaluating the cream, which has changed in formulation since it was purchased. Below is the optimum lather table and review of Rockwell shaving cream from my lather optimization guide in the ShaveWiki. Overall, Rockwell shaving cream is a middle-of-the-road product. The slickness was found to vary quite a bit, while being fairly good overall, cushion/protection seemed okay or pretty good, post-shave moisture was found to be pretty good, and post-shave comfort was considered okay because of some low-level irritation. It is entirely possible that the latest formulation of Rockwell shaving cream might be an improvement over the version that I evaluated. That would certainly make sense.
Optimum Lather Table
| PR | Performance Ranking |
| PD | Purchase Date (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| SCM | Soap/Cream Mass (g) |
| WM | Water Mass (g) |
| TM | Total Mass (g) = SCM + WM |
| WSCR | Water-to-Soap/Cream Ratio = WM / SCM |
| SCIT | Soap/Cream-Incorporation Time (s) |
| LBT | Lather-Building Time (s) |
| SCP | Soap/Cream Price (USD) |
| PR | Soap/Cream | PD | SCM | WM | TM | WSCR | SCIT | LBT | SCP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nanny's Silly Soap (NSS) Original Shaving Soap | 2017-04-23 | 1.20 | 9.60 | 10.80 | 8 | 30 | 45 | 0.15 |
| 2 | Declaration Grooming (DG) Shaving Soap, Premium Bison Tallow Base | 2017-08-11 | 0.81 | 8.91 | 9.72 | 11 | 20 | 60 | 0.15 |
| 3 | Proraso Single Blade (PSB) Shaving Cream | 2018-01-12 | 0.95 | 7.60 | 8.55 | 8 | 3 | 60 | 0.07 |
| 4 | Barrister and Mann (B&M) Shaving Soap | 2017-10-19 | 0.71 | 8.52 | 9.23 | 12 | 25 | 30 | 0.12 |
| 5 | Oleo Soapworks Shaving Soap, Canard Base / West Coast Shaving (WCS) Duck Fat Shave Soap | 2018-11-23 | 0.75 | 9.00 | 9.75 | 12 | 40 | 60 | 0.12 |
| 6 | Cold River Soap Works (CRSW) SELECT Shaving Soap | 2017-12-15 | 0.86 | 9.46 | 10.32 | 11 | 6 | 60 | 0.15 |
| 7 | Stirling Soap Co. Shave Soap | 2017-08-14 | 0.53 | 9.01 | 9.54 | 17 | 20 | 30 | 0.04 |
| 8 | Saponificio Varesino (SV) Shaving Soap | 2017-12-01 | 0.64 | 8.32 | 8.96 | 13 | 90 | 90 | 0.15 |
| 9 | Barrister's Reserve Shaving Soap | 2017-06 | 0.96 | 11.52 | 12.48 | 12 | 45 | 60 | 0.15 |
| 10 | Rockwell Razors Shaving Cream (Old Version) | 2018-05-05 | 1.15 | 8.05 | 9.20 | 7 | 5 | 60 | 0.15 |
| 11 | Proraso Red Shaving Soap | 2017-11-27 | 0.82 | 8.20 | 9.02 | 10 | 5 | 75 | 0.06 |
| 12 | Martin de Candre (MdC) Shaving Soap | 2018-05-31 | 0.70 | 7.70 | 8.40 | 11 | 45 | 60 | 0.16 |
| 13 | Mike's Natural Shaving Soap | 2017-09 | 0.75 | 9.00 | 9.75 | 12 | 60 | 60 | 0.07 |
| 14 | Arko Shaving Soap | 2018-04-04 | 0.51 | 7.14 | 7.65 | 14 | 75 | 75 | 0.02 |
| 15 | Barrister and Mann (B&M) Latha Shaving Soap (Discontinued) | 2018-01-30 | 0.75 | 9.75 | 10.50 | 13 | 10 | 30 | 0.07 |
| 16 | Floris Shaving Cream | 2018-02 | 0.98 | 6.86 | 7.84 | 7 | 1 | 60 | 0.29 |
| 17 | The Art of Shaving (AOS) Shaving Cream | 2018-01-03 | 1.00 | 7.00 | 8.00 | 7 | 3 | 45 | 0.19 |
| 18 | Mystic Water (MW) Shaving Soap | 2018-01-27 | 0.70 | 9.10 | 9.80 | 13 | 30 | 30 | 0.07 |
| 19 | The Sudsy Soapery Shave Soap, Vegan Base | 2018-02-05 | 0.46 | 8.28 | 8.74 | 18 | 10 | 60 | 0.05 |
Rockwell Razors Shaving Cream (Old Version)
Top label, bottom label with ingredient list, and close-up of cream in small jar
Version Name: Barbershop
Purchase Date: May 5, 2018. A sample was received on July 30, 2018, from @JTshaves, who generously donated the cream for evaluation. The sample was then placed in a small jar and photographed. Photographs of the original container were taken by Jeremy.
Review Period: December 21 to 24, 2018. 4 optimization shaves and 0 ranking tests.
Manufacturing Location: Canada
Ingredients: Water, Stearic Acid, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut Oil), Myristic Acid, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Aloe Barbadensis, Fragrance, Sodium Hydroxide, Menthol, Sodium Borate, Phenoxyethanol, Allantoin. (The formulation significantly changed sometime after the product was purchased.)
Appearance: Pearlescent off-white
Scent: The scent is officially described as being "reminiscent of the classic barbershop designed for the modern gentleman" with "notes of Leather, Neroli, Anise, Lilac and Cedar". Personally, I don't care for the scent, but I don't find it offensive.
Optimum Lather Overview: Sheen is matte to okay. Lather has stiff peaks and little yogurt-like behavior of "stringiness". Adhesion and application are okay to pretty good. The scent is relatively weak. Slickness ranges from okay to very good, being very good and good for significant minorities of the time and pretty good and okay for smaller portions of the time. Cushion/protection is okay or pretty good. Post-shave is pretty good with respect to moisture and okay with respect to comfort because of some low-level irritation.
Optimization Details: Optimization involved shaves with water-to-soap ratios of 6, 8, 10, and 7, in that order, with corresponding building times of 90 seconds, 60 seconds, 75 seconds, and 60 seconds. In general, increasing the hydration led to more slickness and a drier post-shave. A water-to-soap ratio of 7 seemed to provide the best overall performance. The lather-building time of 60 seconds also seemed best to build a stable lather without increasing the aeration and decreasing the slickness.
Ranking Details: Ranking tests were not considered necessary to fairly place Rockwell above Proraso Red and below Barrister's Reserve. Post-shave irritation was more dominant with Proraso Red, which provided a similar overall performance level, but with somewhat less balance than Rockwell. Barrister's Reserve was better in slickness and cushion/protection.
