JCinPA
The Lather Maestro
Well,
While not my intention, I'm sure this will step on someone's toes. I will give you the conclusion up front, and then you can read the rest if you are interested.
While there is more than a nickel's worth of difference in price, there is not a nickel's worth of difference in performance. These two creams are excellent, top of the shaving cream food chain, IMO, and absolutely equals in all regards. (For the non-Americans here, "not a nickel's worth of difference is a phrase which is meant to indicate two things are nearly indistinguishable.)
Background:
I am an experienced wet shaver, just over three years since I entered this madness and I rarely take a day off shaving, maybe one or two days a month. I am an expert latherer (yes I can lather modern Williams, I used it for a decade before coming here to find out it is 'no good' ). I will say this, there are things I can distinguish between now that I could not have distinguished between after six months, even a year of wet shaving. It was almost two years before I could start to reliably form opinions between very similar products, but I am at that stage now where you can rest assured this is not the opinion of a guy who just does not know any better.
I am an unabashed rose cream fan, I love the stuff. I have my fall/winter stuff and my spring/summer stuff, but rose cream is one thing that is always in my rotation year round. Usually on a lazy weekend day I'll pamper myself with a rose cream shave with my favorite TGN Silvertip restore.
Now, I am definitely not touting a winner here. So why am I doing this? Well, (this is just my reading experience) it seems that the Taylor's rose fans simply say, "Great cream!" "Always in my rotation!" "Great value for the money!" That sort of thing. On the other hand, some (certainly not all) of the T&H fans tend to go overboard with the hyperbole saying things like, "T&H rose is the winner hands down!" "No contest between these, T&H is the undisputed king of the hill." "No comparison!" So I anxiously awaited finishing my second tub of Taylor's rose so I could order the most wonderful rose cream in the universe, Truefitt & Hill!
I like it! But all that hyperbole is just that. Hyperbole. I gave you my experience so you could judge the reliability of my opinion, because at 6 months I would not have been a reliable witness. Now I fully get the YMMV thing and I fully understand that someone may prefer T&H (or Taylor's), and they may really be a fan of either product. I will tell you that nobody is going to find a (for example) VDH-Martin De Candre type of difference here. It is just not possible, and anyone who thinks there is a vast gulf between these is either a noob or deluding themselves. These are both incredibly good and incredibly similar creams, and a preference is going to be just that. Don't buy any hype about huge differences.
The comparison: I am intimately familiar with Taylor's rose cream, so when the T&H came, after making a test lather to feel it out, I disciplined myself to shave the next morning with the Taylor's to dial it in in my mind. The next 3 days I shaved with the T&H, then Taylor's again. I simply could not tell the difference. So last day, I lathered both in separate bowls (I was face lathering till then) using a 22mm TGN Silvertip fan with one and a 22mm TGN Finest bulb with the other, both very good brushes. Then I did a half/half face shave on a Saturday and made it a true 4-pass BBS shave on a Gillette Black (3rd shave). I really achieved the elusive BBS and had ZERO irritation. Splashed on a very liberal amount of The Veg (known for that wonderful burn ) and it was sublime. Very comfortable, extremely close, no irritation BBS and my face felt wonderful all day.
I.
Could.
Not.
Tell.
Any.
Difference.
These are both at the pinnacle of rose creamdom, but I cannot declare a winner. Both lather very easily, if you can't lather these you need to go back to canned goo. Both offer a dense, protective barrier that won't break down during the shave. While neither feels as slick as some other products I've used, they are both equally slick and provide fantastic glide, as evidenced by my 4-pass, no-burn BBS results. I won't even comment on scent because it is such a personal experience. I will say this, my wife has cultivated about eight six-foot high rose bushes by our back deck and I know rose and I like both of these. Both smell like roses, if I would note one difference it would be that the Taylor's seems to be a slightly fuller, bigger scent (not overpowering, just relative to the T&H) and the Truefitt is a little lighter. But I like both. If you have the good fortune to live near a store like Merz, in Chicago, I'd go stick my nose into a tub of each several times. Here is where you are likely to find a difference you may care about, because you won't likely find any difference in the shave.
Not only is the shave with both of these creams wonderful, the after-shave face feel is superb. I remember reading a post by Kyle (moderator emeritus) some time ago where he opined that the after shave feel with Taylor's rose cream was darn close to that of their famous avocado. I am guessing rose has some soothing/healing properties like avocado or coconut do, but I don't know. I do know I agree with his opinion.
OK, I could not care less which cream I am using, so what are the economics? Well, using a shipped price for a tub of Taylor's (150 g) and T&H (190 g) from Amazon on the same day I have a representative sample for comparison. That is not to say you could spend more or less on either of these, but it's what I found with a quick Amazon search.
I found a Taylor's for $15.99 and the larger T&H for $41.57, delivered. Taking into consideration the amount of product, the Taylor's was 10.7 cents per gram and the T&H was 21.9 cents per gram. Looked at another way, if you applied the Taylor's price/gram to the T&H sized tub and vice versa, 190 grams of Taylor's would cost $20.25 and a 150 gram tub of T&H would cost $32.82.
There is certainly not that MDC type lofty price difference here, but neither is it trivial. I think the Truefitt is great, great cream, but when I finish this tub, I will likely go back to Taylor's simply because they shave exactly the same for me.
So, there you have it. Am I bashing the T&H? Not at all, I love it! Am I saying it's not worth the price difference? Well, I suppose so, but if one liked the scent of the T&H better and felt they got a slightly better shave from it, it is not so expensive that I think that's not a good buy. Use either, be happy!
But if you've been using Taylor's rose cream, don't expect the heavens to open up and hear angels singing when you crack that first tub of T&H. It was sort of what I was expecting from the hype. It didn't happen. I have absolutely not a hint of a whiff of a difference in my opinion about either of these creams and the shave I get from them. I will probably get the Taylor's because, well, if I can't tell any difference why pay more. And I slightly prefer the slighlyt bigger scent in the Taylor's, which, of course, could go just the other way with you.
Both of these get 9/10 stars from me for latherability, density/protectiveness, glide, scent, closeness of shave and post-shave face feel
Taylor's gets 10/10 stars for value while Truefitt & Hill gets 8/10. Equal performance, roughly 100% difference in price dictates that this must be so. However, T&H is so good and not so expensive as to make it a bad value at all. It's just not as good as for the Taylor. That's where I may step on some toes, however, as I said at the beginning, that was not my intention. Use either of these and enjoy your rose shave!
While not my intention, I'm sure this will step on someone's toes. I will give you the conclusion up front, and then you can read the rest if you are interested.
While there is more than a nickel's worth of difference in price, there is not a nickel's worth of difference in performance. These two creams are excellent, top of the shaving cream food chain, IMO, and absolutely equals in all regards. (For the non-Americans here, "not a nickel's worth of difference is a phrase which is meant to indicate two things are nearly indistinguishable.)
Background:
I am an experienced wet shaver, just over three years since I entered this madness and I rarely take a day off shaving, maybe one or two days a month. I am an expert latherer (yes I can lather modern Williams, I used it for a decade before coming here to find out it is 'no good' ). I will say this, there are things I can distinguish between now that I could not have distinguished between after six months, even a year of wet shaving. It was almost two years before I could start to reliably form opinions between very similar products, but I am at that stage now where you can rest assured this is not the opinion of a guy who just does not know any better.
I am an unabashed rose cream fan, I love the stuff. I have my fall/winter stuff and my spring/summer stuff, but rose cream is one thing that is always in my rotation year round. Usually on a lazy weekend day I'll pamper myself with a rose cream shave with my favorite TGN Silvertip restore.
Now, I am definitely not touting a winner here. So why am I doing this? Well, (this is just my reading experience) it seems that the Taylor's rose fans simply say, "Great cream!" "Always in my rotation!" "Great value for the money!" That sort of thing. On the other hand, some (certainly not all) of the T&H fans tend to go overboard with the hyperbole saying things like, "T&H rose is the winner hands down!" "No contest between these, T&H is the undisputed king of the hill." "No comparison!" So I anxiously awaited finishing my second tub of Taylor's rose so I could order the most wonderful rose cream in the universe, Truefitt & Hill!
I like it! But all that hyperbole is just that. Hyperbole. I gave you my experience so you could judge the reliability of my opinion, because at 6 months I would not have been a reliable witness. Now I fully get the YMMV thing and I fully understand that someone may prefer T&H (or Taylor's), and they may really be a fan of either product. I will tell you that nobody is going to find a (for example) VDH-Martin De Candre type of difference here. It is just not possible, and anyone who thinks there is a vast gulf between these is either a noob or deluding themselves. These are both incredibly good and incredibly similar creams, and a preference is going to be just that. Don't buy any hype about huge differences.
The comparison: I am intimately familiar with Taylor's rose cream, so when the T&H came, after making a test lather to feel it out, I disciplined myself to shave the next morning with the Taylor's to dial it in in my mind. The next 3 days I shaved with the T&H, then Taylor's again. I simply could not tell the difference. So last day, I lathered both in separate bowls (I was face lathering till then) using a 22mm TGN Silvertip fan with one and a 22mm TGN Finest bulb with the other, both very good brushes. Then I did a half/half face shave on a Saturday and made it a true 4-pass BBS shave on a Gillette Black (3rd shave). I really achieved the elusive BBS and had ZERO irritation. Splashed on a very liberal amount of The Veg (known for that wonderful burn ) and it was sublime. Very comfortable, extremely close, no irritation BBS and my face felt wonderful all day.
I.
Could.
Not.
Tell.
Any.
Difference.
These are both at the pinnacle of rose creamdom, but I cannot declare a winner. Both lather very easily, if you can't lather these you need to go back to canned goo. Both offer a dense, protective barrier that won't break down during the shave. While neither feels as slick as some other products I've used, they are both equally slick and provide fantastic glide, as evidenced by my 4-pass, no-burn BBS results. I won't even comment on scent because it is such a personal experience. I will say this, my wife has cultivated about eight six-foot high rose bushes by our back deck and I know rose and I like both of these. Both smell like roses, if I would note one difference it would be that the Taylor's seems to be a slightly fuller, bigger scent (not overpowering, just relative to the T&H) and the Truefitt is a little lighter. But I like both. If you have the good fortune to live near a store like Merz, in Chicago, I'd go stick my nose into a tub of each several times. Here is where you are likely to find a difference you may care about, because you won't likely find any difference in the shave.
Not only is the shave with both of these creams wonderful, the after-shave face feel is superb. I remember reading a post by Kyle (moderator emeritus) some time ago where he opined that the after shave feel with Taylor's rose cream was darn close to that of their famous avocado. I am guessing rose has some soothing/healing properties like avocado or coconut do, but I don't know. I do know I agree with his opinion.
OK, I could not care less which cream I am using, so what are the economics? Well, using a shipped price for a tub of Taylor's (150 g) and T&H (190 g) from Amazon on the same day I have a representative sample for comparison. That is not to say you could spend more or less on either of these, but it's what I found with a quick Amazon search.
I found a Taylor's for $15.99 and the larger T&H for $41.57, delivered. Taking into consideration the amount of product, the Taylor's was 10.7 cents per gram and the T&H was 21.9 cents per gram. Looked at another way, if you applied the Taylor's price/gram to the T&H sized tub and vice versa, 190 grams of Taylor's would cost $20.25 and a 150 gram tub of T&H would cost $32.82.
There is certainly not that MDC type lofty price difference here, but neither is it trivial. I think the Truefitt is great, great cream, but when I finish this tub, I will likely go back to Taylor's simply because they shave exactly the same for me.
So, there you have it. Am I bashing the T&H? Not at all, I love it! Am I saying it's not worth the price difference? Well, I suppose so, but if one liked the scent of the T&H better and felt they got a slightly better shave from it, it is not so expensive that I think that's not a good buy. Use either, be happy!
But if you've been using Taylor's rose cream, don't expect the heavens to open up and hear angels singing when you crack that first tub of T&H. It was sort of what I was expecting from the hype. It didn't happen. I have absolutely not a hint of a whiff of a difference in my opinion about either of these creams and the shave I get from them. I will probably get the Taylor's because, well, if I can't tell any difference why pay more. And I slightly prefer the slighlyt bigger scent in the Taylor's, which, of course, could go just the other way with you.
Both of these get 9/10 stars from me for latherability, density/protectiveness, glide, scent, closeness of shave and post-shave face feel
Taylor's gets 10/10 stars for value while Truefitt & Hill gets 8/10. Equal performance, roughly 100% difference in price dictates that this must be so. However, T&H is so good and not so expensive as to make it a bad value at all. It's just not as good as for the Taylor. That's where I may step on some toes, however, as I said at the beginning, that was not my intention. Use either of these and enjoy your rose shave!
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