Onto the new stuff...
- Thread starter ~Spyne~
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2011
- Location
- Western Australia
Chocolate scented shaving cream.....yummie.
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2011
- Location
- Western Australia
I'll accept the almond scent provided it's a great lather. On the subject of almond scent, I've find that the scent in the Cella tub (courtesy of veteran) is far more powerful than the birds turd of Cella I've used (courtesy of Drubbing) which came from a kilo brick.
S'not, mine came from a tub too. Likely one that was a bit old, and the scent had faded. I've not shared any of the brick, none of it, it's all mine, mine I tell you.
Haven't used it in a while tbh, trying to get through some stuff that I should use up that's good, but kind of ready to move on from. I did give it a go the other week, and it's still ahead of a lot of stuff I have.
~Spyne~
Member
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2011
Righto, so it's been almost a week now and I've had 4 shaves using the RazoRock Cacao Shaving 'Cream'. It's not a cream as most know it, more a traditional Italian cream, which is a hard cream, often called a croap as it more resembles a cross between a normal shaving cream and a shaving soap...much like Queen Charlotte's (I'm sure there's many other croaps, but I just haven't used them - is Proraso a croap?)
Anyhoo, my only other experiences with croaps comes from some QC samples that I've had a handful of shaves with, and the one shave this week where I didn't use the RR, instead using some new AK 1869 shaving 'cream' (also a croap). So my technique with getting the lather right wasn't perfect in the beginning.
Now, review time.
Packaging
Simple black plastic tub with a pull-off lid. Not screw-off, not pop-off. It's just a snug-fit lid that presses on and pulls off. Hey, it only costs ~$6 a tub, so in this case, you get what you pay for. It does it's job, but water/moisture can definitely work its way inside if you keep it in the shower, which is where I usually keep my creams when they're in my current rotation.
In-the-tub scent
Sweet, sweet marzipan. And then more marzipan. No showing of the cacao in the tub.
Loading & Lathering
OK, so as I said, my experiences with croaps was limited, so I did cheat and watch a youtube vid or two relating to croaps and soaps. Seems simple enough; slightly damp brush, swirl for 30s to load, then transfer to face/hand/bowl to work into a lather.
I gotta admit now, the first lather was terrible; obviously didn't load enough and by the second pass ended up with a very thin, wet lather than had VERY little protection for my skin. Not my best shave.
Later attempts were much better, possibly loading too much in order to make sure I didn't repeat the first shave. As I found with the QC samples, getting the product/water ratio right is harder than a traditional soft cream. There's a lot less 'margin of error', so add water gradually in small amounts, working it through before adding more.
There's definitely that point where the lather 'explodes', but it's easy to miss it and overshoot with too much water. Be patient.
Lathered Scent
OK, so there's the cacao! Still VERY marzipan, slightly softer than in the tub, with the cacao now coming through underneath. Quite subtle and if I didn't know it was "Cacao" I probably would miss it altogether. So, if you don't like marzipan, don't think this will be more to your liking than a straight almond/marzipan-scented cream/croap/soap.
The Lather
So how was the lather for shaving? Not bad. It whips up nicely once you figure out the water requirements, and you can have it thick and creamy, whipped with hard peaks, whipped with softer peaks (my favourite, but it's a VERY thin line between this and going too wet/thin), or thinner (OK for a 1-pass WTG).
Again, it's only ~$6 a tub, and the lather from my previous GFT Coconut Oil and TOBS Jermyn St were both better and easier to use, but they also cost more than twice the RR. So it's definitely good value as the difference was minimal once you get the lather down.
I did get some pretty bad irritation on that first shave, but that was just me making bad lather. The rest of the shaves were all perfectly acceptable.
All in all, a worthy addition, especially if you don't like spending ~15-~30/tub for shaving cream. Just gotta get familiar with lathering croaps.
[Brush was a Frank Shaving Finest custom-sized knot, crappy $2 K-Mart bowl, Edwin Jager DE89L, Gillette 7OC Blacks and Personna Israeli Red]
Anyhoo, my only other experiences with croaps comes from some QC samples that I've had a handful of shaves with, and the one shave this week where I didn't use the RR, instead using some new AK 1869 shaving 'cream' (also a croap). So my technique with getting the lather right wasn't perfect in the beginning.
Now, review time.
Packaging
Simple black plastic tub with a pull-off lid. Not screw-off, not pop-off. It's just a snug-fit lid that presses on and pulls off. Hey, it only costs ~$6 a tub, so in this case, you get what you pay for. It does it's job, but water/moisture can definitely work its way inside if you keep it in the shower, which is where I usually keep my creams when they're in my current rotation.
In-the-tub scent
Sweet, sweet marzipan. And then more marzipan. No showing of the cacao in the tub.
Loading & Lathering
OK, so as I said, my experiences with croaps was limited, so I did cheat and watch a youtube vid or two relating to croaps and soaps. Seems simple enough; slightly damp brush, swirl for 30s to load, then transfer to face/hand/bowl to work into a lather.
I gotta admit now, the first lather was terrible; obviously didn't load enough and by the second pass ended up with a very thin, wet lather than had VERY little protection for my skin. Not my best shave.
Later attempts were much better, possibly loading too much in order to make sure I didn't repeat the first shave. As I found with the QC samples, getting the product/water ratio right is harder than a traditional soft cream. There's a lot less 'margin of error', so add water gradually in small amounts, working it through before adding more.
There's definitely that point where the lather 'explodes', but it's easy to miss it and overshoot with too much water. Be patient.
Lathered Scent
OK, so there's the cacao! Still VERY marzipan, slightly softer than in the tub, with the cacao now coming through underneath. Quite subtle and if I didn't know it was "Cacao" I probably would miss it altogether. So, if you don't like marzipan, don't think this will be more to your liking than a straight almond/marzipan-scented cream/croap/soap.
The Lather
So how was the lather for shaving? Not bad. It whips up nicely once you figure out the water requirements, and you can have it thick and creamy, whipped with hard peaks, whipped with softer peaks (my favourite, but it's a VERY thin line between this and going too wet/thin), or thinner (OK for a 1-pass WTG).
Again, it's only ~$6 a tub, and the lather from my previous GFT Coconut Oil and TOBS Jermyn St were both better and easier to use, but they also cost more than twice the RR. So it's definitely good value as the difference was minimal once you get the lather down.
I did get some pretty bad irritation on that first shave, but that was just me making bad lather. The rest of the shaves were all perfectly acceptable.
All in all, a worthy addition, especially if you don't like spending ~15-~30/tub for shaving cream. Just gotta get familiar with lathering croaps.
[Brush was a Frank Shaving Finest custom-sized knot, crappy $2 K-Mart bowl, Edwin Jager DE89L, Gillette 7OC Blacks and Personna Israeli Red]