At $36 for 200 ml, Castle Forbes Lime-oil Shave Cream is one of the upscale uber-creams with a reputation for an extraordinary natural strong scent. Lathered up with the Dan Capshaw brush it produced a wonderful lather that was more than enough for three passes with the Merkur Slant-bar razor. Unfortunately, the cream was not sufficient to make up for the very aggressive Slant-bar shave that left my skin raw and howling after the alum block. I’ve used the Slant-bar before and it does take some getting used to, but in the interim I have also used some outstanding razors that produce a better shave with less irritation (E.J. Chatsworth, E.J. Loxley, and the Gem G-Bar). I cooled off with the Trumper’s Lime Skin Food, in keeping with the lime-theme, and the end result was a very acceptable 7.5 shave (It would bave been a 9.0 with a better razor).
I dunno, the slant is wonderful especially with a sharp blade. Lately I have been seeing how superlather is out performing creams solo. Also ,does lime oil affect a shave lather? I have all four varieties of my fave Vulvix cream and the lime performs less well as the other 3. I am seeing that in each shave there are so many variables its difficult to pin down the exact thing that might make or break a shave.
By: Kevin Johnson on July 2, 2008
at 2:41 pm
I used to really like the Slant. Maybe it was just the lack of practice or the blade. I’ll try it again soon. I haven’t noticed any issues with Lime creams.
By: Steve on July 2, 2008
at 9:36 pm