Taylor of Old Bond Street Rose Bowl

Alright, let’s talk about shaving cream.  As I’ve mentioned, ad nasuem, my skin tends towards the sensitive side.  Many, many of the wet shave brands out there have a ‘sensitive’ line, or sensitive products, but when I first started wet shaving, many sites around the internet recommended rose shaving cream for the sensitive skin.  I’ve gotten a handful of rose creams, and I’ll slowly review them all, but let me just put this out there: the Taylor of Old Bond Street Rose Bowl is, so far, the best cream I’ve ever shaved with.

When you first open the bowl, you’ll notice two things – a dull pink colour, and a faint smell of roses.  Now, the first.  I’m gonna be honest and say when I thought of rose bowls, I was hesitant to try them right away – the idea of covering my face in a pink lather every day did not appeal to me.  This had nothing to do with the colour pink – many of the other varieties of shave cream come coloured, and the idea of lathering my face in a colour of any kind didn’t appeal to me.  If this is a worry of yours, discard it – it whips up into a white lather.  Second, if you’re a regular reader of this blog (any of you out there?) you’ll note I rail against scents all the time.  Not the case here – the faint smell of roses is faint, and, frankly, delightful.  As you lather up the cream it gives a gentile  floral aroma, which is very nice.  If no scent is what you’re looking for, though, this might not be the cream for you.

The TOOB Rose Bowl whips up a nice lather in no time at all.  It takes only a few turns of the brush to start forming a lather, and you get a nice lather very quickly.  It is also one of the easiest creams I’ve ever worked with to lather. It builds a lather very easily and quickly.  It’s got a great consistency, makes nice peaks and an airy cream.  It applies smoothly and uniformly to the face, without bumps.

The shave experience is great.  It creates a nice pillowy lather that really shields the face.  I rarely nick myself with TOOB cream.  While a few nicks and cuts are going to be part of the wet shave experience – even the most seasoned veteran will nick himself from time to time – this cream creates a great protective barrier.

I really enjoy this shave cream.  While I have others I’m testing out, the Rose Bowl has yet to be displaced as my daily shave cream.  It’s really quite enjoyable.

Taylor of Old Bond Street Rose Bowl

 

Taylor of Old Bond Street Rose Shaving Cream: 5/5

tl;dr: fantastic shave cream, my go-to cream. Great cushion, light scent.