Under the Radar and Under Appreciated Shaving Creams

There are some shaving creams that you almost never hear chatter about on the forums that are absolutely excellent. If I had to choose one cream that fits this description, it is Alvarez Gomez Shaving Cream. I love everything about it from the Colonia scent to the slickness to the excellent post shave feel. I am really baffled as to why it is not talked about more.

What shaving cream or creams makes your list of under the radar and under appreciated?

Ok Phil I'll comment. I recently started a thread but I'll repeat it here. Dr Selby without a doubt has blown me away!!

(02-16-2016, 06:01 PM)Nevada Red Wrote: Ok Phil I'll comment. I recently started a thread but I'll repeat it here.  Dr Selby without a doubt has blown me away!!

Yup -a lot of people would agree with you. Dr. Selby got a lot of airtime on the forums about 4 years ago or so and now you hardly ever hear about it. It definitely lathers like a fiend.

Stone Cottage Soapworks Creams. Handmade in NJ. Possibly the slickest cream I've ever used. Wonderful lather & scents. 

Esbjerg creams and post shave products. Made in Vienna. 

Carthusia Uomo.  Made on the island of Capri. Wonderful niche fragrance company with simple natural ingredients. They have a terrific brushless cream in tube, vegetable soap and post shave balm. The scent is absolutely refined & wonderful.

Creams aren't discussed all that much, as soaps seem to be much more popular. I agree with Alvarez Gomez, which is also my wife's favorite scent, so I often use it each weekend or when we are going out. In terms of creams that are under the radar, Al's is on my list, and for soaps it would have to be Joris.

(02-16-2016, 06:34 PM)Steelman Wrote: Stone Cottage Soapworks Creams. Handmade in NJ. Possibly the slickest cream I've ever used. Wonderful lather & scents. 

Esbjerg creams and post shave products. Made in Vienna. 

Carthusia Uomo.  Made on the island of Capri. Wonderful niche fragrance company with simple natural ingredients. They have a terrific brushless cream in tube, vegetable soap and post shave balm. The scent is absolutely refined & wonderful.

I know of Stone Cottage...the others are new to me. Thank you for sharing. I will have to give them a try.

I'll give you my small list and each are difficult to obtain ... 

• Brazilian Palmindaya -- everything Proraso wishes it could be when it grows up
• Brazilian Brut shave cream -- like $2/tube and AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING slickness 
•GADA Cool Mint from Turkey or Pakistan -- very rich lather and pretty dang cold!
• MEM Olive from Israel - super performer, may be one of the most under rated and under the radar creams on the planet 

I could be happy using any of these above for the rest of my shaving days

Nice thread, Phil.
Alvarez Gomez cream is fantastic, no doubt about that. The whole line is excellent, in fact. I've owned and used up the roll-on deodorant, the bar soaps (in package of 3, IIRC), and a few travel/sample size items. Each smells slightly different to my nose, and I love them all. Still working my way through the shave cream tub. Love the post-shave feel, and it makes a monster sized lather that's very slick and cushiony.

Esbjerg is another that I love and have been using for two years now. Only their Grapefruit cream, so far. Want to add more, as they've just added 2 new scents in the past few months. The new ones are Orange Vetiver and Amber Cardamom. They already had Grapefruit, Verbena, and Sensitive (fragrance free).

These days, I believe Truefitt & Hill creams need a shout out. The most cushiony lather (GFT and TOBS have nowhere near the cushion) and takes a massive amount of water to get its very best lather (a feature of most excellent products). Won't even feel the blade as it effortlessly glides smoothly across any part of the face. Coate's shave cream (Creighton's-made, vintage, but still available for cheap) is remarkably similar. Makes me wonder if current GFT is still made by Creighton's (as several British creams, including TOBS, are no longer made by them)... I'm starting to think they're not. If you haven't pulled out your T&H creams in a while, I think you'll be very happy when you do.

Coate's is probably my choice. Comparable to 3 T's quality and only $3 a tube!

Another one that used to get a lot of talk, but is overlooked now: Nancy Boy.


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Musgo Real. All 6. Great creams. 

Esbjerg creams. Fantastic. 

Mühle and Edwin Jagger creams are underrated. 

Tabac cream is good stuff too. 

Molton Brown cream is excellent. 

Atkinson Lavender is fantastic. Made by I Colniali.

The first two that came to mind for me are Álvarez Gomez and Simpson's.  Naturally, how one defines "under the radar" does influence the choices.

Speick is excellent and underrated imho

(02-16-2016, 06:34 PM)Steelman Wrote: Stone Cottage Soapworks Creams. Handmade in NJ. Possibly the slickest cream I've ever used. Wonderful lather & scents. 

Esbjerg creams and post shave products. Made in Vienna. 

Carthusia Uomo.  Made on the island of Capri. Wonderful niche fragrance company with simple natural ingredients. They have a terrific brushless cream in tube, vegetable soap and post shave balm. The scent is absolutely refined & wonderful.

Great thread. Never heard of this product until now..thanks Steelman!

Have you tried their shaving soap? The shaving soap with matching bowl looks very 
nice.

Cream - GFT by GFT

Soap - Provence Sante Green Tea

Speick, Coates, Palmolive, Musgo, C&E,...continue after coffee....

Alvarez Gomez and Simpson votes here. Great stuff at good price points.

(02-16-2016, 06:00 PM)bullgoose Wrote: There are some shaving creams that you almost never hear chatter about on the forums that are absolutely excellent. If I had to choose one cream that fits this description, it is Alvarez Gomez Shaving Cream. I love everything about it from the Colonia scent to the slickness to the excellent post shave feel. I am really baffled as to why it is not talked about more.

What shaving cream or creams makes your list of under the radar and under appreciated?

Agreed Alvarez Gomez is an excellent cream and receives far less press than it should.  The last tub I purchased unfortunately was really grainy, nothing like the nice smooth cream I experienced in the past.  I heard of a number of other people reporting similar findings.  In the end it still lathers well, but requires more working of the lather to get all of the grains dissolved.  Have you noticed Phil that the current batches have solved this problem?  Is it back to being a smooth cream?

I will vote for St. James of London...not completely under the radar, but IMO it is a truly excellent cream that deserves much more attention than it gets.

I normally cannot tolerate many of the creams from the UK (three T's specifically), but for me, St James is in a different league and very close to the performance of luxury creams that are triple the price.

(02-17-2016, 03:40 AM)D_SM Wrote:

(02-16-2016, 06:34 PM)Steelman Wrote: Stone Cottage Soapworks Creams. Handmade in NJ. Possibly the slickest cream I've ever used. Wonderful lather & scents. 

Esbjerg creams and post shave products. Made in Vienna. 

Carthusia Uomo.  Made on the island of Capri. Wonderful niche fragrance company with simple natural ingredients. They have a terrific brushless cream in tube, vegetable soap and post shave balm. The scent is absolutely refined & wonderful.

Great thread. Never heard of this product until now..thanks Steelman!

Have you tried their shaving soap? The shaving soap with matching bowl looks very 
nice.

Yes I own the soap and it is excellent. It's a Vegetable soap with "Potassium first" ingredient list. Strong, wonderful scent and easy to lather.