Recently, in an overall review of all of the lathers I have in the collection (shaving soaps, creams, sticks, tubes, foams, gels, etc.) I ranked Taylor of Old Bond Street Organic Shaving Cream at the #7 position out of 29 lathers. It feels luxurious and rich, and really works well for me. But I had a sample that I was working from, and that’s nearly empty.
I figured somewhere down the road, I’d order more, but then I saw a post that said that this product has been or is being discontinued. So, in some amount of panic, I checked out the online shaving stores to see if anyone had any available. The first 4, including the three retailers I’ve purchased from in the past, all were sold out, with one of them confirming that it’s been discontinued.
But then I found it on West Coast Shaving’s website and pulled the trigger. And just because it’s been on my wishlist, I padded out the order with a brush.
So on a snowy Thursday afternoon a week before Christmas, FedEx showed up with my order.
The tan plastic tub of the TOBS organic arrived, cold from the rapidly chilling, snowy day.
Inside, as shown above, is the cream, and this is something that I believe I’ve pointed out somewhere else here, but the cream is indeed a cream and not a hard or solid soap.
It’s unscented, smooth, creamy, and whips up to a wonderful lather that I’ve come to truly appreciate.
There’s been some discussion about it being discontinued, which sometimes means that there’s an alternative formula or product coming. Or it could mean they’re dropping it entirely. TOBS has another sensitive skin formula, the Jermyn St. Collection Shaving Cream for Sensitive Skin, and maybe they’re pushing people toward that. Or, as someone pointed out, the standards for certified organic products in Europe and the UK are pretty strong, so maybe they just decided to get out of that classification.
The bottom line here is that I didn’t want to miss out on having any, so I snapped up a tub. And this doesn’t technically add to the 29 lathers in the collection because it’s just replacing a sample. So as much as I want to say I’m not one of those people who has a huge collection, I am, but not adding. Yet.
There’s a shipment on the way of a couple more samples and one tub. Plus a couple of others that I plan on ordering after the holiday if they don’t show up as a gift.
I’d asked people in one of the subreddits recently for recommendations for a good but relatively inexpensive synthetic brush. I’ve got two boar brushes, and love them, have a badger, and like its performance, but it’s losing bristles like crazy. And I’ve wanted to try a synthetic for a while, but just haven’t jumped on that one.
AP Shave Co. was recommended by more than one person. But they don’t appear to be carried by West Coast Shaving. But another brand that came up a couple of times was Yaqi.
Yaqi is a Chinese brand, so their products are pretty cheap, and when I tried ordering from Henri & Victoria a couple of months ago, I wanted to get this brush. But the import rules and tariffs blocked that. So I added it to the cart with the TOBS cream and checked out.
Let me just say that I don’t think I’ve ever felt a brush as soft as this. I’m anxious and a little nervous about trying it: as soft as it is, I know from experience with the badger that loading it and lathering with it will be somewhat tricky, but as with a lot of things in shaving, technique is something that needs to be developed, so I’ll keep working on it.
So there are the newest additions to the collection. I’m looking forward to enjoying them!