VI-John Classic Cream

[rbscebu]

Earlier this week I received some tubes of VI-John shaving creams from a good friend (SR shaver) in Malaysia. This morning was my first shave with this cream.

First my pre-shave routine. I thoroughly wash with Pears transparent bath soap and rinse my face. Shaving cream is then applied directly to a damp brush and worked into the brush bristles with my fingers. Then I commence to build my lather on my face. My shaving is always performed with a straight razor.

My normal shaving cream is Palmolive Regular that I can buy locally at IGA. I am comparing this VI-John cream against my normal Palmolive cream.

Initial impressions are that, other than scent, the performance of VI-J is very similar to Palmolive. Over this coming week I will shave exclusively with VI-J and report back here with my findings.

 

[Doc Dan]

I think you'll find it compares very well and it has lanolin, to boot. It is #1 in India for a reason, I think. Palmolive is a really good inexpensive soap and I couldn't tell the difference between these two, except for scent. Enjoy the shaves.

 

[rbscebu]

VI-John Classic ingredients:

Aqua
Glycerine
Stearic acid
Distilled coconut fatty acid
Caustic potash
Propylene glycol
Lanolin
Sodium borate
Sodium silicate
Allantoin
Perfume
Tea tree oil
Vitamin E

 

[Doc Dan]

What scent are you using? I've used the Icy Mint and the Lime.

 

[rbscebu]

What scent are you using? I've used the Icy Mint and the Lime.

Currently I am using the classic of which I have just one tube. I also have two tubes of icy mint.

VI-John shaving creams have a best-before date of 36 months after date of manufacture (stamped on the tube). My classic "expires" in about 6 months while my icy mint does in about 12 months.

 

[TomG]

I have the Vi-John Classic - it is good cream, and can be had for the princely sum of about 75c in India.
I find the scent a little medicinal, but probably no bad thing for the many hot, tropical locations in its country of origin.

 

[rbscebu]

I now have seven daily SR shaves with this VI-John cream. After washing and rinsing my face, I apply a dollop of cream into the hairs of a damp brush, massage the cream into the hairs using my fingers and then build the lather up on my face (face lathering).

For my first VI-J shave, I applied the same "length" of cream into my brush as I would use with Palmolive. For that shave, I found that the VI-J did not have the residual slickness that I had experienced with Palmolive. Then it dawned on me that the VI-J tube outlet was of smaller diameter (Ø7.96mm verses Ø9.17mm). This meant that I needed about ⅓ more in "length" of the VI-J cream to get the same volume of cream. With that knowledge, I found the VI-J and Palmolive have very similar residual slickness.

For ease of developing a good lather, both creams are about on par. Comparing it against Palmolive Regular cream, the VI-John noticeably holds more water without running down my face. This I found gave me a shaving slickness just a little better than I get with Palmolive.

Please bear in mind that my experience with VI-John and Palmolive shave creams is with SR shaving only. I am still to scared to shave with a rqazor where I can't see the edge on my skin. As for "cushion", being a SR shaver, I don't even know what that is or why it is desired. Must be a "safety" razor thing.

In conclusion, if I could buy VI-John as easily as I could Palmolive (about AU$3) in Australia and for a similar price, I would be a regular VI-John user.

Over the weekend, I will shave with half my face lathered with Palmolive and the other half with VI-John. Should be interesting.