The best shaving creams
Three genuinely different products share this name, and picking the wrong format is why people conclude they do not get on with shaving cream.
By Sawyer V. · Published
We have not tested any of this. Everything below is compiled from published manufacturer specifications, and the arithmetic is printed so you can check it. This page carries affiliate links: if you buy through one we earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and it does not change the order of the picks. Full disclosure.
The short version
Decide the format before the brand. A brushless cream like Cremo lays down a thin slick film, uses almost nothing per shave and needs no equipment - buy that if you shave with a cartridge and want a better result in the same two minutes. A brush cream like Taylor of Old Bond Street or Proraso whips into a real lather and is the easier way into wet shaving than a hard puck. And if your skin reacts to things, Vanicream is the one with nothing in it - full list published, fragrance and botanicals both excluded.
| # | Pick | Lasts | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cremo Original Shave Cream A slick, no-brush cream from a drugstore shelf | ~110 lathers | 7.5/10 | $8.37 - view on Amazon |
| 2 | Taylor of Old Bond Street shaving cream A cream rather than a soap | ~100 lathers | 7.2/10 | $19.99 - view on Amazon |
| 3 | Proraso Sensitive Shaving Cream (Green Tea & Oat) A traditional cream that lathers like a soap | ~100 lathers | 7.7/10 | $8.50 - view on Amazon |
| 4 | Vanicream Shave Cream Reactive skin, with nothing in it to react to | ~110 lathers | 7.5/10 | $10.45 - view on Amazon |
| 5 | Cella Crema da Barba Buying lather once and forgetting it | ~670 lathers | 9.1/10 | Check price on Amazon |
Prices last verified September 24, 2026. They move constantly; the figure on Amazon when you click is the real one.
Three different products, one name
This is the entire reason people bounce off shaving cream. The words on the shelf are the same and the products are not remotely alike.
| Format | Needs a brush? | How it behaves | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brushless cream | No | Thin slick film, does not foam | Cartridge shavers, travel, speed |
| Brush cream | Yes | Whips into a real lather fast | Safety razor, easier than a hard puck |
| Canned foam | No | Mostly air and propellant | Nothing, once you have tried the others |
What this page ranks on
- Published net size. The only figure that lets you work out what a shave costs, and it is on almost every tube.
- A full published ingredient list. Every product here publishes one, which is better than this category's average and is the reason these four made the page.
- Fragrance position on that list. Not disqualifying, but it is the single most common cause of a reaction, so it belongs in the comparison.
- Whether the format matches a real use. A cream that needs no brush is doing something a soap cannot, and vice versa. Neither is better in the abstract.
Published figures, side by side
| Cream | Size | Format | Fragrance | Made in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cremo Original | 6 oz | Brushless | Yes, 9th on the list | Not published |
| Taylor of Old Bond Street | 150 g | Brush cream | Unscented variant available | England |
| Proraso Sensitive | 150 ml | Brush cream | Parfum + 6 declared allergens | Italy |
| Vanicream Shave Cream | 6 oz | Brushless | None (stated) | Not published |
The pick: Cremo Original Shave Cream
Six ounces, a full twenty-four item ingredient list published, and a formula deliberately designed not to foam. What you get instead is a thin, slick film - water, sodium cocoyl isethionate and a stack of fatty acids doing the glide - and it works genuinely well under a cartridge, which is the razor most people reading this still own.
It wins on the thing this site cares most about: it uses a fingertip per shave and publishes the size, so the cost per shave is knowable, and it removes every piece of equipment from the decision. No brush, no bowl, no technique, no learning curve. For somebody upgrading from a can of gel it is the largest improvement available for the least change in behavior.
The honest cons. Fragrance is ninth on that published list, ahead of most of the actives, so it is not the pick for reactive skin. There is no lather, which for some people is most of the point of wet shaving. And no single ingredient has a published concentration, so "contains aloe" is unquantified - as it is across this whole category.
The brush creams: Taylor of Old Bond Street and Proraso
If you have moved to a safety razor, a brush cream is the easiest route to a lather that holds for a full three passes. Both of these whip in well under a minute, which is the practical difference from a hard puck.
Taylor of Old Bond Street publishes 150 g and, importantly, makes a genuinely unscented organic variant - jojoba oil, aloe and vitamin E on the published list. Buy that variant deliberately; most of the range is heavily fragranced.
Proraso Sensitive publishes 150 ml, 90 per cent ingredients of natural origin, and a real exclusion list - no parabens, phthalates, silicones, mineral oils, artificial colors or SLS. It is a superb lather. Its own published list also carries parfum and six declared fragrance allergens, which is worth knowing given the word on the front.
The honest cons for both. A cream uses more product per shave than a hard soap, so neither tub lasts as long as its weight implies. Both need a brush and a bowl or a face-lathering technique, which is equipment and a skill. Building it properly takes a couple of attempts.
The one with nothing in it: Vanicream
Six ounces, the full list published, and the exclusions stated outright: no fragrance, dye, parabens, formaldehyde, lanolin or alcohol, and no botanical extracts or essential oils.
That last one is the rare exclusion and the reason it is on this page at all - botanicals are how most gentle products get their story, and they are a common irritant. The sensitive-skin page ranks on exactly this and Vanicream wins it.
The honest cons. No scent at all. No lather, since it is a brushless cream. And more per ounce than the supermarket alternative it replaces.
The one that is not really a cream
Cella Crema calls itself a cream, is sold as one, and behaves as a soft soap: a tub of almond-scented croap that wants a brush and a bowl. It is an excellent product and it earns its place on the soap roundup.
It is the named skip here purely because of what the word on the tub leads you to expect. If you buy it thinking you are getting a slick brushless cream, you will be confused by what arrives - and that confusion is the thing this page exists to prevent.
Canned foam, briefly
- It is mostly propellant and air. The cushion is thin and it collapses, which matters more the slower you shave.
- It dries on the face. A safety razor shave takes longer than a cartridge shave, and foam is formulated for the quick version.
- It is not cheaper per shave than a puck. Once you work out the arithmetic, the price advantage is smaller than it looks - which is what the cost page is for.
None of that makes it harmful. It is simply the one thing on this shelf that nothing else loses to, and replacing it is the cheapest upgrade in wet shaving.
Every pick, with the working
Each entry shows the published specifications, the axis scores they produce and what you give up. The order is the computed order, not a commercial one, and the arithmetic is open underneath every score.
Our pickA slick, no-brush cream from a drugstore shelf
Cremo Original Shave Cream
6 oz with the full ingredient list published - twenty-four items, led by water, sodium cocoyl isethionate and the fatty acids that do the slip. It is designed not to foam: a thin, slick film rather than a lather, which is a genuinely different approach and works well under a cartridge. Fragrance sits ninth on the list, so it is not a sensitive-skin product whatever the shelf says.
- Net weight
- 170 g
- Fragrance
- Fragranced
- Made in
- Not published
- Refill
- Nothing to refill
- Warranty
- Not applicable
- How long it lasts
- 110 uses
Published key ingredients: Water, Sodium cocoyl isethionate, Palmitic acid, Stearic acid, Macadamia seed oil, Allantoin, Aloe barbadensis leaf juice.
The arithmetic: 170 g net weight / 1.5 g per lather (assumed) = about 110 lathers.
What it gets right
- Full 24-item ingredient list published
- 6 oz published, and it uses very little per shave because it is not whipped
- Works with no brush, no bowl and no technique
- Allantoin and aloe both named on the published list
Flaws
- Fragrance is ninth on the published list, ahead of most of the actives
- No lather, which removes the part of wet shaving some people are buying
- No published concentration for any single ingredient
The working behind the 7.5
- How long it lasts: 4.2
- 170 g net weight / 1.5 g per lather (assumed) = about 110 lathers. At five shaves a week, that is about 5.1 months. A 12-month supply scores 10 in this category, so 5.1 / 12 x 10 = 4.2.
- Ease of switching: 9.5
- No brush, no bowl and no technique required, which is the lowest-friction entry to a better shave there is (++), full published list (+), but fragrance ninth on that list rules it out for reactive skin (-).
- Refill economics: 8.0
- Nothing to refill. The only future cost is replacing the item itself.
- What the maker publishes: 7.5
- 3 of 4 specifications a buyer would expect are published: netWeightG, keyIngredients, fragranceFree. Not published: madeIn. 3 / 4 x 10 = 7.5.
Axes with no published input are dropped and the remaining weights re-normalized, so a product is not punished for a category where an axis does not apply. Specifications compiled 3 September 2026 from Cremo Original Shave Cream published ingredient list and size.
2A cream rather than a soap
Taylor of Old Bond Street shaving cream
150 grams of soft English shaving cream in a tub, with an unscented organic version whose ingredient list runs to jojoba oil, aloe and vitamin E. Creams lather faster and more forgivingly than hard soaps; the trade is that they use more product per shave.
- Net weight
- 150 g
- Fragrance
- Not published
- Made in
- England
- Refill
- Nothing to refill
- Warranty
- Not applicable
- How long it lasts
- 100 uses
Published key ingredients: Stearic acid, Myristic acid, Glycerin, Jojoba oil, Aloe barbadensis leaf juice, Vitamin E.
The arithmetic: 150 g net weight / 1.5 g per lather (assumed) = about 100 lathers.
What it gets right
- 150 g published net weight, with a genuinely unscented organic variant
- Whips into lather faster and with less technique than any hard puck
- Published ingredient lists for both the organic and standard formulas
Flaws
- You use more per shave than a hard soap, so the tub does not last as long as its weight suggests
- The scented range is heavily fragranced
The working behind the 7.2
- How long it lasts: 3.8
- 150 g net weight / 1.5 g per lather (assumed) = about 100 lathers. At five shaves a week, that is about 4.6 months. A 12-month supply scores 10 in this category, so 4.6 / 12 x 10 = 3.8.
- Ease of switching: 9.0
- Cream texture lathers with the least technique of any lather here (+), 150 g published (+), unscented organic variant for reactive skin (+), higher product use per shave than a hard puck (-).
- Refill economics: 8.0
- Nothing to refill. The only future cost is replacing the item itself.
- What the maker publishes: 7.5
- 3 of 4 specifications a buyer would expect are published: netWeightG, madeIn, keyIngredients. Not published: fragranceFree. 3 / 4 x 10 = 7.5.
Axes with no published input are dropped and the remaining weights re-normalized, so a product is not punished for a category where an axis does not apply. Specifications compiled 3 September 2026 from Taylor of Old Bond Street 150 g published ingredients.
3A traditional cream that lathers like a soap
Proraso Sensitive Shaving Cream (Green Tea & Oat)
150 ml with the full ingredient list published, 90 per cent of ingredients stated to be of natural origin, and no parabens, phthalates, silicones, mineral oils, artificial colors or SLS. Read the end of that published list, though: parfum plus hexyl cinnamal, citronellol, geraniol, citral, limonene and linalool. It is a very good cream and it is a fragranced one, which is worth knowing before you buy it for reactive skin.
- Net weight
- 150 g
- Fragrance
- Fragranced
- Made in
- Italy
- Refill
- Nothing to refill
- Warranty
- Not applicable
- How long it lasts
- 100 uses
Published key ingredients: Stearic acid, Coconut oil, Glycerin, Lactic acid, Oat kernel extract, Green tea leaf extract, Parfum.
The arithmetic: 150 g net weight / 1.5 g per lather (assumed) = about 100 lathers.
What it gets right
- Full ingredient list published, which most of this category does not do
- Published 90 per cent ingredients of natural origin
- Published exclusions: no parabens, phthalates, silicones, mineral oils, artificial colors or SLS
- 150 ml published, and it lathers with a brush like a soft soap rather than a tube cream
- Oat kernel extract and green tea leaf extract both named on the list rather than only on the front
Flaws
- Contains parfum plus six separately declared fragrance allergens - hexyl cinnamal, citronellol, geraniol, citral, limonene and linalool
- 'Sensitive' here means gentler than the menthol-and-eucalyptus green formula, not fragrance-free
- Oat and green tea are botanical extracts, which are a common irritant for genuinely reactive skin
The working behind the 7.7
- How long it lasts: 3.8
- 150 g net weight / 1.5 g per lather (assumed) = about 100 lathers. At five shaves a week, that is about 4.6 months. A 12-month supply scores 10 in this category, so 4.6 / 12 x 10 = 3.8.
- Ease of switching: 9.0
- Full published list plus published natural-origin percentage and a real exclusion list (++), lathers with a brush (+), but parfum and six declared fragrance allergens are on that same published list (-), so the word on the front is doing more work than the formula (-).
- Refill economics: 8.0
- Nothing to refill. The only future cost is replacing the item itself.
- What the maker publishes: 10.0
- 4 of 4 specifications a buyer would expect are published: netWeightG, madeIn, keyIngredients, fragranceFree. 4 / 4 x 10 = 10.0.
Axes with no published input are dropped and the remaining weights re-normalized, so a product is not punished for a category where an axis does not apply. Specifications compiled 3 September 2026 from Proraso Sensitive Skin shaving cream published ingredients and exclusions.
4Reactive skin, with nothing in it to react to
Vanicream Shave Cream
A 6 oz tube with the entire ingredient list published and almost nothing on it. Vanicream states it free of fragrance, dye, parabens, formaldehyde, lanolin and alcohol, and free of botanical extracts and essential oils - which is the rarest exclusion of the four, because botanicals are the usual hidden irritant in products sold as gentle. If 'sensitive' is going to mean anything, this is what it looks like.
- Net weight
- 170 g
- Fragrance
- Fragrance-free
- Made in
- Not published
- Refill
- Nothing to refill
- Warranty
- Not applicable
- How long it lasts
- 110 uses
Published key ingredients: Water, Stearic acid, Glycerin, Caprylic/capric triglyceride, Panthenol, Sodium hydroxide.
The arithmetic: 170 g net weight / 1.5 g per lather (assumed) = about 110 lathers.
What it gets right
- Full ingredient list published, and it is short
- Published free of fragrance, dye, parabens, formaldehyde, lanolin and alcohol
- Explicitly free of botanical extracts and essential oils - unusual, and the point
- 6 oz published net size
- Glycerin and panthenol high on the list, doing the slip and the soothing
Flaws
- Genuinely no scent, which some people miss in a shave
- It is a cream in a tube, so it does not build a lather in a bowl the way a puck does
- Costs more per ounce than a supermarket canned foam
The working behind the 7.5
- How long it lasts: 4.2
- 170 g net weight / 1.5 g per lather (assumed) = about 110 lathers. At five shaves a week, that is about 5.1 months. A 12-month supply scores 10 in this category, so 5.1 / 12 x 10 = 4.2.
- Ease of switching: 9.5
- Full published ingredient list with fragrance, dye, lanolin, alcohol AND botanicals all excluded, which removes essentially every common irritant at once (++), tube format needs no technique (+), but no lather-in-a-bowl ritual and no scent (-).
- Refill economics: 8.0
- Nothing to refill. The only future cost is replacing the item itself.
- What the maker publishes: 7.5
- 3 of 4 specifications a buyer would expect are published: netWeightG, keyIngredients, fragranceFree. Not published: madeIn. 3 / 4 x 10 = 7.5.
Axes with no published input are dropped and the remaining weights re-normalized, so a product is not punished for a category where an axis does not apply. Specifications compiled 3 September 2026 from Vanicream Shave Cream published ingredient list and exclusions.
5Buying lather once and forgetting it
Cella Crema da Barba
Skip this one. Only a skip on this page and only on a technicality - Cella calls itself a crema and is sold as one, but it behaves as a soft soap and belongs with the soaps. It is an excellent product and our shaving soap roundup is where it earns its place. If you buy it expecting to squeeze a slick cream out of a tube you will be surprised by a tub of almond-scented soft soap that needs a brush and a bowl.
A soft tallow soap in an almond scent, made by hand in Italy to a recipe in use since 1899 and sold in a one-kilogram tub. At a gram and a half a lather that is several years of shaving in one purchase, which makes the arithmetic on it absurd compared with anything in a pressurized can.
- Net weight
- 1000 g
- Fragrance
- Fragranced
- Made in
- Italy
- Refill
- Nothing to refill
- Warranty
- Not applicable
- How long it lasts
- 670 uses
Published key ingredients: Coconut oil, Tallow, Stearic acid, Sweet almond oil.
The arithmetic: 1000 g net weight / 1.5 g per lather (assumed) = about 670 lathers.
What it gets right
- 1 kg tub — on our stated 1.5 g per lather that is several years of shaving
- Tallow, coconut oil and sweet almond oil, published in full
- Soft-soap texture loads onto a brush with almost no effort
Flaws
- One kilogram of almond scent is a long commitment to one smell
- The tub is a poor bathroom object; most people decant it
The working behind the 9.1
- How long it lasts: 10.0
- 1000 g net weight / 1.5 g per lather (assumed) = about 670 lathers. At five shaves a week, that is about 30.9 months. A 12-month supply scores 10 in this category, so 30.9 / 12 x 10 = 10.0.
- Ease of switching: 8.5
- Soft soap loads with almost no technique (+), 1 kg published net weight (+), but committing to a single scent at that volume before you know you like it is a real risk (-).
- Refill economics: 8.0
- Nothing to refill. The only future cost is replacing the item itself.
- What the maker publishes: 10.0
- 4 of 4 specifications a buyer would expect are published: netWeightG, madeIn, keyIngredients, fragranceFree. 4 / 4 x 10 = 10.0.
Axes with no published input are dropped and the remaining weights re-normalized, so a product is not punished for a category where an axis does not apply. Specifications compiled 3 September 2026 from Cella Crema da Barba published ingredients.
Prices last verified September 24, 2026. They move constantly; the figure on Amazon when you click is the real one.
Questions people actually ask
What is the difference between shaving cream and shaving soap?
Water content and hardness. A soap is a hard or soft puck you load with a wet brush; a cream is soft enough to lather almost immediately, or slick enough to need no lather at all. Creams are easier and use more product per shave. The full comparison is here.
Do I need a brush for shaving cream?
It depends which of the three things you bought. A brushless cream is designed to be spread by hand and will not foam. A brush cream will lather in a bowl or on the face like a soft soap. Using a brushless cream with a brush is the most common way people conclude a cream "does not work".
Is canned foam actually bad?
It is not dangerous, it is just the weakest of the options: mostly propellant and air, thin cushion, and it dries on the face during a slower shave. If you are shaving with a safety razor it is the first thing to replace, because a lather that collapses mid-pass is a real problem rather than an aesthetic one.
How long should a tube last?
Longer than the tub of soap it replaced, if it is brushless - a slick cream uses a fingertip. A brush cream uses more per shave than a hard puck does, so a 150 g tub does not last as long as its weight suggests. The cost page works this out properly.
Which cream is best for sensitive skin?
Vanicream, on the published list rather than the marketing - it excludes fragrance, botanicals and alcohol. The sensitive-skin roundup goes through the ingredient lists in detail, including why one popular "sensitive" cream declares six fragrance allergens.