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As reported here last week, Taylor of Old Bond Street has updated some of its classic English shaving creams, to meet both new EU regulations over there, and FDA regulations over here. So I had Taylor send me some tubs of the new versions of Taylor's Avocado and Lavender creams to compare with the old versions.

The new Avocado cream's green logo appears on a clear sticker on the jar's lid, replacing the bronze-inked logo that used to be printed directly on the lid. As you can see from the photo, the old Avocado's inked logo had a tendency to smear off over time, a problem the new stickers should eliminate.

But the real differences reveal themselves when you crack open the tub. The new Avocado is creamier and smoother than the old version, and its surface has little of that glisteny shine I always assumed was the skin-friendly avocado oil that set Avocado apart from all other Taylors, even though the new version still has avocado oil.

In fact, Taylor's Barry Klein tells me the cream itself is largely unchanged, but that the company had to turn to different fragrance ingredients to comply with new EU regulations going into effect in April. The new scent includes citronellol, an oily liquid with a sweet, floral odor that's a naturally-occurring substance in black currants, certain fruits, edible plants, wines, beer, and black tea, and geraniol, another oily liquid with a sweet rose-like scent found naturally in flowering plants including geraniums and roses.

Sure enough, the new Avocado smells quite different than the old. It's a greener, lighter, fresher scent, more of an outright floral than the woodier scent of the old version. It reminds me a bit of the "Fern" type scents from Trumper and Penhaligon. That said, neither the new or the old Avocado cream smells anything remotely like a real avocado, but I never considered this Taylor a "sniffer" anyway -- the old version certainly smelled pleasant enough, but it was the extra comfy and moisturizing shave that set this cream apart from the rest of Taylor's line, not the scent.

One of the things Taylor's doing differently now is allowing its cream to settle for a week after it's been mixed, and then for another week after it's poured into the tub. These extra stages are said to make for a creamier, less dense product that resists forming a thin, dry crust on top that's led some shavegeeks to think their tubs of Taylor have dried out and otherwise gone bad. The new Taylors have the consistency of Philly Cream Cheese, while the old version of Avocado was a looser, goopier glop, and the other Taylor creams have been as thick as cake icing at times. The extra settling time is designed to standardize the creams' consistency across the board, and I can report that the new Avocado and Lavender creams have exactly the same consistency, which I could never say about the old versions.

Using a Simpson Wee Scot and plenty of hot water, the new Avocado cream lathered up big and beefy in no time flat. I've rarely been able to get the old version of Taylor's Avocado to whip up into that really thick, meringue-like lather -- it's a looser, oilier cream than my other old-school faves like Trumper's Violet and Taylor's own Rose and Lavender creams, but the new Avocado quickly lathers up into that dense, peaked lather the English creams are noted for. Even with a teeny tiny brush like the Wee Scot, the new Taylor made a ridiculously large amount of lather from just a schmear of cream on the brush tips.

Shaving with the new Avocado cream was a pleasure. My 1940's Gillette Super Speed DE razor glided over my skin smoothly and without a hint of skip or drag, never once leaving a dry patch for the blade to scrape over. Even though the new version doesn't glisten as much as the old, it feels and shaves exactly the same, and after an exceptionally close and comfortable shave my face felt perfectly smooth and moisturized, even in this dry winter weather. New scent aside, this new Avocado cream shaves just like the old version, which is a very, very good thing.

Fans of Taylor's Avocado shaving cream can rest easy -- the new version shaves just as superbly and lathers even better than the original. As for the new scent, it's a greener, fresher, more floral trip, and to be perfectly honest I find it no better or worse than the old version, just different. I'm just happy Taylor kept its Avocado cream as special and unique as it's always been, and I'll be happy to switch over to the new formula once I run out of the old stuff.

See? I didn't make fun of shavegeeks once this time, not even the guy who got so hysterical about the new scent he almost stopped taking photos of himself and sending them to other men so they could see what nice skin he has.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.