L'Occitane CADE Shaving Soap-Vive la Provence

[guenron]

H Gents,
Here comes the long overdue "Yet Another French Shaving Soap Review" I promised so long ago.
L'Occitane produces a line of men's toiletries using essential oil of Juniper as a part of their formulation. The fragrance is delightful and very clean. L'Occitane identifies these products as their CADE formulation. Today I used two of them, the shaving soap and aftershave balm. I have a snapshot of my Shavemac brush after producing four passes of a rich, slick, and exceptionally pleasant lather.

http://badgerandblade.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=448

Please note the shiny metal bowl in which the soap is sold. It adds a nice touch to your shaving den and is something out of the ordinary, just like the CADE shaving soap.

http://badgerandblade.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=449

[roughrider]

Ron, where did you pick up this awesome soap? Also, how would you compare it to the Floris soap?

[guenron]

Ron, where did you pick up this awesome soap? Also, how would you compare it to the Floris soap?
I purchased it at Essentials in nearby Cassady Square, but it is available through the L'Occitane web site. (http://usa.loccitane.com/product/product.asp?product=20BB003LH&variant=&=)
As far as a comparison, how do you compare GREAT to GREAT? They really both are super soaps. The Floris shaving soaps have the benefit of bathing your visage in the elegant Floris fragrances of JF or Elite. The L'Occitane has the distinctly fresh Juniper, Macadamia, et al fragrances blended in the CADE complex. It's the old story, I can't decide which I like better:a36:, so I indulged myself and have both, actually all three. :ihih:

[Scotto]

Good stuff, indeed. On my visage, the L'Occitane performs better than the Floris. I have a sample of the CADE balm that I need to try out, also.

[bebosky]

Man, you lather well. Thats what sucks about being a newbie. I had a hard time lathering up the L'Occitane. I loved the fragrance though.

Steven

[Austin]

Ron, very nice! How do you like Vetiver? How long does it last on your person?

[Scotto]

Steven,

I have studied at Ron's Institute of Hard Soap Lathering. The master will likely chime in himself, but try this next time: Soak your brush in very hot tap water. Don't shake any water out. Holding the soap at an angle over your shaving vessel (you do have one, don't you :wink: ), begin to swirl on the soap. Lots of water will come out of your brush, help loosen up the soap, and spill over into your lathering vessel. When the bristles look good and frothy, put the soap down, and whip up a furious lather in the shaving vessel. Enjoy! If you are using a glycerin-based soap, you might want to check out my tutorial in the Pictorial section.

[guenron]

Steven,

I have studied at Ron's Institute of Hard Soap Lathering. The master will likely chime in himself, but try this next time: Soak your brush in very hot tap water. Don't shake any water out. Allow the brush to drip until it stops dripping. Holding the soap at an angle over your shaving vessel (you do have one, don't you :wink: ), begin to swirl on the soap. Lots of water will come out of your brush, help loosen up the soap, and spill over into your lathering vessel. When the bristles look good and frothy, put the soap down, and whip up a furious lather in the shaving vessel. Enjoy! If you are using a glycerin-based soap, you might want to check out my tutorial in the Pictorial section.
AH! Stated like a true disciple. My addition in RED is the only other instruction needed.

[guenron]

Ron, very nice! How do you like Vetiver? How long does it last on your person?
Like the Vetiver? No, no, no! Love the vetiver! It is really splendid. I prefer it to the Creed Original and Roger et Gallet. It lasts four to six hours, depending on my activity, attire, and stress level. By the way, I finally got to smell L'Occitane Eau du Badian, really fine! The dry-down is really great. There is black currant and (while they don't admit to it) neroli. What a grand fragrance! The store only had the tester, none for sale. I begged, I whimpered, I stomped my feet and held my breath to no avail. Argh the humanity of it. :drool:

[DoubleE]

Steven,

I have studied at Ron's Institute of Hard Soap Lathering.

Very difficult to get accepted into this institute of higher learning. The homework is very demanding. Lather, lather, lather, till you drop.

Jerry

[JohnP]

Hi again folks,
Just a heads up-L'Occitane vetyver is apparently not discontinued (perhaps I'm the only paranoid who had feared this, but...) as it is apparently available again on their website.
It is the best vetyver IMHO that I have smelled, although I've not smelled Roger&Gallet. It definitely beats Creed and Guerlain, the two I've smelled.
John P

[Austin]

Hi again folks,
Just a heads up-L'Occitane vetyver is apparently not discontinued (perhaps I'm the only paranoid who had feared this, but...) as it is apparently available again on their website.
It is the best vetyver IMHO that I have smelled, although I've not smelled Roger&Gallet. It definitely beats Creed and Guerlain, the two I've smelled.
John P

John, you should try Floris Vetiver.

[JohnP]

I have not smelled the Floris vetiver, although I've heard good about it. Its one of those I'd have to buy just to smell it, and not to mention every vetiver I've tried so far trips SWMBO's gag reflex.....
I, however, like it. She hates mint, too....go figure.
I do think I'm going to buy the L'Occitane vetyver in spite of her, though.
John P.

[Austin]

John, request samples directly from Floris.

[Scotto]

John, you'll love the L'O Vetyver - wonderful, long lasting scent.

[crackstar]

Ron, does the L'Occitane soap lather up that well? If it does, maybe it's worth my while to kick in 17$ to buy some. But, I want your honest opinion.

Jeff

[guenron]

Ron, does the L'Occitane soap lather up that well? If it does, maybe it's worth my while to kick in 17$ to buy some. But, I want your honest opinion.

Jeff
Jeff,
The L'Occitane shaving soap is a super latherer. You can see in the picture below what my Shavemac looks like even after four passes. I pulled that up from the brush at the end of my shave.

http://badgerandblade.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=448

Makes me want to break my rotation and go use it tomorrow.:w00t:

[Scotto]

The quality of the L'O lather is wonderful. Very rich. It ranks up there among my favorites, and gives a great shave. Is it worth the $$ ? That is for you to decide.

[enlightenment]

I've been using this for a while now too. For some reason i always seem to forget how good it is. This was my first soap for wetshaving and SCAD kicked in so i bought other stuff and this poor soap seems to get neglected. Used it this morning. Out of all my soaps this one lathers the best. The fragrance is rather light in comparison to the QED sticks, but its very clean and pleasent smelling.

[crackstar]

Ron, Scotto, thanks a million for your kind advice, I'm going to buy that soap and shave with it tomorrow evening and I'll give it an honest opinion. Ron, have you ever tried Rivivage soap? Is it ever fantastic!

Jeff

[crackstar]

Ron, Scotto, I bought the L'Occitane soap! I had a shower and a shave just now, and I must say you guys are masters of the wetshaving trade, thanks for teaching me something delightfully new. Yes, this soap lathers great, I took a quick N-S shave with my Merkur Vision just to give it a test run. Again, it's super soap, and does it smell nice!

Thanks again guys!

Jeff

[Scotto]

Jeff, glad you like it. The light juniper fragrance is very nice this time of year. The lather is very moist and thick as well. Hmmm - think this will go into the rotation this week :biggrin:

BTW, if you are a fragrance guy, try the L'Occitane Vetyver (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=467)cologne after shaving with this soap. Really nice. The Eau de Badian is great too.

[crackstar]

Scotto, I tested the Vetiver cologne and I might buy it. The Eau de Badian doesn't seem to suit the kind of body chemistry I have. One thing I must say, tomorrow morning, I'm going to take a complete 2 pass shave with this soap, I really like it!

Jeff

[majkeli]

I just popped in the L'Occitane store and picked up a cake of this stuff.

Wow. What a great soap. What great lather, and what a great scent. This is my first non-glycerin soap and I'm loving it. Thanks so much for reviewing it.

[rickw]

I've been using L'Occitane soap for about six years now. They last me about a year and a half with almost daily use. Factor that into the cost.
Rick

[Ockham's razor]

I have been using the L'Occitane cade soap for the last couple months and I really like it. I like it better than Truefitt and Hill Ultimate comfort shaving cream and Roger et Gallet's L'Homme soap. It gives a closest shave than the UC cream and it doesn't dry out on my face. I did sampled their shaving cream and I liked it too but the soap is the best value. Thanks for the great review Guenron!

One question though. How do you get rid of the corrosion on the metal bowl?

Samuel

[guenron]

I have been using the L'Occitane cade soap for the last couple months and I really like it. I like it better than Truefitt and Hill Ultimate comfort shaving cream and Roger et Gallet's L'Homme soap. It gives a closest shave than the UC cream and it doesn't dry out on my face. I did sampled their shaving cream and I liked it too but the soap is the best value. Thanks for the great review Guenron!

One question though. How do you get rid of the corrosion on the metal bowl?

Samuel
Did not get any corrosion, but if I did, probably rub it out with some Bon Ami before it penetrated too far.

[Ockham's razor]

I'll give it a try, thanks.

One day I forgot to wiped the bowl and the next morning, there was corrosion where the lather was...

Samuel

[letterk]

This is some fine soap indeed. I picked some up yesterday, along with the Eau des Bergers A/S splash, and shaved with it today. Fantastic! Not much to compain about with this soap. The Eau de Badian is on my Christmas wish list.