Hahahaha
I'm beta testing Mick's soap.
The shave was pretty good overall.
Before talking about the soap I want to make sure I make clear this is a sample sent to me without charge to test and comment on. I don't want to say much about it after one shave, but it seems like good stuff to me. I see no big downsides. It is incredibly creamy. I'll load more lightly next time. It's very thirsty.
I tried to do everything my usual way, but messed it up. My fault entirely due to watching the Masters while I should have been more focused on the task at hand.
I screwed up the post shave. I used alum but didn't remember to rinse it off until after I'd applied my Grooming Dept Serum. Then, I rinsed off the alum. Bad way to test Mick's post shave! Sorry. It's not like I felt the need for alum, but sometimes I use it. Sometimes I don't.
The soap has very little, to my nose, scent. I'd like more. However, unless the scent is terrible scent is not an issue for me so that's just a comment.
Notice I used the soap with my usual GD Preshave to control variables. This preshave will improve any soap, or so they say.
Just based on what I noticed with one shave, a shave which ended only minutes ago, I'd rate this soap very highly. Its post shave might be at least a notch below that of Grooming Dept soaps (but there are's a caveat above). I'd also say the later passes with Mick's were less comfortable on my neck than the passes with Grooming Dept soaps. In spite of that sentence the cushion, slickness, and residual glide were good. In short, this is an impressive first shave with a new soap particularly a soap which is still undergoing initial refinement of its base.
One thing I've learned in 160 straight razor shaves is this: The main thing for me with all aspects of the shave including soaps is the comfort of the overall shave. It terms of soap evaluation that's closely followed by the overall quality of the shave which includes comfort but also closeness of the shave and smoothness of the shave along with ease of loading, lathering, retention of moisture, tendency to dry out, enjoyment quota, and all the usuals like slickness. How does the soap impact all aspects of the shave? This soap is very easy to use, to load, to lather; in respect to those factors I'd say it beats Grooming Dept soaps. It retains moisture well and does not dry out, again beating GD soaps. I'm not sure the overall shave is as good as that of GD soaps. Still, it's a damn good soap.
I'll know more about the comfort as the hours go by.
I have zero idea about what goes into making excellent soaps or determining the various qualities they have. Maybe my first impressions of this soap will help its inventor. I hope the soap stays as creamy as it is. It is the most creamy soap I've ever used which is very very nice indeed.
It should be obvious I'm comparing Mick's to perhaps the most highly regarded and most universally admired artisan soaps, soaps which I have well dialed in. I will dial Mick's in a bit more and have a better basis for evaluation, but Mick's is pretty impressive.
I'll use Mick's again of course and feel privileged to be allowed to test it.
Micks.
Remember a ways back I said that the best shave soaps might be yet to come?
