If money is no object, can you build a rotation of 5 shave soaps that you would recommend?

[2ltdjorn]

Build me a rotation of 5 shave soaps. want strong scents with matching aftershaves. any limited releases to look for?

New to this, but have

B&M Bay Rum
B&M 42

The selection of offerings is a bit over whelming. But want to build a strong rotation.

 

[Badgerstate36]

Im not sure that I could narrow it down to just 5 and odds are that everyone will have a completely different 5.
Im personally a fan of barbershop scents and classic Old Spice homage scents but everyone is different. Some people like bay rum, some people like clean scents, some people like green scents, some people like lavender, etc, etc...

 

[Biglo13]

the linear soap/AS i have tried.. either the soap or the after shave was lacking.

I've come to the conclusion to just find a very good mildly scented or unscented soap and follow up with a good colonge/perfume/EDT

 

[steffenapelz]

Build me a rotation of 5 shave soaps. want strong scents with matching aftershaves. any limited releases to look for?

New to this, but have

B&M Bay Rum
B&M 42

The selection of offerings is a bit over whelming. But want to build a strong rotation.

Tough making scent reccos without knowing what you like, but I will give you 5 soapmakers that will fit your criteria and you could choose any of their scents:

Noble Otter
Australian Private Reserve (F2 base)
Oleo
Eufros
Ariana & Evans

All of these have strong scents and top tier quality soaps and AS. If you have questions about particular scents, just let me know and I will add to my thoughts.

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

[Atinofpeas]

Yardley Bowl
Old Spice Mug
Imperial Leather Bowl
MWF Bowl
Tabac Bowl.

 

[jesseix]

Declaration Grooming and Tallow & Steel both have great performing soaps & splashes. T&S scents can be hit and miss, but if you find one you like I doubt you would be disappointed with the performance (same with DG).

 

[Rusty Blade]

1. SV
2. Henri et Victoria Cognac and Cuban Cigars
3. B&M Seville
4. Truefitt & Hill Ultimate Comfort
5. Pre de Provence
Number 4 is a cream, not a soap, but its in my top 5.

 

[GearNoir]

I’m not going to give scent recommendations as they’re way too subjective, but as for soap base recommendations:

- Saponificio Varesino base 4.1 or better (#1 vegan base in my book, no contest...feels just like an elite tallow soap)
- CBL wagyu base w/hemp oil (no AS pairings yet sadly)
- Grooming Department tallow base (also no AS pairings)
- Lisa’s Natural Herbal Creations handmade artisan base (working on AS pairings)
- Arianna & Evans

Yes, soap preferences are subjective too, but I don’t think anywhere near the same as scents. These companies have top performance for me and enough variety of scents to keep one happy for decades of shaves. All of them check almost all if not all of my important boxes - good lasting scent, great post shave feel, great slickness, great residual slickness, and easy lathering.

 

[Racquet]

Sounds like you need samples, then you could narrow your selection down. There are literally
hundreds of scents available in soaps and aftershaves

 

[pork]

I would get Grooming Dept soaps and pair them with whatever would be a good fit (such as Maol Grooming aftershaves). I pair GD Kolnisch with Maol Frankinlime, GD Veritas with Chatillon Lux Bon Vivant, GD Mallard Chai with PdP 63 balm, GD Barbershop with Hermès L’Orange Verte gel, GD Mandarin Bay with any bay rum, etc. There’s five right there.

 

[beginish]

1. Czech & Speake Oxford and Cambridge
2. Boellis Panama 1924
3. DR Harris Arlington
4. Provence Sante Green Tea
5. Valobra Fougere

 

[2ltdjorn]

Tough making scent reccos without knowing what you like, but I will give you 5 soapmakers that will fit your criteria and you could choose any of their scents:

Noble Otter
Australian Private Reserve (F2 base)
Oleo
Eufros
Ariana & Evans

All of these have strong scents and top tier quality soaps and AS. If you have questions about particular scents, just let me know and I will add to my thoughts.

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

this is great. exploring now.

 

[trashcanmagic]

my take:

1. B&M Reserve Lavender
2. Grooming Dept NYChypre (no AS afaik but this soap has a LOT of scent)
3. Declaration Grooming Sellout
4. Ariana & Evans Asian Plum
5. B&M Vespers

 

[786 MIRACLE]

Grooming Dept (Donkey base) Mandarin Bay
Declaration Grooming-La Foret De Liguest/
Wholly Kaw- King of Bourbon
Eufros- Ylang Ylang
Nobble Otter- The Noir Et Vanille

 

[bobmsp]

Agree with @Badgerstate36 that you'll probably get at least as many lists as you do replies.

In any event, if I was to put together a list of money-is-no-object strongly-scented sets of soap and AS for myself it might look like this (in alphabetical order):

Antica Barbieria Colla (a/k/a "ABC") Almond Oil soap and Aftershave Milk (primarily for the AS)
Barrister & Mann Lavanille (or Le Grand Chypre or Reserve Lavender)
Declaration Grooming/Chatillon Lux - Yuzu/Rose/Patchouli
Sudsy Soapery - Citrus & Bay
Tallow & Steel - Dark

Note that there are some soaps that I like as much or better and some AS that I like as much or better, but scent strength or lack of a matching AS prevent them from being on this list. I'm trying to list sets where I think both the soap and the AS are high performers. (There are surprisingly few products where both the soap and AI generally don't use strongly scented products.

 

[Galaktus]

Mike's Natural Soaps - Barbershop
Arko
Palmolive cream
Palmolive shave stick
Barristar and Mann Reserve - Spice
Los Angeles Shave Soap - Blackfern
Soap Commander - Endurance.
That's 7, but all winners for me.

 

[Cumberland Sausage]

I wouldn't choose any soap on the basis that it matches well with an AS, because I find the scents of even the strongest ones fade very quickly. Even the ones that linger a bit after I shave are overwhelmed by whatever AS I use. Also, scents are so subjective that making recommendations is fraught with danger.
I would say buy whatever scent you like the sound of from Saponificio Varesino, Martin de Candre and Mike's Natural Soaps, then add in MWF and Valobra. Worry about AS later. Vintage Yardley and Old Spice are also excellent, but tend not to have much scent left.

 

[bluesman 7]

I would place Noble Otter in the mild scents group, which is one of the things that I really like about their soaps. Though I've only tried three of their scents.

 

[RayClem]

If money is no object, why do you want to limit yourself to only 5 soaps? Here are some great soaps.

Ariana Evans
Barrister and Mann Reserve and Excelsior soaps
Cold River Soap Works Glide soaps
Declaration Grooming Icarus soaps
Grooming Department (various bases)
Murphy & McNeil
Wholly Kaw Buffala and Donkey Milk soaps

Then there are some others that a nearly as good as those above and worth adding to your den.
Captain's Choice
Caties Bubbles
Henri et Victoria
Noble Otter
Oleo Soapworks Canard
Through the Fire Fine Craft

Mitchell's Wool Fat and Tabac are traditional soaps worth consideration, but they can be more difficult to lather than the soaps in the above list.

 

[mawashi]

I'll tell you what I'll do if I had money to burn on soaps.

I'll give a couple of grand each to our fellow soap making friends and sponsor them to make whatever they want lol.

Guys like
jldallas, Jetpilot, dfoulk, Danmarx, FloorPizza, psfredD, DCRIII & Dilbone

Happy shaves,

Mawashi