MARTIN DE CANDRE - UH, IT'S ALRIGHT, BUT....
- Thread starter BrotherDerekB
- Start date
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- #22
I'll give you one that I am enjoying at the moment. I melted a small puck of Colonel Conk's Lime, Amber, Bay Rum and natural version into a container. The smell comes out to be most like Lime and the lather I am getting has been top shelf. Not sure how long it will last, but I am enjoying it and I really didn't expect to enjoy it so much when I ordered it.
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
That's one way to evaluate it and valid, but as with most things at the high end the progression from low end through mid tier to high end is NOT linear.
You might pay 3 times as much for a 5% improvement. Some are perfectly happy to do so and jump at the chance for 5% better whatever and others think a person is nuts for doing so. (not speaking of MDC in particular here, just higher end products in general
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
I pulled out my dictionary and looked up the term tenacious. All it said for a definition was "Arko enthusiasts".
I feel the same way about many of wet shavings great soaps.
DR Harris,
Tabac
Trufit and Hill
DR Harris,
Tabac
Trufit and Hill
Fair enough, I tried their Lime and while I thought scent was OK, I didn't think performance was comparable to MDC.
But... again, not trying to convince you, we all like different things.
Are you judging MDC just based on scent first performance second, or just based on scent ?
Or are you judging it too harshly given the sticker price perhaps (I've done that with Castle Forbes initially but have since warmed up to it, quite a bit - even though I still feel it could be a bit slicker).
Like I said, I hated Fougere, love their "Agrumes" and "Vétyver" scents, but for me performance of all 3 was absolute top notch.
Anyway, that's what makes all of this fun, we all like different things and keep most of these good folks in business.
I'd agree with this if it applied to products where objective performance is in plain sight. Everything here in shaving is subjective experience, anecdotes, groupthink, personal tastes...
Unless we talk Arko.
With Arko it's all goooood.
My subtle hint that my samples of high falutin soap are running out, lol. No, I've still got enough to leave in my will. I crammed some of that stuff you weren't sure of the name into an old deodorant twist up container and face lathered with it yesterday. Unbelievable. No scent that I could detect. Guess I should review it!Just stop...
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- #29
I am judging it based on my first impression. I will be shaving with it again tomorrow, so something may change. Generally, I don't write negative reviews, and I don't consider this one to be overly negative, it was more that I wasn't blown away by the soap and I thought I would be.
As for the scent, it is simply nothing special to me. I wouldn't smell it and want to smell it again. Actually, I even prefer the smell of MWF, since that one is subtle, but clean smelling. I think there are other scents out there by new artisans that are more interesting, but scent is not the most important thing to me anyway.
Perhaps, my expectations played a part in it, but I plan on using up the soap, so it is possible that my opinion may change. Because it was mentioned here, I'll bring up Arko. The first time I tried it, I was "blown away" by how good it was for being so inexpensive. Perhaps, in that case, my low expectations made it easy to appreciate.
Anyway, as I said before, YMMV is what this is all about, so to each his own.
shavefan
I’m not a fan
Where those the Italian croaps I mixed up? Sorry, I forgot to label some and then couldn't remember which was which. In any case those traditional Italian croaps are pretty similar in performance and scent IMO. Most are mildly scented.
On many planets I visit, Arko is much more expensive, and the smell is appreciated, and it costs more than MWF.
- Expense is the sum of money you pay when you buy something. Cost is the sum of money that gets lost when you use something.
- MdC is a large expense but a low cost.
- Soap preferences are subjective so it's not really much use to discuss right and wrong when it comes to that.
- Different people have different priorities and different budget constraints and thus have different definitions of cost effective.
...oh God I sound like an old school teacher.
Whatever it is or isn't: just wait for my rambling review of it. In my mind, it's Pulitzer caliber. Or calibre. Dyslexia really stinks in Anglish.
Mrs Grundy!What I'm getting at is that it's very interesting to follow this thread, but there's no right and wrong only different opinions and priorities.
- Expense is the sum of money you pay when you buy something. Cost is the sum of money that gets lost when you use something.
- MdC is a large expense but a low cost.
- Soap preferences are subjective so it's not really much use to discuss right and wrong when it comes to that.
- Different people have different priorities and different budget constraints and thus have different definitions of cost effective.
...oh God I sound like an old school teacher.
shavefan
I’m not a fan
If I had a nickel for every "wow!" soap I tried just to be left with, meh...
That said I really like MdC!
Ah, then, my like for this soap aside, we all know how YMMV goes, you're perhaps a bit unfair to MDC (or someone who might considering buying one).
Posting review, positive or negative after only one use of any product is in my view "less than ideal".
But again, like you said, it's only your first impression, to fully appreciate a product, any product, (again, just my personal opinion) it should be 5-10+ uses at least.
What I'm getting at is that it's very interesting to follow this thread, but there's no right and wrong only different opinions and priorities.
- Expense is the sum of money you pay when you buy something. Cost is the sum of money that gets lost when you use something.
- MdC is a large expense but a low cost.
- Soap preferences are subjective so it's not really much use to discuss right and wrong when it comes to that.
- Different people have different priorities and different budget constraints and thus have different definitions of cost effective.
...oh God I sound like an old school teacher.
Or a wise man!
Have you tried the modern Williams? Now there is a soap that is not expensive, lasts a fairly long time, is easy to lather
, and has a delightful scent! 
People come in this shaving thing to save money, and buying MdC $70 soaps is clearly the way to go once you do the math. Tons of cash saved right there. Especially when you buy 3, that's 3 times the savings at $210 for 3 bars of soap.
- Thread starter
- #39
Well, my first impression, is what it is. I don't consider it fair or unfair. It is simply my first impression. If it changes, then I will change my opinion. I have found, though, that most things don't change that much and it is possible that I will like it even less, right?
lol- Thread starter
- #40
For me, DE shaving has been a lot of things, but economical is not one of them after all the stuff I have bought over the years.
