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Soap Sample Passaround Box

Midnight & Two - The Cabin was the soap for tonight's head and neck shave. Great post-shave, great slickness, and above all, great scent! It was a really thirsty soap - it took what seemed to be quite a bit more water to get that lather going but I nearly came away with a one pass head shave. 2 passes and I'm about as close to a cartridge head shave as I can get without really going after it with a 3rd touch-up pass. I thought is was a rather strong scent even lathered up, but my wife thought it was on the faint side. It does seem to fade pretty quick which is a bit sad but wow what a great shave.
 
I have a few more samples from Box 2 to test lather and one more shave to get in before the weekend and then I'll be sending it on to Montgomery115. Box 1 arrived today and my wife (and 3yr old) found ~35 samples she (they) liked. I've already sniffed a few from Stirling that I've been curious about for a while. Here's the current status:

1. A. Feitar - In possession box 4
2. ryinzana - In possession Box 3
3. Skipping the rest of the boxes - jldallas - sent Box 1 to spolct to arrive on 9/4/2019.
4. spolct - in possession of boxes 2 & 1. Box 2 should be sent by 9/7.
5. Montgomery115
6. catchacoolbreeze
7. CJB3
8. boghopper
9. FloorPizza
10. mrlandpirate
11. kooldecker
12. dezmil
13. Joshua223
14. Schinny
15. Psusocr
16. SailFast
17. Blaidth
18. Velohammer
19. ’Bout Time
20. ShavedUp
21.
22.
23.
24. Iloverootbeer
25. Suhrim21
26. back to dfoulk for refill.
 
Box #4. I had a very pleasant shave with Dr. John’s Flowers in the Dark. This vegan soap is very firm and has a strong scent of lavender which I really enjoyed. Slick with a comfortable post shave. The artisan’s website says the scent is lavender, cedar and ozone; I only detect strong lavender.
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Box #4. I had a very pleasant shave with Dr. John’s Flowers in the Dark. This vegan soap is very firm and has a strong scent of lavender which I really enjoyed. Slick with a comfortable post shave. The artisan’s website says the scent is lavender, cedar and ozone; I only detect strong lavender. View attachment 1014269
I wonder if the scent has faded on the sample. To my nose, Flowers in the Dark has a pungent, almost uncomfortable, ozone sense about it. I like the sensibility of the soap because of the way it makes me feel a little off-kilter. (The soap was originally a Halloween release.)
 
The Dr. Jon's Flowers in the Dark soap is brand new. I just got it from Jon. With the sample, I wouldn't think the scent was any different than it was originally intended to be.
 
My last shave out of box2 featured the MdC Original. I had read a bit about it being a great soap and long lasting etc so my expectations were pretty high. I thought the scent was on the faint side which is good because I didn't particularly like it a ton but I didn't care much for the fougere and using an unscented soap just seems to be the equivalent of eating a can of garbanzo beans just because it's food and I need to eat. At any rate If I were to spend the $$$ on a full container of this soap I would probably get more out of it performance wise because I don't think that I had the lather totally dialed in. I had a pretty ok shave with no trouble spots and post shave feel was acceptable but nothing about this soap blew me out of the water.

I have a few to test lather tonight and then it will be in the mail on Saturday. Then on to Box1.
 
Welp, I didn't get the box out yesterday (Saturday) as planned, mostly because USPS isn't open on Saturdays - a factoid that I had forgotten about entirely until my lovely wife reminded me. Sorry not sorry because I got to use one last soap and it was a winner.

Today's shave featured a VERY soft soap with a pretty nice scent that I enjoyed and is different from my typical woodsy/outdoorsy scents that I tend to like the most. Residual slickness was probably the best I've had and post shave feel was excellent as well. This was a really great soap and I'm glad I had a chance to use it. What was this magical soap you might wonder? It was none other than Uplift by Sudsy Soapery. I'll be adding this to my "puck yeah order that soap" list.
 
According to Sudsy Soapery: Lemony and Bright with deep hints of a Lemongrass scent. It is a fairly strong scent but didn't linger too much.
 
Box #4

This morning I tried Declaration Grooming’s TSM Fougere. Off the sample, the scent is very dark and strong. I almost did not want to try it. But, I gave it a try and found that the scent mellowed out after lathering it up. This is not the firmer Icarus base but the earlier soft one. The soft soap loads easily and it was a really good shave with no issues. I am really liking the post shave comfort and residual scent.
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Box #4

This morning I tried Declaration Grooming’s TSM Fougere. Off the sample, the scent is very dark and strong. I almost did not want to try it. But, I gave it a try and found that the scent mellowed out after lathering it up. This is not the firmer Icarus base but the earlier soft one. The soft soap loads easily and it was a really good shave with no issues. I am really liking the post shave comfort and residual scent. View attachment 1015389

A second Black Eagle brush. Nice. I don't get crazy good post shave from Declaration Grooming soaps but they produce an exceptional lather that's slick and gel like. Definitely a tier 1 soap.
 
Box #4

Long Rifle Soap Company “Thick as Thieves” was excellent this morning. It has a nice strong lemon scent. The amount I scooped out of the sample was too much; I scooped an almond and only really needed a pea size amount. My Mozingo handle B8 knot did a nice job of loading the soap but I face lathered because this brush feels so nice. I switched razors today. I picked up my 1952 Black Tip since it is nice and mild for lite whisker days. The result was an irritation free close shave. Post shave is comfortable but since I used some Grooming Dept Preshave, I don’t know if all the comfort is attributed to the soap. I like this soap and can’t say anything negative about it.

I have enjoyed box #4 and it is sadly time to pass it onward to the next gentleman on the list.
 
So Sunday I got back from a trip to see that box 3 had arrived. Last night I was able to crack it open and make my sample selections. I'll be trying (in no particular order):

LA Shaving Company Bespoke #1
Catie's Bubbles Le Marche Du Rasage
PannaCrema San Francesco
Tiki The Captain
SV Manna di Sicilia
RazoRock Mudder Focker
Cold River Select Olivia Colonia Mediterrania
PAA Solstice

So I'm wrapping up Box 3 and will be checking with spolct to see if he's ready for it, or not. I wanted to post some thoughts. I'll start off by saying all the soaps I've sampled have provided great shaves. We're in a good place right now as wet shavers as the market is pretty saturated with vendors offering high quality soaps with some amazing scents! Of the few I sampled, there were two standouts - Cold River Olivia and LA Shaving Company. Both vegan soaps surprisingly!

Cold River Olivia Colonia Mediterrania

Cold River Olivia is a vegan soap, but a very good one! I've said in prior posts, that I tend to favor tallow based soaps for their moisturizing effects/superior post shave feel. With that said, this is an excellent vegan soap that surpasses the post shave feel of some tallow based soaps I've tried. The ingredient list is as follows:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Stearic Acid, Aloe Leaf Juice, Potassium Hydroxide, Kokum Butter, Castor Oil, Glycerine, Jojoba Oil, Shea Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Lactate and Fragrance

Given the inclusion of the aloe vera juice, kokum butter, jojoba oil, glycerine, and shea butter - it's not very surprising that this is the case. The soap gave a close, comfortable shave with little to no irritation. Both initial and residual slickness were very good and as I said before the post shave feel was top notch! The scent was amazing. Here's a description:

A classic Mediterranean type fragrance, elegant and timeless. Aromatic woods, spicy florals and light citrus are captured in the signature scent of our OLIVA olive oil based shaving soap.

LA Shaving Company Bespoke #1

So, you can basically take the Cold River review and copy and paste it here. Same great performance from another vegan soap. After comparing the ingredients list it's not surprising that this was the case:

Stearic Acid, Palm Kernel Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Shea Butter, Castor Oil, Water, Aloe Vera Juice, Essential Oils (Vetiver Essential Oil, Himalayan Amber Oil (in Sunflower Oil), Frankincense Essential Oil, Opopanax (Sweet Myrrh) Essential Oil, Clove Essential Oil, Pepper Essential Oil, Bergamot Essential Oil, Patchouli Essential Oil, Cedar Essential Oil, Vanilla Extract, Anise Extract, Labdanum Absolute (in Sunflower Oil)). , French Red Clay, Sodium Lactate, Allantoin (comfrey plant).

Both soaps include glycerin, shea butter, and aloe vera juice as skin food - resulting in a very slick, very protective lather. Post shave was very good on this. I liked the scent on this one a lot and would recommend it during the colder months. Here is the description:

Very earthy scent, with a vetiver base augmented by amber, frankincense, sweet myrrh, pepper, clove, and cedar.

Both scents were strong off the puck and lathered (which I tent to prefer). Neither linger/interfere with psot shave products.
 
So I'm wrapping up Box 3 and will be checking with spolct to see if he's ready for it, or not.

Definitely not ready. I've sniffed about half the soaps in box 1 and did my first shave last night (details later). Box 2 should be arriving today or tomorrow to Montgomery115. I'll probably need about a week more with box 1 which also gives Montgomery a chance at his first box. I know people down the list want a turn but at this point yall sending boxes 3 & 4 on down the pike isn't going to speed things up. Give us new guys a chance to go through what we have without sending more. If you just really really want to send your box on go ahead but I'll need at least a week (probably closer to 1.5 wks) per box.
 
Definitely not ready. I've sniffed about half the soaps in box 1 and did my first shave last night (details later). Box 2 should be arriving today or tomorrow to Montgomery115. I'll probably need about a week more with box 1 which also gives Montgomery a chance at his first box. I know people down the list want a turn but at this point yall sending boxes 3 & 4 on down the pike isn't going to speed things up. Give us new guys a chance to go through what we have without sending more. If you just really really want to send your box on go ahead but I'll need at least a week (probably closer to 1.5 wks) per box.

Sounds good. PM me a few days before you are ready so I can send it out. Hopefully we can time it so you receive the next one right as you send out the previous...
 
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