Now I am pissed. I want my own soap!
My opinion regarding artisan signature soaps
- Thread starter NSmalls
- Start date
Haven't read the thread but it cuts both ways. I would go out of my way not to buy "3 wise guys" or the like because I don't want a soap with a picture of three random guys from the Internet on it. I watch an occasional vid when there is a product I'm curious about, but I don't need to see their picture when I shave.
- Thread starter
- #43
Personally I couldn't possibly care any less about internet shaving personalities. I don't watch you tube shaving videos so I don't even know who these people are.
However, I do think if anything calling a soap something other than a name that's descriptive likely causes you to lose sales rather than gain them. I know that I avoided a lot of the RazoRock soaps in starting out because the names meant nothing to me and I was just looking for a description that would tell me what it smelled like. If you're calling a soap The Freedburg or XXX (not to pick on Joe from RazoRock but these are two that confused me at first), from a marketing standpoint, you might as well be calling it Donkey because it tells me absolutely nothing about the product. I suspect that this might make it take longer for a product to catch on.
This won't stop me from purchasing a soap nor will it cause me to buy one either.
As far as the packaging goes, all of my soaps go into Ikea Grundtal containers as well so no worries there either.
However, I do think if anything calling a soap something other than a name that's descriptive likely causes you to lose sales rather than gain them. I know that I avoided a lot of the RazoRock soaps in starting out because the names meant nothing to me and I was just looking for a description that would tell me what it smelled like. If you're calling a soap The Freedburg or XXX (not to pick on Joe from RazoRock but these are two that confused me at first), from a marketing standpoint, you might as well be calling it Donkey because it tells me absolutely nothing about the product. I suspect that this might make it take longer for a product to catch on.
This won't stop me from purchasing a soap nor will it cause me to buy one either.
As far as the packaging goes, all of my soaps go into Ikea Grundtal containers as well so no worries there either.
I'm in the same boat as you Bob. No clue who those people are
The great thing about wet shaving are your choices. At the moment artisan soaps are popular. Personally, I enjoy using them and prefer them over commercial soaps. Do I have the money to buy every new soap no my budget does not allow it.It's your journey taper it to your own needs and budget.
I would take these soaps named after individuals tongue and cheek, it is the quality of the product that matters not the label or name.
I would take these soaps named after individuals tongue and cheek, it is the quality of the product that matters not the label or name.
exactly!
But, to be fair, it's not like "Aventus" tells you any more about the scent than "Freeberg" or "Ab Silver". "Tight Buns", however, is a most unfortunate name indeed.
It's a separate complaint than the one about signature soaps, but there are soaps I can't keep straight, like Catie's Bubbles french names (and I love the soap). Or Through The Fire's soaps... how do I remember what Kindling vs Ember vs Tinder smells like? I've been trying those out for a while and I still need to open them up and sniff them to remember which is which.
They sure do make it challenging at times. You're right about the Catie's Bubbles soap names. I completely forgot about those. Great soap but those names are the absolute worst for me to deal with. Some of them I can't even pronounce and forget about me trying to actually spell it correctly.
Ah, what I think you are looking for is a smarter consumer showing better behavior in his / her choices. Yeah, we've been working on that one for a few hundred thousand years now.... so far, it has not worked. But perhaps soon it will work and everything will fall into place..... yep, that's what I am hoping for.... soon. 
Brian
Brian
Mmmmmm, Donkey sounds amazing.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if someone called a soap Donkey.
- Thread starter
- #53
Did you see Cards Against Humanity's Black Friday stunt? It could be on the radar!
- Thread starter
- #55
That could make a nice label Joe!
What he said. This is a waste of energy...silly.
I think it's more out of fun and creativity for the soap makers personally. I actually do some videos but it's more just like reviews to help people. I laughed when I saw the pic of ray rum. Am I gonna buy any? No. I also didn't vey any of the three wise guys but I found it funny as well. It helps soap makers interact with customer base and have fun with their products imo. But hey I'm just one man 
This phenomenon is largely driven by a few folks on some of the Facebook shaving groups.
IMO, because Facebook has a large noise/signal ratio it's difficult to find actual useful information so it tends to quickly descend into a lot of strong personality's some of whom seem to have unlimited time and budget to make endless videos where every product is simply wonderful. Coincidentally many of these products are fairly new and certainly have to be aware that much of this buzz, helps drive sales. Small wonder that it makes good sense for a small soap maker to appeal to a reviewer's ego by slapping a picture of their faces on a shave soap label. There is no way of knowing if the man on the screen has any real shaving experience other than when their stated ignorance occasionally shines through.
Here's one real difference between B&B and other traditional forums is the collected experiences of it's users as opposed to a sometimes glaring lack of context on the Facebook groups. I can't underestimate how helpful searching through the older posts of B&B were in helping me to arrive at what I appreciated in hardware and software. I could see the folks whose writing spoke to me and perhaps had similar tastes and get an idea of how experienced they were.
The other real difference is B&B has a long tradition of the YMMV ethos. There are folks here who love very expensive luxury products and others who equally love the humble Arko. There are fans of the old canonical shave products and devotees of the new artisan soap makers - it's all here and it's all respected and honored.
It's also a far cry from the slap stick hucksterism that passes on much of Facebook and You Tube. IMO, slapping an alleged reviewers mug on a label, coming out with a special edition products every other day is something else than old world traditions and small mom & pop artisans. As always YMMV.
Someone earlier mentioned Mantic59 not having a soap named after him, which of course we all know Mantic does't really do product endorsements, he just teaches folks who to shave.
IMO, because Facebook has a large noise/signal ratio it's difficult to find actual useful information so it tends to quickly descend into a lot of strong personality's some of whom seem to have unlimited time and budget to make endless videos where every product is simply wonderful. Coincidentally many of these products are fairly new and certainly have to be aware that much of this buzz, helps drive sales. Small wonder that it makes good sense for a small soap maker to appeal to a reviewer's ego by slapping a picture of their faces on a shave soap label. There is no way of knowing if the man on the screen has any real shaving experience other than when their stated ignorance occasionally shines through.
Here's one real difference between B&B and other traditional forums is the collected experiences of it's users as opposed to a sometimes glaring lack of context on the Facebook groups. I can't underestimate how helpful searching through the older posts of B&B were in helping me to arrive at what I appreciated in hardware and software. I could see the folks whose writing spoke to me and perhaps had similar tastes and get an idea of how experienced they were.
The other real difference is B&B has a long tradition of the YMMV ethos. There are folks here who love very expensive luxury products and others who equally love the humble Arko. There are fans of the old canonical shave products and devotees of the new artisan soap makers - it's all here and it's all respected and honored.
It's also a far cry from the slap stick hucksterism that passes on much of Facebook and You Tube. IMO, slapping an alleged reviewers mug on a label, coming out with a special edition products every other day is something else than old world traditions and small mom & pop artisans. As always YMMV.
Someone earlier mentioned Mantic59 not having a soap named after him, which of course we all know Mantic does't really do product endorsements, he just teaches folks who to shave.
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I'm kinds disappointed by some of these comments really. I mean we should be embracing and spreading wet shaving. This has become a trend and it's helping to turn more people to wet shaving. Like I said I'm have no plans to buy any of these soaps but I'm not damming the prole who do or company that makes them. I find it disheartening that some of the posts come off to me as elitist and snobby. Like there is only one way to sell or make soap.
This^^
It's marketing, they're picking a direction/demographic that their product might appeal to. For the younger guys embarking on wet shaving maybe they appreciate the humor and that drives them to buy it versus some 1000 year old brand with a fancy script label that makes it seem aristocratic and stuffy.
