Burts Bees

I got a puck of this (no mug, no brush, not a set) as a gift this Christmas. Like everyone else, I love the scent -- my favorite version of bay rum ever -- but for $8, you can definitely get better soap somewhere else unless you just really need to buy this brand for some personal reason. I would definitely try this scent in a different product (maybe their aftershave).

I don't know if they reformulated the soap when they brought it back, but my box says "We have added aloe vera to help soothe the skin . . . Ingredients: Vegetable soap, bay oil, orange oil, lemon oil, cinnamon oil, fir needle oil, lavandin oil, cedarwood oil, patchouli oil, clove oil, sage oil, bay leaf, clove powder, cinnamon powder, aloe vera. 99.87% natural"

After bay leaf, the cinnamon and clove are the smells that stand out most to me.

this is my first post on B&B.

i got a gift set with a burt's bees apothecary mug, ceramic-handled boar brush, a puck of soap, and a can of after shave balm.

all this time i thought it was just my technique that wasn't making the soap lather up. now that i've tried some other products and read these reviews i've been reassured that my technique isn't necessarily to blame.

i really, really wanted to like this soap. i could get more lather with a puck of WILLIAMS MUG SOAP than this stuff.

i'll try someone else's bay rum scent.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think this soap has been discontinued. At least, they are still selling it on their website.

http://www.burtsbees.com/natural-products/men-shaving/bay-rum-shaving-soap.html

Hopefully, they're just selling old stock they couldn't get rid of. I, like the other reviewers here would love to see this soap get discontinued. It is crap.

I really was hoping for a good product. I bought it with the best of intentions to make it work no matter what, some soaps just have their own unique requirements, but I gave up half way through the puck. I could never get a good lather. I tried my badger and boar hair brushes, different amounts of water and soak time, whipping it like a dessert topping for 10 minutes, nothing will make this soap lather!

When and if you do manage to get a usable lather, keep that brush handy because it's gonna dry out before you even get a sideburn done. You'll have to re-apply multiple times in one pass.

It's terrible. Don't even give this soap to your enemies.

The number one draw for this soap, as others have pointed out, is the scent. It's fantastic, and it's unfortunate that the line has been discontinued, because I'm going to finish my last bottle of BB Bay Rum aftershave. It is possible to get a half-decent lather going with this soap, but the lather does not last very long and is thin and bubbly. It's best to apply lather to one section of the face (e.g. one cheek, or your chin), shave it, and then move to the next section. This is because the bubbly lather breaks down quickly, and by the time you get to the last part of your face, the lather has turned into a film of soap.

Still, the shave it provides is adequate, if not ideal. As another person mentioned, even once the lather breaks down, it still provides good lubrication for the razor. But why put yourself through that when you could just get a better soap?

Price: $6 USD plus shipping. I've already found better products for half the cost.

Quality: This seams to be well made and Burt's prides themselves on all natural products.

Scent: Best thing about this. A clean spicy rum smell. Not to strong and not to weak.

Lather: At first I thought it was the Burt's brush I started with. Then I used the C&E BBB and the lather improved but still not really acceptable.

Efficacy: Works OK, not bad but not great, but not really acceptable. Starts better but half way through my passes I can feel it drying out and the razor doesn't glide as easy.

Moisturizing: If I don't follow up with a balm I can really tell. Feels very dry and tight.

I too was caught up in the scent of this soap, and purchased it with the mug and brush. The brush is frankly horrible. It sheds like a sick cat. Everytime I shave, I am pulling the loose bristles off my face. Not nice. The mug seems to be good, I like the weight of it. However, I haven't tried to fit other soaps in it yet. I am one to try and use up the soap rather than to throw it out.

As others have said, the scent *at least for me* was very nice. I have had difficulty getting a nice, lasting lather as well. I thought it might've just been the cheap brush, but this doesn't seem to be the case. I am hopeful I can find something nicer in the near future. In the meantime, I shall use up this stuff and try for more lather with the posts here.

I am new to this site, and have already found it quite informative. Thanks for great information! I have been wet shaving since I started, but have only recently delved into the straight razor/safety razor scene.

This was the first soap product I have tried. I found myself wanting to dislike it, but the more I used it, the more it grew on me. At first, I had trouble attaining a good lather, but I learned that if you soaked the soap for about 15 minutes in hot water before beginning to lather, it worked a lot better. I found the scent wonderful and the efficay better than many of the tube shave creams that I have used. (Tom's of Maine for example.) For the money, it is a great product.

At first, I had a hard time building up a decent lather with this soap too. However, after experimenting a bit I was able to get an acceptable lather. The puck just seemed harder than other soaps I've used.

In my experience, soaps tend to like a stiffer brush, so I broke out my Pure Badger. I then soaked the top of the puck with hot water. This created a soft spot in which to load the brush with. What resulted was a thick lather that was just slightly less than "par" with more expensive "botique" soaps.

Bottom line: Yes, there are other soaps out there that are probably more enjoyable. However, if you don't mind the extra time required to prepare this soap, it is quite adequate. The scent is remarkable, and for the price ($5.00 - $7.00), you can't beat it!

Mr. Gillette;565617 said:
If by gift set you mean the soap (if you can call it that) a mug, (decent) and a brush...

I might add that it's the worst boar brush I've ever seen. It leaves many bristles behind, and at some point, when you finally get it wet, the glue that holds the "knot" together will come undone and you'll have a nice porcelain paperweight, devoid of bothersome bristles.

But the mug is nice.

Yea, I was shaking the brush and knot went flying. I glued it back in with some plumbers glue (waterproof).. I actually like the feel of the brush and haven't lost too many hairs yet... the handle feels almost too heavy though.

-Mason

Got it as a gift from my girlfriend. Great smell, lathers about as good as a rock. To me, its worthless for any shaving properties. I was very disapointed.

I bought a Burt's Bee soap and mug before reading the post above. It was pretty cheap and got free shipping. The best part about this offer was the mug.

The soap smells very good, but it's such a poor performer, that I used my Proraso midway.

I have found a use for this huge shaving cup. It's big enough to hold my Crabtree and Evelyn bowl, so I will use it to keep my lather warm.

I will read this forum more closely before buying another soap, thanks guy.

I tried this soap despite its reviews, and I must admit, I liked it. I mean, I REALLY liked it. I saw it at a store with the mug (w/ face on it--very nice), so for under $10 CAN, I thought the mug was worth it by itself. As others have said, it doesn't lather, or at least not to the extent that we are all used to. It is airy and bubbly, like a soap lather, and dries out rather quickly. However, for a soap, this is one of the slickest I've tried, despite its different lather. Even when it dried out, it left behind a slick layer that my razor easily glided over for one of the best shaves I've experienced from a soap. Effortless. Again, as others have pointed out, the scent is magnificent. I would advise all to at least give this soap a try with a razor, and my guess is that you will be pleasantly surprised.
Ryan

I agree. It is a shame too, since bay rum is one of my favorite scents. This has to be the strongest bay rum shaving soap I have ever encountered. Unfortunately, it also has the pissiest poor lather I've ever encountered in a soap, leaving a lot of drag on my razor. I can get more lather from a bar of Coast and my toothbrush that I can with my C&E brush and this junk.

jmwebster;252849 said:
this deserved to be discontinued!!

I usually love Burt's bees products, and the smell was amazing, but hands down the worst soap I have ever used.

I agree! About 7 years ago (before Burt's products were EVERYWHERE!) my wife and I had a small boutique-- carried many of Burt's products. When this soap, and Burt's mug and brush came along, I ordered one and tried it. Soap was very VERY disappointing, and did not produce ANY reasonable lather. (I think in subsequent years, Burt kicked up the glycerin, but it really didn't help much.

The brush was sub-standard...usually shedding a LOT on each shave, and the mug is a strange size/shape, but easily used with some mods.

PLEASE BE AWARE...I generally LOVE Burt's Bees products and the concept behind them, and was very much in touch with almost his entire line. I voiced my concerns over the soap to the folks at the factory, who hid behind "It can't lather because it's all natural with no animal products" as if a little glycerin couldn't be synthesized from plants!

The Bay Rum aftershave balm was pleasant, soothing and effective, if not somewhat greasy feeling-- but the pump spray/bottle soon clogged. I still have some and use it occasionally, and after half a decade, it still maintains a nice classic scent.

But...I would prefer a .99 cent puck of Williams 100 times over the Burt's Bee's soap, and I've had better luck with a $4.00 Burma Shave brush from Walgreens.

I was really disappointed by this one as well. I got the aftershave balm first and really like the scent, so I dropped my bucks to grab the soap as well. Granted, this was one of my first forays into using a brush and shaving soap instead of the Barbasol method, and I was probably mishandling the cheap boars hair brush I used to own, but the lather was horrible. I kept the soap (have a hard time getting rid of shaving products) and tried it again recently with a slightly nicer badger brush, but still had problems. I have since binned it. I do think it's a shame that I can't get the aftershave anymore though!

I have to agree on this one, it was one soap that I used for a week and disposed off, could not make lather, no matter how hard I tried.

John

jmwebster;252849 said:
this deserved to be discontinued!!

I usually love Burt's bees products, and the smell was amazing, but hands down the worst soap I have ever used.

this deserved to be discontinued!!

I usually love Burt's bees products, and the smell was amazing, but hands down the worst soap I have ever used.

This product has been discontinued.

I really like this soap. It lathers nicely, and has a hint of bay rum scent. The bar is a bit larger than my Burma-Shave mug, but a few strokes with my knife over the mug, and it fit quite nicely, with no loss of product.

The cologne is quite refreshing, and the spicy bay rum scent invigorating.

I visited their webstore, and neither is listed. I hope it is still available. I've emailed the company, and am awaiting a reply.

http://www.burtsbees.com

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