After reading several threads and favorable reviews of her soaps, I decided to order several pucks for myself, beginning with the cedar and sage soap. As a AoS and ToBS user primarily, the $10 price of mystic water soaps(mws) seemed very affordable. I will begin with the fragrance of this soap which was extremely pleasing. It has a distinctive woodsy, masculine scent, tempered by the clary sage and spice notes, which give the soap a very crisp, refreshing scent I enjoy in warm and cool weather alike. In some ways, the spice notes remind me of OS aftershave. The scent is not at all overpowering, but will stick with you in a way such as not to let you forget you have shaved with a scented soap. As an aid to shaving, the soap performed well, providing ample cushion and slickness, while leaving my face feeling tight and refreshed.
The only complaint I had was with the soaps lather, which required some learning curve as I had to adjust my technique used with other hard soaps to achieve desired effects. This soap does not like a lot of water, but once you figure out the ratios, you will be rewarded with an ample, creamy lather on your brush and in your bowl. Despite my success in producing a rich lather, I found it had a tendency to evaporate/ be absorbed once it was on my face. Despite this, it performed well with my razor, providing more than enough protection and slickness from my de razor.
I would highly recommend mw soaps to anyone, and have made it a regular part of my rotation. I would also encourage first time users to be patient and take a few practice attempts with this soap until you perfect your lathering technique as it required some modification from my normal routine. Stick with it and you will be happily rewarded with an affordable, fragrant, and effective soap you will be happy to purchase again and again. Next I look forward to trying her adirondack jack fragrance, review to come in time.
The only complaint I had was with the soaps lather, which required some learning curve as I had to adjust my technique used with other hard soaps to achieve desired effects. This soap does not like a lot of water, but once you figure out the ratios, you will be rewarded with an ample, creamy lather on your brush and in your bowl. Despite my success in producing a rich lather, I found it had a tendency to evaporate/ be absorbed once it was on my face. Despite this, it performed well with my razor, providing more than enough protection and slickness from my de razor.
I would highly recommend mw soaps to anyone, and have made it a regular part of my rotation. I would also encourage first time users to be patient and take a few practice attempts with this soap until you perfect your lathering technique as it required some modification from my normal routine. Stick with it and you will be happily rewarded with an affordable, fragrant, and effective soap you will be happy to purchase again and again. Next I look forward to trying her adirondack jack fragrance, review to come in time.