Col. Conk Bay Rum shaving soap

It's an okay soap, and it lathers fairly well. The scent on the puck I received is almost negligible, but it works and for about $4 for the puck it's definitely one I don't feel buyer's remorse. If you want a great Bay Rum soap, try Captain's Choice.

Nice lather with a smooth, affordable shave, which in my experience has been typical of Colonel Conk soaps. No nicks, no burn, just a nice shave. My only problem with this one is the scent is weak, and not how I remember bay rum. It's not a bad aroma by any means, not sure what it does smell like, just not bay rum. If you are expecting a prominent bay rum aroma you will be disappointed with this, however, if you don't care and are looking for a close comfortable shave, you will be quite happy. Had this had a real bay rum aroma I would have rated it a 10.

If this performed as well as the Almond or the Amber it would be great.

I love the scent of Col. Konk bay rum. It lathers fairly easily, held up easily every time I use it for three passes. The price point is fair and it is found on most reputable online stores.

The lather dries out too fast. It is a very thirsty soap.

A really nice soap with a great Bay Rum scent that isn't over powering. It lathers really well, very quickly, and gives good protection, although I have used soaps with much better cushion. Enough lather after less then a minute to last three passes easily.......I really like this soap, it has a great price point, and will use it frequently.......

very nice affordable soap puck. one of the best smelling bay rums with almost no clove scent.

I love the Col. Conk soaps, well all but the lime, just don't care for the lime scent in any soap. For the price it is a great soap. I feel it lathers great and provides a great shave. I got the larger puck with free shipping.

I bought a small bar of Col. Conk's Bay Rum about 2 months ago to give it a shot. I know the reviews are mixed with some saying it's pretty awesome and others not so much. Sorry to say I'm falling into the latter camp.

First, the positive: The price is great and I love the light clean smell of the soap. I would love to use this as my every day shaving soap which brings me to the negatives:

Ok, only one negative, but it's a big one and one I have been unable to resolve: I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME GET THIS SOAP TO LATHER.

Using: Jagger Best brush and Dirty Bird scuttle. I did attempt to lather with my silvertip, with exactly the same results -- thin watery substance that doesn't at all resemble a "lather".

The simplest solution is usually the best so I started with the obvious --User error #1 -- Too much water. Solution: I squeezed the life out of my brush too remove excess water. No luck. At some point water must be added, but even the slightest drop results in a thin soapy watery substance.

User error #2: Not enough product. I'm a firm believer in using as much product as necessary, so I assumed that if water wasn't the answer, I must be using too little product. So I swirled the brush over the soap like a madman, saturating the brush as much as possible. Result -- same as before. Well, maybe a bit different. Now instead of thin soapy liquid I do get a lather of sorts, but it's the "watery" kind -- lots of bubbles in the lather. When applied it simply disappears on my face.

I've taken to adding a small amount of cream (currently TOBS) which results in a great lather, but having to add cream to the soap defeats the reasons that I want to like the soap so much (scent and price).

Perhaps I got a defective bar? As a test, today I used an old AOS unsented soap that I had for emergencies and didn't have any problems. I'm open to suggestions but for now I have to give Conk's a big .

This is the only Col Conk product I have used. If the other Col Conk products are just as good, I will be looking forward to trying them in the future.

Price-fairly cheap on amazon but I can't find it localy so I have to knock off a couple of points for shipping and handling charges.

Quality-What can I say, it's good stuff.

Scent-I love this scent, SWMBO does as well, I wish I could find a bayrum AS that smelled as good. Smells old timey.

Lather-Way better than williams, not as luxurious as vdh or proraso but slicker.

Efficacy-provides for a good, solid, shave

Moisturizing-pretty good, not the best but not drying at all.


Overall, if you haven't tried it yet you should.

As far as Bay Rum goes this is not my favorite. I love bay rum as a scent, but this is just a little underwhelming. It was the first soap I have ever used though, and its price is unbeatable it seems. So for beginners especially this is a go to soap. I think most started kits tend to throw one of these flavors in with the kit which makes it even cheaper.

First off.. I like the scent of Bay Rum. So naturally my first pick of the Conk soaps was...you guessed it....BAY RUM!
This a great glycerine based soap with a hint of Bay Rum. It lathers up nicely and gives a great slick cushion. What more do you need? For 3.50 this puck can't be beat!

Traditional and very nice indeed. A must for every collection.

Overall: Recommended.

A good soap, that has a gentle bay rum scent. The scent isn't particularly strong, but it is there. It lathers well and provides good shaves. For the price of a puck this is a hard value to beat.

Price:
Cheap.

Quality:
Very good for the price, but not all that amazing. I get good shaves out of it.

Scent:
I enjoy it, a mild bay rum scent. I like pairing it with Pinaud Bay Rum aftershave.

Lather:
Decent lather.

Efficacy:
Decent efficacy. The soap doesn't get in the way of a smooth, close shave.

Moisturizing:
Not bad. Definitely doesn't dry out my face.

An average soap that's a great value. There's not really much harm in trying it for yourself due to its really low price.

I'm new to this and am using 7 soaps now and this is my least favourite. The smell is fine, but not sure it smells like rum...

Also, I've had a couple of bad XTG passes with this stuff. It may still be operator error, but I'm starting to wonder. I worry about the slickness / lubrication of this one. The other day, I switched mid-shave to Proraso when my straight blade started to skip up my neck which was lathered with Conk.

I haven't scored it too badly as it is very cheap and not unpleasant, but not sure if it will get equal time as the other soaps I'm using.

An excellent soap for a low price. Pleasant mild scent, although I do prefer more "medicinal" soaps like Williams. The soap produces a ton of very slick, greasy lather.

Being very new to shaving (been shaving since late December '09) I dont have much experience with shaving supplies. I only own two creams and this one soap. That being said, I find that it wont do too much to comment on the lathering ability or w/e, but I can say two things maybe not as readily mentioned on these reviews...this soap tastes good! I know it's silly, but not one person can tell me that they've never got some lather in their mouth--just saying. Also, owning two creams, I love that the scent is mild; it's nice not getting a mild headache from over-exposure to the lavender and sandalwood scents of the A.O.S and ToOBS respectively. That's just me though hope this helps lol

Shadowatfive;1018121 said:

I couldn't get this soap to lather up to save my life, and what little lather i did manage to get just disappeared a few seconds after I put it on my face. It also made my brush feel greasy. Im wondering if maybe I just got a bad puck.

Click to expand...

You must have gotten a bad puck or you have too much water on your brush.

One thing I do, while running hot water in the sink is add a few drops of hot water onto the top of the cake and let it sit while I do other prepping. This helps make a lot of lather very quickly with this soap. If I don't do it, making a later takes 4x as long. For me to get a lather on this soap is about 10 seconds. Also, I have the puck in a wooden bowl but, I use an over sized mug to make my later. I get most of the water out of my brush and do 3x clockwise, 3x counter, 3x clockwise, 3x counter then bring the brush into the mug. In the mug I only have a few drops of water and that is enough to get started. Add "drops" of water as needed but, just drops or it will become soupy and start to fizzle out as you are saying.

For fun, I usually get the lather out of the brush and go back a second time so my mug is over-flowing with soap so my son can play with it while I shave Even doing that, this soap lasts forever!

It does leave my face dry after shaving but, that could be because I am using crappy Merkur blades (same deal, bought a bunch and just waiting to use them all).

The scent is good but, not very strong and does not last. After using this soap for over a year, I am just barely starting to smell the scent when I walk by my side of the sink.

The lather stays for quite a long time on my face without drying out and is thick and does not run at all.

This is my first shave soap that I tried and since then have tried some other brands but, keep coming back to this one. I bought a 3 pack and a year later and still on my first puck. $$$ saver right here!

Ever since I started wet shaving in order to finally detach myself from the corporate giant Gillette I have been going through shave creams and soaps like nobody's business! Constantly searching for the right combination of scent, lather, and protection.
I have found that I prefer soaps to creams for the most part and boy was I impressed when I finally stumbled upon Col. Conks! I love these soaps. I find them to produce a very thick and smooth lather that shave like a dream. I am a big Bay Rum fan and while the Conks smells pleasant, it is very fleeting as some other posters have noted. The glycerin soap produces a very slick shaving surface but they are not very moisturizing and tend to dry out my face a bit. A small price to pay for the wonderful shave it gives. Nothing a little after shave balm won't take care of.
I find that this soap gives me the best results when I use my boar's hair brush. Col. Conks....a great shave at a great price. A real value.