Crabtree and Evelyn sandalwood soap

When I first received this soap from my wife, I could not get it to lather. I tried it on and off for almost a year being frustrated every time I went to use it. Then one day I grabbed my cheap boar (I had tried both badger and boar with no success) and things changed. I had my usual bad lather, but then I went back to the soap to load the brush again, and WOW!

The lather from the soap was so creamy and thick, it was probably one of the best I had ever gotten from any soap! (That includes QED, Mama Bear's, Tabac) This is now my main soap I use and I love it. Good job C&E!

All you need is some patience, but once you figure it out..you will be richly rewarded!

After reading all of the comments, I realized the reason the acronym YMMV is used so often on here...

I can see where sandalwood purists would be disappointed with the scent. It is more of a clean, soapy mild scent with just a touch of sandalwood or an almost almond-like smell. I bought it for that reason - the other C&E soaps were too sharp for my liking first thing in the morning. I like a more gentle aroma surrounding me.

As for the lather, I was STUNNED to hear people saying they have a hard time lathering this soap. I have a Rooney's finest and it seemed like the soap erupted into lather the second the brush touched it. Technique probably makes a difference here. I tend to use a decent amount of water and this soap LOVES, CRAVES, D-E-M-A-N-D-S water and lots of it.

As for the moisturizing, YMMV yet again. My first impression with the soap was wow, what a lather beast. My second impression was holy cow, a soap with some substance. No doubt I feel a richness to the soap like many creams. I feel a moisturizing effect and none of the dry skin others mention. Just goes to show how personal grooming products are and how they vary based on a person's "chemistry."

I agree the soap could be a little slicker and provide better glide. For $8 a puck, I don't expect to have to add a dab of cream to make a super lather. Since I already had some glycerin, I applied that to my face and the results were better, though I don't have a hard time picturing this soap causing many a razor to skip. Still, with proper care, it can perform quite well.

Time will tell with more uses, but with a little adjustment and experimentation I can see this being a very pleasant go-to shave. I dare say I get better results with this soap by itself than with high quality creams by themselves (I've been making a super lather with VDH deluxe and either JM Fraser or Jermyn St) More experimentation required, but the shaves have been similar.

All in all, a workhorse of a soap. I would call this a blue collar luxury product and am glad I tried it on a whim while picking up a bottle of West Indian Limes

All of this, except the scent part, is the same as my other C&E reviews so bare with me.

Price - I got this along with the other scents, sandalwood and Nomad for less than $30 total since they had buy 2 get 1 and 20% off so the price was beyond excellent for 3 soaps in bowls.

Quality - I think it's a very nice quality soap and the bowl it comes in is also well made.

Scent - The scent is definitely sandalwood and isn't super strong that it will make you wince. I think C&E got a good balance here and it lingers for a while afterward but I don't think it'll clash with anything.

Lather - I let this soap sit with some water in it then mix lather in my scuttle with that water and soap and I get a good amount of lather every time. Pretty easy to lather for me and it doesn't dry off even in the time it takes me to strop my str8.

Efficacy - Lather lasts for a long time in the scuttle and doesn't disappear. Slick and gives me a nice clean shave.

Moisturizing - I don't know that there is that much moisturizing in the soap but I have oily skin naturally and my face still feels soft after using it so it works for me.