D.R. Harris Marlborough Shave Soap

Lol.. well, I picked up a used portion of this soap in the wooden bowl on the BST about 50% used. I could not find any samples of it at the time, but wanted to and this seemed to be the only way to procure this.

I am not going to make this a long review, but just and to the point. Okay first, presentation is good. The wooden bowl is very nice, which looks good on the counter and stored away. It whips up and makes a decent lather, not out of this world good, but pretty decent nonetheless.
It is ok moisturizing, I didn't really notice that but I don't recall my skin being extremely dry after using it.

My biggest complaint is the scent. I know a lot of guys like the scent, and I am not saying it is an outrageously disgusting scent because people like it. To me, the name fits the scent. Marlborough... more like a carton of busted up Marlborough Reds smoked down to the butts. It was like lathering up essence of ash tray from a Waffle House. This is just what I get, and I know my sniffer is not your sniffer. However, the scent is very fleeting, and goes away, leaving you with the opportunity to use an aftershave with an alternative and much more acceptable fragrance. I don't write this review to persuade people not to buy it, just an honest review on what I gather from this product. Cheerio mate .

No matter how much I try, I just can't get this soap to make enough lather for a multipass shave. I have no problem lathering MWF, Tabac, Williams, L'Occitane Cade, etc, but I just know what the trouble is with this soap. I've tossed two pucks into the trash after a couple of weeks wishing and hoping it would lather....but without success. Never to buy another puck again.

A great soap, with a mild yet lovely scent. Very easy to build into a thick, creamy lather. Excellent performance, on par with any top-end soap. A bit expensive, but what can you do? Highly recommended.

got a 1/2 oz milled sample from garry. this molded so easily into my older AOS wood bowl.
the soap lathered wonderfully with normal effort.
it seemed a little thirsty and i had to add a little water at times. after about 2 minutes it developed nice whipped peaks and slick lather.
the scent is nice, masculine, retentive but not overly strong. lubricity is wonderful with de razor. second pass lather remained dense and slick. only negative is that i would have liked a bit more moisturizing effect at the end of the shave. when i did a clean up, it seemed that i had hardly even dented the sample puck. the sample will easily last me 3-4 more shaves. definitely a high quality soap and heartily recommended.

D. R. Harris Marlborough triple-milled shaving soap made in the United Kingdom. This is a quality tallow-based soap that I would purchase again.

Price: $15 (US) for 3.53 oz (100g)–$4.25 per ounce, by weight

Quality: Triple-milled, hard shaving soap with some artificial ingredients.

Scent: Difficult to describe (wood, citrus, etc.), but clean and masculine. Something in there doesn’t agree with my sensitive nose, so I don’t stick my nose in it.

Lather: Easily generates plenty of lather; much more than necessary.

Efficacy: Excellent glide and cushioning with safety razors and with straight razors.

Moisturizing: Left my skin fairly dry, but I live in a dry climate.

Ingredients: Potassium palmate, Sodium tallowate, Sodium palmate, Sodium palm kernelate, Aqua, Potassium palm kernelate, Glycerine, Parfum, Sodium chloride, Petrolatum, Palm kernel acid, Orthotolyl biguanide, Alpha-isomethyl ionone [floral, woody scent], Tetrasodium etidronate, Pentasodium pentetate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Cl 77891 [titanium dioxide]

A top soap, highly recommended.

DR Harris soaps are great, and Marlborough is my favorite DR Harris soap. The scent is fleeting, but next to vetiver, it is my choice for soap. Lathering is easy, it cushions and moisturizes. It does what it is supposed to very well. Cedar and sandalwood. Yum.

i actually didn't like this soap. i would agree with those who described it as "stale smoke", but i didn't find it to be that strong so that wasn't a huge factor anyway. the lather was pretty thin, and i got my first razor burn in weeks. some people like it, but i'm not one of them go with tabac, or better yet MWF

This soap is also one of my favorites. Lathers wonderfully and leaves a man's scent. The AS awaken all the remaining spiderwebs after a morning shave.

I´ll keep this short. This is presently my favorite SS, others that I´ve used include Tabac, Trumper, Cade, & MWF.

The soap is triplemilled and dense, the price is moderate considering longevity. I have not gotten better lather from any other soap och cream that I´ve used, and I´ve tried plenty,

Scent is obviously a matter of taste, and I actually decided to purchase this after sniffing Arlington. This is more to my liking, a quite discrete, somewhat smoky, woody smell. I might get the Arlington after all, since I´m considering purchasing the entire SS-line from DR Harris. Yes, it´s that good.

BTW the aftershave splash is fantastic as well.

I guess everyone's nose is different, but this stuff really stinks.

I don't get all the people that say Tabac smells like cigarette smoke because it uses fragrance from the tobacco flower, when it just smells like soap.

Ironically, another poster picked up that DR Harris Marlborough smells like Marlboro's. To me, it smells like an stale ashtray full of them. Almost no scent on the puck, but once lathered it's vile.

I've only given this a couple of shaves, and it seems to perform well, but despite my usual 'take it or leave it' with scents, this one is so bad, I don't think it can be saved for me.

A very disappointing intro to DR Harris.

I think the Harris Marlborough is a good soap. If you like traditional triple milled hard shave soaps, you owe it to yourself to pick up a puck.

For me the shaves I get from Marlborough are great. However, somehow the lather is always slightly disappointing for me and I find the scent to be weird. Not bad, just kinda strange. And because of the lather and scent thing, I don't find myself reaching for it that often.

With high expecations and in response to the fine posted reviews, I ordered this soap. I really wanted to like this product and was really looking for a premium product. It did not turn out as I expected.

For those that like to experiment, this may be an interesting choice. For those that work hard for their money and who are looking for quality or value, look elsewhere. Lather is comparable to other average soaps and the cost is, well, $15 a puck on refill (also milled mine into a bowl). I would put the performance above Ogallala and Pre de Provence, below MWF, and FAR below Tabac, Irisch Moos, Cade and Tojas. I don't know if it is really bad or just that it really failed to meet my high hopes.

As for smell, there is either no smell or the strange smell is so faint that it is hard to detect. Also not what I would expect from a premium product. I can put up with Arlington because I like the (faint) smell. What I smell here is not good. Honestly, I think the $2 soap pucks at WalMart smell better.

If you like a high performing product, cannot tolerate the smell of Tabac and cannot get Irisch Moos or Tojas, buy Cade: good balance of smell and performance. I like the fresh sage smell of Pre de Provence and can accept the mediocre performce of the soap because of this. (I also like the smell of the Pre de Provence after-shave cream.) MWF performs much better than Marlborough, but the the smell is well, like soap.

In summary: OK performance, neutral to poor smell, high price. Save your money.

I ordered a bunch of soaps a while ago to play with- Taylor, Trumper, the T/H rebranded for vintageblades, MWF, and this soap. For me, the Harris soap is putting the rest of them to shame, and is up there with Tabac in my rotation. In fact, it delivers all the performance I get from Tabac with a scent I like better.

Price- Up there, $15-17 for a refill, which I milled into a glass serving bowl about 3" across or so. Not Floris or Penhaligon's pricey, but still above average for shaving soaps. I don't mind paying this price if it works, which this does very well, but I still wish it were less- my mind automatically balks a little paying $15-17 for any puck of soap.

Quality/ Efficacy- excellent. When I really lather it well, I barely notice the hairs being cut.

Scent- we will all smell things differently- I get a deep, rich, round, and slightly spicy kinda scent. I thought it was OK to begin with, but is growing on me fast. It is pretty light to my nose- I wish this were stronger, as I like strongly scented products, but it will do.

Lather- one of the best lathers I get from a soap, and it is simple and easy to build. I find it has a wide 'sweet spot' with the water content, unusual for the soaps I mentioned at the top of the review. I find the lather to be very thick, dense, slick and rich. I can whip up a lather with all these qualities and more body with a Taylor cream, but only barely.

Moisturizing. Average- a little drying, as I experience with most creams or soaps. Nothing special here for me.

Overall, I am quite pleased and would definitely buy it again, as I plan to pick up some of the other scents of Harris. While the scent doesn't send me into raptures, it is pleasant. Where this soap really shines is in its performance qualities, which I find to be superlative.

I bought this as a stick in the BST.

Its a very classy little tube, but it is a little tube.

View attachment 64173

Compared to other sticks, its tiny. Tabac is 100g, TOBS is 75g, QED is 56g, Palmolive is 50g, Harris is 40g.
Thats a bit of a disapointment.

The scent, to me, is stale smoke; perhaps the name should have been a give away

But enough of that - how does it work?

really well. I mean, really well. Goes on the face nice and easy, lathers up a charm, lubricates and protects like the best of them.

The 'test' for me, is would I buy it again. No.
The scent isnt great, and the tiny size annoys me, especially when considering cost. Ill keep using and enjoying the stick I have, and I would try another Harris stick if it came up in the BST, but not full price.

I just purchased the shave stick, which to my knowledge is the same thing as the soap.

Its a little pricey.

Top notch quality.

The scent is fantastic, i opened the top and it just kicked me in the face ina good way. I went in for a second whiff and got nothing..during the shave it was extremely sublte. But, it lingered, and layered quite nicely with my AV classic blue. 3-4 hours later.

The lather was luxrious, rich, and slick. Still playing with shave sticks, so i can imporve on it.

Moisturizing is where this separates itself from the less expensive soaps. Super hyrated my face, and let me blade buff atg with ease using a merkur 39c. This was my first time ever using that tool or this soap.

Will keep some harris soap on hand in my den from now on.

Just got a bowl from TESC and I have to agree in large part with Bokaba. The scent is more subtle than I was expecting but it was there. Very likeable. From a performance perspective, I have no complaints at all. The soap loads on the brush easily, lathers almost instantly and is very rich and dense. I got a great - DFS - shave with plenty of lather left over.

I just received this from another member. It is an excellent British soap. Let me say that it is not cheap (especially in the coveted beech bowl). Nonetheless, the lather is excellent and it quite soft for a triple-milled soap. The scent is very hard to detect, but is smokey and spicy. If you get the chance, give this a try.

Want ot try this stuff.

I concur that the D.R. Harris Marlborough soap is excellent. The only down side for me was the scent. It was particularly strong in mine and disagreed with my sinuses. I'm rather sensitive to certain strong scents. I solved the problem by placing the soap puck in my garage for 2 weeks. After that the scent is mild and doesn't bother me at all.

Truth is I prefer the Woods of Window scent to all others but the D.R. Harris Marlborough scent isn't bad at all and the soap is recommended.

Now if I could get a D.R. Harris grade soap in WOW scent.