Godrej Shaving Round

Added this to an order of blades a couple of weeks ago due to the low price and positive reviews, not to mention the fact that I enjoy many Indian products. I found the soap to be okay for the price, great for a decent shave in lean times or between shaves with other favorite soaps. It lathers quite quickly and well, and has a light, pleasant barbershop scent with a hint of what seems to be lavender, but with a slightly synthetic soapy scent.

The shave itself was just okay with my normal two passes. Dry, and my razor "stuck" a few times with the first shave. I have learned to use a bit more water and face lather for a much more slick shave, and go ahead and do three passes. It helps if I add a few drops of vitamin E oil before lathering.

Good soap to have a few pucks of on hand for travel, for lean times, or to add to your regular rotation. Go Godrej!

I bought a couple of these just to try out another Godrej product. I wasn't expecting too much from it, but I have been very pleasantly surprised. The price is reasonable when compared to other similar products (~ $1.50 per 50gm puck, ignoring delivery costs). I received the refill that comes in a light cardboard box, I have to say the quality of the packaging is "meh" at best. The quality of the actual product however is a pleasingly different story. I don't mind the scent of this soap, it's a clean scent and once lathered up pretty much fades away. The lather is very good, it's rich, slick and protective. All it takes is a 20 second swirl on a moist puck and you're in business with more that enough lather for a three pass shave. I rub the puck on my face as well, not that it really needs the extra soap, it's just that I'm greedy. I get a smooth, close shave with no irritation, a BBS shave is no problem at all with this soap. My skin feels reasonably moisturised at the end of the shave, but a bit of balm is welcome more often than not. Overall, this is a bargain priced gem worthy of your consideration. If I had to compare Godrej soap to something then it would be close to the Euro Palmolive stick. I have just ordered another two pucks this morning, hopefully this time I'll get them in the plastic container. As someone else said, a kazillion Indians can't be wrong!! 8)

When I got it from eBay I thought, OMG, what's this. I'll be damned if this ever lathers. Well, it did with less effort than I thought. The smell is nothing special, really not intrusive and right now I can't thing of any close scent than hospital hallway. This soap is not bad, can't say that but I would put it in the price category of its homeland ($0.20).

...but in the end, billions of Indians can't be wrong

I have been using the Godrej Shaving Round everyday for the past two weeks, and have really come to love it. It's the Williams/ VDH of the Indian world, and a very solid performer. Price wise, it's about $3 per puck in the US.

This soap easily produces a rich lather with minimal effort.

The puck is a little smaller than most, but should still last for a month or more.

I have been lathering directly on the puck (with the puck in a Marvy Rubber Mug), and over the course of two weeks have used up less than 1/2 of the puck; lathering on the puck is said to be very wasteful of soap.

The scent isn't anything to write home about, but is also not offensive.

Overall this is a very solid budget based performer.

I have a friend who travels to India on business and I had him bring me back both rounds and creams.
He charged me nothing!! He said his cost was negligible there.
Lasts as long as any other puck I have used.
The rounds are the Indian version of Williams, but a little more flowery smelling.
It lathered fantastic.
It shaved smooth and moisturizing was good for me but I do not like over-moisturizing soaps.

Overall, it is definitely worth a try.

John

I can't say much about the Godrej shave round,
exept that it's a very back to basic product, it doesn't cost much and it lather like crazy.
For me it's on par with the Arko stick but a step better, it doesn't have the urinal puck scent of Arko.
I would say it's 15 times better than Williams.
I guess that the main difference between Williams and the Godrej round is that 80% of the purchased Williams puck end in the garbage while the Godrej get use to the end.
It's great to put in a travel bag also, it doesn't take space.

Up to last count I had searched through over 20 Indian grocery stores in Sydney looking for the Godrej shaving round. Every shopkeeper was happy to be reminded of this product when I asked for it but none stocked it or thought it possible to import. Eventually a contact brought me back 2 rounds from a business trip to India. The shaving round in a plastic container cost 16 Rs (40 cents Aus) and the replacement round 14 Rs (34 cents).

I can only imagine that the Godrej shaving round is one of the most popular shaving products in the world. Assuming India has a population of 1.147 billion and subtracting all groups unlikely to use the product such as women, the middle class, males too young to shave etc I reckon that at least 300 million Indians would use Godrej shave rounds. This is almost the entire population of the U.S.A. A product that has been around since 1938 and is used by a great number of men simply has to have something going for it.

My first impressions upon receiving the soap were the small size, smell and packaging of the product. The smell of the soap while not disagreeable is not great. It has an industrial scent like soap used for removing stubborn stains. The scent is quite strong when dry but when applied as a lather it is quite weak and doesn't linger. The small size of the soap meant that it banged around a bit in my shaving mug when lathering. I found it much easier to lather the round that is supplied with a plastic case. The packaging of the refill round is not top notch. For 34 cents you can't complain but the box is made of poor quality cardboard and the round is wrapped in tissue paper which sticks to the soap when you try to remove it. I also found that the refill round was crumbling around the edges like some other reviewers experienced.

The lather provided by the round is good but not great. It is certainly not in the same league as the Arko shave stick but this product being Vegan doesn't contain tallow. I found that with a little more effort I could create a respectable lather but nothing to write home about. Shaving with the lather was not as comfortable as other soaps or creams. I didn't feel much glide or cushion and I felt that I had to work harder and apply more pressure to cut throught the beard. I was half expecting my face to become a bloody mess with the lack of lubrication and fair lather but the big surprise was just how good my face felt after the shave. While I didn't achieve a BBS I reckon I came very close. My cheeks felt very smooth and soft when I was expecting soreness and irritation.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the Godrej shave round. It's small size and plastic packaging lends itself as the perfect addition to the travel pack. For me the best feature is the great skincare. I could use a hypo allergenic, organic, ultra sensitive shave soap that costs 30 bucks and my face would still be covered with cuts and a rash. This soap costs 40 cents and my skin felt damn good for hours after shaving. In a world filled with over hyped expensive products I'm glad this soap exists. It's a pity you can't buy it locally so I'll have to keep asking my Indian friends to bring it home for me. I can see this soap becoming a firm favourite despite it shortcomings simply because it makes my face feel good.

I got a round of Godrej shave soap for free with a razor from India a while back and can't stop using the stuff. It produces thick, rich lather in no time and doesn't thin out too easily. This was my first shave soap and I managed to get great lather out of it on my first try. I find the sent is quite pleasant, a mixture of potpourri and something medicinal. It's as cheap as cheap can be; I've seen them for 1.50 a round on some sites. The round is a little smaller than your average small round of, lets say, Col. Conk's however the price definetly makes up for it. It's rather moisturizing too.

I will always be sure to have at least one round of Godrej in my cabinet.

I highly recommend this product for anyone looking for a new soap or a cheap travel soap.

Works fine. Tried it today with my Rotbart 2000 loaded with a Super-Max improved stainless (directly from India, same as the super stainless?). Got a CCS without any problems. Skin was not as soft as with Cella afterwards, but passable. Like the scent better than Vergulde Hand (our famous Dutch shaving soap). Worth a try.

Godrej Shaving Round has been around in my country India for as long as eternity.We have seen it in every bathroom,with the soldiers,sailors and Airman,every roadside barber all over India,petty vendors,lower middle class employees,for that matter everyone who shaved used Godjej Shaving Rounds.

Even the smallest grocery man would stock these.They are available even today at every village shop.

They are priced Rs.14 today but was priced as low as 1 Rupee not very long time ago.

We Indians men have used it at sometime or the other and most often find one kept away in a quaint corner of the bathroom shelf for don't know when I may need it time.

And so a big Kudos to the good ol' Godjeg Dhaadi Ki Tikiya (aka Shaving Bar).

Can't believe I haven't summited a review of this soap.

About a month back a friend brought back a few rounds from his homeland of India.

Gave it a try and now I'm a big fan. He is going back this week and asked if I wanted anything. Yes, you guessed it Godrej Shaving Rounds!

I'm not going to get into the details of this soap but will say if you like VDH soaps there is a good chance you will like Godrej.

Easy to lather up with and has an old barber shop smell.

Good lubrication and moisturizing qualities that help me get a BBS shave.

Now the good news and bad news.

The good news is these rounds didn't cost me a cent as in my friend gave them to me free.

The bad news is I cannot find these rounds locally as in ethnic store around my area. I can imagine that they are available on-line but the prices may be high.

To my knowledge these rounds go for less than 50 cents in India. If your going to pay more than $1.50 a puck then go with VDH instead.

Still if you can get a puck go for it. This soap gets the job done and done well.

I bought this on pure curiosity alone. The price in America was about $5.00 shipped to my door, although I understand it to be about $0.20 in India.

It has been reviewed in detail by previous posters, so I will only post my brief impressions of each category.

Price: An excellent value. The soap is small (50g), but it only took me about 16 swirls around the top with my B&B Essential to generate enough lather for three facefuls. This means the soap will last quite awhile.

Quality: By American standards, it's initial appearance is a bit substandard. It's small, and doesn't quite fit the tiny plastic bowl it comes in, and has crumbly bits around the edges. It looks, not to offend anyone, like something cheaply massed produced in Asia. Upon closer inspection, however, the quality really begins to show. The bowl is well-formed, with no obvious seems, and has a drain hole built into the bottom. The lid fits nice and tight. The soap is not grainy like it first appears, but is instead very slick and solid. Seems to be quality!

Scent: A bit of a barbershop industrial medicinal smell. Not bad by any stretch, but this smell is all about the business of an economical shave. You won't buy it for the scent, but you won't be sorry about buying it because of the scent, either.

Lather: This was the most surprising. It positively exploded with lather after very few passes around the tiny circumference of the soap. I was honestly shocked at the generous, thick lather it made. And not a lather filled with little bubbles that disappear in less than a minute, oh no. I lathered my face with a normal layer, went about the business of stropping my razor (25 linen, 25 hide), and came back to the mirror. None of it had changed! This lather lasts!

Efficacy: A nice, smooth shave. Not the smoothest I've ever had, but not skipping, and lots of good cushioning around the jaw where it's needed most.

Moisturizing: I knew there would be a weakness, and this is it. It's definitely not loaded with moisturizers (see ingredients in a previous review by beyboo), and my face felt like it had been shaved immediately following the shave. No redness, per se, but tightness and a dry feeling.

Overall, this actually seems like it might make a pretty darn good travel soap. It's small, it's cheap (so you won't feel bad if TSA takes it), and it shaves pretty well. Consider picking one up today!

India is a cream country and is flooded with a variety of them. The Godrej shave round is the only shave soap available here. The presentation is light blue color and the texture is quite soapy and slippery to touch even when dry. Cracks easily between uses, but does not loose the soapy and smooth to touch feel.

A note on manufacturing - most FMCGs in India have contract manufacturers rather than in-house for reasons reducing overheads and cost savings. The product manufacture process, formulations and QA however is 100% with Godrej and is not a mere branding / stamping of the "Godrej" brand on an open market soap. If Tirupti was not contract manufacturing the Shave Round, its reason to exist would cease.

Price :
As stated in the wonderful review by Kevan above, shaving can't get any cheaper than this in India. At Rs. 16 in a plastic box and Rs.14 (photos) for a refill puck without the plastic box, I can get 3 rounds for less than a dollar which makes it the cheapest way to shave.

Quality :
As we would say in India, it is a "Godrej", quality for price can't get better than with a Godrej product. I was "prescribed" this soap by a dermatologist to heal my face skin of blemishes, inflammations and irritations I got during my Mach 3 / Foamy days. After this "treatment" for a couple of months I was cured of both my skin woes as well as the Mach 3 way of life !

Scent :
"THE" standard definition for barbershop smell in India. The scent is very old school, and gets to you instantly. A couple of shaves and the perfume lingers in the bathroom for quite some time. It could have been made a bit mentholy to increase the appeal around its light blue presentation. It is entirely different from the Godrej SC.

Lather :
Lathers quite easily and quite a lot even in hard water. The soap dries and cracks between uses but is not a tough one to lather when you apply a wet brush. Lather does not provide as much cushion as its famous cousins the Godrej shaving cream. I use an Omega boar and directly lather on the puck and then face lather. As it is so cheap I also indulge in the luxury of creating fresh lather for every pass.

Efficacy : A 7 !

Moisturizing :
Not as much as the shave creams from Godrej, however a shave always leaves my face seems very soft after each use.

Godrej can easily enhance the product quality for the higher income segments, but as stated before, India is a cream country - and this product is specific low income market segments and the best value-for-money at the price point.

To those of us who are fans of their outstanding cream, the Godrej Shaving Round soap has been an intriguing prospect, and its elusiveness only adds to its appeal: even if you're perfectly happy with all the Godrej creams the mere existence of the mystery soap is enough to fuel one in the throes of SSAD. They have recently appeared on the 'Bay for those who are curious to try it out.

The Round is a lot older than its cream cousins, appearing in 1938, and it certainly does have that old fashioned vibe that attracts many of us to these out-of-the-way products. I feel pretty confident in guessing that this is what Jawaharlal Nehru and his allies may have shaved with as they advocated the boycott of foreign-made goods in India during the push for independence. And it stands up surprisingly well to other products.

No ingredients are listed on the plastic container, but the Ebay seller lists the "partial" ingredients as Potassium Palmate, Potassium Cocoate, and Glycerine. It performs like a glycerine soap. And interestingly, it's marketed, but not MADE by Godrej like the creams (which are both made and marketed by it). It says the manufacturer is Trupati Enterprises. None of my other Indian shaving products are made by them.

Anyway, onto the review...

Price: I paid ~$5 shipped, but in India these things are $0.20 each. Not bad even for the small 50g puck. By comparison, the Godrej cream sells for about 4x more.

Quality: Good enough. Nothing really lacking. Considering the price difference it's probably a downmarket item in India, similar to Williams here in the U.S.

Scent:: It's certainly old-fashioned but nothing to write home about. Soapy, a little spicy. Kind of reminds me of the soap they use in hospital bathrooms; it's got that vague "janitorial" quality, but not in a bad way, in an old school way. When lathered up it's basically a mild, fresh soapy scent.

Lather: Makes a good lather that's protective enough to not irritate as I shaved a 4-day old beard tonight. Not as "creamy" as the best out there and there's no tallow or lanolin. But it was still pretty slick; slick enough so the blade (on its 3rd use) glided without tugging most of the time. Held up throughout the shave and didn't dry or disappear.

Efficacy: I'm not a soap guy. Most soaps irritate me, so the biggest test for a soap is if it burns, dries out my face, gives me rashes or otherwise assaults my skin in any way. To my surprise, this didn't. It only irritated around my chin (where I usually get irritation/redness with some products). There was no blade skipping. It's just not as smooth as Cella or Proraso Green Tea & Aloe and feels kind of heavy.

Moisturizing: It didn't dry my skin out or leave it feeling tight or burning.

Overall a solid product but nothing spectacular. Don't go out of your way to find it but if you happen to stumble upon it, you could do a lot worse. If it had menthol and lanolin, though, I'd love it instead of just "kinda like" it.