What's new

Mamma Bear's Shaving Soap

Item Description

Ok.... so #1 who is this "mamma bear?" #2 What qualifies her to make shaving soap? #3. Why spend money on such a random, off the wall, mom & pop type of product?

#1 - One of the nicest ladies you'll ever talk to who makes soaps out of her house... on her stove... with pots and pans.

#2 - Well.... nothing really that I am aware of.

#3 - Spend money on this product because it works exceptionally well, smells out of this world, and is awful inexpensive... in fact - it is just about the cheapest soap out there, cheaper even than Em's, SCS, QED, etc.

First and foremost... let me just start with the scent - as when you open the jar "WAAAPOOW" it hits you with a sharp crack like a blow from an angry - drunken Russell Crowe. At first whiff... I wasn't dissapointed, but I was a little let down. Don't get me wrong... it has an amazing peppermint scent to the soap... but where the heck was the rosemary? Well - take your wet brush, rub it around for a few seconds and BAM - your washroom is filled with the delightful, and elegantly mixed scent of peppermint AND rosemary. Honestly... the scent did not sound appealing to me in the slightest - but based on Rik's recommendation I went for it, and thank god I did.... REALLY delightful and BIG TIME invigorating. The second the brush touches your face you feel a whallop of a cooling effect - but PLEASE note the soap is 100% natural and the particular scent is comprised of essential oils, not fragarence oils - as a result it was incredibly delicate to/on my skin. Outstanding scent... simply first rate all the way, as ALL SIX of my mamma bear soaps have been - I can't wait to lather up some others and see if they change, as this one did, once lathered.

Now down to "bidness" - performance. Simply put - little needs to be said in this regard, as without question this is among the best, if not THE best glycerine soap on the market... yes... it is that good. As with all glycerine based soaps - you don't get as much of a "protective barrier" as you do with a thick, rich shaving cream, but mamma bears soap provides more "cushion" than most other glycerine based soaps, provides SUPERIOR lubrication to other glycerine based soaps or any shaving cream, and cuts WICKEDLY close. Using my plane jane Merkur Classic Long Handle for the last 2 days in a row with this soap and a 5 day old feather blade, I have gotten 2 world class, better than normal shaves. For a mere $6 you get a large 2.5inch soap in a plastic tub... but this is a much deeper/fatter cake of soap than standard and as a result offers quite a superb value - and Mamma sure don't skimp on the essential oils. As far as shaving soaps go... this is right up there with THE BEST of 'em, and when you take price/scent into consideration... (I kinda cringe when I say this as I have so many other soaps I have paid 5X+ for that I like LESS) this is probably the best shaving soap out there... yeah... there you have it.

You can purchase this soap from Sue AKA "Mamma Bear" HERE in about 400 different scents :lol: Seriously.... way too many scents to choose from... it is overwhelming as they all sound exceptional!

TO DISCUSS THIS REVIEW OR ASK QUESTIONS PLEASE SEE THIS THREAD!

Below - check out the pictures of Mamma Bear in action...
displayimage.php


displayimage.php


displayimage.php


displayimage.php


displayimage.php


displayimage.php


displayimage.php


displayimage.php


Lather filled brush after 4 passes....
displayimage.php


Brush after 5 minutes (after finished shaving to show the lack of "drying out" most other glycerine based soaps suffer from)
displayimage.php


Brush after 10 minutes (after finished shaving to show the lack of "drying out" most other glycerine based soaps suffer from)
displayimage.php


TO DISCUSS THIS REVIEW OR ASK QUESTIONS PLEASE SEE THIS THREAD!

Latest reviews

Just a quick addition to the chorus of praise. Right now, I have some pretty fine soaps in my rotation -- Floris, Occitane Cade, Mitchell's Woolfat. But the soap I most look forward to using is Mama Bear's Rosemary Mint. It is fair to say that this is my all-time favorite soap. It has opulent, silky lather, a glorious scent, and the blade just glides over it to give a super smooth shave. It is, I might add, quite a bit cheaper than those other fancy-pants soaps I named. I still plan to continue sampling the other Mama Bear scents, but I cannot imagine any will be better than this.
Price
5.00 star(s)
Scent
5.00 star(s)
Lather
5.00 star(s)
Quality
5.00 star(s)
Efficacy
5.00 star(s)
Moisturizing
5.00 star(s)
I've used about ten of these fine soaps. Just on the basis of providing a great shave, I don't know how a soap could be any better. Razors easily glide over the generous lathers created by these glycerin based soaps. The wide range of scents offered by Mama Bear's is one of the things that drew me into wet shaving over a year ago. There is a scent for everyone and every occasion. I only marked down the scent rating because, in some (not all) instances, I would like them to be a bit stronger. At the price, I don't see how anyone could be disappointed by this product. As for some of the scents that immediately come to mind:

Ye Olde Barbershoppe: I guess everyone has their own idea of what that scent should be, but for me, this is the aftershave scent the barber used to put on me after he shaved my neck with a straight razor.

Spicey Lime: One of the best lime scents out there. My favorite among all of them.

Aromatic Pipe Tobacco: Grandpa...is that you? This stuff is a little pungent if you smell it in the tub, but once you make a lather, the scent is just right.

Hydrogen: My wife's favorite and my second favorite. It smells so clean, in the way that laundry does, but even better.

Orange Orange: They describe this perfectly on their site. "Take a fresh orange and pierce the skin with your fingernail.... and smell it. This is the scent of this." Unfortunately, for some reason it just wasn't as exciting in use as it was in my imagination.

Creme Brulee and Turkish Mocha: These two smell soooo good you just want to eat the lather. Pairing them up with an aftershave is a problem.

Finally, as far as vendors go, it's hard to get better customer service than what you get from the likes of Mama Bears.
Price
5.00 star(s)
Scent
4.00 star(s)
Lather
5.00 star(s)
Quality
4.00 star(s)
Efficacy
5.00 star(s)
Moisturizing
3.00 star(s)
Okay, after not trying any of her products in a while, I finally purchased some more soap from Mama Bear. The Hydrogen ended up not being the scent I was hoping for, so I sold it as quickly as I received it. However, the Rosemary Mint blew me away.

This is an incredible mint soap. My whole bathroom smelled of mint, and the lather was a great wake-me-up! I only dinged the Scent score by 1 point because I didn't really detect Rosemary in the scent. The 8 for price is only because I also think Honeybee soaps are wonderful, and they are cheaper. Moisturizing isn't a big sale for me, because I use balms anyways.

This lather was incredible. I whipped it up with my Shavemac 220, and it was thick and very slick. At times, it didn't even feel like the blade was touching my face, but when I would rinse between passes, I know it had. This lather was so good that I even went for a 4th against the grain pass, which I never do, due to the fact that it almost always gives me razor burn. Not this time. BBS shave, zero irritation, a wonderful cooling sensation - this was particularly nice, because I loved the cooling of Proraso but hated the scent - and an incredibly powerful, fresh mint smell. I can understand now why this is one of her more frequently praised soaps. I still had plenty of lather after 4 shaves, even with the 220, which tends to be a lather hog.
Price
4.00 star(s)
Scent
4.00 star(s)
Lather
5.00 star(s)
Quality
5.00 star(s)
Efficacy
5.00 star(s)
Moisturizing
4.00 star(s)

Item information

Added by
joel
Views
990
Reviews
15
Last update

More in Shaving Soaps (Reviews)

More from joel

Top Bottom