Neal's Yard Lavendar & Vitamin E Shaving Soap

First off: I still consider myself a newbie. I’ve only been at this wet shaving stuff for about 4 months. I scored a good razor, I have my favorite blades picked out, and a DFS is almost a daily occurrence.

I scored some NYR soap and ASB while traveling for work. I walked past one of their stores in Salisbury, England, and stepping inside for a look-see. I spotted the soap buried amongst all the ladies potions and lotions. I quickly walked outside, and logged in to scout the B&B reviews. I found few references to this stuff. For something like $7US for the soap, it was a cheap experiment.

http://www.nealsyardremedies.com/close-shave-soap-refill


I don’t consider myself experienced enough to submit a formal review, but due to the lack of info on this soap, I thought I should write something.

I’ve given NYR SS about three weeks of honest try. My thoughts, with my semi-hard water, are that this is a fair to middle quality soap. I can’t seem to make a Santa Claus lather with this stuff. I’ve had better luck face lathering, loading lots on the brush. It’s sorta slick, with less cushion than I’d like. It seems very picky about its ratio. If I mistakenly add an extra drop of water, the later instantly vanishes. (Reference points are AOS cream, Old Spice cream, and Ogallala soap) My nose it’s so sophisticated, so I can’t describe the fragrance profile with any fidelity. However, the smell is pleasant. It’s very spring/summer. SWAMBO likes it.

The ASB has witch hazel, and leaves me soft and tight at the same time. It’s soothing, with no burn. It leaves a somewhat powdery finish after it soaks in.

Bottom line: it’s a pleasant hippy soap, probably favored by the oily skin crowd. Not amazing, but functional and inexpensive. The ASB alone might be useful for summer temperatures if you are a fan of witch hazel. I bike commute, and I’ve had no melt-off issues with this one. I think I get a better shave with the Ogallala soap, but it’s a minor difference.

This is a very pleasant vegetable-based soap which generates excellent lather and has a delicate perfume (perhaps too delicate, it fades very fast). I have no idea whether vitamin e makes any difference to one's health when soaped on one's face.
The packaging is pseudo rustic, stapled together from slivers of beechwood. Quite useless once you get it home. I put it in a small ramekin and that works fine.
Their website tells me that the product is 1% organic, which makes me laugh for some reason.
I wouldn't go out of my way to find this, but if you come across it try some - it's cheap enough to take a chance on.