Penhaligon English Fern Shave Soap

Penhaligon's Tallow English Fern is somewhat bittersweet for me:

I coulda had 4 pucks of this stashed away now but rookie mistakes led me to sell the first three pucks. I thought it was irritating to my skin but it turned out to be the top layer of soap (All three of the first three pucks were new)

I woulda pulled the trigger on a bowl of tallow English Fern I saw on the B/S/T last week but I was about 20 minutes too late

I shoulda purchased a few bowls of this when it was on clearance for $55 shipped at the TESC last year.

This is by far my favorite soap. Unfortunately, I only use it once every few weeks because I only have one puck. The rotation I've settled on is AOS, PdP, Santa Maria Novella, and Pens Tallow English Fern. I rank my soaps in this order 1. Tallow English Fern 2. SMN 3. PdP 4. AOS

Price - $65 + shipped on the B/S/T if someone is generous enough to part with one that they've stashed away. It could be argued that the price is ridiculous or it can be argued that it's reasonable considering the quality and lack of availibility. I can see both sides.

Quality - Awesome. The bowl is beautiful, the soap is well made, and even the box is cool. This is the definition of quality.

Scent - Scent is subjective. I happen to love the scent of this soap. It's a manly scent that is there the entire shave.

Lather - Out of all the other soaps I've tried, this one and Santa Maria Novella were the only two that made the stubble so soft that it was like slicing through butter. All shave soaps make stubble soft but this one seems to do a better job and encourages the razor to slice and dice effortlessly. I understand that's a weird explanation but it's true. It's easy to make lather with this soap and the lather excels in every category.

Efficacy - Perfect shave after using this!

Moisturizing - I'm indifferent about soaps being moisturizing. I see a drying soap as an opportunity to use my favorite balm. This one is fairly moisturizing for me though.

This soap is the total package. It excels in every functional category. It's a shame that it's no longer easilly available. Would the moderators or others that can stop this confusion please contact Penhaligons and ask that they bring back the tallow?

These reviews are for the Tallow based soap version that Penhaligon's phased out in the fall of 2009-

For the review of the "new" version see HERE

This classic shaving soap tops all others in all categories valued by wet shavers, whether you be of the straight or double edged razor stripe. And besides the basic criteria by which all shaving soaps are measured, this soap is delivered in a well made wooden bowl -- substantial and so well-crafted that it will be esteemed on its own, long after the soap has been exhausted.

Price: It is priceless so any price you will pay for this soap is worth it and more!
Quality: 100 years of shaving soap experience allows the manufacturer to claim and achieve a reputation well-deserved. The quality is without compare or rivals. Once I thought the Trumpers original tallow-based soap would be a competitor in quality, but after using them on alternate days, Penhaligon's is the clear winner.

Scent: May not be a totally natural aroma, but it is quite pleasant, not over-powering, and really distinctive and quite wonderful.

Lather: This is where the soap shines brightest. The lather is rich, easy to generate, bountiful, cushioning, rich, and thick. What more could you ask for or expect. Really puts Tabac to the test & wins hands down!

Efficacy: Works just as advertised. Close, comfortable, nick-free shaving with this thick and rich shaving soap.

Moisturizing: The soap is not at all drying, and is in fact quite rich and moisturizing. It is fine to use an after shave, but it is truly unnecessary due to the rich and moisturizing nature of the Penhaligon soap.

Highly recommended.

Pretty much as good as soaps get.
Total luxury, from the box to the shave itself.
Is it worth the extra money over Tabac, GFT, Harris etc? It depends how much you are willing to pay for the best.
We can only hope that the reformulation is nearly as good as this.

Well what i'd have to say about this magnificent soap the first review says it all. This soap is pure

Penhaligons English Fern shaving soap tipped me over the edge...

I now have

Talc
Shower and Bath
Soap
Aftershave

Of all the shaving smells I sniff at, this is the one! Its costing me a fortune.

I have several shaving soaps, and this one I am actually getting towards the end, which is the sign of a "go to" shaving item I think?

Its a smell you cannot fixate in your mind perfectly, so you have to go back and try again. Know what I mean?

Just recieved my Pen EF last night and had a shave with it this very morning.


Initial impressions:

Pure class! The box Pen comes in is simple, understated, and beautiful. Green with some gold trim and little fern embellishments...



The box lid lifts off to reveal the EF bowl within...



Lift the lid on the bowl and feast your eyes upon the tallowy puck, whilst you nose is greeted by the fresh, green scent!


OK, to tell the truth, the puck itself comes wrapped in platic, so you have to remove that first to get the full boquet of aroma....

What luck, the soap arrived last evening, so it was ready to roll for this morning's shave to take care of 48 hours worth of whiskers.


Lathers easily, seems to have a good balance between glide, closeness, and cushion. It did not strike me as having head and shoulders above shaving performance to any other soap, but it ceratinly was not found lacking in any department either. First shave with it, so I need to get to know it a bit better before casting final judgment on where it falls in the tallow heirarchy for me.

The scent is excellently refreshing for a morning shave, and I'd say this is where this soap earns it's keep. Bright and refreshing, like sunlight through a canopy of Spring leaves with a babbling brook winding its way through the forest nearby.

Penhaligon's nails this fresh, green scent in a way that Irisch Moos, in my opinion does not. IM's scent, to me, is overly sharp and pungent, somehow fake smelling, it assaults your nose "SMELL ME, I"M GREEN AND LEAFY, DAMMIT!".
Whereas the English Fern draws you in like fresh morning air: "hey...*sniff*, that smells pretty good...*sniff*, yeah, I like that!". You breath it in deeply and feel ready to take on the world.

Price:
Okay...so no more refill pucks are left out there that I know of, so it's all or nothing-you gotta pony up $65 for the bowl ensemble.

Is that a good deal?
No it is not.

Is it worth it?
It very well may be!



How does shaving with Penhaligon's make you feel?

Like a true English gentleman. See here for the full effect:
[youtube]LCkFhafk26A[/youtube]

Been using this stuff all week.

My initial impressions of performance being rather pedestrian were indeed unfounded--this stuff is rich & delicious, creamy and smooth.


I love it!!!!

Introduction: Penhaligon's is known for producing some of the finest fragrances and shaving gear. Penhaligon's English Fern seems to be one of its most popular scents. I enjoyed the cologne, so let's see how the soap fares.

Price: $29.99 for a refill and $64.99 for a wooden bowl is ridiculous. I would say that at least 50% of the price goes towards paying for the name. At this incredible price, there really are many more creams and soaps to try. And seriously, $35 for the bowl alone? You've got to be joking...

Lather: I loaded my brush more than I did with Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet. I got a lot of lather, but it seemed to disappear quickly.

Scent: I love the scent. It stays around longer than Blenheim Bouquet.

Shave: I got DFS in three passes with my Mergress.

Moisturizing properties: My face feels moist and healthy.

Packaging: The refill and bowl both come in nice boxes. The packaging is very nice and luxurious.

Final thoughts: There is no denying that the soap is overpriced. If the soap was $25 for a refill and $40 for a wooden bowl, it would be worth it. Like this, however, it is not.

Where to purchase: You can purchase this soap at VintageBladesLLC.com. For $29.99 you get a 3.5 oz. refill and for $64.99 you get the same refill in a bowl.

I just picked some of this up from Saks in NYC (over the phone order - they are very helpful) and tried it for the first time today. Man, what an excellent experience. I am a fan of the Fern fragrance anyway and that, combined with the way lather just explodes off the brush onto my phizz, made this a superior introduction. Better lathering than Trumpers Sandalwood, about as good as the best creams I've tried. Very close shave, too. Glad I picked this up - along with two replacement rounds. Now all I need is the AS.

I'll second all of the positive comments above. Great scent. Thick, rich, effortless lather. Smooth, comfortable shaving. Soft, moisturized post-shave skin that almost doesn't need any AS.

What more could one ask for?

(My comments & observations are based on the tallow formulation of this soap.)

The scent has nothing to do with ferns that I can tell and at first I didn't much like it but after a little while... when I think about shaving soap that's what I smell, and it smells gooooood.

It makes a thick lather, it sits happily in it's very solid little bowl, it's made with tallow (I'm not sure if I'm pre or post reforumulation but there's still some tallow in it). I find tallow soaps just have that little extra something, but Tabac stinks to me and MWF doesn't stink enough.

From my encounter with this soap I'm thinking of going on a very expensive Penhaligon's binge.

English Fern ("EF") is a great soap, particularly if you are rabid about the EF Eau de Toilette. Penhaligon's is allegedly reformulating the soap to be vegetable-based, so my remarks are confined to the tallow-based variant.

The soap has an outstanding scent (not too overpowering) and it's very lubricating. It is lasting well, so even at $25 for the replacement puck, it is a reasonable value. I just stocked up on several pucks from the Penhaligon's Madison Avenue NY store, since we don't yet know what the vegetable-based reformulation will be like. Great stuff....definitely in my top one or two hard soaps.

Reviews can become repetitive. I was a little apprehensive dropping 60 Canuck bucks for this soap in the bowl, but I really needn't have been.

A subtle scent, an explosive lather (with a Rooney 1/2/Super), and my Merkur Classic and Merkur blade ran around like a puppy without a leash.

Saturday Evening shave: Three passes and two touch-up passes. I finally stopped for fear that in the morning my jaw-bone would be exposed.

A lot has been said about Penhaligon's, and EF is among their best.

This is a desert island product.

Penhaligon English Fern Shave Soap


First things first…

Cost: This is an expensive soap. This is offset to some extent by the fact it is a triple-milled soap so it will last a long time

Latherability: I used a Chubby #1 for this review. The soap makes a very thick luxuriant lather with very little effort. The lather has the consistency of heavy whipped cream and is not in the least airy.

Cushion: It is tallow based soap and that makes for an extremely slick and protective coating that really softens the beard and helps the blade to cut closer which results in very close shaves with fewer passes.

Luxury: It’s Penhailgon, what more can you say.

Scent: It smells just like the EdT only weaker. The lingers for quite a while, which you might want to take into consideration when picking a scent to pair up with this soap.

Summary: I love the Penhaligon products and have several of their shave soaps and creams. I believe they are best paired with the same fragrance ASB, AS, or EdT.

If you like the scent of English Fern, you are looking for a thick, slick soap, and you like to pamper yourself with a very moisturizing shave; give Penhaligon’s English Fern shave soap (and the whole line) a try. I think you will be pleased.


Highly recommended.

Please post your comments in the discussion thread HERE

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These reviews are for the Tallow based soap version that Penhaligon's phased out in the fall of 2009-

For the review of the "new" version see HERE