Stlrling Smooth Tallow Soaps

So, I ran out of shave soap, and desperately needed some. Not sure what to get, I fell down the rabbit whole and ordered about 12 different products. Four of those 12 products were sample size pucks of tallow based Shave soaps from Stirling.

For now, I will address the Electric Sheep as I have yet to use the others. The site promised a citrus scent, and that combined with the artwork got me to pull the trigger.

To be fair, I didn't pay too much attention to the items in the ingredient list, but I DID see the warning from their site that suggested a sample size first.

Fast forward, I open my package, and smell the soap. . . "Whoa, that smells like a mosquito candle." Then I check the ingredient list. Citronella, right at the top.

So now that that is out of the way, the soap itself is awesome. This is my first tallow soap, and it most definitely took a few tries with the soap to find the correct water ration, but when I did, I got a rich, creamy lather that let my Merkur Progressive with a sharp as a katana Kai blade zip across my face with the greatest of ease.

All in all, Stirling makes a great soap, but Electric Sheep is probably a decisive scent. You either like citronella, or you don't. If yes, proceed with this soap. If no, get one of Stirling's MANY other scents. They are bound to have one that fits for you.

The Stirling Soap Co. blew me away as far as their ability to process an order and ship it out in a timely manner. I know of no other way to purchase except directly from them which was quite the easy process. Now, on to the soap quality. Stirling makes tallow based soaps, so they are quite creamy in nature. They are pretty soft and I just use a splash of water over the top before I load my brush, I do not "bloom" this soap. The soap is quite easy to load and it took me about 15 seconds to load too much soap the first time I used it. The aroma is fantastic, and they offer a wide variety of scents from mild to fairly strong. I have a few different scents from them ranging from very woodsy like the Conifer scent they offer, the Glacial Lemon which is a nice peppermint lemon scent, to the clove like smell of Ben Franklin. I shave with a straight razor so speed is definitely a factor for me, which this soap delivered. Glycerine based soaps make my skin feel nice after a shave but I always felt they caused my razor to drag across my face. Not the case with this soap, my razor simply glided at the speed I like and provided ample cushion for myself. I have sensitive skin and my neck area is particularly sensitive, this soap worked great for me in providing me with a nice barrier to let the razor cut the hair and not irritate my face. It left my face feeling very moisturized and I enjoy it thoroughly. I would recommend this soap to anyone, sensitive skin or not and as I stated previously, the customer service offered was fantastic. I can not heap enough praises onto this soap.

Best soap I have used by a mile. Highly recommended!!

I was blown away by this soap. Or frozen stiff, depending on how you look at it.

I got a sample of the Glacial Wintergreen from somebody who thought it would be funny to not warn me about the menthol level first. Boy was I surprised!

Not being a menthol junkie, this was a shocking revelation about how much could be crammed into one soap. I could feel with my hands that the lather was warm, but my face felt like it was in a bucket of ice water.

All that being said, I LOVE this soap. The performance knocks it out of the park for me, all fronts being well-covered. Slick? Yep. Protection? Yep. Ease of lather? With the newer stuff, not an issue! Can sometimes border on too dense, but is easily rectified by a little more water.

Got through the first sample puck in four days and looking forward to trying the Stirling Spice scent!

This is my first and only review I have done, but I feel is necessary!
I received the Stirling Sandalwood puck as a gift. I had a little trouble with the lather the very first time I used it, but that was my fault not the soap. The fragrance is absolutely amazing. The slickness provides an incredibly smooth shave as the razor just glides effortlessly across the skin.
Top off a perfect shave and ready for the wife by putting the Stirling sandalwood AS splash.
Do not wait another second. This is a must have.

I love all the scent options Stirling offers. I have tried around 6 scents I enjoy them all. These soaps have the best post shave of any of my soaps. They are some what difficult for shower shavers as I have found they do not take very much water. I would recommend to anyone!

Here's a review of the Glacial Wintergreen soap which I bought last year.

This soap has a true wintergreen scent which I find so nice, fresh, and stimulating. The menthol notes are very much pronounced but one good thing is that the wintergreen scent still comes through very clearly. Lathering this soap requires patience as well as some extra effort but if you put in that extra effort you'll be rewarded with awesome lather which is both rich and super-slick. The menthol in this soap is extremely powerful and it hits you right away. The post-shave sensation is not only very, very chilly it's also very moisturized and comfortable. Rod definitely has reasonable prices as well as unbeatable customer service.

Stirling soaps are incredibly high in quality and very nicely priced (not to mention the sample pucks are great for trying out new scents while only having to spend $2-3!). Made of natural ingredients, they always leave my face feeling amazing.

First impression things first: these soaps smell AMAZING. They are made from natural essential and fragrance oils that just smell gorgeous. I highly recommend the Glastonbury, Ozark Mountain, Coniferous and Sharp-Dressed Man scents, but you really can't go wrong, and Stirling releases new/different/seasonal scents regularly. I can't help myself trying new scents all the time, because they're all really fantastic, not to mention the sample pucks are perfectly sized and priced.

Now into the good stuff. These soaps produce a beautiful mug lather that is slick and yogurty, and feels great on the face. It should be noted too that I gave a score of a 9 for the regular tallow soaps, but the Naked and Smooth soap definitely gets you latherporn of the 10 variety. Either way, these soaps whip up beautifully and easily in the mug.

The soap is totally slick on the face, allowing the razor to cut perfectly and achieve BBS status with no irritation. It leaves my face feeling smooth and super healthy. Really shows the value of using natural, pronounceable ingredients.

Honestly, I have basically stopped using any other kinds of cream/soap.

A+

Its been a while since I've written a review. So I thought I would. This was my first go with any Stirling soap. Generally 4-5 oz pucks and this one was $6.00 I was honestly not expecting much beings much more experienced shavers than I could not tame it. But much to my surprise. It went extremely well. The scent is very masculine. I went with the tried and true combo of the 1904 and Derby. I have now gotten it dialed in to where I like it. You really have to load it up with water to where its really creamy, to the point you thought you were going to get suds, otherwise it seemed your face was tacky when you pulled the razor across, but it was still really comfortable even at that point and this soap will hold a lot more water than you think, and you will be rewarded. I had 3 days growth on both my head and face. 3 pass bbs on my face. 2 pass 99% bbs on my head. Normally, Derby's don't like my head, they aren't comfortable. But with this soap, I did not feel a thing, even against the grain. It was extremely comfortable. As for the scent. It is very nice, pretty darn strong on the lather as well. I noticed on my test lather earlier, after I rinsed out my brush, my fingers had a very very faint smell of clay (which I didn't mind at all, earthy and nice) but after this actual shave. By the time you put on your after shave and your after shave balm, you don't even smell it unless you're really searching for it. This soap is very thirsty, but as long as you take the time to figure it out (which was a cake walk for me) it is very very nice. Kudos to the Stirling crew. I will definitely be purchasing more soap. In bulk. Its very much a YMMV thing, but It has been a long time since my face has literally been so soft, and I have used proraso, tabac, tobs, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love them. But they have never left my face feeling soft along with smooth like this. And for you guys like Michael Freedberg who like to sneak touch ups in with no lather, wet your face and it gets extremely slick, even with no lather. Good stuff. Good shave. Put me in a nice mood.

Slickness: 10/10 - This is where Rod's soaps really shine. It is the slickest soap I have ever used.
Cushion: 9/10 - I tend to make an overall "wetter" lather, which is just a personal preference. But you can indeed whip this into a billowy ball of foam if you desire.
Stability: 10/10 - The lather will stay dense and keep peaks for a long time, and it stays moist on the beard even through the most leisurely of straight razor shaves.
Ease of Lathering: 7/10 - I lather this as a traditional "mug soap", as in whipping up the lather directly on top of the puck rather than loading and whipping elsewhere. This is how the soap is meant to be lathered. But, with the Smooth line (unlike the other Stirling formulations), you can indeed lather it out of the mug no problem whatsoever. It isn't going to automatically explode into lather, but this is just as easy to lather as Mike's and MW, and far easier than something like MWF.
Cost: 10/10 - At $5/puck, there isn't a better priced top-end soap out there. And yes, I feel this is a top end soap. Given the wonderful ingredients used, the complexity of some of the scents, and the performance, the QPR is through the roof.
Scents: 10/10 - I know this is highly subjective, but I love the essential oil scents. Deep, effusive, complex. They won't necessarily smack you in the face right off the puck, but the scents build with lathering, and give a great aromatherapy type feel. I haven't tried the fragrance oil scents.