T&H Hard Soap...

I love Truefitt & Hill's shaving creams so I thought I would try their shaving soap. I am not much of a soap guy but since T&H offers one I had nothing but high hopes for it.
I had trouble lathering it at first and today I gave it one last try before it ended up on the BST. I swirled the brush for about 20-30 seconds on the puck and got great results. This is the key it seems for this soap, warm to semi hot water on the puck and a lot of swirls from the brush on to the puck.
The scent is similar to their lavender scent but much lighter and has more of that soapy smell like a hotel hand soap. The lather is pretty slick but not as slick as a glycerin based soap.
It gives a great shave and does not dry out the skin. I am glad I gave this one last try and I am going to keep it in my rotation.

I picked up the T&H soap refill for $16 Cdn and it's a perfect fit in the same wooden bowl CE uses for their soaps (saved a bundle).

The Truefitt and Hill Shaving soap is a pleasure to use and I get the same results as I would from MWF. Working up a lather is dead simple and it is both slick and moisturizing for my face. I love the scent which from what people say has a hint of lavender, honestly it just smells fresh to me. A definite keeper in my rotation.

I find this a middling soap. It's good, but not as good as others I've tried. These include DR Harris, Tabac, Cade and Trumper's Rose.

T&H is the only soap I have struggled to load up and lather. So I ended up milling it and this softened it up really well for brush loading. After never getting enough soap for a 2nd pass, now it lathers with the best. It probably won't last as long having milled it, but I reckon that's better than being unusable.

The scent is a nice, subtle lavender which is crisp and clean smelling.

Price: Just right

Quality: Regarding the bowl, I really like it. I find it nicer than Penhaligon's new reformulated (Nov. 2009) bowl supplied with their soaps. T&H bowl really fits nicely in your hand as you load your brush.

Scent:To me, it scent is of a lavander & soap blend, a bit of citrus perhaps. Not too powdery, and quite crisp.

Lather:Must be the best veggie based soap that I've tried to date. Only one comes to mind that may be slightly better, but not at twice the cost.

Efficacy: No complaints

Moisturizing: No complaints

My only general complaint about T&H soap is that they offer only one scent currently offered. I would really enjoy a Trafalgar scented version of their soap, and I'm quite sure that I'm not alone!

This shaving soap sat in my shaving den for a couple of months before I first used it. What a waste of two months! I have used this soap about a dozen times now, and it is easily my best performing non-tallow soap. In fact, it is better than some of my tallow soaps. Here is a break down of my experience:

Price: I give it a 10. It is not the cheapest soap out there, but for the $12 to $17 you are going to pay, it has some of the best cost vs. benefit available. I did not buy it in the wooden bowl because the wooden bowl makes it ridiculously expensive. I paid $12 on sale on the T&H website and put it in a plastic tub. I would gladly pay more for this soap, which is how I test if "it is worth it."

Quality: Again, I give it a 10. It is one of the best quality soaps available, in my opinion. Again, in my opinion, it is the HIGHEST quality non-tallow shaving soap available. It is triple milled, so it will last several months. It is a well made product.

Scent: I only give it a 7 here, but still not too shabby. It has a mild lavender scent, but smells mostly like "soap." That's not a bad thing. It's scent does not linger, so it will go well with your favorite aftershave or cologne.

Lather: Wow, I'd give it an 11 if I could. Not because it "explodes," but because the quality of its lather is amazing. It is thick and very slick. It gives a great glide to my favorite blade. It gives me a very comfortable, close shave. It gives me a lather very similar to my Yardley and my C&S #88 soap -- thick, wet, and not airy. I have very hard water, and sometimes have trouble with more finicky soaps. This soap gives me a great lather every time, however.

Efficacy: Again, a 10. Combining quality, scent, lather, and over all "face feel," this soap is great. As I said above, it gives me a very cushioned, close shave. That's what I ask for out of any soap, and it delivers perfectly.

Moisturizing: I give it a 9. It is not my most moisturizing soap, but moisture is not my top priority. It gives what I need. I could easily get away with just using witch hazel after a shave with this soap, instead of my usual ASB.

Overall, I would say this is the best non-tallow soap in my den (and my shaving soap den is extensive). A great product I will always keep stocked!

This is a great soap. Light, fresh scent; excellent lather. And the puck feels like it's going to last forever: I've been using mine for months, and there's barely a dent in it.

The ratings might look a bit harsh, but this is good soap....unless you're allergic to it as I am. Nice lather, feels clean. Not a huge fan of the scent but if you've no skin issues, then its more than good enough. I've tried this, GFT Coconut & Sandalwood and Kent's MWF and they all seem to be around the same in terms of latherability etc.

Scotto;19659 said:

Not sure how I missed commenting on this soap so long. This is a favorite in my rotation. Builds HUGE, viscous lather and shaves like a dream. Probably one of the best hard-milled soaps out there, and a bargain if you get just the refill from Ashford.com. The scent is very clean, with lavender and citrus. I love the look of the lather - very shiny and moist.

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Excellent shaving soap, had to even give a 10 for price as its a huge puck & lasts for ages. Very easy to lather & my merkur futur glides along my face with no irritation. Top of the class!

I bought the refill and shoved it into a pyrex container. This is a great soap. Nice clean soap scent and lathers well, but not the best product i have for lather. I think everyone needs to get this soap in their rotation if they havn't already. Lather is on the heavier side which I like. Its just a good, no nonsense solid performer with no fuss- no muss.

This stuff smells great. Not overpowering. Lathers really nicely. The only complaint is pretty much the same as everyone else... The bowl makes it messy. It does look nice though.

I bought the T&H Luxury shaving soap in the wooden bowl.
This is my first shaving soap after using most of the best shaving creams,and I must say i would rank this soap as performing better than most of the creams.
Even though it is my first soap i had no trouble getting beautiful lather very quickly and easily. It left my skin feeling nice and clean with no dryness or irritation,I would say my skin felt healthy after the shave but definitely not mositurised.
Although that being said i didn't need any A/S balm,so go figure.
Where i feel that this soap really shines is in the closeness of the shave.I found i got a noticeably closer and longer lasting shave with this soap than with my favorite creams.
I would highly recommend this shaving soap to people who have never tried a soap before,or to anyone else in fact.

I just had to review this in light of the negative comments. This soap is outstandingly better than any I've tried(have not tried Tabac or some others). For me it's very gentle and slick and lasts forever. It is also very moisturizing. Maybe it just depends on your face or your water or whatever. I just really like this soap and hope it's always around.

Well, I am sure nobody with experience is going to listen much to the words of a newbie, but what the heck...

In my vast experience (of two, yes, two brands of hard soap! ), this product just didn't live up to my expectations.

Being a Glass Half Full kind of guy, I'll start with the positives: terrific, civilised and gentlemanly scent. Just the right manly yet floral note you want in a high end soap. The wooden box is attractive, somewhat let down by the off-centre paper label. Lathers up reasonably swiftly, requiring a little more elbow grease than my other soap.

OK, downsides: plenty of lather but of a rather gutless consistency. I noticed some drag, even with news blades. The moisturising element seemed to be lacking, also.

At first, I thought it was just me: new kid at this game, maybe my lathering technique was a bit off - so I leant it to a more experienced DE user for his opinion. He largely agreed with me, especially on the dragging.

Compared to MWF, and at this price point, T&H is a bit of a let down for me. I may return to it another day, but for now, it'll just be something pricey-looking to sit on the bathroom shelf.

This is the best hard soap out there in my limited experience. The lather is rich, thick, creamy, and very moist. The lubrication qualities of the lather are very impressive and gives a very nice cushion for the blade. Hands down, my favorite shaving soap.

I have never been impressed with T&H products. Since I was not able to get a sample of this one, I bought a refill of the soap. While it has a great scent and feels good the first 30 seconds, it is not a slick, moisturizing or efficient as glycerine soaps or tabac. IT is just a little bit more efficient than Williams and I get about the same performance than Arko but for 20 times the price of those two. right now I only use it as a preshave lather while I prepare the rest of my setup. Once I have everything ready, I apply some real lather to start shaving. Girlfriend has used it as a body soap a couple of times... I really do not mind if she wastes the hole puck this way.

While the bowl makes it expensive, the refills are cheap when considering how long it will last. Only a few seconds of swiping, and the brush will be loaded up for at least 3 passes.

I love this soap. the smell is great, fresh clean lavender/soap smell. This soap is also extremely moisturizing. I usually don't need a aftershave balm, just a good splash and I am ready to go.

I will definitely be buying the refill once the current puck runs out (which will be a very long time).

I'm certainly not an expert, and have hard water, so your mileage may vary. What I find, first and foremost, is that this is a rather expensive soap, and since I have hard water I have to use more soap in the lather, or else it loses it's lubricating properties. This said, Truefitt & Hill Luxury hard soap is really nice. It has a very mild lavender scent, with a little bit of a few other smells. It smells balanced, and masculine, but not over-perfumed. It does not leave much of a scent on my skin, but I think that it does not degrade into a stale stuffy smell like some scents do. The lather is very good, with what I would call average moisturising properties -- perhaps it is the dry air, and hard water where I live which give me this impression, but I have definitely used more moisturising creams...much more drying one's too. (maybe this is just how soaps are different from creams) Of course, with the right post-shave, this isn't an issue at all. I would say that the number one competitor to this soap is Taylor of Old Bond Street's Lavender. When I try it, I'll post another review.

I love this soap. It has a light lavender scent combined with other pleasing notes. The lather is generous and slick. If you like soaps, or creams for that matter, you owe it to yourself to try this one. I think it is one of the best products T&H produces.

This is a top notch soap, but I don't think it lives up to the hype it receives. Ironically, I say this on a day I used it and got one of the top 10 shaves I've had in the past year. Why the irony? Because I get inconsistent results with it and I'm by no means a soap newbie at this point. I'm finding that this is one of those soaps that, for me, takes a drier lather to get good, slick, cushiony lather. My ratings apply to a good day, BTW.

The scent is fantastic. I would say it's a tart lavender. I don't get much in the way of moisturization from it, but I don't really need it outside of the cold, winter months. I haven't used the wood bowl, but I would agree that the refill price is a very good value. Overall, a soap that belongs in everyone's bathroom cabinet.

Bought the soap cake only from T&H store in Toronto for $16. I have been waiting to try their soap since I tried the 1805 cream. The lather is thick and moist - above of all, the scent is beautiful. I have hard time to produce good amount of lather with other brands of soaps - but this one goes on very quickly. I swirl my brush only 5-7 times and got enough for two pass. Other soaps including Proraso leaves some soapy, oily feeling after washing the face - but this one cleans off easily. After the shave, the skin stays on moist - I would go out without putting any aftershave. Highly recommended.

- Z