VAn Der Hagen Delux Shave Soap

Definitely a product worth buying. It's a great baseline soap, good for measuring other soaps against. I use it as my standard soap, and compare my creams and soaps alongside it...

Price: 10 for the simple fact that it's CHEAP. DIRT CHEAP... but you're getting much more than what you're paying for.

Quality: 7. It's not the best product out there... sure, but it definitely gets the job done. it's great for travel, and for the price (as mentioned above) you're getting more than you paid for, by far.

Scent: 8. Not a personal like or dislike (but it's no Old Spice, nor is it anything fancy.), but my Wife does like it.

Lather: 8. I almost gave this one a 10, simply because of how EASY it is to lather. This is one reason I recommend it as a beginner soap, and as a standard for judging other soaps.

Efficacy: 8. It definitely gets you the desired effect, and it does it easily, but it's nothing to be wowed over.

Moisturizing: 7. The product tends to dry your face out a little bit... yet, it tends to feel a little bit moistened. It's and odd situation.


Overall, it's an 8. It's a great standby, and I think everyone who is a wet-shaver should keep a puck, even if it's just for travel. Keep one if you need to give it as a PIF to a beginning wet-shaver. Keep one to test out that new razor without wasting your expensive puck of MWF!

Price: Rating 10
VDH Deluxe (my 'go-to' soap), is a great price at $1.50 per puck at my local Wal-Mart.

Quality: Rating 9
These very light pinkish pucks are 2 ¾ inches in diameter across and weigh approximately 2 ½ ounces each. Although not being ‘tallow or milled’, it is a softer soap than a few of the glycerin soaps (VDH Glycerin, I’ve briefly used before). Feeling this Shaving Soap after unwrapping, it does feel very slick indeed…a very good sign for shaving. According to VDH, this hypo-allergenic puck contains 40% moisturizers, including Aloe Vera & Shea Butter With the addition of Shea Butter, it produces an incredible lather and each puck is made with high quality ingredients, no animal products and no harsh chemicals to irritate my sensitive skin.

Scent: Rating: 9
Very nice, light and ‘clean / fresh’ scent.

Lather: Rating 10
OMG… this Soap really generates a lot of incredible nice and thick lather. Water retention of this Soap is wonderful and with just a about six (6), ‘whips’ ((with either my FS Silvertip, CM Pure Badger or Parker Black Badger Brushes), around my Shaving Cup, this Soap produces a rich, lightly scented and dense 'stiff peak' lather. Here is my drying test (got this idea from Scotto's past post), I lather my face and leave it on for at least 10 minutes and "look", no problem with the lather drying out on my face.

Efficacy: Rating 9.5
Throughout the shave, the lather provided a lot of cushion and glide using my Merkur's 23C or 38C and I found that I get a closer shave (vs. Chelsea's or Williams), with almost hardly any weepers. I just have to say that this is the best shaving soap that I've ever tried…much better than the Williams Shaving Soap I’ve been using for at least 30yrs or the Chelsea’s Unscented I’ve been using for the past year. This Soap lathers up quickly and seems like it never dries out on my face either.

Moisturizing: Rating 10
Skin felt smooth and hydrated and after my shave, I feel very 'pampered' every time I lather up. I really 'Love' this Soap. What a change from many years of using Williams Shave Soap and many months using Chelsea’s and my face is noticeably smoother and softer.

In closing, this is the best shave soap I've tried so far and I highly recommend this soap to one and all.

Laughter is the [shaving] brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of your heart. Mort Walker

Price: Look at any Walgreen's or Walmart this stuff is cheap and readily available and what you get for the price is TBH out of this world.

Quality: For the price you honestly can't do any better.. you can't do any worse for the price either. However for 10 times the price you can do worse than VDH and thats what makes it exceptional.

Scent : SWMBO loves the smell of this stuff and so do I its mild and blends well with other scents and best of all it doesn't leave a strong lingering scent

Lather: Some people complain but give your brush 90 seconds on the puck and later in a bowl for 3 min and you'll be rewarded with so much lather you won't know what to do.

Efficacy: Slick smooth comfortable shave, every time.. it is fantastic.

Moisturizing: Won't dry you out also wont leave you dry I love it but its definitely not going to cure your dry skin.

I do like the Deluxe version of VDH's line. It is soft to the touch, so it will accept pretty much any brush with a fair amount of water. It took me about a minute to work up a thick lather with a badger brush.

The lather goes on the face well and it is laced with enough moisturizers that a pre-shave oil isn't necessary. All passes are great!

The scent leaves just a little to be desired. It doesn't bother me, but it really doesn't do anything for me, either.

Love this stuff. Very moisturizing, easy to make a lather. I put n/a on scent because it really doesn't have one other than it smells like plain soap, and I'm fine with that. Thick lather, doesn't dissapear, this in my opinion is a really fine shaving soap. I can get it for about a buck fifty but I would pay a lot more.

not a bad soap, but not anything to rave about. not something i'd replace unless i was on a strict shoestring budget, and every other soap in my den had been exhausted.

smells like the liquid soap kids use to blow bubbles.

Cheap, works pretty well, and lathers well with a cheap, stiff brush. Those factors combine to make it my default travel soap. No real scent to speak of beyond just a soapy smell. I don't know if I would call it 'deluxe', but it's definitely decent.

My favorite product of all time. It's cheap, accessible, and it does an amazing job. I'd recommend it to anyone. It's a permanent fixture in my shave den.

This stuff is really fantastic. I just recently used it again after over 2 years. It was one of the first shaving soaps I bought when I started this crazy hobby and I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I have tried countless soaps since then, many on the high end of the spectrum. I thought I would never use this cheap stuff again, but boy am I glad I did because it gives a tremendous shave.

By no means is the shave a "luxurious experience." The scent is minimal to non-existent, the lather is nice but not the richest or creamiest, the color and looks of the puck remind one of the urinal cake in the mens room at the mall. However, if you can get past that stuff get ready for a perfect shave and I mean perfect. I get no cuts or irritation at all and in fact I would say it protects better than many, but not all, higher end soaps I have tried. The best part though is the moisturizing. Surprisingly this might be about the most moisturizing soap I have used (probably due to the aloe, shea butter and propylene glycol). It leaves my skin soft, supple and smooth. The first time I used it a few weeks back even my SWMBO noticed how my skin felt and she never comments on that. Not sure if the same would apply for the "Select" and "Glycerin" VDH varieties.

Overall, very, very good for being available everywhere for dirt cheap. I was deeply a tallow guy but this soap is making me question that. VDH deluxe ingredients are detergent based and not all-natural so this might turn some off. Personally, I could care less as long as it works. If you want a great shave at a great price gives this stuff a try. I know I'm definitely keeping some around from now on.

Got this just 'cause it was cheap, widely available and read about the ease of melting and adding scents. Today I melted and added my favorite cologne YSL L'Homme and got one of the best shaves to date! Was surprised with the closeness and protection of the shave. Not the biggest lather of my other soaps, but very effective

Together with Williams this VDH deluxe came my way across the pond. One of the most peculiar shaving products I have seen. First impressions; looks and smells like a baby-care product. Since both fragrance and colours are added this product is actually designed to be like this! I guess it is developped on a friday after happy-hour and they still have a good laugh about it at van der Hagen's HQ. I cannot rate the quality of this product (it says soap on the package but the ingredients list makes me think twice about that) higher than a meager 6/10 but it isn't bad. I dislike the scent mostly because I don't like it as a shaving-scent, not that it is offending by itself. When I showed it to my wife she tought I lost it...

It lathers easily but not overly. It is sufficient and enough but both glide and protection are far from the best in the field. Especially protection is not the best; no nicks or weepers but putting AS on made me feel all the extra micro-cuts I made with these shaves. And rather much product is needed to produce enough lather so the extra weight you get compared to the Williams puck is probably mostly water.

Then the moisturizing part; for some it might work but VDH on my face feels like putting on one of my wife's creams which made me feel unhappy to say the least. It really feels like it suffocates my skin and I find this untolerable. Using Proraso pré and washing my face afterwards made it bearable but also dried my skin out more. So by itself it is probably unfair to give the VDH a 4 for moisturizing but after I was done that is all I could rate it for.

All in all it was not the worst I have ever used by far but there was little fun in it. I would not really like living in a world with just VDH on the shelves and not just a step down from Williams but the entire staircase.

All IMO and YMMV of course

This soap smells just like Aqua Net hairspray! That is a smell I cannot tolerate. Ever since I was young Aqua Net would make my eyes water and my nose itch, so I definately don't want a soap that's scented like that 1980s hair-teasing staple. Yuck!

Other than that, its a great soap for the money. Lathers well... Slippery... Cheap as dirt... Moisturizing...

this stuff rocks! i'm no expert, but i do use cade, arko, ogallala, and several other creams etc. this is a very nice soap that works extremely well. not much for fragrance, but lathers great, and does what its supposed to do. cant beat it for the price, and you could spend a whole lot more and wind up with a whole lot less. 100% recommendation on this one! be using this soap on a regular basis from here out.

I like it.


I find that it will whip up into huge pillows of foam with ANY brush. Even this cheap $2 *** travel brush I picked up.

Quite slick and moisturizing for a $3 puck.

Performs as well as pucks costing 2 to 3 times as much.

Highly recommended

I will take Williams over this stuff anyday!!!!!

VDH has good qualities especially at it's price point. But the smell is just awful! Of course....YMMV on the smell. When I shaved with VDH and it's cousin soap Colonel Conk.. I found that these glycerine based soaps dried my face out way too much.

Otherwise..... EVERYBODY has to try this soap at least once. You just might like it!

This was the first shave soap I tried, mainly because it was locally available and affordable. I bought 2 pucks for $4.00 at Walgreens. I've since bought 8 more pucks at Wal-Mart, for about $1.50 each. You could say I like it. I rotate it with my Arko sticks and my very few creams. There's nothing at all wrong with VdH Deluxe shave soap.
It's kinda like the Aqua Velva of shave soap.

Everything about this soap is just really good.

Thick, slick lather - CHECK
Nice, clean, soapy scent - CHECK
Leaves my skin moisturized - CHECK
Gives a smooth shave - CHECK

It's also a cheap and convenient purchase. Instead of ordering it off of the internet, I can run to Wal Greens, Rite Aid, or CVS and buy a puck for $1.99.

The best shaving soap for your buck period.

I got this soap as an exchange but I have an idea on the retail price and I think it's reasonable.

The soap works very well, easy to produce lather but the scent is a bit mild. It does remind me of lotion but it doesn't last.

I found this product easier than Col. Conk soaps.

VDH is not a bad soap, it just didn't work for me. I used the whole puck and tried a few different things to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong and it just didn't happen. Again, not a bad soap, it just doesn't work for me.

The lather was somewhat finicky; if I made it thick and creamy it gave me a burning sensation, if I used less soap it was runny. After a few tries I got it just right but it still didn't provide the glide and cushioning I was hoping for.

The one thing I did not like was the scent. While the scent was not strong, it was very chemical and, in a way, plastic. The soap doesn't last either, after each shave the puck is very noticeably smaller.

Another thing that was dissapointing was the moisturizing properties. With so many moisturizers I thought it'd be efficient in that department. While it did not completely dry my skin like other products, it did not leave me feeling comfortable either. After a few uses I got irritation.

For the price (and being locally available) it's a product I think everyone should try, I can see how a lot of guys would like it.

This product is cheap and reliable. I don't get the greatest cream that I can get from some of my other soaps, but at the price I can get VDH for it is a staple in my rotation. I think the scent is not to strong. I would like it to have a little more fragrance though. I will say that it seems to take me less time to make a lather with this soap. Not sure why, has anyone had this happen to them as well? Overall I think for the price of this soap it is decent for any mans face.