Sounds like you really are enjoying shave sticks right now.
So maybe give La Toja a try next.
It seems to be popular stick like Arko and Palmolive.
So maybe give La Toja a try next.
It seems to be popular stick like Arko and Palmolive.
A recent arrival in the world of soap
- Thread starter Roedeer
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- Thread starter
- #22
I'm in Scotland, thanks.
I like the ease of use and performance of Arko/Palmolive, but performance must beat ease of use.
Re scents, I think there's a big learning curve ahead on that. The nostalgic Palmolive one is pleasanter than Arko for me, but I don't dislike the "lemon fresh" Arko scent.
- Thread starter
- #23
Thanks to everyone for the recommendations. I look forward to trying some new soaps.
Since you are in the EU, I recommend you order a soap or two from Eufros/Jabonman. You can email Manuel directly and ask him what he has available. I can recommend his premium vegetal base, his old tallow base and new tallow base. "[email protected]"
One thing you might want to consider is if you would like to try soft soaps, hard soaps or both. I generally prefer hard soap, but there are soft soaps that I enjoy and will likely buy again once my stocks are reduced.
Some reasonably priced soaps that perform very well:
Cella Extra Extra Bio (green tub)
Cella (red tub)
Haslinger Schafmilch (or one of the other Haslinger scents)
Speick stick
La Toja stick
Cella Extra Extra Bio (green tub)
Cella (red tub)
Haslinger Schafmilch (or one of the other Haslinger scents)
Speick stick
La Toja stick
For sticks, La Tajo, Speick, and Arko are my faves. I’m in the minority with palmolive, it just doesn’t impress me like the others.
As for great soaps in tubs or pucks, you cannot go wrong with Tabac, providing you like the scent. I also highly recommend Saponificio Varesino, cella extra extra bio and Ariana and Evans soaps. None of these are at all difficult to dial in and get great results.
As for great soaps in tubs or pucks, you cannot go wrong with Tabac, providing you like the scent. I also highly recommend Saponificio Varesino, cella extra extra bio and Ariana and Evans soaps. None of these are at all difficult to dial in and get great results.
I tried using one of my hard soap like a shave stick by rubbing it on my face and it made my whiskers hurt, so that ended that and I won't buy shave sticks. There are a lot of good soaps makers out there and it comes down to budget. If you are looking for soaps around $10 or less try Razorock, I actually have a tube of Palmolive cream, Derby cream is good, Proraso, Cella. Around $15 is Captain's Choice and Soap Commander. In the $20 range is Barrister and Mann. Then there is my favorite Saponificio Varesino. Castle Forbes is nice. Truefitt and Hill is decent. These listed are only ones I have tried and there are many good ones out there.
One thing that I found is if I load the soap like I stole it I get good lathers. Since I bought a lather bowl I don't face lather any more.
One thing that I found is if I load the soap like I stole it I get good lathers. Since I bought a lather bowl I don't face lather any more.
If you haven't used Tabac puck soap, you really should try that next. I try other soaps and creams for fun and variety, but I've yet to find anything I like more
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- #31
I've not tried any Tabac products yet.
Are they like tobacco (which would be thumbs down) or like Nicotiana flowers (tentative thumbs up), or like something else entirely?
I'm storing up ideas for October; I bought 2 x Game Changers recently, a 68 and an 84, so I'm trying to behave myself for the rest of the month.
Top notes are aldehydes, lavender, neroli, bergamot and lemon; middle notes are carnation, sandalwood, orris root, jasmine, rose and pine tree needles; base notes are tonka bean, amber, musk, vanilla, oakmoss and tobacco.
It doesn't smell like tobacco, it is a small component of the overall scent.
Not like tobacco. More of a floral, woody, citrus, musk scent. Imagine a hip guy from the 1960s wearing Chelsea boots. This is his cologne.
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- #34
Sounds good. I have to be careful about that kind of thing.
Some great recommendations here. I would also add Mitchell's Wool Fat. Made in the UK, the refill is 125gr and is rather cheap over there.
- Thread starter
- #36
That one seems to polarise opinions, so maybe I ought to try it for myself.
Yup. What he said. My nose is not that good at identifying scents. For me the Lavender and sandalwood and tobacco (to be clear like a faint wiff of really good smelling pipe tobacco, not stale cigarettes) LOL.
Imagine you’re sitting in church and a lovely elderly lady asks to squeeze by you so she can sit down. You catch a whiff of her perfume, which is strong, very strong. To evade the stench you grab her oversized handbag filled with old lady items, like more perfume, butterscotch candy wrappers and 10 year old lipstick and tissue papers. You empty everything out of the bag except her perfume and proceed to shove your head inside the handbag and wear it like a hat.
I’m just kidding. Tabac doesn’t smell that bad. It’s worse.
However, word around these parts is if you let it sit with the lid off for about 200 days in your bathroom, the scent dissipates and the soap actually mutates back into a senior citizen.
..but the lather is excellent.
I can't say is I have ever hit the like button on this site since it was added but I was laughing quite hard and just had to hit the button since you hit the nail on the head. I scraped a little off the puck and brought it to work. I wasn't too far into my journey and think it was just before I got my friend into wet shaving. But anyway I asked my friend "smell this and describe it". Kind of a perfume smell. I said "how about the inside of an old ladies purse"? Yep! I only had said that because I had read that statement on here and I thought it fit it to a tee. It is not a bad scent and I even bought the deodorant stick(which gave me a red rash and made my arm pits burn). That I used as a bathroom air freshener until the stick started to whither and then I tossed it. Sold the 2 jars(it was on sale at some store online for $10 so of course I bought 2) in a lot here.
And no, I didn't get a very good lather myself.
