So, yesterday morning I lathered up some Martin du Candre for my morning shave, and this morning, some Provence Sante Green Tea soap. The particulars:
MdC. Having made my own lather almost every single day for coming up on two years, I am pretty confident that I get a good lather most of the time. Yesterday morning's lather with MdC was one of those "perfect" lathers. While I was shaving I felt certain that I was using the best possible lather; maybe the best lather I have ever made. Slick and protective. Astounding. The scent, on the other hand, I find very distasteful. The shave? Very good and irritation-free.
PSGT. As usual, the PSGT lather starts out quite bubbly, and each time a little more water is introduced, it immediately gets very bubbly. Working it long enough produces a smooth lather, but it is always kind of "fluffy," for lack of a better term. A thin layer of this lather is more see-through than a thin layer of the MdC lather would be. I added two drops of glycerin during the process, to see if that would make the lather more yogurt-like. It helped a little. Eventually I got what looked to be a pretty nice lather. The shave was good; the lather was not as slick and not quite as protective, but I got a comfortable, close shave. The skin feel after the shave is second to none. My face felt glassy smooth and hydrated during the rinsing process. The scent, in contrast to MdC, I find very pleasant.
Overall, the MdC is clearly the better soap, IMO. It's not really even very close. The scent, however, is not good. The perfect shaving soap, IMO, would lather like MdC and smell like PSGT. Too bad such a beast does not exist.
MdC. Having made my own lather almost every single day for coming up on two years, I am pretty confident that I get a good lather most of the time. Yesterday morning's lather with MdC was one of those "perfect" lathers. While I was shaving I felt certain that I was using the best possible lather; maybe the best lather I have ever made. Slick and protective. Astounding. The scent, on the other hand, I find very distasteful. The shave? Very good and irritation-free.
PSGT. As usual, the PSGT lather starts out quite bubbly, and each time a little more water is introduced, it immediately gets very bubbly. Working it long enough produces a smooth lather, but it is always kind of "fluffy," for lack of a better term. A thin layer of this lather is more see-through than a thin layer of the MdC lather would be. I added two drops of glycerin during the process, to see if that would make the lather more yogurt-like. It helped a little. Eventually I got what looked to be a pretty nice lather. The shave was good; the lather was not as slick and not quite as protective, but I got a comfortable, close shave. The skin feel after the shave is second to none. My face felt glassy smooth and hydrated during the rinsing process. The scent, in contrast to MdC, I find very pleasant.
Overall, the MdC is clearly the better soap, IMO. It's not really even very close. The scent, however, is not good. The perfect shaving soap, IMO, would lather like MdC and smell like PSGT. Too bad such a beast does not exist.