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- #21
Well, it was 24 shaves since I weighed the Arko. It lost 12 grams, so at a starting nomimal weight of 75 grams, that should go roughly 150 shaves. It is starting to look like a banana.
A Test of Four Soaps
- Thread starter Shutterbug57
- Start date
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- #22
September was MdC month. On the 24th I suspended MdC until I can get it in a new container. As I am working my way down into the container, the edge of the opening, which is smaller diameter than other soaps, is cutting my badger hairs in my brush. I switched back to Mike's just to be sure the brush was not having issues, but no hairs are in the Mike's after 3 shaves.
The MdC soap is nice, but with this container issue, it is not worth the hassle. I will dig this out and put it in a new container, but will not rebuy.
The MdC soap is nice, but with this container issue, it is not worth the hassle. I will dig this out and put it in a new container, but will not rebuy.
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- #23
Recap on MdC September
The soap is pretty good. Not on par with Mike's or, surprisingly, Arko, but pretty good. I find it is more suited to safety razors than straights and would use it in that manner in the future. Notes:
1. The jar is not well thought out as it cuts the brush hairs - see prior post.
2. I have done a weigh in on MdC and it computes to a theoretical 316 shaves in the jar. That is impressive, but only a little more than the Arko stick at ~12 times the price.
3. When used with safety razors, this is a nice soap.
4. The shaving experience with MdC lags behind Mike's and Arko, but is light years ahead of Mogno.
5. Veggie soaps, for me, just lack something positive that the tallow soaps bring to the experience.
Below are the stats for the first 23 shaves with MdC.
The soap is pretty good. Not on par with Mike's or, surprisingly, Arko, but pretty good. I find it is more suited to safety razors than straights and would use it in that manner in the future. Notes:
1. The jar is not well thought out as it cuts the brush hairs - see prior post.
2. I have done a weigh in on MdC and it computes to a theoretical 316 shaves in the jar. That is impressive, but only a little more than the Arko stick at ~12 times the price.
3. When used with safety razors, this is a nice soap.
4. The shaving experience with MdC lags behind Mike's and Arko, but is light years ahead of Mogno.
5. Veggie soaps, for me, just lack something positive that the tallow soaps bring to the experience.
Below are the stats for the first 23 shaves with MdC.
Interesting issue. Do you load vigorously? I use a synthetic brush so I don't have this problem. But I do find the brush having a tendency to hit the edges as I get beyond say 50% of the tub. I find that I have to load gently or I feel like my brush is getting scraped.
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- #25
I’m fairly vigorous, but I have a large knot too. When I run my finger around the inside of the top of the jar, it has some parts that are sharper than others. They are not slice your finger sharp, but they do appear to damage the brush.
If that is a concern, then perhaps one of the wooden bowls MdC sells would be a better option.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
The bowls are plastic, have been for a few years. A bit of sandpaper or scraping the edge with a knife should fix you up in a few seconds.
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- #28
Well, Mogno month is done and here are the shave stats on Mogno since the bar was new. Of the 4 soaps in this test, Mogno is the outlier and, by far, my least favorite. The Outstanding and Very Good shaves work, but there are almost as many good shaves as outstanding. I would not buy Mogno, especially for use with a SE or striaght razor.
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- #29
I have done the weigh in for Mogno and it computes to 207 theoretical shaves for the bar. So far, all the projections have been for theoretical shaves and assume the bar/puck will be fully consumed. As we know, this is not the way it works and some of the soap becomes lost in the corners of the jar.
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- #30
Well, I have gotten through the 1 soap per month period and below are the stats. Mike's and Arko are in a virtual tie for first with Arko being easily the lowest cost per shave of the bunch. MdC Rose comes in third, but if I put away the shavette when using MdC, it fares pretty well. Mogno, OTOH, gave 75% of the "Very Good" shaves and 87.5% of the "Good" shaves. It may wear out its welcome before it gets consumed.
I would like if you could describe the skin conditioning or dryness after. That's a big deal to me and why I would pay more. I don't want dry skin and the less moisturizer I have to use the better.
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- #32
Mike's and Arko are both tallow (fat) soaps. They shave very well and leave my face feeling great and moisturized. MdC and Mogno are veggie soaps. They don't leave my face feeling as nice as the Mike's and Arko. Of the two, MdC is by far the better of the two from a skin feel standpoint. The Mogno is a pretty drying soap for me. The MdC is close to, but not in the same ball park as the fatted soaps.
I was literally about to send you a link to the video on the first page, please try and report back.
The video is cute. I bought the arko already in the tub though.I was literally about to send you a link to the video on the first page, please try and report back.
PAA performs better than arko imho. So I am hopeful that stepping up to higher grade product will make the experience better? I have a big sample pack from Stirling about to arrive. So I will see.
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- #36
Well, its been a while since I posted here. When I last posted stats, I had 23 MdC shaves and was having issues with its jar cutting brush hairs. Since that post, I have removed the MdC from the jar and put it in a WalMart Salsa Bowl which has solved the brush issue. While I am at home, I have been using the MdC exclusively and have found that it really prefers my SE GEM 1912 razor over my Aristocrat and Feather shavette, so that is what I have been using primarily with it.
While away from home, I have a jar of Mike's, not the jar that I am using in this test, so it does not figure into the stats. I have been on the road a fair bit since my last post. I currently have 57 Shaves with the MdC. At the rate it is being used, I doubt it will see 90 shaves. Using it as an exclusive soap allows you to get the feel for it. It performs acceptably well, but, for the price I feel there are better options. THBS, I will not hesitate to use up the MdC rather than bin it.
While away from home, I have a jar of Mike's, not the jar that I am using in this test, so it does not figure into the stats. I have been on the road a fair bit since my last post. I currently have 57 Shaves with the MdC. At the rate it is being used, I doubt it will see 90 shaves. Using it as an exclusive soap allows you to get the feel for it. It performs acceptably well, but, for the price I feel there are better options. THBS, I will not hesitate to use up the MdC rather than bin it.
Can this thread be made a sticky if not now then how about after completion?
Have my first box of Arko sticks inbound, only used the Arko puck until now. Thank you for posting the helpful video, did not realize how much softer the Arko stick is versus the Williams I currently use/blend. Could never shape a puck of Williams by hand. Realize YMMV for each of us though this was an interesting 4 soap test where Arko was a top performer edging out Mdc.
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- #39
I have completed the MdC Rose. Following are my thoughts and stats.
Overall:
MdC Rose is a nice soap that I would not repurchase. Further, if I were given a new jar of this (or any other MdC soap), I would PIF it to someone who really likes it. The shaves were decent, but to get a really slick lather, you had to use a significant amount of soap and much of that got washed down the drain. At only 80 shaves, it was over $0.80 per shave. Additionally, when you got the really slick lather, it took a good bit of rinsing to get off the residue. Overall, the cost is too high, the work load to use it is higher than average and the experience while very good, is not outstanding.
In order to get outstanding shaves, this soap had to be used with either a SE (GEM 1912) or DE (1934 Aristocrat). It gave Very Good shaves with my Feather AC SS, but not up to par with those from Mike's or even Arko.
At first, I used this soap from its jar. That did not provide the same level of lather that I got once I took it out of the jar and put it in a Wal-Mart salsa bowl. Having the wider area to work to get the soap made the experience better, but at the expense of using more soap per shave. In the end, MdC, a veggie soap, is just not up to par with the tallow soaps in this test.
Arko is next up in the test. I have 27 shaves on it from the month it got in the rotation and we shall see how long it will last. Looking forward to shaving with a tallow soap again.
Stats
Total Shaves - 80
- Outstanding - 71
- Very Good - 18
- Good - 1
Razors that performed best with MdC
GEM 1912 (50 shaves & this was the best razor for this soap)
1934 Aristocrat (23 shaves - this razor did well with this soap)
Feather AC SS (9 shaves - this razor is not a fan of this soap)
Overall:
MdC Rose is a nice soap that I would not repurchase. Further, if I were given a new jar of this (or any other MdC soap), I would PIF it to someone who really likes it. The shaves were decent, but to get a really slick lather, you had to use a significant amount of soap and much of that got washed down the drain. At only 80 shaves, it was over $0.80 per shave. Additionally, when you got the really slick lather, it took a good bit of rinsing to get off the residue. Overall, the cost is too high, the work load to use it is higher than average and the experience while very good, is not outstanding.
In order to get outstanding shaves, this soap had to be used with either a SE (GEM 1912) or DE (1934 Aristocrat). It gave Very Good shaves with my Feather AC SS, but not up to par with those from Mike's or even Arko.
At first, I used this soap from its jar. That did not provide the same level of lather that I got once I took it out of the jar and put it in a Wal-Mart salsa bowl. Having the wider area to work to get the soap made the experience better, but at the expense of using more soap per shave. In the end, MdC, a veggie soap, is just not up to par with the tallow soaps in this test.
Arko is next up in the test. I have 27 shaves on it from the month it got in the rotation and we shall see how long it will last. Looking forward to shaving with a tallow soap again.
Stats
Total Shaves - 80
- Outstanding - 71
- Very Good - 18
- Good - 1
Razors that performed best with MdC
GEM 1912 (50 shaves & this was the best razor for this soap)
1934 Aristocrat (23 shaves - this razor did well with this soap)
Feather AC SS (9 shaves - this razor is not a fan of this soap)
Is it the best veggie soap you have used? I don't use tallow soap and MdC is my daily driver. I probably get 120-150 shaves from mine.
