Adding to the shave den

[BrightFutur]

So lately I've been trying to flush out my shave den. I've gotten new razors, *tons* of new creams, and I'm going to get a new brush. One thing that I've never tried was shave soaps. I promised myself that I would only buy three, but I wanted to really see what shaving soaps have to offer. (Of course, promises can be broken.)

Right now I'm looking at getting these three

Tabac
QED (Going to call Charles and see what scents are available ATM)
Mama Bears (Don't know what scent yet)

I've been lurking the soap forums for a while now, and it seems like these 3 would give me some solid, high quality soaps to start with. If I really didn't like them to the point that I wanted to get rid of them, I figure I could BST or PIF them.

With that being said, are there any other soaps that I should be considering? (I'm not feeling MWF right now - too many reports of finnicky lathering etc.)

 

[strat1117]

Of the 3 you mention, Tabac would be the hands down winner for me. I also love the AoS soaps (tallow is still the first ingredient!). Although they are a bit pricey, they last forever, they just can't be beat in terms of lather quality and quantity and you won't hear any MWF-style tales of lathering woe; lathering AoS SS is a breeze (just as easy as Tabac, IMO). Finally, you might also try L'Occitane CADE, which is the only non-tallow soap I use. It is easy lathering, smells fantastic and a bargain at $10 for the puck (the dedicated bowl is extra).

Enjoy!

 

[Leche]

Arko: Cheap, wonderful lather and I personnaly love the scent. TALLOW!
Speick: Same as above with that great Speick scent. TALLOW!
Col Conk Almond: Cheap glycerin soap that performs very well and I always want to eat it.
Omega/Proraso: If you like menthol, you'll love these. This is a relatively soft soap.

Your above choices are very good and Tabac is my favorite. Enjoy the new AD.

 

[markb]

I highly recommend Cella.

 

[Sharp Blade]

You are obviously a wise man,a very wise man,you can't go wrong with TABAC or Mama Bears. Oh and before I forget Mama Bears makes all of her scents to die for, IMHO of course !!!

 

[Ignatius]

MWF
Palmolive shave stick for cheap, tallow based excellence
DR Harris
Wiiliams, for the nostalgia. And you might like it.

 

[joshmpdx]

You've touched on something very interesting! Great question, I suppose I would be interested in why you are interested in making 2 of the 3 glycerine? Are scents very impertant to you?

My recomendation would be to get 3 different performing soaps.
Maybe...
~ Valobra stick
~ Tabac
~ MWF

Or
~ gold dachs
~ pre de provence
~ proraso

Even...
~ QED
~ palmolive
~ penhaligans

 

[BrightFutur]

You've touched on something very interesting! Great question, I suppose I would be interested in why you are interested in making 2 of the 3 glycerine? Are scents very impertant to you?

My recomendation would be to get 3 different performing soaps.
Maybe...
~ Valobra stick
~ Tabac
~ MWF

Or
~ gold dachs
~ pre de provence
~ proraso

Even...
~ QED
~ palmolive
~ penhaligans

I've heard a lot of good things about QED soaps - Quality, scent, shave, etc.

And I see many different Mama Bears soaps in the shave den pictures, often a wide variety of scents in a single den. I also hear great things.

I know for sure that I'm sold on Tabac - I feel compelled to try it. I may kick it up to 4 soaps and add a proraso or palmolive.


Thanks for the feedback!

 

[joshmpdx]

I've heard a lot of good things about QED soaps - Quality, scent, shave, etc.

And I see many different Mama Bears soaps in the shave den pictures, often a wide variety of scents in a single den. I also hear great things.

I know for sure that I'm sold on Tabac - I feel compelled to try it. I may kick it up to 4 soaps and add a proraso or palmolive.


Thanks for the feedback!

if your just going with 3 or 4 and want to try a glycerin soap, pick up a QED in a scent you're interested in.

then i would try a few others with a different manufacturing method and base... such as tallow, lanolin, palm oil, etc...

 

[crocto]

you owe it to yourself to try williams. granted it isn't the best soap. but at most it'll cost you $1.50. and who knows you might like it. plus look at their website. so simple and understated.

 

[Evbo]

you owe it to yourself to try williams. granted it isn't the best soap. but at most it'll cost you $1.50. and who knows you might like it. plus look at their website. so simple and understated.

With all due respect, life's too short to use bad soap.

 

[Seraphim]

with all due respect, life's too short to use bad soap.

wisdom!!!!

 

[markb]

With all due respect, life's too short to use bad soap.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a bad soap.. Granted, it's not a very "exciting" soap. I mean, I agree there's no fruity, flowery or spicy scent. And yeah, maybe it doesn't come in a fancy-shmancy ceramic or wooden bowl.. But William's does the best it can! Ya know??

C'mon man... Have a little charity.. It's tough being the little guy in a Tabac-Mitchell's-Harris-Trumper's world..

 

[crocto]

With all due respect, life's too short to use bad soap.

ha trust me i know about bad things. i live in NJ! i'm currently doing my soul punishment there. i would gladly shave with williams for the rest of my life if i could live in NYC.

 

[Seraphim]

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a bad soap.. Granted, it's not a very "exciting" soap. I mean, I agree there's no fruity, flowery or spicy scent. And yeah, maybe it doesn't come in a fancy-shmancy ceramic or wooden bowl.. But William's does the best it can! Ya know??

C'mon man... Have a little charity.. It's tough being the little guy in a Tabac-Mitchell's-Harris-Trumper's world..

Nope.

It actually is a bad soap IMHO. I don't care about price, prestige, whatever. But when a soap fails to protect your face, and aid in the process of having a nice shave, then it falls into the catagory of "bad soap" in my book.


But, Williams is an Institution. And it is cheap, so the OP should go out and get a puck, as it is at the very least a right of passage in the wetshaving world. But don't count it against your 3 soap goal. Williams is a "freebie"

Currently my top 2 are:
Tabac
Valobra shave stick milled into bowl along with Valobra soft soap..this one has been really rocking my world the last couple of weeks.

I just ordered some Penhalion's today.....

 

[Evbo]

ha trust me i know about bad things. i live in NJ!

I grew up in Jersey. I feel your pain.

 

[Mr. Igg]

Of the 3 you mention, Tabac would be the hands down winner for me. I also love the AoS soaps (tallow is still the first ingredient!). Although they are a bit pricey, they last forever, they just can't be beat in terms of lather quality and quantity and you won't hear any MWF-style tales of lathering woe; lathering AoS SS is a breeze (just as easy as Tabac, IMO). Finally, you might also try L'Occitane CADE, which is the only non-tallow soap I use. It is easy lathering, smells fantastic and a bargain at $10 for the puck (the dedicated bowl is extra).

Enjoy!

That works for me!

 

[jonnyt]

The four soaps I currently have in active rotation are my favourites and I couldn't recommend them highly enough:
Tabac (enough said)
Penhaligon's English Fern (If you hurry, you can pick up the last of the tallow stock)
DR Harris Arlington (smells great, fresh barbershop. and it lasts forever)
Trumpers Rose (probably the best or the reformulated soaps - and the best rose scent)

 

[thunderball]

Been really liking my Provence Sante.

 

[BrightFutur]

I went out and got some Williams - not my cup of tea (Or mug of soap)

I also picked up some VDH though, and that I'm a lot happier with. On its own its a little lacking but I superlathered today and the results were *incredible*. Really want to superlather with a tallow based soap now.

On a side note I'm currently performing an experiment with my VDH. I had a tube of AOS sandalwood that split at the seams, and a travel sized tub of nancy boy that was almost out. I melted the AOS, NB, and VDH in a mug, stirred a bunch, more heat, stirred more, and now I'm letting it settle. I'm interested to see what results. Just a little fooling around