Some of these artisans describe their scents like a cologne with top notes heart notes and a base notes. My whole shaving routine lasts 20 minutes if I do a three pass shave. I don't always do a three pass shave. 'Im thinking the soap is on my face at the most 10 minutes. I don't think this is enough time for a soap to go through a dry down period like a cologne would. Plus there is no alcohol in the lather to dry down. Than in the end it gets all washed off and the scents dissipate and the real fun with scents happens with aftershave or cologne. Somtimes I think some of the simpler scents work better with shave soap.
Anyone wonder if hype for continuance of new bases/scents will ever hit a wall?
- Thread starter bmw45mo
- Start date
The tried their hand at it maybe 5 or 6 years ago. If I recall correctly it was almost $100 a puck and the smell was so faint it was almost non existent (I got the GIT version). They discontinued it though.
I don't think bases have peaked at all. I think we see more vegan bases and I think we will see better bases with fewer ingredients.
Anyone remember shaving with a blade made from hardened bronze? Ya think the Pharaohs thought bases had peaked?
Me either.
~doug~
Nope. I don't think the pharaohs had soap.
It is somewhat unusual for the top soapmakers to also have perfumery skills, but they do exist.
Perhaps the prime example of this is Mohammad of Grooming Dept. He makes some of the best artisan soaps available. Over the years, his skills as a perfumer have also improved along with his soapmaking skills. Unlike many artisan soapmakers who keep the same scents for years, Mohammad tends to introduce new scents with every release. Even when he reuses a past scent, the new scent might not be identical to the previous version. Several vendors currently have product in stock from the latest Grooming Dept release. Some of these scents are masterpieces.
Mohammad is not the only one who makes great scents. Some of the Ariana & Evans scents are quite nice. Gentlemen's Nod has some scents provided by the House of Zarahoff. Zingari Man has released scents by Byron Perfumes. Shawn Maher of Chatillion Lux and Maher Olfactive has produced scents for several soapmakers, with Declaration Grooming being the main one. Murphy & McNeil has collaborated with Black Mountain Shaving on scents like Nantahala.
My shave den is well stocked with top performing shave soaps, so I now only purchase soaps if the scents are equally good. I like complex scents that are so well blended that you cannot pick out the individual scents. Although the soap scents might not be as strong as an EDP or EDT, I expect the scent to be "perfume grade".
This is where I am as well. I won't buy a new soap without having tried a sample to make sure I like the scent. Every once in a while I try out a sample of a new base or a maker I've never tried before but it's hard to imagine that anyone is going to come up with a soap that is significantly better than what I have in my den.
Not to say I'll never buy another full-sized soap - I bought two tubs this year - but I'm working to downsize the stash over the long term.
I have really enjoyed Mo's products. Initially, his reputation for scents was not great- i've read most of his offerings were more gourmand-ish and i really dislike any soap that smells like it could be food- so i didn't bother with GD products. But, thought i'd give them a try and haven't found that to be the case at all. That said, i think GD scents are probably more geared to mature to middle aged gents which is probably the main demographic buying his soaps, anyway. All the soaps i've tried were excellent and not overly strong scented. It seems Mo knows his customers and what they want. The downside of how he operates is, you never know if he's going to bring a scent back so you really can't fall for anything.
What of the current GD scents are your favorite?
Honestly I think it depends on the artisan. Some were changing bases to try to find ones that worked well for what they were trying to achieve (notably Stirling). Others change their bases to push the limits of what can be achieved in certain areas or to keep a buzz going about their business
I suspect many guys in their late teens and early 20s do not have a need for the top shaving soaps, neither do they have the resources to purchase them. As shavers age, many start having difficulty with coarse beards and sensitive skin. As an old man with a white beard, I know that describes me. Having spent 55 years getting poor quality shaves using poor quality shaving tools, I now want the very best hardware and software I can get.
Mohammad understands his nature of his customer base and produces products designed to meet the needs of those customers. That does not mean every product will work for every customer. While many soapmakers produce a few scents that customers may or may not like, Mohammad produces new scents for every release. If one of the current scents does not strike your fancy, wait until the next release. The last Grooming Dept release consisted for 13 different scents covering a wide variety of scent preferences. Some are still in stock at various vendors.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
I don’t think that the artisan hype will ever go away, they fill a niche for unusual and unusually strongly scented soaps that the mainstram commercial makers do not - except for Tabac, with which can fumigate a large house, lol.
However, I noted a post by @Lane101 I believe, reminiscing about how things were 10 years ago (and I was around then). I could easily see things going full circle with a much smaller artisan presence than now, but only if the wet shaving community shrinks. There has been a bloodletting of sorts in the commercial shaving soap world in the past two years with many, many, long-time commercial stalwarts disappearing, mostly the cheapest soaps.
The artisan soap world is not stable (and neither are many of their soaps). From 10 years ago the only artisan I can think of still around is Mikes Natural Soaps, and still a good, solid choice.
However, I noted a post by @Lane101 I believe, reminiscing about how things were 10 years ago (and I was around then). I could easily see things going full circle with a much smaller artisan presence than now, but only if the wet shaving community shrinks. There has been a bloodletting of sorts in the commercial shaving soap world in the past two years with many, many, long-time commercial stalwarts disappearing, mostly the cheapest soaps.
The artisan soap world is not stable (and neither are many of their soaps). From 10 years ago the only artisan I can think of still around is Mikes Natural Soaps, and still a good, solid choice.
I'm just glad that I'm not into soaps and their cartoonish jars. I know a lot of people who get more excited about the latest soap base and scent than the latest razor on the market and many of them have basically 10 or more soaps of the same base, but with a different scent.
I think the soap makers are easly making way more money than pretty much any modern razor manufacturer.
They can literally sell the same thing with a slightly different scent in some goofy jar and also make it a limited edition and watch how everyone is fighting to get his hands on it.
I think the soap makers are easly making way more money than pretty much any modern razor manufacturer.
They can literally sell the same thing with a slightly different scent in some goofy jar and also make it a limited edition and watch how everyone is fighting to get his hands on it.
Not to be confused with the decidedly avant-garde Blue Cheese Base of course.
I do not expect that the hype for artisans will ever fade away. We need only look to our close friends in perfumery for proof. Consider that you have fragrances which fall out of favour given reformulations or become discontinued and fall into the mythic status of rare finds only to be surpassed by the next exciting designer or niche offering. I would say the equivalent of this for our beloved saponified world is the next great soap base. While the improvements may eventually become marginal at best, there's always a next best thing. Innovation is constant in grooming products be it fragrances, hair care, or soap. Even if this innovation becomes largely superficial, SAD always reigns supreme and brands new and old will always be jockeying to make the sale.
Personally I would be interested to see more brands step into the shave stick market and my own personal prediction is that more artisans will explore this form factor in the future as the next frontier to conquer. Mastro Miche has delivered a fine artisan shave stick and PAA has their own selection, as does Razorock and undoubtedly more than a few others that I have failed to list here.
Personally I would be interested to see more brands step into the shave stick market and my own personal prediction is that more artisans will explore this form factor in the future as the next frontier to conquer. Mastro Miche has delivered a fine artisan shave stick and PAA has their own selection, as does Razorock and undoubtedly more than a few others that I have failed to list here.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Yes
Hi Steve56, You summed it up perfectly and would only add that in addition to the unique formulations and unusual scents some B&Ber's view the artisan soaps as collectables from an artwork perspective.
The artisan soap world is extremely dynamic. In my retrospective of B&B wet shaving from 15 years ago the hot artisan soap manufacturers were Mama Bear and Col. Conk. Suspect we will see consolidation with a few, like Stirling, growing into larger businesses that can be sustained on a long term basis.
One piece of good news is that many $15 + mid market commercial soaps, such as Mitchell's Wool Fat, Tabac and Cyril Salter are currently available at mass market prices ($5 - $6 a puck) when sourced directly from overseas (U.K.) thanks to current exchange rates. I've taken advantage of this to add all three of these and some others to my soap rotation. While I can now create a custom mix that delivers a similar level of performance for around $2 per puck. At just $5-6 for larger pucks I'm glad have these soaps. Also for many the aroma's of these soaps would be an advantage to my custom blends that smell like a good basic soap. Significant savings opportunities overseas on certain artisan soaps too.
P.S. The Tabac I recently acquired was the new vegan formulation. While I never used the older tallow based version as a comparison the new version is excellent and the aroma, while a bit strong out of the box, rapidly dissipated to something quite pleasant within 24 hours of being placed in an open soap cup.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
I have no problems with the new Tabac, except for the scent intensity, same as the old Tabac.
I totally agree with you about Mohammed. His perfumery skills are excellent and improving all the time. His latest batch of soaps are masterpieces scent-wise.
My soap preferences are similar especially as I've found that there are low to moderate cost soap options that deliver excellent performance. For example a while back I compared the $2.99 (on sale) Razorrock What the Puck ingredients to other soaps and found them identical or very similar to soaps costing 3 - 10x as much.
While you are right that the artisan soap per unit profit margins are likely fairly significant my sense is that for most artisans this is a low volume business that likely does not generate enough total profit to be more than a hobby or nice side gig with a few exceptions like Stirling.
While exotic ingredients, aromas and container artwork are not important to many of us I do respect the shaving hobbyists among us, such as @RayClem who acquire a collection of soaps because they enjoy these elements, have highly sensitive skin or even prefer them due to YMMV . Similar thing in shaving brushes. No one needs a $200-$500 shaving brush when a $20 brush may be 80%+ as good yet many B&Bers want that incremental increase in performance and value the experience of commissioning a custom made brush that is also a collectable.
