I got a ton of Cella shaving soap and I'm loving it. As much as I like BBQ food, I wouldn't eat it every day. So off I go in my search for other soaps and creams. Needless to say there's an overwhelming amount of choices out there. What I do in this situation is to find a theme. By that I mean something in common that helps me weed out many other choices. It can be anything. Soap or cream, veggie or tallow, a particular scent from different brands, nationality, you name it.
First thing that draw my attention was hydrolast from Enchante. Mister Roberts seems to have a love or hate relationship in this forum. I don't want to start another discussion about his products, just to mention that while reading about it the small and dusty proverbial light bulb switched on in my brain. I have found my theme! Its got to be an artisan product. Something done by a guy (or gal) for the love of the trade. In this case soap making and/or shaving. Now, we can sit here and argue endlessly as to how good hydrolast really is, but there's something pretty clear, Mr Rogers is certainly passionate about wet shaving so he fits my theme. Plus it's in Austin so I owe them a visit. Searching further I found Mama Bears, Queen Charlotte, and Al's shaving products. Also Tabula Rasa which seems to be cream made by a lady in Germany, but at $10 an once its a bit too rich for me at this time. I thought that was enough for now. Hydrolast products gives me a handful of base soaps to try and MB, QCS, and Al's soaps give me, lets say, a "bag of soaps".
The thing is that the more I think about it the more I like to make this a permanent theme. Then decided that it will be best if I make a list of artisan soaps and then choose three or four that are substantially different. Hydrolast is rather unique so it's the first on my list. Mama Bear seems to have an unusual amount of glycerin (20% according to their website). Don't know if that makes them special so will welcome comments on this brand. Cella will always be part of my rotation. Maybe b/s it's my first decent shaving soap or maybe b/s it's that good. I'm also getting some Valobra Crema di Sapone Purissima. Yes, I know, these two are not artisan soaps but I like Cella a lot and want to try Valobra anyways.
So, can you help me compile an artisan soaps list? I'm not ruling out creams but prefer soaps. Will prefer American artisan soaps but like to hear about anything out there. Small operations will be best to me. For example eShave might be an excellent cream but they are sold by many retailers so will prefer to buy and support smaller outfits. Also if you don't mind please let me know if there's anything unique to a particular artisan product. I thank you in advance.
First thing that draw my attention was hydrolast from Enchante. Mister Roberts seems to have a love or hate relationship in this forum. I don't want to start another discussion about his products, just to mention that while reading about it the small and dusty proverbial light bulb switched on in my brain. I have found my theme! Its got to be an artisan product. Something done by a guy (or gal) for the love of the trade. In this case soap making and/or shaving. Now, we can sit here and argue endlessly as to how good hydrolast really is, but there's something pretty clear, Mr Rogers is certainly passionate about wet shaving so he fits my theme. Plus it's in Austin so I owe them a visit. Searching further I found Mama Bears, Queen Charlotte, and Al's shaving products. Also Tabula Rasa which seems to be cream made by a lady in Germany, but at $10 an once its a bit too rich for me at this time. I thought that was enough for now. Hydrolast products gives me a handful of base soaps to try and MB, QCS, and Al's soaps give me, lets say, a "bag of soaps".
The thing is that the more I think about it the more I like to make this a permanent theme. Then decided that it will be best if I make a list of artisan soaps and then choose three or four that are substantially different. Hydrolast is rather unique so it's the first on my list. Mama Bear seems to have an unusual amount of glycerin (20% according to their website). Don't know if that makes them special so will welcome comments on this brand. Cella will always be part of my rotation. Maybe b/s it's my first decent shaving soap or maybe b/s it's that good. I'm also getting some Valobra Crema di Sapone Purissima. Yes, I know, these two are not artisan soaps but I like Cella a lot and want to try Valobra anyways.
So, can you help me compile an artisan soaps list? I'm not ruling out creams but prefer soaps. Will prefer American artisan soaps but like to hear about anything out there. Small operations will be best to me. For example eShave might be an excellent cream but they are sold by many retailers so will prefer to buy and support smaller outfits. Also if you don't mind please let me know if there's anything unique to a particular artisan product. I thank you in advance.
