True that. Cella is incredibly slick, easy to load/lather, quality ingredients and nice smell. That is why it is one of my top 5.
Artisan's Vs traditional
- Thread starter Jim cunningham
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True that. Cella is incredibly slick, easy to load/lather, quality ingredients and nice smell. That is why it is one of my top 5.
Aka 'post shave feel'.
This seems to be the primary attraction of artisan soap. Soaps are drying, but some artisan soaps contain such a high amount of ingredients that are more usually found in a high end moisturiser than a soap that they may actually have a net moisturizing effect.
However, I do suspect that your skin would thank you even more if you simply lathered up with a soap and applied a high end balm or moisturiser afterwards. And you'd save a few $€£
Now look what you've gone & done!! You'll have the post shave feel police posting now and admonishing you that these classically trained organic chemists are just "Big Pharma" hacks!!!
Not just pure... EXTRA purissimo.
If you buy a traditional soap that doesn't do anything spectacular for the post-shave condition, you'll need to slap on a nice balm to amend the issue. Combine the price of both and you get the same as buying an artisan soft soap loaded with superfats.
I have two soaps that leave me without any need for additional post-shave treatment, but I like the balms as a ritual. Some prefer an all-in-one solution or dislike balms.
Now look what you've gone & done!! You'll have the post shave feel police posting now and admonishing you that these classically trained organic chemists are just "Big Pharma" hacks!!!
I testify that post-post-shave (PPSF) is real. When I used MWF (lanolin) or PannaCrema P2O (shea butter) exclusively for months I washed my face with the remaining lather. My skin was moist and beautiful. I use all sorts of face creams and balms, but have never reached that level of PPSF again. DRH + balms doesn't come close, despite the good shaves and PSF.
Some how I knew it would be a comment by you that would cause me to comment as soon as PSF was brought up. Lol.
This going to be a prime example of YMMV. I DO NOT look for post shave feel of the moisturizing variety. I have oily skin on my face. I work in a hot, humid environment, even in the winter. I work on equipment that makes lotions, shampoos, body washes, baby oils, etc... so I am subject be covered in it at any given point. This does not help with oily skin. I actually prefer soaps that leave me a little dry and tight, but soft and almost any soap does this for me, but my preference is for traditional soaps, (Williams and Arko now being my primary ones). They give me the shave I want and the low cost is just a bonus. I do have some artisan soaps and the ones that are more drying, are in my rotation until they are gone. The others are shower soaps and do excellent in that aspect. I even like glycerin soaps like Col. Conk and Imperial as they are drying for my skin post shave as well and they provide an excellent price point also.
Will I try Tabac, Cella or MWF?, more than likely I will at some point. If they are too moisturizing, I will PIF those as they should not be relegated to shower duty IMO.
In the end, if the majority of reviews state a soap as moisturizing, it will not make it to my list to try and this includes the vast majority of Artisan soaps. May I be missing out on something? I very well may be but only as far as scent is concerned, IMO. Otherwise, I'm not missing anything and my bank account ends up happier for it.
Happy Shaves Y'all.
Interesting fact: Drying agents and dry environment causes the skin to overcompensate in creating oils (sebum) to lock in moisture. The solution is to moisturize it! Doesn't have to be with shave soap, tons of face care products out there. I'd recommend you Nivea Soft with Jojoba oil.
So here is my subjective, unscientific experiment with much too small a sample size to be meaningful. I use both artisan and traditional soaps, so for this test on consecutive days I first used Mitchell's Wool Fat (MWF) on day 1 and then Ariana & Evans Vetiver Magnifique (A&E) on day 2. I used the same prep:
Both soaps were easily applied to my face and did not dry out at all during the shave. I think that the A&E may have provided a slightly more cushioned feel, but if there was any difference it was barely perceptible. After my two pass shave, I followed the identical post-shave routine:
Conclusion: While both of these soaps are great, MWF is the overall winner in my opinion - leaving out the subjective issue of scent. Not only does it build more lather more quickly, it uses less soap to do it, costs less, the puck lasts significantly longer and it provides better post-shave feel. Will I abandon artisan soaps? Not at all. In fact I am awaiting the arrival of a couple of new soaps from Cold River Soapworks.
- Shower
- Splash warm water on face
- Apply 3 or 4 drops of homemade (mostly jojoba oil) pre-shave to face
Both soaps were easily applied to my face and did not dry out at all during the shave. I think that the A&E may have provided a slightly more cushioned feel, but if there was any difference it was barely perceptible. After my two pass shave, I followed the identical post-shave routine:
- Rinse with warm water
- Run alum block over face
- After cleaning up bowl, brush and sink, rinse face with cold water
- Apply Woody's post shave balm
Conclusion: While both of these soaps are great, MWF is the overall winner in my opinion - leaving out the subjective issue of scent. Not only does it build more lather more quickly, it uses less soap to do it, costs less, the puck lasts significantly longer and it provides better post-shave feel. Will I abandon artisan soaps? Not at all. In fact I am awaiting the arrival of a couple of new soaps from Cold River Soapworks.
Interesting. For me, it does come close to MWF. Maybe not as good, but close... Both favs. T
Are you referring to post shave feel or shaving performance?
This is counter-intuitive but yes.Interesting fact: Drying agents and dry environment causes the skin to overcompensate in creating oils (sebum) to lock in moisture. The solution is to moisturize it! Doesn't have to be with shave soap, tons of face care products out there. I'd recommend you Nivea Soft with Jojoba oil.
Interesting fact: Drying agents and dry environment causes the skin to overcompensate in creating oils (sebum) to lock in moisture. The solution is to moisturize it! Doesn't have to be with shave soap, tons of face care products out there. I'd recommend you Nivea Soft with Jojoba oil.
True......to a point. In extreme heat the sheer volume of sweat overwhelms this. I am on the southern coast and here you are going to sweat like a horse within minutes of being outdoors. That's not even including the Hellish humidity. I use an LHA cleanser/exfoliant post shave anyways as an anti aging measure and it works light years better than any artisan soap ever has.
If you go into it knowing what it is and what its made to do, you will not be disappointed. Buying an F-150 and expecting it to tow like an 18-wheeler will surely end in disappointment.
If you need any pointers to maximize the performance, I am always willing to help!
I have quite a few artisan soaps and some classics in my den.
Biggest difference for me comes down to residual slickness and post shave feel. I've always said a good balm or splash will fix most drying soaps.
It is fun to try all the different scents that small batch artisan's come out with but most don't hit home with me and it's disappointing when a scent is just "meh". I do find I really like the scents of the classic soaps like DR Harris, Cella, MWF and the scents Gillette and Nivea come up with. (Don't even get me started on the mess of scents that B&M have)
I personally think having artsian soaps is more about "hanging with the cool kids" than actual performance. People like to justify their designer soaps and will defend them like they own stock in that brand (whatever that may be).
In conclusion I will always have artisan and classic soaps in my den as I see and experience the appeal of both. But classic soaps are never going away. There are more people shaving with the mass produced stuff that we can shake a stick at compared to small batch offerings. If the classics went away the small batch guys would never be able to offer enough and for them to do so they'd become mass producer that now has to add all the additives that so many people seem to hate.
Shave with what you want and what makes you experience enjoyable.
Biggest difference for me comes down to residual slickness and post shave feel. I've always said a good balm or splash will fix most drying soaps.
It is fun to try all the different scents that small batch artisan's come out with but most don't hit home with me and it's disappointing when a scent is just "meh". I do find I really like the scents of the classic soaps like DR Harris, Cella, MWF and the scents Gillette and Nivea come up with. (Don't even get me started on the mess of scents that B&M have)
I personally think having artsian soaps is more about "hanging with the cool kids" than actual performance. People like to justify their designer soaps and will defend them like they own stock in that brand (whatever that may be).
In conclusion I will always have artisan and classic soaps in my den as I see and experience the appeal of both. But classic soaps are never going away. There are more people shaving with the mass produced stuff that we can shake a stick at compared to small batch offerings. If the classics went away the small batch guys would never be able to offer enough and for them to do so they'd become mass producer that now has to add all the additives that so many people seem to hate.
Shave with what you want and what makes you experience enjoyable.
Actually....both. And, I also follow up the shave with more lather on the face. They are both top tier product *for me* in nearly every regard.
Awesome. I'm fairly new to DRH and I'm definitely going to experiment more with it (water ratio in particular). I don't find DRH drying at all, but also not really doing a bit extra like MWF does in the post shave department.
You should try em all asap (I'm talking from a hobbyist pov, ofc). Tabac and cella are both high quality soaps and mostly constitued of soap - if youre super aware of the post shave impact of soap they should, if anything, be a bit drying. Mwf again is mostly soap but does contain laolin and can leave your face feeling very soft and 'moisterised'.
In terms of what you're looking to avoid I think soaps that contain so much balm like ingredients they would have a net moisturizing impact would be the new, artisanal soaps.
This is rationalisation imo.
You can get an excellent soap for £0.50 (palmolive), €6 (tabac), and most balms available on the high street are not much more and are more effective moisterisers than any soap. A €4 bottle of Nivea sensitive balm is more moisturizing than the best soap.
A $40 soap that lasts 8 weeks is something you buy because you like and enjoy it. Which is fine - it's a mantra here. Let's not kid ourselves that it's anything other than a luxury purchase though.
My artisan soap of choice costs $13 (140ml) hence the math. I paid $8 for Tabac and $5 for Nivea balm.
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