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B&M vs Stirling vs Fine vs others

I should mention that I am in Canada and availability of these niche products is often limited. Where I live the only thing you can find in store locally is King C Gillette or maybe Proraso if you’re lucky. I’m basically at the mercy of Fendrihan and Italianbarber, and they are great, but they don’t carry Stirling or Declaration Grooming for example. The only Canadian retailer I’ve seen selling Stirling is Maturegents, with most options out of stock. Any suggestions where else I should be looking? I’d rather not pay shipping or duty from the US, but would consider it if reasonable.
 
I should mention that I am in Canada and availability of these niche products is often limited. Where I live the only thing you can find in store locally is King C Gillette or maybe Proraso if you’re lucky. I’m basically at the mercy of Fendrihan and Italianbarber, and they are great, but they don’t carry Stirling or Declaration Grooming for example. The only Canadian retailer I’ve seen selling Stirling is Maturegents, with most options out of stock. Any suggestions where else I should be looking? I’d rather not pay shipping or duty from the US, but would consider it if reasonable.
Try Top of the Chain - https://topofthechain.ca/

I am from europe and it is more affordable as from the USA.
 
I have never tried Fine. I think either B&M or Stirling will perform better than anything you're using currently. Stirling scents seem to be more crowd pleasing than B&M.
 
I've tried several Stirling samples over the past year, and the performance is great. I haven't really loved any of the scents I've tried, but haven't disliked them either. And you can get several shaves from their samples.

I'm on my fourth puck of Fine soaps, and I love them, both for the scents and the performance. Mind you, these are the old formula, not the newer one.

I've only tried B&M samples, but frankly, they've done nothing for me. Didn't find the performance to be all that great, and the scents for me are just weird.
 
I am a big Stirling fan. I didn't find the B&M Omni base softer than PAA offerings and both faster to load than Stirling. I don't think I've read a negative review of Omni on the forum, but I could have missed them.
I've never tried an offering from PAA so I can't comment on that but what I was trying to convey was from what I've read in most all Omnibus threads is its a much softer base than say Stirling is. Much more like Proraso or any other croap and much more like a cream compared to what it was in the previous base. I have never read, per say, any bad or negative reviews about the new base but there were a few on another forum that wasn't crazy about the base they changed to. Much like Fine changing they're base and hiking the price up significantly at the same time ran off quite a few regulars that liked and preferred the hard puck they were used to.
 
And @Cezar , don't look at AP SHAVE CO in Ottawa for brushes. :tongue_sm
Too late for that. I really like their ebonite handles and I was about to get one with a G5 synthetic knot based on recommendations from members here. I ended up with this instead
8845E0CC-2BC5-4F63-9D4E-44A5E7095E02.jpeg

I still have my eye on a synthetic brush from AP at some point. They recently announced that they will be expanding their handcrafted series this year
 
I'll try to be as comprehensive here as possible.

Stirling
Great soaps, in large quantities at affordable prices. It's fun the browse their giant catalog of scents and order a bunch of samples. As others have mentioned, their sample puckes, are literally a slick of 1/5 of a puck, which makes it easy to lather from. Recommend picking up their plastic lathering jars to store the sample pucks in too - makes them feel less samply, and more like a small real jar :D.

Performance of Stirling is great. There are two drawbacks I've found:
1) Their scents tend to be simpler. They are mostly clones of colognes (though very good clones), or are simple flavors (orange, lemon, black licorice, etc, or a combination of 2-3 flavors).
2) Some people find the mutton tallow base, while extremely performant, has an off-putting smell that over-rides the scents. (Probably why they released electric sheep which has a dominant scent profile)

Barrister and Mann
This is more like a true artisan shave soap. The performance of all of his bases are great, and the Omnibus base is also fantastic. You can debate if it's better depending on your personal preferences - Omnibusis more of a thinner yogurt foam consistency rather than a thick whipped-cream like foam.

The difference here is that B&M scents are incredibly complex. Often times, you will smell something and not like it at first (not unlike hearing a song for the first time), but by the 3rd or 4th visit to the tub, you find yourself addicted.

Personally, if I had to pick only one for life, it would probably be B&M over Stirling. Also, I find their aftershaves/balms are just a cut above Stirling.

Fine
If you can get any of Fine's old stock pucks, grab one. It's not "like Tabac", it IS Tabac's old formula, only made with much less controversial scents. Fine Fresh Vetiver is a beautiful take on Tom Ford's Gray Vetiver. Fine Green Vetiver is lovely. And lots of people swear by their old Lavender scent as well. Fine Fresh Vetiver CLASSIC Shaving Soap - https://fineaccoutrements.com/fine-fresh-vetiver-classic-shaving-soap/ (still a few old stock pucks lying around)

Best of luck!
 

musicman1951

three-tu-tu, three-tu-tu
Stirling is a very fine soap for the money. I've been using B&M Levitahan since Christmas and it's a nice soap with excellent post shave feel, but it takes way too long to load compared to all my other soaps.

Haslinger makes some fine soaps, exceedingly good for the money.

Personally, I use MdC, WK and SV (although the SV is mighty expensive). I find them all at least one step up from the others mentioned.
 
I’m hearing a lot of recommendations for Stirling sheep. Considering the potentially off-putting smell, is the performance really that much better then their non mutton offerings? I guess I’ll get the sample size and find out myself.

Right now I’m more or less decided on Stirling sheep, executive man, and bergamot lavender in sample sizes. B&M le grand chypre. I’ve been browsing their scents and this one seems the most appealing to me based on description. I’m going to skip Fine since the recommended hard pucks will become unobtainium. In it’s place I want to try Ariana & Evans Khalifa. I’ve seen great feedback on the K2E base and khalifa is their best seller on topofthechain, although I’ve seen the scent described as a “punch to the face”. That could be a good thing or not, has anyone tried Khalifa?

Btw, thanks everyone for the suggestions, especially introducing me to topofthechain. What a gem of a shop, hard to believe it took me this long to find it. This is a great community of distinguished gentlemen (and a few ladies). As of late, I’m actually enjoying this forum more then my regular social media.
 

JCarr

More Deep Thoughts than Jack Handy
I’m hearing a lot of recommendations for Stirling sheep. Considering the potentially off-putting smell, is the performance really that much better then their non mutton offerings?

Yes, it's much better. In my opinion, their beef tallow offerings don't even compare with the slickness that their mutton tallow soaps produce. As far as the scent, that's why I recommended Varen and Glastonbury...those seemed to me to be the most pleasing from a fragrance perspective...although I do have Electric Sheep which reminds me of Arko, but with the lemon kicked up slightly.
 

Hannah's Dad

I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
I’m hearing a lot of recommendations for Stirling sheep. Considering the potentially off-putting smell, is the performance really that much better then their non mutton offerings? I guess I’ll get the sample size and find out myself.

Right now I’m more or less decided on Stirling sheep, executive man, and bergamot lavender in sample sizes. B&M le grand chypre. I’ve been browsing their scents and this one seems the most appealing to me based on description. I’m going to skip Fine since the recommended hard pucks will become unobtainium. In it’s place I want to try Ariana & Evans Khalifa. I’ve seen great feedback on the K2E base and khalifa is their best seller on topofthechain, although I’ve seen the scent described as a “punch to the face”. That could be a good thing or not, has anyone tried Khalifa?

Btw, thanks everyone for the suggestions, especially introducing me to topofthechain. What a gem of a shop, hard to believe it took me this long to find it. This is a great community of distinguished gentlemen (and a few ladies). As of late, I’m actually enjoying this forum more then my regular social media.
Get a sample of Varen too. (mutton tallow)
 
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