barrister and Mann has anyone tried their shaving soaps?

[jesseix]

I'll be the odd man out and say that I don't like Seville. My fiance and I both thought it had an old man smell to it. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but if you're on the younger side it may not be your speed.

As far as the performance though, BM is very good.

Booooo, heathen!!
Obviously just kidding... scent is clearly the most subjective variable in soaps, I love that one but I would never fault you for disliking it (or vice versa).
But to the OP's post, as others have said B&M make great products. Top 5 artisan for me, some scents can be hit & miss but plenty of winners to guarantee you lots of great shaves.

 

[emkeane]

I have most of their soaps and aftershaves. They are complex and can be polarizing. I can see how some would change their minds over a short time, but the soap performance and fragrances are excellent. I'm slowly getting them all.

 

[fistfullofbeer]

Just got Lavanille today, what a complex masterpiece of scent! Sorry I didn't get the aftershave, and that there isn't a cologne!


AA

I have both the soap and the AS. If you like the scent of the soap you will probably love the AS.

 

[Racquet]

I'll be the odd man out and say that I don't like Seville.

I don't like it either, smells like generic laundry soap to me, good performance though

 

[Bklynboy]

I have used and like their soaps. They all lather well and have great scents. I have used Cool Reserve, Lavender and Seville

 

[PreachTheWord]

I have about 50 soaps and more B&M soaps than any other. Performance and scents to me are top notch. My favorite is probably Lavanille.

 

[herbert7890]

One of the best soaps and been around for a "long' Time now (I think since 2013 or even late 2012), which is a lot for this new movement for artisan soaps.

 

[rudyt]

I'm gonna get booed as well, but I'm not a big fan of current B&M soaps, specifically the Reserve base. I don't like the "low structure" lather, and it takes way more time to lather than any other soap I own. Watch the YouTube video where Will lathers Reserve. Takes way too long - I can load and lather any other commercial or artisan soap in under a minute.

Giving props where they are deserved, I think their original White base was amazing, as was their Latha base. I've only bought samples of Reserve and Glissant and wasn't a fan, and I haven't tried Excelsior yet. Their scents are often masterpieces, and mid-strength, which I like more than wimpy subtle scents.

In general, I'm not a fan of the superfatted soap fad; I want to shave with proper soap, not my wife's night cream.

 

[Hannah's Dad]

I'm gonna get booed as well, but I'm not a big fan of current B&M soaps, specifically the Reserve base. I don't like the "low structure" lather, and it takes way more time to lather than any other soap I own. Watch the YouTube video where Will lathers Reserve. Takes way too long - I can load and lather any other commercial or artisan soap in under a minute.

Giving props where they are deserved, I think their original White base was amazing, as was their Latha base. I've only bought samples of Reserve and Glissant and wasn't a fan, and I haven't tried Excelsior yet. Their scents are often masterpieces, and mid-strength, which I like more than wimpy subtle scents.

In general, I'm not a fan of the superfatted soap fad; I want to shave with proper soap, not my wife's night cream.

I have four Reserve soaps, and I get an incredible lather (face not bowl) with about 20 swirls of my brush and a 1-2 minute face lather. That video was for entertainment, not education.

 

[rudyt]

I have four Reserve soaps, and I get an incredible lather (face not bowl) with about 20 swirls of my brush and a 1-2 minute face lather. That video was for entertainment, not education.

I know I'm definitely in the minority for not liking Reserve, but I have so many more soaps that work better for me, so they're not worth the effort.

It might be that my preferred way of lathering is just not optimum for Reserve - I start with a very wet brush holding all the water I need for my first pass. Maybe if I started with a damp brush and added water as I go along it would work better, but I don't enjoy building lather that way, and to me, shaving is about enjoyment.

 

[lancre]

I was looking at random websites for Ideas on new shaving soaps to try and aBarrister and Mann product was featured on nearly every website I looked at. I read the reviews when they were available I have not found even one negative review of their products. has anyone here at B&B tried them? how good are they?

Has anyone here tried them? A better question would be "Has anyone here NOT tried them?".

They are very well thought of by almost everyone here. If you're wondering about which scent to try, I recommend you go over to Maggard's and get a bunch of samples.

 

[Peterv1]

one of the best soapmakers out there, excellent performance and beautiful smell, really like their seville soap and aftershave

 

[stone and strop]

Seville is a great soap!

 

[Ender78]

thank youall for your input. I will try out the Seville. If I don't like it... I can "pif it"

 

[Racquet]

After reading the replies about the Seville scent I guess that my sniffer must be out of whack.

 

[towliff]

I absolutely love the performance of B&M excelsior and reserve base.

To mimic others here, their scents are really complex and deep. It is amazing what creations they have.

I definitely recommend getting hold of several different samples in different scents. You might be surprised at what you find you like.

My absolute favourite scent out of everything I’ve tried (across all brands) is Nordost by B&M. If I had fewer brain cells, I might accidentally eat this soap!

Cologne Russe is also amazing.
Saeryan is similar to cologne russe and is also devine.

Im not so keen on Seville. I wouldn’t buy that one myself actually.
Cheshire is OK but not in my top list.

Then you get the wierder scents:
lavanille is beautiful (dark, chocolately, foresty).
Petrichor is insane! Acquired taste - like damp/spores. Sounds bad when saying spores, but dayam it’s good. It’s fresh. I love it. My missus hates it ‘why would you want to smell like that?’. I tell you what, when it’s raining outside, shave with petrichor and it’s a perfect match.

Diamond is another very complex scent. I hated it. Others love it.

so this comes round to what I said at the start - the soaps are fantastic, gotta try as many samples as possible to find some great scents for you.

 

[Zwiehander]

I just got B & M's vespers for the first time and it is an excelsior base soap. I have heard a lot about their expertise with scents so I was looking forward to using it but I found I did not really like the scent of vespers that much. It is definitely more likeable than the WK Scentrophy that I just tried though.

As for lather I took a smaller than almond sized portion to load in my bowl as I didnt want to risk rancidity si that must complicate the process because my first attempt hardly produced any lather despite a couple of minutes of whirling the brush on it. Adding water to it seemed only to turn it more watery. However when I added more soap into the bowl and water it suddenly started producing lather. It seems to require a critical massive of soap that is a little more than other soaps I hae tried so far. This is also a soap with significant learning curve which I will have to learn its eccentricities over time.

 

[merovirginian]

Why are you worried about rancidity? Even when I load from the container, I just leave the top off the lid to dry out in a reasonable way (10 hours or overnight or so). I've never seen anything at all to worry about. Yes, I've read posts that some people have had issues at times, but again, just letting it dry before recapping/closing the soap should be more than okay. No shame in safety first, though.

And I second the idea of getting shave samples, if possible. I bought a I lot of them from Maggard's when I first began getting into soaps vs. creams. It helped me explore scents in a more financially sensible manner. Even if you buy a full tub you don't like, odds are, someone else will love it and want to buy a mostly unused soap in the Buy-Sell-Trade forum.

 

[Old Grump]

I'll be the odd man out and say that I don't like Seville. My fiance and I both thought it had an old man smell to it. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but if you're on the younger side it may not be your speed.

As far as the performance though, BM is very good.

I am an old man, and I like Seville a lot. So you and your betrothed may be right.

Between full tubs and samples, I've tried of over a hundred soaps. Overall, Barrister and Mann is my favorite soap, Reserve and Excelsior. I'm not surprised that some don't like them; shaving soap is very personal. But for me, they're as good as it gets.

I find they don't take that long to lather: add a lot of water, gradually, whisking with a badger brush, in a Japanese mortar ("suribachi bowl"). I use cold water; hot water would probably work even better, but I don't like the way it feels. Result: massive amounts of extremely slick, wonderful-smelling lather in about a minute.

I love their scents, particularly Cheshire, Seville, Reserve Lavender (the best lavender scent I've found, with Speick and Myrsol Agua Balsamica as runners-up), Reserve Classic, Reserve Waves, and Reserve Spice.

Cold River and Wholly Kaw also have wonderful bases, but I can't live with most of their scents. And my skin is too finicky for many soaps - they irritate my face. And Valobra is fading into history.

So, to the OP, Barrister and Mann tops my list. Try the samples from Maggard. You may find some keepers for your rotation.

 

[Fawkes007]

I was looking at random websites for Ideas on new shaving soaps to try and aBarrister and Mann product was featured on nearly every website I looked at. I read the reviews when they were available I have not found even one negative review of their products. has anyone here at B&B tried them? how good are they?

“You must be one of the newer fellows.”

- Bing Crosby, “High Society”