Barrister and Mann's new Omnibus base: discussion and reviews

[SterFry]

Will's seasonal soap "Leviathan" is available as of today. To those that don't know, it's his very first soap released in his new (and final) soap base "Omnibus". I've created this thread for the purpose of consolidation and convenience. I ordered the soap and will be leaving a review here the shortly after it arrives and would like to invite others to do the same. Non review discussion also welcome.

Omnibus ingredients:
Aqua, Potassium Stearate, Glycerin, Potassium Tallowate, Potassium Kokum Butterate, Sodium Stearate, Polyacrylamidomethylpropane Sulfonic Acid, Cocos nucifera Fruit Juice (Coconut Milk), Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Lactate, Butyrospermum parkii (Shea) Butter, Tetrasodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Fragrance, Xanthan Gum, Theobroma grandiflorum (Cupuacu) Butter, Sodium Kokum Butterate, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Potassium Cocoate, Saccharide Isomerate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Goat Milk Powder, Persea gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Sodium Cocoate, Althaea officinalis (Marshmallow Root) Extract, Ulmus rubra (Slippery Elm) Extract

 

[SharpieB]

Is Omnibus the new harder Soft Heart or is it a different base?

 

[B_R_A_D]

Is Omnibus the new harder Soft Heart or is it a different base?

As per B&M, Omnibus is their new and final (allegedly) soap base and all other bases, including modified softheart are being replaced by Omnibus. This is the write up on it from B&M.​

​

Introducing Omnibus​

Our new Omnibus shaving soap base sets the standard for post-shave feel, latherability, slickness, and protection. The product of nearly 18 months of grueling R&D, our most high-performing soap to date is astonishingly, almost unnaturally slick, and the protection offered by Omnibus is second to none. What's more, we've pulled out all the stops to deliver a post-shave experience no other, and we're proud to announce that Omnibus is also lanolin free! Instead, we've enriched the soap with botanicals, goat and coconut milks, shea butter, avocado oil, and the remarkable substance cupuaçu butter, which can absorb as much as 250% more water than lanolin without the risk of irritation. Pick up a jar of what one of our testers called "the densest, creamiest, best-feeling soap I have used, period."

 

[SterFry]

I don't think I've ever seen glycerin as the third ingredient before. Maybe in aftershave splashes...but not a soap.

 

[Hannah's Dad]

I don't think I've ever seen glycerin as the third ingredient before. Maybe in aftershave splashes...but not a soap.

Should be slick!

 

[APBinNCA]

I don't mean to rain on this parade, but this sounds like a tallow version of CK6 with some additional chemistry. If that's your jam, enjoy. Zingari Man also has glycerin near the top and I found it unusual when I first got it.

 

[tyoung]

I see what happened here, B&M bought out the tallow base version of Tabac, and are marketing it as Omnibus. Pure genius!
Seriously though, I would like to try this, but I still have Leviathan from last year that I have only used a couple of times. I will have to wait for Seville or Cheshire in this base to check it out.

 

[SterFry]

I don't mean to rain on this parade, but this sounds like a tallow version of CK6 with some additional chemistry. If that's your jam, enjoy. Zingari Man also has glycerin near the top and I found it unusual when I first got it.

CK-6:
Potassium Stearate, Glycerin, Potassium Cocoate, Aqua, Potassium Kokumate, Sodium Lactate, Potassium Shea Butterate, Potassium Castorate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Cocoa Butterate, Potassium Avocadoate, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Theobroma Grandiflorum (Capuacu) Butter, Astrocaryum (Murumuru) Seed Butter, Platonia Insignis (Bacuri) Seed Butter, Parfum [Fragrance]

Omnibus:
Aqua, Potassium Stearate, Glycerin, Potassium Tallowate, Potassium Kokum Butterate, Sodium Stearate, Polyacrylamidomethylpropane Sulfonic Acid, Cocos nucifera Fruit Juice (Coconut Milk), Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Lactate, Butyrospermum parkii (Shea) Butter, Tetrasodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Fragrance, Xanthan Gum, Theobroma grandiflorum (Cupuacu) Butter, Sodium Kokum Butterate, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Potassium Cocoate, Saccharide Isomerate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Goat Milk Powder, Persea gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Sodium Cocoate, Althaea officinalis (Marshmallow Root) Extract, Ulmus rubra (Slippery Elm) Extract

Apart from Potassium Stearate, Glycerin and water all being top 4 ingredients I think "tallow CK6" is a quite a stretch. Excelsior and Softheart had the exact same ingredients in the exact same order only with tweaked ratios and even then the difference was apparent, so I'd wager there's more than enough variation for CK-6ers to distinguish performance.

Not that a tallow CK6 wouldn't be exciting. It would. CK6 and SV are my favorite veg bases

 

[ohansen]

I'm surprised he resorted to using a synthetic polymer surfactant, prominently, I might add!

 

[APBinNCA]

Sorry, I meant all the butters to eliminate the lanolin and the description of the lather quoted above. I will withhold any more smart @5s comments until I see some reviews with pictures. I would probably pick up a Cheshire when available if it looks promising.

 

[D4PPZ]

Please do comment on the firmness when you do that review. All of the newer released bases have been super good, but they haven't lasted as long due to how soft they have been getting. I don't think Will would have put all of that work into modifying Soft Heart if he was just going to release a croap to replace it.

 

[SterFry]

Please do comment on the firmness when you do that review. All of the newer released bases have been super good, but they haven't lasted as long due to how soft they have been getting. I don't think Will would have put all of that work into modifying Soft Heart if he was just going to release a croap to replace it.

Yessir, I will do that.

 

[SterFry]

I sent an email to Will asking for a statement; this is his response...

"I haven't had a chance to write a blog entry to this effect just yet, but I do intend to reiterate the full breakdown on our website in the next few days.

Anyway, the point of Omnibus's creation was to refine and perfect the work that I had done during the development of Excelsior and Soft Heart, and its lipid profile is very similar (though not absolutely identical) to those two predecessors. We excised the oat-based surfactant that serves as a secondary lathering agent in the former bases in an effort to eliminate any risk of gluten cross-contamination, which is prevalent in oat-based cosmetic materials, even though oats themselves contain no gluten. I had received reports from folks with celiac disease and other severe gluten sensitivities that they experience reactions to the soap due to the presence of the oat surfactant, so it was eliminated and replaced with coconut oil.

As user ohansen has noted, we are also using a synthetic polymer called Polyacrylamidomethylpropane Sulfonic Acid, known by its equally incoherent trade name Rheocare HSP-1180. The material is primarily used as a lubricant and skin conditioning agent, and is quite common in hair products, lotions, and other cosmetics, though, to my knowledge, this is the first time that it has been used in a lathering shaving compound. It does not seal the skin like other polymers can, and thus has no demonstrated comedogenicity or irritation activity in any publicly available lab testing. It provides a lush, talc-like afterfeel in addition to enhancing the slickness of the soap.

Further, I've opted to completely revamp the superfat and botanical suite, replacing jojoba oil with the more luscious avocado oil and lanolin with cupuaçu butter, a relative of cocoa that can absorb 2.5x as much water as lanolin without the risk of sensitization or allergic reaction, which can occur in anywhere from 2.5% (allergy) to 29% (sensitization) of the human population. We've also begun using refined, micronized marshmallow and slippery elm extracts, which have imparted a coloration to the base at scale that I dislike, but which enhance the post-shave feel of the product quite significantly, helping to reduce redness and irritation and to increase dermal moisture retention. I'll be altering the method by which the botanicals are combined with the rest of the soap in all future production runs, and the color poses no discoloration risk to badger or boar brushes because the lather it produces, while not absolutely white, is generally no darker than a light cream. Either way, I know that some folks are distrustful of soaps with dark coloration, so I will be correcting the issue so as to avoid the perception that the soap poses a danger to expensive animal hair brushes.

We have also begun using the moisturizing agent saccharide isomerate, which can tolerate alkaline environments (like soap) and is a contact moisturizer, meaning that its activity is noticeable almost immediately upon lather application to the face. We use it at a high enough level that it actually increases moisture retention on skin to which it's applied, and the lab data that we have on the stuff suggests that such high levels improve moisture content in skin by as much as 10% over pre-application. Further, we are incorporating hydroxyethylcellulose, which is commonly used as a thickener in cosmetics and as the primary lubricant in products such as KY Jelly, to improve slickness and post-shave to a degree that we have not been previously able to attain.

That should cover pretty much all of it. Please let me know if you have other questions and, if you wish, feel free to simply copy and paste my response into the thread to make it easier to relay everything. Hope you love it when it arrives!

Best,

Will"

 

[jesseix]

I don't think I've ever seen glycerin as the third ingredient before. Maybe in aftershave splashes...but not a soap.

That doesn't worry me actually, there are at least several other top notch soaps that have glycerin pretty high up the list (Declaration milksteak base, Tallow + Steel, Mike's).

 

[JCinPA]

I can't make sense of any of it, it's all ...

... to me. But if it shaves better than my Reserve Lavender, then I'm all for it!

 

[SterFry]

That doesn't worry me actually, there are at least several other top notch soaps that have glycerin pretty high up the list (Declaration milksteak base, Tallow + Steel, Mike's).

Oh, I think it's great. People manually add extra glycerin to their "Uber lathers" and I trust Will's soap making capabilities. I'm damn excited.

 

[Trem]

I sent an email to Will asking for a statement; this is his response...

"I haven't had a chance to write a blog entry to this effect just yet, but I do intend to reiterate the full breakdown on our website in the next few days.

Anyway, the point of Omnibus's creation was to refine and perfect the work that I had done during the development of Excelsior and Soft Heart, and its lipid profile is very similar (though not absolutely identical) to those two predecessors. We excised the oat-based surfactant that serves as a secondary lathering agent in the former bases in an effort to eliminate any risk of gluten cross-contamination, which is prevalent in oat-based cosmetic materials, even though oats themselves contain no gluten. I had received reports from folks with celiac disease and other severe gluten sensitivities that they experience reactions to the soap due to the presence of the oat surfactant, so it was eliminated and replaced with coconut oil.

As user ohansen has noted, we are also using a synthetic polymer called Polyacrylamidomethylpropane Sulfonic Acid, known by its equally incoherent trade name Rheocare HSP-1180. The material is primarily used as a lubricant and skin conditioning agent, and is quite common in hair products, lotions, and other cosmetics, though, to my knowledge, this is the first time that it has been used in a lathering shaving compound. It does not seal the skin like other polymers can, and thus has no demonstrated comedogenicity or irritation activity in any publicly available lab testing. It provides a lush, talc-like afterfeel in addition to enhancing the slickness of the soap.

Further, I've opted to completely revamp the superfat and botanical suite, replacing jojoba oil with the more luscious avocado oil and lanolin with cupuaçu butter, a relative of cocoa that can absorb 2.5x as much water as lanolin without the risk of sensitization or allergic reaction, which can occur in anywhere from 2.5% (allergy) to 29% (sensitization) of the human population. We've also begun using refined, micronized marshmallow and slippery elm extracts, which have imparted a coloration to the base at scale that I dislike, but which enhance the post-shave feel of the product quite significantly, helping to reduce redness and irritation and to increase dermal moisture retention. I'll be altering the method by which the botanicals are combined with the rest of the soap in all future production runs, and the color poses no discoloration risk to badger or boar brushes because the lather it produces, while not absolutely white, is generally no darker than a light cream. Either way, I know that some folks are distrustful of soaps with dark coloration, so I will be correcting the issue so as to avoid the perception that the soap poses a danger to expensive animal hair brushes.

We have also begun using the moisturizing agent saccharide isomerate, which can tolerate alkaline environments (like soap) and is a contact moisturizer, meaning that its activity is noticeable almost immediately upon lather application to the face. We use it at a high enough level that it actually increases moisture retention on skin to which it's applied, and the lab data that we have on the stuff suggests that such high levels improve moisture content in skin by as much as 10% over pre-application. Further, we are incorporating hydroxyethylcellulose, which is commonly used as a thickener in cosmetics and as the primary lubricant in products such as KY Jelly, to improve slickness and post-shave to a degree that we have not been previously able to attain.

That should cover pretty much all of it. Please let me know if you have other questions and, if you wish, feel free to simply copy and paste my response into the thread to make it easier to relay everything. Hope you love it when it arrives!

Best,

Will"

This degree of transparency in terms of explaining the thought process behind his selection of ingredients is always a good sign. Will deserves a tip of the hat for this.

 

[Barbarian80]

Anyone get their new Leviathan yet? Should have mine tomorrow.

 

[SterFry]

Anyone get their new Leviathan yet? Should have mine tomorrow.

Mine is in the mail. Mine wasn't shipped until earlier today, however, and I'm in Alaska so yours will certainly arrive first. Please consider leaving your impressions here.

 

[Hannah's Dad]

Anyone get their new Leviathan yet? Should have mine tomorrow.

Mine should also arrive tomorrow.