Best "luxury" tier soap bases that are good value for money?
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I voted other for MdC.
Me too, MdC
MdC by a wide margin for me (I own 4 tubs of MdC and 5 tubs of SV)
Of the ones listed, I've only tried DG milksteak and SV 4.3. Between those two, SV hands down but that's mainly because I get an animal scent off of DG. The soap base itself is great, just the DG scents are not for me (I've not tried any DG aftershaves for those scent purposes).
My go-to soap is Murphy and McNeil, Aon or Kodiak (I really can't tell a difference). It gives me everything my skin needs, and everything I need in a shave.
I do love these kinds of posts; guaranteed to be subjective. MdC and SV are the best shaving soaps I've ever experienced if *all* I wanted was a great shave. There's something to be said just about how great a soap can be if it's focused on the shave experience itself. If I wanted skin food or post-shave feel in a soap (sorry aftershaves and balms), those two fall by the wayside. ETHOS is very, very close to MdC and SV, but it adds some skin benefits in a nice way. A worse shave? No way, just different.
Now, let me just say that Stirling's mutton soap base is premium too. Their mutton scents, meh to downright yuck—not a fan (Stirling Sheep with added fragrance is fantastic).
Ahh, the quest for the best. Enjoy your soap adventure!
My go-to soap is Murphy and McNeil, Aon or Kodiak (I really can't tell a difference). It gives me everything my skin needs, and everything I need in a shave.
I do love these kinds of posts; guaranteed to be subjective. MdC and SV are the best shaving soaps I've ever experienced if *all* I wanted was a great shave. There's something to be said just about how great a soap can be if it's focused on the shave experience itself. If I wanted skin food or post-shave feel in a soap (sorry aftershaves and balms), those two fall by the wayside. ETHOS is very, very close to MdC and SV, but it adds some skin benefits in a nice way. A worse shave? No way, just different.
Now, let me just say that Stirling's mutton soap base is premium too. Their mutton scents, meh to downright yuck—not a fan (Stirling Sheep with added fragrance is fantastic).
Ahh, the quest for the best. Enjoy your soap adventure!
If you are a fan of Brut, Fougere Boquete is awesome. Besides that I've only tried King of Oud, which seems to be another popular scent.
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- #47
Just had my first shave with Omnibus, also my first time using any B&M soap. The soap I bought was Seville. First things first, the scent in incredible. It smells amazing off the puck to me, and I couldn't help stopping for a few seconds every once in a while to just enjoy the scent while I was lathering and shaving.
I used my standard dry brush technique for loading and lathering. 26mm Oumo Motherlode synthetic today to set up a baseline. I ran the knot under some warm water, squeezed out what I could, and strongly shook the brush just once. I then went to the puck (wish I took a picture of the pour) and did 30 swirls with mild-medium pressure. I then painted the dry paste onto my face until I had relatively even coverage. After that I used the Cris Maden technique and painted on water until the lather started to go translucent. After that I splayed the brush to build the lather and added a lot of water a little bit at a time.
I was really impressed that I could not "break" the lather. It just kept drinking it up. After a certain point it started to resemble a very wet marshmallow fluff where the lather would spread really easily but never actually separate or split. This was most noticeable when I gathered up the flowthrough on the brush to move to the top of the knot. I just could not get that last bit to fall off my fingers. It stubbornly stuck to my fingertips in a way that my (defective) Mitchell's, Stirling, and TOBS could never do.
Shaving performance was exceptional. Slickness was amazing (although gun to my head the Fat might be slicker), and it never dried up. Oh and did I mention the scent? It was a little on the runny side which is probably more of an indication of me adding too much water too soon, but like I said earlier the lather stubbornly stuck to my face despite the water in it. I had roughly six days of growth, and I only did two passes (WTG, XTG) and touch ups today. The feather blade in my 6S glided smoothly across my face every time, and the residual slickness made it so easy to do any impromptu buffing.
I squeezed out the excess in the brush and spread it over my face as a postshave to really soak in the qualities everyone raves about. I am pleased to report that my face feels incredible. It's only been about 5 hours since the shave, but so far this postshave feeling is better than what I get out of the balm I normally use. My face feels pleasantly talc-like (I hesitate to use the word "dry" because that has a negative connotation). I can't wait to use this soap base again. Job well done by B&M. Next soap base up is the Lothur.
I used my standard dry brush technique for loading and lathering. 26mm Oumo Motherlode synthetic today to set up a baseline. I ran the knot under some warm water, squeezed out what I could, and strongly shook the brush just once. I then went to the puck (wish I took a picture of the pour) and did 30 swirls with mild-medium pressure. I then painted the dry paste onto my face until I had relatively even coverage. After that I used the Cris Maden technique and painted on water until the lather started to go translucent. After that I splayed the brush to build the lather and added a lot of water a little bit at a time.
I was really impressed that I could not "break" the lather. It just kept drinking it up. After a certain point it started to resemble a very wet marshmallow fluff where the lather would spread really easily but never actually separate or split. This was most noticeable when I gathered up the flowthrough on the brush to move to the top of the knot. I just could not get that last bit to fall off my fingers. It stubbornly stuck to my fingertips in a way that my (defective) Mitchell's, Stirling, and TOBS could never do.
Shaving performance was exceptional. Slickness was amazing (although gun to my head the Fat might be slicker), and it never dried up. Oh and did I mention the scent? It was a little on the runny side which is probably more of an indication of me adding too much water too soon, but like I said earlier the lather stubbornly stuck to my face despite the water in it. I had roughly six days of growth, and I only did two passes (WTG, XTG) and touch ups today. The feather blade in my 6S glided smoothly across my face every time, and the residual slickness made it so easy to do any impromptu buffing.
I squeezed out the excess in the brush and spread it over my face as a postshave to really soak in the qualities everyone raves about. I am pleased to report that my face feels incredible. It's only been about 5 hours since the shave, but so far this postshave feeling is better than what I get out of the balm I normally use. My face feels pleasantly talc-like (I hesitate to use the word "dry" because that has a negative connotation). I can't wait to use this soap base again. Job well done by B&M. Next soap base up is the Lothur.
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Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
Fantastic review!
only one on the list I have tried is SV 70th I got is 4.1 they say ? so maybe need the latest whatever it is 4.3 I think
also only tried it once so far have to do more to be fair as I just got it for black fri so will have to use it way more to know
they have the best tin by a mile nobody will ever touch though
my other I checked (top 3)
Razor Emporium house brand only $14 so does not fit in your $20+ but my fav at any cost
PPA CK-6 about $23 controversy with that vendor ? that said I want to try the base no CK-6
TOBS Jermyn street
need to try A&E still although controversy with them ?
so many soaps to try I reckon
for me stirling and fine and others that many love I have tried are not as good as my top 3
I use those for pre shave now so not lost and fun to learn and try every once in a while as I have changed my mind
also only tried it once so far have to do more to be fair as I just got it for black fri so will have to use it way more to know
they have the best tin by a mile nobody will ever touch though
my other I checked (top 3)
Razor Emporium house brand only $14 so does not fit in your $20+ but my fav at any cost
PPA CK-6 about $23 controversy with that vendor ? that said I want to try the base no CK-6
TOBS Jermyn street
need to try A&E still although controversy with them ?
so many soaps to try I reckon
for me stirling and fine and others that many love I have tried are not as good as my top 3
I use those for pre shave now
so not lost and fun to learn and try every once in a while as I have changed my mind
Another +1 for Martin de Candre. I only have been using a small sample from Maggards and have about fallen in love with it. I'm beginning to understand now why it's touted as being one of the best soaps on the planet.
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Me too!
I've only tried one in the poll list, and it didn't work well for me. Neither did Martin de Candre. My money for tub soaps, goes to Phoenix and Beau, and also to Wickhams.
I would submit my two favorite soap bases:
1) Ethos
2) Martin de Candre
1) Ethos
2) Martin de Candre
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- #53
I had my shave with Lothur Grooming Dave in the v2 base today. First experience with this brand too. The soap was unexpetedly croapy for me, imagine a sticky cottage cheese consistency. Because the soap was so soft I only loaded with 20 swirls of my Oumo Motherlode synthetic with enough pressure for the incredibly floppy brush to splay halfway. Due to the softness of the soap I actually overloaded and had enough soap in the brush for my whole street to get 3 pass shaves. That is the only time I will criticize this soap.
The lather was exceptional. I used the same technique as above. The lather came out very dense but very well hydrated. It took a lot of water even when considering how I accidentally overloaded the brush. It was also the slickest soap I have used so far (TOBS cream, Stirling non-mutton tallow base, Mitchell's Wool Fat, Barrister and Mann Omnibus). If Omnibus is like a wet low-viscosity marshmallow fluff, Lothur v2 felt like a dense Greek yogurt. When I added water to Seville, it got wetter but still stubbornly stuck together as if its life depended on it. Dave on the other hand kept getting denser. Same as with the B&M Seville, I finished off by squeezing out the soap left in the brush and laid it on my face for a few minutes as my postshave. My face felt great, not as well as after Omnibus but more on that later.
I really like this scent a lot. I'm terrible at describing scents so forgive me for not being very articulate. It smelled like an aromatic tea. Call me dramatic, but that scent noticeably brought down my stress level, and I was much calmer than usual going into my first meeting of the day thanks to it. Scent strength is on the milder side to my nose, but maybe that's the scent profile influencing my opinion.
Like I said at the beginning, I definitely overloaded the brush. It's quite likely that the lather came out a little less dryer than I usually prefer which might have made the postshave not as sharp as it could have been. Another confounding variable in this equation is my face. It's happiest when I shave every three to four days so that it has enough time to recover from shaving. Since I shaved after two days this time, I didn't get as close of a shave as normal. Therefore I'm going to put an asterisk next to this shave with the expectation that the experience will improve in more ideal conditions.
Overall this was another exceptional soap, and I am very happy I bought it. Best slickness I've ever experienced, phenomenal lather face feel and ease of use, very good postshave, and home run scent in my book. My stamp of approval means nothing compared to the giants on this forum who have tried so many more soaps than I have, but I highly recommend Lothur Grooming v2.
The lather was exceptional. I used the same technique as above. The lather came out very dense but very well hydrated. It took a lot of water even when considering how I accidentally overloaded the brush. It was also the slickest soap I have used so far (TOBS cream, Stirling non-mutton tallow base, Mitchell's Wool Fat, Barrister and Mann Omnibus). If Omnibus is like a wet low-viscosity marshmallow fluff, Lothur v2 felt like a dense Greek yogurt. When I added water to Seville, it got wetter but still stubbornly stuck together as if its life depended on it. Dave on the other hand kept getting denser. Same as with the B&M Seville, I finished off by squeezing out the soap left in the brush and laid it on my face for a few minutes as my postshave. My face felt great, not as well as after Omnibus but more on that later.
I really like this scent a lot. I'm terrible at describing scents so forgive me for not being very articulate. It smelled like an aromatic tea. Call me dramatic, but that scent noticeably brought down my stress level, and I was much calmer than usual going into my first meeting of the day thanks to it. Scent strength is on the milder side to my nose, but maybe that's the scent profile influencing my opinion.
Like I said at the beginning, I definitely overloaded the brush. It's quite likely that the lather came out a little less dryer than I usually prefer which might have made the postshave not as sharp as it could have been. Another confounding variable in this equation is my face. It's happiest when I shave every three to four days so that it has enough time to recover from shaving. Since I shaved after two days this time, I didn't get as close of a shave as normal. Therefore I'm going to put an asterisk next to this shave with the expectation that the experience will improve in more ideal conditions.
Overall this was another exceptional soap, and I am very happy I bought it. Best slickness I've ever experienced, phenomenal lather face feel and ease of use, very good postshave, and home run scent in my book. My stamp of approval means nothing compared to the giants on this forum who have tried so many more soaps than I have, but I highly recommend Lothur Grooming v2.
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- #53
I just had my first experience with the A&E/Club brand in the last half hour. I received "Peony and the Serpent", which is in the K2e base, in the mail yesterday and just got around to using it for a shave.
25 partially splayed swirls on the soap with my damp 26mm Oumo Motherlode synthetic was my load. I've heard how crazy this base is about volume from a light load, but I wanted to still use my standard number of swirls since it was a first experience. I could have gotten away with 15 swirls based on how much it exploded in volume. The soap was unbelievably thirsty. I kept throwing water at it and it kept asking for more. For reference I like my lathers wet and dense, and I don't stop watering a soap and working it until the lather is very easy to move around on my face and the excess on my face is just shy of sliding down. K2e is so thirsty that compared to Omnibus and Lothur v2 I must have used more than 3 or 4 times the amount of water it takes to get those two bases to my ideal hydration level with the same number of swirls for the load. Performance was exceptional with one major asterisk. The slickness was probably better than Omnibus and very close to Lothur. The amount of slick lather I could produce is unquestionably best in class because of how small of a load I would need. The post shave quality of the base is hard to comment on because it's been less than an hour, but expectedly right now it feels great. The major asterisk is that for the first time when shaving I experienced minor frag burn. I'm hoping it doesn't have a lingering effect on my skin. Now that I've shaved with all 3 of my new soaps, my rankings are Lothur v2 base at number 1, B&M Omnibus at number 2, and A&E/The Club K2e at 3. These rankings are by personal preference and experience and not objective rankings. I will say that if K2e didn't give me frag burn, I would have easily moved it up to at least number 2.
Here's a couple pictures of what was left in the brush after face lathering for pass 1.
25 partially splayed swirls on the soap with my damp 26mm Oumo Motherlode synthetic was my load. I've heard how crazy this base is about volume from a light load, but I wanted to still use my standard number of swirls since it was a first experience. I could have gotten away with 15 swirls based on how much it exploded in volume. The soap was unbelievably thirsty. I kept throwing water at it and it kept asking for more. For reference I like my lathers wet and dense, and I don't stop watering a soap and working it until the lather is very easy to move around on my face and the excess on my face is just shy of sliding down. K2e is so thirsty that compared to Omnibus and Lothur v2 I must have used more than 3 or 4 times the amount of water it takes to get those two bases to my ideal hydration level with the same number of swirls for the load. Performance was exceptional with one major asterisk. The slickness was probably better than Omnibus and very close to Lothur. The amount of slick lather I could produce is unquestionably best in class because of how small of a load I would need. The post shave quality of the base is hard to comment on because it's been less than an hour, but expectedly right now it feels great. The major asterisk is that for the first time when shaving I experienced minor frag burn. I'm hoping it doesn't have a lingering effect on my skin. Now that I've shaved with all 3 of my new soaps, my rankings are Lothur v2 base at number 1, B&M Omnibus at number 2, and A&E/The Club K2e at 3. These rankings are by personal preference and experience and not objective rankings. I will say that if K2e didn't give me frag burn, I would have easily moved it up to at least number 2.
Here's a couple pictures of what was left in the brush after face lathering for pass 1.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Sure my friend, use whatever makes you happy..
That said, I'm glad to see that SV is the clear winner in this poll so far!
Other - MdC. It is the best value for money per shave in my experience.
SV is a great base, arguably better than SV especially in post-shave feel, but seems to costs me more per shave.
SV is a great base, arguably better than SV especially in post-shave feel, but seems to costs me more per shave.
@musicman1951 evaluated 3 soaps for cost per shave. So, we have data from one shaver using his techniques to compare 3 of his favorite soaps. Unless you use a robot that's about as good a control as it gets here.
Seems his conclusions follow the discussion in this thread - MdC is possibly THE luxury value shave. And it's not even close. Samples available here.
Seems his conclusions follow the discussion in this thread - MdC is possibly THE luxury value shave. And it's not even close. Samples available here.
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Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
If you want value, Look for soaps/creams that you can shave with for less than 1/2 gram per shave.
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- #59
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Black Friday at MdC? ROFLMAO!
You’ll be lucky to save $10 on a large order - anytime.
Isabelle et Hélène don’t turn loose of a Euro easily!
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