Best performing soap?

[SterFry]

I can't believe I forgot Haslinger

 

[njpaddy]

My favorite soaps are constantly changing. As I approach my mid-70, I can no longer tolerate the soaps and strong scents I favored when I joined B&B going on 12 years ago. These days, my favorite and best performing soaps are:

RazoRock Plague Doctor (easy on an old man's face, almost no scent, and the easiest to face lather with any brush.)
Captain's Choice Bay Rum (a favorite soap and scent for at least 10 years. It will always be in my den.)
SRD Opus X (SRD is out of business. I use my remaining sparingly, but along with SRD West Indies Bay, the best melt & pour/glycerin soaps I have ever used).

 

[Benoni]

My favorites, in no particular order:

- MdC
- Zingari Man Sego
- SV
- La Toja stick
- PAA CK-6

 

[bjm]

Hey guys, want to try a really good performing soap, what you guys recommend that will blow me away for performance?

Which one(s) have you tried?
Which one(s) did you like and why?
Which one(s) did you not like and why?

 

[lasta]

Tabac.

SV is a step down, MdC is 2 steps down. Mike's natural fits somewhere between SV and Tabac. Grooming Dept another hair above Mike's, but still no Tabac.

 

[Eben Stone]

I'm a face lathering SR shaver. For me so far, the best soap is Arko. My first Tabac should arrive within about a week. That may change things.

I assume you've now had plenty of time to make a decision. So which one do you prefer?

 

[rbscebu]

I assume you've now had plenty of time to make a decision. So which one do you prefer?

Based purely on shave quality, I find that Arko is just a tad better than Tabac. That being said, with the new "improved" Tabac starting to hit the shelves, I ordered another 10 stick of the true original Tabac. That and my other soaps should just last me through until I'm 108yo. Then I'll just have to order more ARKO.

 

[TiffanyGT]

I've been using a soap that is made in Turkey mostly. A soap that is made by a Turkish artisan. It's called OSS-MAN Premium Shaving Soaps and the one that I've been using is called ARTISTRY. It has a Aventus Creed scent. Very very very easy to lather. Slickness and moisturizing effects are just on point. He called it Version 4.1. He, the Creator (it's actually his nickname on Turkish wet shaving forums, by the way) of this beautiful soap, Osman, tries to develop himself everyday. On Turkish wet shaving forums we know about him, and we have witnessed how he developed his soap over 2-3 years. It costs about $8-10 for us, Turkish people, but as an user of SV, Tabac, TOOBS I can say that this soap surpasses them or at least equal to them in every wise. The same soap (Artistry) has a vegetable version too. I am planning to post a review on this soap in August. I'll be giving all the details you need. People need to know about him and his soaps more.

Besides that all of the soaps that I have mentioned above are really good. Especially Tabac. And if there's anyone whos scared to harm his brush or whos afraid of not being able to create good lather because of the hardness of Tabac, don't be afraid to buy one, please. If you get one, you'll just bloom it more than usual, and soak your brush 1.5 to 2 min more than usual. Then you'll see that every type of brush can be used with any kind of soaps.

By the way, If there's anyone who's excited about Artistry soap, I will leave a picture of it. I shared the same picture both on B&B and Instagram, but I hope you don't mind this.

 

[rbscebu]

OSS-MAN started developing his soaps in late 2018. They are popular with those in the know but not easy to source if you are outside of Turkey.

@TiffanyGT is it possible to buy these soaps online, preferably in English? My Turkish is not very good.

 

[TiffanyGT]

OSS-MAN started developing his soaps in late 2018. They are popular with those in the know but not easy to source if you are outside of Turkey.

@TiffanyGT is it possible to buy these soaps online, preferably in English? My Turkish is not very good.

Unfortunately, there's a problem with regulations of governments on cosmetic products. Let me tell you a short story that I have experienced. You know, there was a time when Yaqi first introduced their new heads such as Ales (Slant), Katana etc. I have talked to the designer of the head just to congratulate him. Then we started to talk a lot and he has helped me alot in many topics. He is a Spanish gentleman, his name is Manuel Velazquez a.k.a. Ales. Once he told me that he really would like to try the soaps that are made in Turkey such as Alsancak, ZAZA (They actually produce creams), OSS-MAN. And then I have talked to the owner of Alsancak Soap. He agreed to send Ales a sample. But Mr. Velazquez never received the soap due to regulations on cosmetics. But on the other hand, I know many people that can buy shaving soap from EU or USA shaving-related sites. Some of them arrives and some of them not. It's really a hit or miss thing here, I suppose. But, I really want people to try this beautiful soap. It's not sponsored or something like that, Osman does a great job, we, Turkish people, know about this, and I want every wet-shaving lover to give it a try to this beautiful soap. I hope we can make it real.

@rbscebu Oh, and by the way, I have forwarded your message to Osman, we will see what we can do. I'll be replying in short time I hope.

 

[rbscebu]

....
@rbscebu Oh, and by the way, I have forwarded your message to Osman, we will see what we can do. I'll be replying in short time I hope.

Teşekkürler

 

[Peterv1]

From the ones I tried

SV 70th & Felce aromatica
MDC Fougere & original
A&E the undersea & kaizen
Ach brito mogno
Caties bubbles le marché du rasage
Speick active

 

[Mathieu76]

I think its tough to pick the best performing soap. A lot of soaps perform really well.
I own soaps of SV, MdC, Stirling. A&E, TGS, Extro cosmesi. And tried many more last 1,5 years.
My personal picks:
Easy to lather&long lasting: MdC
Best post shave: SV (vegan choice) ,Stirling and A&E all both equal (with tallow)

Best cheap performer: The goodfellas smile AJ-1 formula

 

[thirdguess]

While there are definitely plenty to choose from, I feel like the most luxurious and highest quality lathers I have experienced have been declaration and PAA's CK6 formula.

 

[Steve56]

The point that’s always missing in the soap ‘performance’ threads is what you shave with. The best straight razor soap just has to be slick. If you need ‘glide’ or ‘cushion’, that’s a different kind of ‘best’. There’s no one answer.

 

[JanVanDerVoort]

I'm surprised to see Tabac mentioned more than anything else. It is my favourite soap too, so far, but I expected more fancy products to show up ;-).

 

[JCinPA]

I'm surprised to see Tabac mentioned more than anything else. It is my favourite soap too, so far, but I expected more fancy products to show up ;-).

I understand why you might think that. But you have to understand the psychology of purchases. I've discovered there is an extremely tenuous relationship between cost and quality of just about any shave product. The graph below illustrates this. Imagine it is labeled price on the horizontal axis, and "performance" or some such on the vertical.

Add to this the fact that if we spend 4-5 times more money on a product, and we don't feel it performs much, much better than less expensive products, then we feel, well, unwise might be a good word. Maybe even a little bit foolish. Behavioral economics posits that we will attribute more superior performance to a product than it perhaps actually exhibits simply to avoid the cognitive dissonance that results from spending a lot of money on a slightly better product. Or a product that is not better at all, as is often demonstrated in blind vodka testing.

I suspect what you mean by "fancy products" involves cost. Are Martin de Candre, Santa Maria Novella, and Acqua Di Parma, costing $10-$14 per ounce really that much better than Cella or Proraso at $1-2 per ounce? It's hard to say, partly because we cannot judge anyone else's perceptions of things like slickness, denseness, and perhaps most importantly, scent. But to deny that cost affects, or colors our perception is unrealistic. They probably are "better" but that hardly means their prices are justified to most of us.

There are many famous studies of blind taste testings of Vodka where Smirnoff does just as well as brands costing two or three times as much. Most people really cannot tell the difference between Smirnoff and Kettle One or Gray Goose ... but they'll swear they can on a stack of bibles. When you blind test their favorite in a group most cannot identify it.

And, after one gets beyond the novelty of wet shaving, after doing it for 5 or 10 years or even longer, performance will out. That's why there are so many enduring classics, like Tabac, Cella, La Toja, Proraso, etcetera, which do not cost a lot of money. How else do you explain the enduring love for Arko, for Pete's sake? Eventually experienced shavers use what works and feels best and price stops affecting their perception so much.

I once did a thread here comparing Proraso green to SMN after the last reformulation of Proraso (about 2012 IIRC). Could I tell a difference? Maybe. Maybe. Can others tell the difference? I'm quite certain they can. I even did a side/side shave with half my face with each product. I came to the conclusion that I'd be nuts to buy SMN. YMMV, of course.

Anyway, a little bahavioral economics and psychology for you as to why there are so many immensely popular yet inexpensive products. It's because they work!

 

[VerbaVolant]

I'm surprised to see Tabac mentioned more than anything else...

This is about to change.

 

[ojshaves]

Hey guys, want to try a really good performing soap, what you guys recommend that will blow me away for performance?

I was recently BLOWN away by MOON Soaps. I have 80+ soaps, of which at least 20 are Stirling and now Moon may unseat my personal champion.

Check out my video review of Moon Union Barbershop on YouTube

Razorock Label/What the Puck series are truly excellent soaps that cost next to nothing. They may be the ultimate value king.

 

[ojshaves]

While there are definitely plenty to choose from, I feel like the most luxurious and highest quality lathers I have experienced have been declaration and PAA's CK6 formula.

Yes PAA CK-6 is definitely an epic soap formulation especially for being non-tallow based. Being in Canada, it's a little more hassle to get but some retailers are getting on board and stocking up.