My lovely wife gave me some aftershave balms from Barclay Crocker for Christmas this year (their Vitamin E based line). I'm quite pleased with the performance of this aftershave - it really makes my face feel great! Apparently they give you the ability to mix & match scents, and the two she put together were Juniper/Sandalwood/Rosemary (the sandalwood sticks out the most) and Orange/Bay Rum (the orange is really prominent when you first apply it, and the bay rum becomes relatively more prominent as the orange fades). I'd like to pick up a pair of soaps that match these scents - what are the best performers for each? My preliminary ideas were Haslinger Sandelholz and B&M Bay Rum, but I'd like to hear the opinions of the experienced wetshavers here. For reference, my current favorite soaps in terms of performance are Tabac, Cella and Speick.
Best sandalwood and bay rum scented soaps?
- Thread starter 147_Grain
- Start date
I've tried a ton of soaps, somewhere around the 300 mark by now. I've tried a bunch of sandlewood and bay rum soaps and some are down right awful smelling. Bay Rums can go horribly wrong when it comes to scent and sandlewood can be all over the place smelling like actual sandlewood or some completely different scent. I have one labeled sandlewood that smells more like fabric softener than sandlewood oil and it's a $40 very well known high end brand brand that's only an average performing soap. I have found some truly excellent ones as well though, and I've listed them below. These are all outstanding performing soaps that I wouldn't hesitate recommending for a second.
The best sandlewood soaps I've found so far are:
Art of Shaving Sandlewood tallow version - this one is no longer produced but is available delivered from an Ebay seller for $19.99.
Phoenix Artisan Sandlewood - really outstanding stuff at a very reasonable price.
Cold River Soap Co Select Sandlewood - another great authentic sandlewood scent.
The Best Bay Rum scented soaps I've found:
Strop Shoppe SE w/tallow Bay Rum
Barrister & Mann Bay Rum
I hope this helps.
The best sandlewood soaps I've found so far are:
Art of Shaving Sandlewood tallow version - this one is no longer produced but is available delivered from an Ebay seller for $19.99.
Phoenix Artisan Sandlewood - really outstanding stuff at a very reasonable price.
Cold River Soap Co Select Sandlewood - another great authentic sandlewood scent.
The Best Bay Rum scented soaps I've found:
Strop Shoppe SE w/tallow Bay Rum
Barrister & Mann Bay Rum
I hope this helps.
An good option imo is to buy samples for the soaps you are interested before you commit to a full sized puck. Maggards has many artisan samples available and many of these companies offer sample directly from their own websites at reasonable prices.
You might like Penhaligons new Bayolea shave soap and aftershave!
Mystic Water Bay Rum and Mysore Sandalwood are excellent!
I vote Cold River Select Sandalwood and the AOS Sandalwood, tallow, off of Ebay...
I really fell for the Barrister & Mann Bay Rum from my sample of it. Smells fantastic and his soaps perform really well.
For sandalwood soap, my vote goes to Pheonix Artisan Accoutrements Sandalwood. Outstanding performance and a pleasing and subtle wood scent. I know that some B&B members don't buy from PAA due to the company/its owners' business practices. I make no comment on that here; but in terms of pure soap quality, it's up there.
D R Harris sandalwood is also excellent. It's a hard soap, and takes a bit more time to work than some of the artisan offerings. Lovely smell, but more of a blended, cologne-type scent than authentic wood.
Can't go wrong with Proraso Red. It performs very well and is relatively low cost. I don't like the scent, but others do. It's earthy/woodsy on top, with a sweeter, powdery background.
TOBS smells wonderful, but again is more like a sandalwood-inspired cologne than a straight sandalwood. It performs ok, but for me is a little behind the others in that category (the cream is a much better product IMO).
D R Harris sandalwood is also excellent. It's a hard soap, and takes a bit more time to work than some of the artisan offerings. Lovely smell, but more of a blended, cologne-type scent than authentic wood.
Can't go wrong with Proraso Red. It performs very well and is relatively low cost. I don't like the scent, but others do. It's earthy/woodsy on top, with a sweeter, powdery background.
TOBS smells wonderful, but again is more like a sandalwood-inspired cologne than a straight sandalwood. It performs ok, but for me is a little behind the others in that category (the cream is a much better product IMO).
My vote goes to crsw select Sandalwood and b&m bay rum. Great scents and performers.
