I'm curious to know what you guys think is the best soap out there for in the shower and also as to what bar of soap typically lasts you the longest. I use Irish Spring Icy Blast but I'm looking to move into more "artisan" soaps now.
Best Soap/Longest Lasting Soap
- Thread starter mellomatt0426
- Start date
I grabbed a bar of Mike's bath soap - really fantastic stuff, but it's definitely not a glycerin or triple milled soap, as it only lasted about half as long as a typical bar of Irish Springs/Dove bath soap.
I've been working on a bar of Pre de Provence for it seems like forever. I'm guessing that it must've been duodecuple milled! 
That's how I feel about TOBS bar soaps. Love how they smell, love how they feel, but do seem to go fast.
MdC Marseilles Toilette soaps are long lasting - 50 or 55g little cube lasted a month.
River Soap Company is probably my favorite. I get it at Natural Grocers. QCS is very solid, but can be a bit pricey when you factor in shipping. I haven't used Stirling soaps yet, but plan to in the future when I work through more of my current supply. Also, hit up Marshalls. They have a lot of nice soap.
You can also get a 3-pack of Speick for $12.95 via Amazon Prime. Not an artisan, but an amazing soap.
You can also get a 3-pack of Speick for $12.95 via Amazon Prime. Not an artisan, but an amazing soap.
- Thread starter
- #7
I might pick up some of that Speick when my Irish Spring runs out, as well as when my outlaw Sin O Men runs out. It says the speick scent fights off "nervous fatigue", did you find the soap to do just that? 
The soap that I've found to be the most long lasting is the L'Occitane shea butter soap, the big 250g (8.8oz) bars last me around 3 months with daily use in the shower. Just 3 fragrances though, milk, lavender and lemon verbena.
My favourite soaps these days are the glycerin rich bars from Pacifica. Absolutely beautiful and complex scents.
My favourite soaps these days are the glycerin rich bars from Pacifica. Absolutely beautiful and complex scents.
- Thread starter
- #9
Today I received an order I placed with a fairly small company called outlaw soaps and took my first shower with it. The soap smells fantastic and seems like it will last a fairly long time. The bar soaps seem a little pricey for the amount you get ($8 for a 4oz bar) but the soap is going to last me for ever. They also did a stellar job with packaging, got everything in a burlap sack with a bumper sticker. I recommend them highly.
As stated by a previous poster, JaxJim. For a choice that is readily available, Bisous de Provence at Trader Joe's, is pretty long lasting and available in a selection of scents. Under $4 for a large bar is good value. I suspect that the soap is made by Pre de Provence but can't confirm that. I use a large boar brush that I found less than optimum for shaving but a great body brush to lather in the shower. Bar has lasted a few months. It is a triple milled soap weighing in at 8.8 ounces.
What I'd like to know is who makes Pre de Provence! The labels don't explicitly say and try to find out online. One would think the manufacturer would be proud of their soap - more so than the US importer (where all the hype is). I'm beginning to think it's a made-up name/private label; just like Trader <fill in the blank>'s or Kirkland. Not that that's objectively bad mind you, just annoying...
I use the Musgo Real Claus Porto soaps. The two scents I've used are the Orange Amber and Lime Basil. The Lime Basil seems to be a better scent to my nose
The one that lasted longest for me was the Mistrals soap bars, but they were 8 ounce bars if I remember correctly and highly scented. A little too scented for my tastes but they are good soaps. Kind of expensive at ten bucks a bar but when you consider a bar lasted me almost two months and I shower usually twice a day it's not so bad. What I have been using lately is Stirling soap bars. I use between a sea sponge and a exfoliating cloth in the shower and a bar usually lasts about three weeks. Not bad for a 5 ounce bar costing three bucks. And, they are probably one of the best body bars I've used. I like QCS and Chagrin Valley soaps and still have and use both but the Stirling bars have become my favorite. Not to promote any one particular brand but since I quit buying the drug store commercial crap my heat rash has disappeared that I used to get on a regular basis, my skin is so much better that some minor acne is almost gone, and since converting to a shampoo bar my scalp itch is ninety five percent gone. You can get a damn good soap for not a lot of money if you look around and don't be afraid to try different ones. Like anything else you'll have to find what works best for you and when you do you'll never go back to the store commercial crap. Chris
- Thread starter
- #15
I have way too many soaps to try
If your artisan soaps are not lasting as long as you would like, you need to make sure to allow them to dry in between uses. If you are storing them in the soap dish that most showers have built in, your soap will of course not last long. Get yourself a soap net, hang it on a hook above the shower head, and watch how much longer the soap lasts.
- Thread starter
- #17
Might have to invest in one of these soap net contraptions, are they available for purchase at my local artisan store, Walmart?
Nope. European Soaps is the US importer. Labels says "imported by" or "manufactured for" or something like that, NOT "manufactured by".
There are supposedly only a half-dozen or so of soap makers in the Provence left. My guess is that some french company makes it and they license the name in the US. If it were truly french, it wouldn't be named pre de provence, it would be pre du provence or de la provence - since you need the article (can't remember if provence if M or F, though) and the french are, shall we say, particular, about their language.
I don't know the legal reqs for claiming something is "made in france" but the FTC is pretty hardcore about this stuff (at least they are when it comes to balling it Made in the US) so I would think it's really made in France but maybe not in the Provence since they don't actually claim that specifically.
Who knows....
I like South of France soaps. A supermarket carries the 8 oz bar and Walmart carries 4oz bars. It's triple-milled so they last a long time and are one of the best lathering soaps with my well water. Favorite scents are Shea Butter and the Lavender. I didn't care for the Lemon Verbena. Like many lemon products, it smelled like Pledge.
+1 for the South Of France soaps, and the eerily similar Whole Foods triple milled French soaps. Great scents, great lather, and reasonably priced when you consider how long they last. When I am the only one using them, they last two months or better for me. I usually buy several at one time, and I store them in drawers with my clothes which makes them smell good too.
