For Christmas I unexpectedly got a tub of Blue Devil Shave Company shaving soap in the "peach and pear" scent. I had mentioned this soap to my wife once because I love peach scents and I always thought there should be more pear scents in shaving, so when I saw that the scent was peach AND pear, I thought it would be an amazing scent for me. (Also, as a Duke fan, I liked the name Blue Devil, as well.)
For those of you who don't know, Blue Devil Shave Company is an artisan soap company located in Tasmania. The name is meant to refer to the Tasmanian Devil, I'm sure, as the logo is a super-cool graphic of a Tasmanian Devil against bright background. Really cool.
My first impression, upon smelling it on Christmas morning, was disappointment. The scent was not at all what I expected. Very muted, for one thing, and not very peachy, for another. I smiled and acted happy and expressed thanks, but deep down inside I was not happy.
A test lather that evening showed me that I needn't worry about the lather at all, though. I was hoping the scent would open up when lathered but it really didn't. Still a very mild scent without anywhere near as much peach as I hoped it would have.
For those who care, here is the ingredients list: Distilled water, beef tallow, stearic acid, potassium hydroxide, coconut oil, cocoa butter, sodium hydroxide, hemp oil, glycerin, lactate, castor oil, and essential oils. (Pretty sure the label is generic for all their soaps, as I don't think there is such a thing as peach essential oil, but I digress.) A pretty nice ingredients list, with tallow and stearic acid near the top of the list, some skin conditioning ingredients like cocoa butter and hemp oil (a bit of a surprise ingredient), lactate to help it work in harder water, and both potassium and sodium hydroxide, leading to a nice firm soap that still loads easily.
I have shaved with it 6 times now (in rotation with other soaps), so I have a pretty good idea of what it is like. Scored review follows:
1) Packaging. 3 stars. Fantastic graphics, but the soap comes in a narrower container that has an inside lip. I much prefer the wider containers that are straight all the way up. As a result of this choice, loading the soap is harder than it needs to be, and I feel like I have to use my smaller brushes to load.
2) Ease of lathering. 4 stars. It is firm, so it takes a little bit more time than some of the really soft soaps, but it loads up without any trouble at all.
3) Lather quality. 5 stars. Fantastic, beautiful lather that is rich, smooth, slick, and shiny. Protection is good, slickness is very good. Rinses clean and leaves the face feeling fresh and soft, but not loaded up with stuff that won't wash off. A very nice post-shave feel, for my taste.
4) Scent. 2 stars. Too weak for me, and not particularly engaging, although it is growing on me somewhat. I just happen to have a bottle of peach fragrance oil, so I add about two drops to the lather and then it smells heavenly.
5) Value. 3 stars. Shipping really jacks the price up on this soap, but based on my usage thus far, I think I will get a LOT of excellent shaves out of this soap.
Bottom line. Blue Devil Shave Co. has a really nice shave soap formula on their hands, and I really enjoy the lather I get from this soap. Although their graphics are really great, the packaging suffers from being in a narrower container with a lip inside. The soap, for me, is just about the perfect consistency (not too hard and not too soft) to allow easy loading and yet provide a lot of shaves. The scent is not strong enough for me, but I know that some people like fainter scents. This might be a good choice for you if you are one of those people, or if you have allergies and need lightly scented soaps. For me it works great when I boost it up with a fragrance oil that I already had around the house.
With a stronger scent and a wider container with straight sides, this soap would be a real winner. As it is, I still like it a great deal. The lather is really excellent.
For those of you who don't know, Blue Devil Shave Company is an artisan soap company located in Tasmania. The name is meant to refer to the Tasmanian Devil, I'm sure, as the logo is a super-cool graphic of a Tasmanian Devil against bright background. Really cool.
My first impression, upon smelling it on Christmas morning, was disappointment. The scent was not at all what I expected. Very muted, for one thing, and not very peachy, for another. I smiled and acted happy and expressed thanks, but deep down inside I was not happy.
A test lather that evening showed me that I needn't worry about the lather at all, though. I was hoping the scent would open up when lathered but it really didn't. Still a very mild scent without anywhere near as much peach as I hoped it would have.
For those who care, here is the ingredients list: Distilled water, beef tallow, stearic acid, potassium hydroxide, coconut oil, cocoa butter, sodium hydroxide, hemp oil, glycerin, lactate, castor oil, and essential oils. (Pretty sure the label is generic for all their soaps, as I don't think there is such a thing as peach essential oil, but I digress.) A pretty nice ingredients list, with tallow and stearic acid near the top of the list, some skin conditioning ingredients like cocoa butter and hemp oil (a bit of a surprise ingredient), lactate to help it work in harder water, and both potassium and sodium hydroxide, leading to a nice firm soap that still loads easily.
I have shaved with it 6 times now (in rotation with other soaps), so I have a pretty good idea of what it is like. Scored review follows:
1) Packaging. 3 stars. Fantastic graphics, but the soap comes in a narrower container that has an inside lip. I much prefer the wider containers that are straight all the way up. As a result of this choice, loading the soap is harder than it needs to be, and I feel like I have to use my smaller brushes to load.
2) Ease of lathering. 4 stars. It is firm, so it takes a little bit more time than some of the really soft soaps, but it loads up without any trouble at all.
3) Lather quality. 5 stars. Fantastic, beautiful lather that is rich, smooth, slick, and shiny. Protection is good, slickness is very good. Rinses clean and leaves the face feeling fresh and soft, but not loaded up with stuff that won't wash off. A very nice post-shave feel, for my taste.
4) Scent. 2 stars. Too weak for me, and not particularly engaging, although it is growing on me somewhat. I just happen to have a bottle of peach fragrance oil, so I add about two drops to the lather and then it smells heavenly.
5) Value. 3 stars. Shipping really jacks the price up on this soap, but based on my usage thus far, I think I will get a LOT of excellent shaves out of this soap.
Bottom line. Blue Devil Shave Co. has a really nice shave soap formula on their hands, and I really enjoy the lather I get from this soap. Although their graphics are really great, the packaging suffers from being in a narrower container with a lip inside. The soap, for me, is just about the perfect consistency (not too hard and not too soft) to allow easy loading and yet provide a lot of shaves. The scent is not strong enough for me, but I know that some people like fainter scents. This might be a good choice for you if you are one of those people, or if you have allergies and need lightly scented soaps. For me it works great when I boost it up with a fragrance oil that I already had around the house.
With a stronger scent and a wider container with straight sides, this soap would be a real winner. As it is, I still like it a great deal. The lather is really excellent.
