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Canada Shaving Soap review

This is my review of the Canada Shaving Soap it is an unscented Vegan friendly soap with a profile that is very similar to MdC.

Ingredients - Stearic Acid, Aqua, Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Glycerin

I purchased it in Canada off Amazon and with free prime delivery and taxes it came out to 46 CAD which puts it as the most expensive soap I have purchased. A little backstory I am both a head shaver and a neck shaver and I use different products/blades/razors for my head and neck. Primarily anything that is usually top performing I will reserve for head shaves where I need the extra protection and nourishment and on my neck I will use whatever that did not make the cut. Now on to the review

Lather- 4.5/5 - I was able to build lather extremely quickly with this. It was not like some MdC videos I have seen where people do 3 swirls and they are good but I loaded it for half the time I normally would. My Whipped Dog silvertip bristles were packed with soap and I was able to build a lather very quickly. I may have used too much water and/or should have loaded a little bit more cause the soap did dissipate by the time I started my 2nd pass, something that did not happen the first time I used it for a neck shave, so I wont deduct points right now but may report back later if the lather keeps dissipating in the future.

Glide and Slickness- 4/5 - I did not feel the razor at all during my first pass the lather was extremely silky. The residual slickness was there but not to the level I was comfortable with, I had to be a little mindful of touchups but I will still score it well cause it felt slick.

Scent- NR - It is unscented, and I know many of us enjoy shaving with scented soaps for the whole experience (I do as well) but it being unscented is not a bad thing I will pair it with stronger smelling aftershaves (like Alt Innsbruk etc)

Post Shave- 4.9/5 - My skin felt very moisturized after the shave. The Osma alum block had no sting at all and it almost felt like putting on an aftershave lotion may have been overkill. I personally prefer a little more nourishment like lanolin or shea butter etc but it still did a great job. I may use a lanolin shave cream with it next time to build a super lather which may just be the perfect mix for me.

Overall score 9.2/10- I would put this in an S- tier. I know the story of the founder is very...sus (him not finding any soap for his skin but making a product thats just exactly like MdC..) but this soap is definitely a topshelf performer. Bottom line is, if you need to shave with unscented or vegan friendly soaps this is a no brainer purchase cause the tub is filled and dense and it will last a very long time. However, if you like scented soaps and/or lean towards soaps with tallow and/or are mindful of the price, it is not a must buy.
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Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
Interesting review, there is a need for these type of soaps that are unscented and just basic ingredients that work well.
I was just reading a thread where this fellow is looking for a similar soap but wants it made in the England because his skin is extremely sensitive and has to be scentless if possible.
 
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linty1

My wallet cries.
Thanks for the review, Canada soap is on my list of soaps to try in the future. Out of curiosity, when you say "unscented" do you mean, theres no extra scent added, bu it still has a basic smell, or like... unscented = no smell at all? (I'm prob not being clear... I don't know how to say it without being confusing).

Also shoutout to Wd brushes, love'em.
 
Thanks for the review, Canada soap is on my list of soaps to try in the future. Out of curiosity, when you say "unscented" do you mean, theres no extra scent added, bu it still has a basic smell, or like... unscented = no smell at all? (I'm prob not being clear... I don't know how to say it without being confusing).

Also shoutout to Wd brushes, love'em.
Has no smell whatsoever. I was hoping for like maybe a slight clean soap scent or anything, but it smells like nothing
 
Interesting review, there is a need for these type of soaps that are unscented and just basic ingredients that work well.
I was just reading a thread where this fellow is looking for a similar soap but wants it made in the England because his skin is extremely sensitive and has to be scentless if possible.
I saw that thread and I would have suggested this one but with shipping costs etc I remember him saying he was hoping for something with a smaller size/cost of entry.
 
Reporting back after a few more uses..the post shave feel of this stuff is incredible and is making me fall in love with Shaving my head. I been using it with some scented Shaving creams to create a super lather and to give the shave a scent and the combination has been too good.
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Reporting back after a few more uses..the post shave feel of this stuff is incredible and is making me fall in love with Shaving my head. I been using it with some scented Shaving creams to create a super lather and to give the shave a scent and the combination has been too good.View attachment 1345662
Glad you are enjoying Canada Shave Soap, I've had it for more than six months ever since @ouchyfoot turned me on to it. I like it enough to have bought a second puck to use on a three-month trip back east, and to then have one at each of our houses.

You're solution of adding a scented cream seems to be a good one. Funny, yesterday I was experimenting with test lathers in scenting Canada: first, trying to scent a whole hard puck of Canada would use too much scent and be way too much work, and since the soap is pricey I won't be trying that. Years ago I scented an Arko stick by grating and adding some EO and that worked fine, but at $1.25/stick I didn't care if I ruined the soap. The industrial/citronella scent of Arko is not my favorite, but the lather for a low-cost soap is good. Sorry, I digress.

With Canada, I tried loading the soap, getting it in my bowl and adding scent in two ways- the first was by spraying some Dunhill Icon on my proto lather and then lathering it up as usual. This worked okay- the lather had a somewhat faint, but recognizable scent, and the structure did not seem adversely affected. But, to get a full scent into the lather it would take more EdP then I would want to use.

The second approach was to add some aftershave in building the lather, as opposed to adding drops of water; this worked I thought nicely and is probably a less costly approach. I used Master Smokey Oud AS to do this and it has water as its first ingredient. I think the alcohol dissipates as I build the lather for either approach. I haven't shaved with either test lathers yet, but the lathers did seem to build fine and felt as slick between my fingers.

@anoop asked how Canada soap compares to MdC. I find that it's very close in all performance aspects, excepting scent. I enjoy the MdC scents I have, Fougere and Original, as well as using the unscented Nature.

I'm usually a face latherer- comparing MdC Nature to Canada Shave Soap here's what I've experienced: load times, with MdC a little less, but I may overload it some, shaves that feel quite similar in slickness and comfort- I commented after initially using Canada that if I was blindfolded, I probably couldn't tell the difference, lathers that hold their form well, and a post-shave feel with each soap that is really excellent for soaps that don't have lots of added post- shave ingredients. Maybe @SgtCrppls will comment- he's an regular MdC and Canada user.

Have a great shave today!
 
At least to me and a few others, Nature, even though marked as unscented, still seems to have a faint scent of the Original.
Thanks much! My Nature lives at our house in Arizona and we're up in Reno now- 700 miles northeast; I'll be down in AZ in a few weeks and give some good side-by-side sniffs of Nature and Canada. IMHO- performance-wise these are two really nice soaps.
 
Great review, it's one of these soaps I want but probably never get to try because of the extremely high shipping cost and import fees these days.
 
Glad you are enjoying Canada Shave Soap, I've had it for more than six months ever since @ouchyfoot turned me on to it. I like it enough to have bought a second puck to use on a three-month trip back east, and to then have one at each of our houses.

You're solution of adding a scented cream seems to be a good one. Funny, yesterday I was experimenting with test lathers in scenting Canada: first, trying to scent a whole hard puck of Canada would use too much scent and be way too much work, and since the soap is pricey I won't be trying that. Years ago I scented an Arko stick by grating and adding some EO and that worked fine, but at $1.25/stick I didn't care if I ruined the soap. The industrial/citronella scent of Arko is not my favorite, but the lather for a low-cost soap is good. Sorry, I digress.

With Canada, I tried loading the soap, getting it in my bowl and adding scent in two ways- the first was by spraying some Dunhill Icon on my proto lather and then lathering it up as usual. This worked okay- the lather had a somewhat faint, but recognizable scent, and the structure did not seem adversely affected. But, to get a full scent into the lather it would take more EdP then I would want to use.

The second approach was to add some aftershave in building the lather, as opposed to adding drops of water; this worked I thought nicely and is probably a less costly approach. I used Master Smokey Oud AS to do this and it has water as its first ingredient. I think the alcohol dissipates as I build the lather for either approach. I haven't shaved with either test lathers yet, but the lathers did seem to build fine and felt as slick between my fingers.

@anoop asked how Canada soap compares to MdC. I find that it's very close in all performance aspects, excepting scent. I enjoy the MdC scents I have, Fougere and Original, as well as using the unscented Nature.

I'm usually a face latherer- comparing MdC Nature to Canada Shave Soap here's what I've experienced: load times, with MdC a little less, but I may overload it some, shaves that feel quite similar in slickness and comfort- I commented after initially using Canada that if I was blindfolded, I probably couldn't tell the difference, lathers that hold their form well, and a post-shave feel with each soap that is really excellent for soaps that don't have lots of added post- shave ingredients. Maybe @SgtCrppls will comment- he's an regular MdC and Canada user.

Have a great shave today!

Love the experimentation! I will try the Aftershave trick one day although I have a whole stack of different scented Shaving creams I never use that now will finally have a purpose 😁 Thanks for all the feedback and tips!
 
Thanks for the review. How would you rate MdC in all the categories where you rated this one? Ideally, it would be good to see a comparative score in each category.
So I have not owned MdC myself I had a sample awhile back but I have a jar of Fougere on its way so I will report back with a comparison in a week or two
 
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As @anoop requested, got two shaves with the MdC so far and can make a comparison already although of course more uses may reveal a different outcome. As @RenoRichard said the performance between the two is near identical in almost all aspects other then scent. The two things that's different tho in my opinion is that I found MdC to lather easier but CSS had the superior post shave feel. Both have great lather and post shave but so far I found that being the difference between the two. Just gotta say tho that the CSS post shave feel is becoming addicting..
 
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