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Collectors/Hoarders! Whats your favorite?

Question for those who have been wet shaving for a while and have used an absurd amount of soaps. I'm talking about those out there who have used 100 plus different soaps.
This questioned isn't so much directed at those who found their favorite and stuck with it. I'm looking for those who are constantly trying new soaps/bases and consider themselves connoisseurs.

What is your ALL TIME, NUMBER ONE, FAVORITE SOAP? and why?

I've only used about 9 or 10 and my favorite so far is B&M Leviathan.
 
I like the phrase "an absurd amount of soaps"....

I'm probably one of many who will say there is no single soap that does everything. For me it's the mood I'm in. I look at me collection, open some and have a smell, and decide which fits my mood like for instance a Fougere or Eufros Tierra Humeda in September. Conversely I might feel like a pick-me-up and use a lime soap. Yes, I have my favourite few, but it's all according to mood when I enter the bathroom. If you're into frags, you'll know there are Summer and Winter frags, office ones and clubbing ones. That's why we have collections of them.
 
I haven't tried over 100 soaps **yet** but I've tried a good many, & I'm constantly searching for premium lather characteristics during the shave, not so much post shave.

My very favorites:
-B&M Reserve line
-Shannon's Soaps
-Declaration Grooming (bison base)
-Grooming Department
-WSP Formula T

Honorable mentions:
-Noble Otter
-Wholly Kaw
-Midnight & Two
-Sudsy Soapery
-Henri et Victoria Duc de Santal (new tallow triple milled formula)

Still yet to try:
-Lisa's Natural (new reformulation)
-Tallow & Steel
-CBL Premium Soap
-Talbot
-Saponificio Varesino 4.3

***note, if forced to pick only one, it'd probably be B&M Reserve Cool. Also I'm sure @dfoulk can chime in, he's tried over 600!
 
If I had tried over a hundred soaps, I might be too fickle a fellow to settle on one as the best of the lot. One thing is for sure; there are plenty of great ones!
 
asking me to pick my favorite soap is like asking me to pick my favorite child! Although, using my shave buddy app I can see the soaps I choose most often;
Razorock What The Puck Lime
Pre d Provence original
Tabac
Chiseled Face Ghost Town Barber

And the ones I rate the highest based on the overall shave experience:
Captains Choice Bay Rum
Summer Break Picture Day
Uncle Jons Pipe Smoke
Crown King Atomic

Odd that my highest rated are not my most used. Why is that? Could be the best performance doesn't always come with the best scent. Or maybe I like the illustration on the outside of the tub. Hard to say. I've also not used and DR Harris or MWF during the time I started tracking shaves with the app (brand new pucks waiting in reserve until some others clear out the soap drawer). Also, not a hundred soaps yet.
 
Haslinger’s! (I have a good stash of their older ‘tallow’ formula with multiple pucks in all eight options.)
Terrific performance with top notch protection, cushion, slickness and post-shave feel IMO! :001_tt1: :001_tt1: :001_tt1:
 
I haven't tried over 100 soaps **yet** but I've tried a good many, & I'm constantly searching for premium lather characteristics during the shave, not so much post shave.

***note, if forced to pick only one, it'd probably be B&M Reserve Cool. Also I'm sure @dfoulk can chime in, he's tried over 600!

Thanks for the kind words. I have tried way too many soaps and most of what's currently out there to find the ones that I like the best.

My tier 1 is as follows:
Grooming Dept
Tallow & Steel
Lisa's Natural Herbal Creations (new formula)
Wholly Kaw (donkey milk version)
Declaration Grooming
Sudsy Soapery
PannaCrema Nuavia
Barrister & Mann (reserve line)

I generally use Grooming Dept and Tallow & Steel most days. Grooming Dept is the very best soap to me but Tallow & Steel is right there as well. I find these two to have the very best post shave and prefer them over the other exceptional soaps that share my top tier. They not only excel in post shave but they do everything else exceptionally well also. Aside from these two the ranking of the rest in my tier 1 would depend on what I'm in the mood for on a particular day.

I tend to favor soaps that have outstanding post shave to the point that they change my skin for the better.
For me, to hit my tier 1 a soap has to have no weaknesses. To be exceptional in every way. In trying 600 plus soaps I currently have 8 soaps in my tier one which is likely somewhere just north of 1% of all that I've tried. So I'm very selective as 99 out of 100 don't make my highest tier.
 
Thanks for the kind words. I have tried way too many soaps and most of what's currently out there to find the ones that I like the best.

My tier 1 is as follows:
Grooming Dept
Tallow & Steel
Lisa's Natural Herbal Creations (new formula)
Wholly Kaw (donkey milk version)
Declaration Grooming
Sudsy Soapery
PannaCrema Nuavia
Barrister & Mann (reserve line)

I generally use Grooming Dept and Tallow & Steel most days. Grooming Dept is the very best soap to me but Tallow & Steel is right there as well. I find these two to have the very best post shave and prefer them over the other exceptional soaps that share my top tier. They not only excel in post shave but they do everything else exceptionally well also. Aside from these two the ranking of the rest in my tier 1 would depend on what I'm in the mood for on a particular day.

I tend to favor soaps that have outstanding post shave to the point that they change my skin for the better.
For me, to hit my tier 1 a soap has to have no weaknesses. To be exceptional in every way. In trying 600 plus soaps I currently have 8 soaps in my tier one which is likely somewhere just north of 1% of all that I've tried. So I'm very selective as 99 out of 100 don't make my highest tier.

I'm leaning in the same direction you are about being selective (except saving myself from buying or trying 550 soaps)!!
:thumbup:
 
I've just hit 20 soaps, and no doubt rising. My rank order would be something like
Grooming Dept.
Eufros
Wholly Kaw
SV

I have a Declaration Grooming soap coming and that may join the above. SV is a bit safer that the top three, but undeniable quality.
 
I like the phrase "an absurd amount of soaps"....

I'm probably one of many who will say there is no single soap that does everything. For me it's the mood I'm in. I look at me collection, open some and have a smell, and decide which fits my mood like for instance a Fougere or Eufros Tierra Humeda in September. Conversely I might feel like a pick-me-up and use a lime soap. Yes, I have my favourite few, but it's all according to mood when I enter the bathroom. If you're into frags, you'll know there are Summer and Winter frags, office ones and clubbing ones. That's why we have collections of them.

^^ What he said^^
 
asking me to pick my favorite soap is like asking me to pick my favorite child! Although, using my shave buddy app I can see the soaps I choose most often;
Razorock What The Puck Lime
Pre d Provence original
Tabac
Chiseled Face Ghost Town Barber

And the ones I rate the highest based on the overall shave experience:
Captains Choice Bay Rum
Summer Break Picture Day
Uncle Jons Pipe Smoke
Crown King Atomic

Odd that my highest rated are not my most used. Why is that? Could be the best performance doesn't always come with the best scent. Or maybe I like the illustration on the outside of the tub. Hard to say. I've also not used and DR Harris or MWF during the time I started tracking shaves with the app (brand new pucks waiting in reserve until some others clear out the soap drawer). Also, not a hundred soaps yet.
That's a cool little app. I had no idea it existed. Already purchased it :)
Thanks!
 
Welcome to B&B and Wet Shaving, Sarge!

Just too many options to pick only one!

Give us your own conclusions in a year or so!

BTW, love your avatar!


2017 shaves.jpg
 
I've been wetshaving for about 8 years now. I've tried probably 70 soaps, including most of the popular current offerings. I've gotten rid of most of my stash, and used up nearly all my soft soaps. I steer clear of the current popular soft soaps simply because the price per shave is comparatively astronomical. While they perform fantastically, I can't justify $20+ on a tub that will only last 30-40 shaves. I've settled down to these soaps in my top tier.

  • Valobra hard soaps
  • Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Herbal Soap
  • DRH Soaps (Almond is the only one I currently have)
  • Mitchell's Wool Fat
  • Pre De Provence (If I ever finish the original, I'll try the 63)
I would put Haslinger in this category too, but the Schafmilch is the only scent I have, and I don't care for the scent or the way it makes my face feel. I need to try a different scent because the lather is very nice.

Also, my wife is supposed to be getting me my first tub of SV 4.3 for my birthday next month. I'll be highly disappointed if it doesn't enter my top echelon!
 
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Every product is a little different, but that's about how many shaves I get out of a typical 4 ounce croap. I don't load real heavy, but I do load real wet - like the Marco method. This burns through soft soaps pretty quickly.
 
Every product is a little different, but that's about how many shaves I get out of a typical 4 ounce croap. I don't load real heavy, but I do load real wet - like the Marco method. This burns through soft soaps pretty quickly.
Maybe I should use the marco method, that way I'll probably be able to actually use up all of my soaps Lol.
 
I find it hard to pick a top five, so a top one is impossible! I am all about the scent, and have tried quite a lot over soaps over the past few years. A few I couldn't live without are:

Chiseled Face - Ghost Town barber and Sherlock
Stirling - Autumn Glory, Agar
B&M - Leviathan, Lavanille
PAA - Sangre de Drago, Harvest Moon

There are a few others. Getting into the "hobbyist" side of shaving has turned something that I used to dislike, into something I actually look forward to. Awesomely scented soaps and aftershaves has been a huge part of that enjoyment.
 
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