Here's my second entry into my shave soap reviews. Like before, it's wordy so you can skip to the final comments section to get the gist of the review.
Soap: D.R. Harris Arlington
Cost: <$15
Appearance and packaging: The soap is a triple milled hard puck. It is a light yellow/beige in color and looks to have a very smooth surface and consistency. The puck looks very manufactured and definitely doesnt look like most artisan made soaps. The packaging seems well put together. The box that it came in was sturdy and clearly labeled. I happened to get the soap in one of D.R. Harris wooden bowls, which looks well-made and had ample room to work up a good lather. All in all, Id say you get what youd expect from a company like D.R. Harris.
Scent: Arlington is claimed to be Citrusy with English Fern tones and I would have to agree with this description. The scent was also stronger than what I expected. I got blasted with Citrus on first sniff, but then could make out the green base of the fern. The citrus seemed to be a combo of things; I couldnt make out any one fruit, although the first thing that came to mind was grapefruit and maybe some lemon. The fern smelled more like deep, damp, forest to me not decay, but fresh, like after a rain storm. In reality, this was an odd combo of smells to my nose, not unpleasant though, just different. These scents held pretty well when lathering and seemed to hang around for a couple hours after the shave. It would work well with a lighter aftershave too.
Workability and Lather: I soaked my brush in warm water for about 5 minutes and added a drizzle of water to the top of the puck for the same amount of time. I let my brush drain and gave it 2 or 3 good shakes, directly downward and also poured off the water from the surface of the soap. I loaded my brush for about 30 second and seemed to be rewarded with a nice thick proto-lather.
I then proceeded to palm lather the soap on my wet hand for about 30 seconds. The lather started to build pretty quickly, but was dry, so I dipped my brush and worked it for another 30 seconds. The soap still seemed dry, so I dipped a second and a third time, lathered for 30 seconds to a minute after each dip. At this point, the lather was nice and thick, had a good sheen and could hold good peaks. This was still a tad too dry for me so I dipped a fourth time and finally got my kind of shaving lather. This soap seemed a tad thirsty compared to others, but still resulted in a nice shaving lather.
Slickness, Glide, Cushion, and Retention: The slickness was good, maybe even great, but I had just used PannaCrema the day before and that soap is really slick, so my judgment of slickness may be a little skewed. The slickness seemed on par with PPF, B&M, or Synergy Soaps, which is good company to be in. The glide was good and this soap gave me a nice shave. I had no nicks or cuts and no irritation that I can currently feel. The cushion and lather retention were both very good. The cushion seems to be some of the better Ive felt. This lather is very thick and creamy even though I like a wetter work-up. The lather had no visible fade for the 20+ minutes of the shave and seemed to stay hydrated until the end.
Face Feel and Moisturizing: The soap feels good on your face, and like I said above, very protective. The after shave face feel was only ok. This is not the most moisturizing soap out there, but I have no sense of my face feeling dry just not moisturized. I wont skip using a shave balm in the future.
Final Comments: D.R. Harris is a very nice soap, with a decent price point, nice (unique) fragrance, and good to great shaving properties. I can easily see shaving with this soap every day and not feel like Im missing out. My only hesitation of making this a top 5 soap is the lack of moisturizing on my skin. That being said, everyones skin is different, and maybe this soap will work for you. Also, if you plan on using an aftershave balm, I wouldnt quibble about the moisturizing feel at all.
Notes: I have softened water and this probably impacts how I lather soaps.
Equipment Used:
Weber PH Bulldog w/ Polsilver Super Iridium (4)
Rudy Vey Custom w/ Shavemac D01 3-Band
Proraso White Pre-save
Lucky Tiger Aftershave
Soap: D.R. Harris Arlington
Cost: <$15
Appearance and packaging: The soap is a triple milled hard puck. It is a light yellow/beige in color and looks to have a very smooth surface and consistency. The puck looks very manufactured and definitely doesnt look like most artisan made soaps. The packaging seems well put together. The box that it came in was sturdy and clearly labeled. I happened to get the soap in one of D.R. Harris wooden bowls, which looks well-made and had ample room to work up a good lather. All in all, Id say you get what youd expect from a company like D.R. Harris.
Scent: Arlington is claimed to be Citrusy with English Fern tones and I would have to agree with this description. The scent was also stronger than what I expected. I got blasted with Citrus on first sniff, but then could make out the green base of the fern. The citrus seemed to be a combo of things; I couldnt make out any one fruit, although the first thing that came to mind was grapefruit and maybe some lemon. The fern smelled more like deep, damp, forest to me not decay, but fresh, like after a rain storm. In reality, this was an odd combo of smells to my nose, not unpleasant though, just different. These scents held pretty well when lathering and seemed to hang around for a couple hours after the shave. It would work well with a lighter aftershave too.
Workability and Lather: I soaked my brush in warm water for about 5 minutes and added a drizzle of water to the top of the puck for the same amount of time. I let my brush drain and gave it 2 or 3 good shakes, directly downward and also poured off the water from the surface of the soap. I loaded my brush for about 30 second and seemed to be rewarded with a nice thick proto-lather.
I then proceeded to palm lather the soap on my wet hand for about 30 seconds. The lather started to build pretty quickly, but was dry, so I dipped my brush and worked it for another 30 seconds. The soap still seemed dry, so I dipped a second and a third time, lathered for 30 seconds to a minute after each dip. At this point, the lather was nice and thick, had a good sheen and could hold good peaks. This was still a tad too dry for me so I dipped a fourth time and finally got my kind of shaving lather. This soap seemed a tad thirsty compared to others, but still resulted in a nice shaving lather.
Slickness, Glide, Cushion, and Retention: The slickness was good, maybe even great, but I had just used PannaCrema the day before and that soap is really slick, so my judgment of slickness may be a little skewed. The slickness seemed on par with PPF, B&M, or Synergy Soaps, which is good company to be in. The glide was good and this soap gave me a nice shave. I had no nicks or cuts and no irritation that I can currently feel. The cushion and lather retention were both very good. The cushion seems to be some of the better Ive felt. This lather is very thick and creamy even though I like a wetter work-up. The lather had no visible fade for the 20+ minutes of the shave and seemed to stay hydrated until the end.
Face Feel and Moisturizing: The soap feels good on your face, and like I said above, very protective. The after shave face feel was only ok. This is not the most moisturizing soap out there, but I have no sense of my face feeling dry just not moisturized. I wont skip using a shave balm in the future.
Final Comments: D.R. Harris is a very nice soap, with a decent price point, nice (unique) fragrance, and good to great shaving properties. I can easily see shaving with this soap every day and not feel like Im missing out. My only hesitation of making this a top 5 soap is the lack of moisturizing on my skin. That being said, everyones skin is different, and maybe this soap will work for you. Also, if you plan on using an aftershave balm, I wouldnt quibble about the moisturizing feel at all.
Notes: I have softened water and this probably impacts how I lather soaps.
Equipment Used:
Weber PH Bulldog w/ Polsilver Super Iridium (4)
Rudy Vey Custom w/ Shavemac D01 3-Band
Proraso White Pre-save
Lucky Tiger Aftershave
