Declaration Grooming scents... is it just me?

[kingfisher]

The real problem with "best soap ever" is two-fold:

1) too many variables. Brush, water hardness, lathering style, etc., etc., etc.

2) "the soap asymptote." In other words, there are physicochemical limits to what a soap lather can do. Many soaps are approaching the asymptote. Once you get to the asymptote, all the soaps that reach that point are extremely similar in terms of their properties, and unlikely to get better with more tweaks, changes, etc.


My opinion? Many of the current artisan soap bases are at or very near the asymptote. Therefore, what is the "best ever" soap for any particular wetshaver is the one that produces the best lather under his/her particular circumstances (water, brush, loading style, lathering style, etc). Or the one whose scent he/she finds most pleasant.

Which leads us back to the OP.

 

[major_works]

@Southsider great point and I'd like to embellish on some of your points.

So lets say I go to a website looking for a new soap and a new brand that I'm completely unfamiliar with but maybe I've read good things about or seen it mentioned in a review/post or just out of curiosity or whatever the reason that led me to the website or online store. So lets also say that the particular brand offers 35 different soaps unless their description of the soap doesn't at least make mention of either the featured ingredients, straight up scent or at least a scent profile it's a freaking nightmare trying to figure out what to buy unless you go through every one of those soaps and they give a more in depth description of what ingredients are in it, which base they use, tallow or vegan and what the scent is or scent profile is, again it's a nightmare trying to figure out what to buy! So it's a total shot in the dark if you pick one out. I mean the easy ones to pick out in any brand are when they say Lavender, Sandalwood, Lime or Lavender and Vanilla, Bergamot and Oud etc etc. then at least you have a good idea of what your looking at.
Having a description that only says XYZ soap will take you to the streets of London or the shores of Lake Tahoe just doesn't make sense to me unless you also list the scent profile along with the description. I know how I have my ideas of how I'd set up a online store to make it much easer for a potential customer to pick out a new shave soap especially if they were new to my brand and my online store.

It's certainly difficult to choose soaps from online vendors if scent is a primary characteristic for the buyer. I consider myself blessed to be within striking distance of a brick-and-mortar shop with a ridiculous selection (Pasteur's in NYC) of wet shaving supplies. It actually becomes its own sort of problem... I can stand in there for hours sniffing soaps, utterly unable to make up my mind. Thankfully, they don't seem to mind if I do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[frenchy]

It's certainly difficult to choose soaps from online vendors if scent is a primary characteristic for the buyer. I consider myself blessed to be within striking distance of a brick-and-mortar shop with a ridiculous selection (Pasteur's in NYC) of wet shaving supplies. It actually becomes its own sort of problem... I can stand in there for hours sniffing soaps, utterly unable to make up my mind. Thankfully, they don't seem to mind if I do.

But....the issue is increasingly that the smell out of the tub does not at all represent what it smells like lathered. Not at all. I would have missed out on some great stuff had I gone just by tub smell. I’m getting a much better feel for soap scents reading the vendor’s description and the reviews posted here and elsewhere. When I get a new tub I don’t judge the scent until I’ve lathered it.

 

[psfred]

The basic formulation of shaving soap is pretty simple, there is a more or less optimum fatty acid profile that gives rich, creamy, lasting lather and excellent slickness. 60% and up KOH is also pretty much a requirement for ease of use, also some EDTA or something similar to handle hard water. Even detergent/glycerine base soaps (which may or may not have a lot of glycerine) work well too most of the time strictly considering lather and slickness.

There are a lot of ways to get there, though, and the specific oils/fats used have some effect. However, the real fun part is the "superfat" or excess oils that provide a good post-shave feel (glycerine is important here, too). A nice slick soap that leaves your skin "tight" and dry is going to be a problem for some people, eh? Dry skin is not funny if it cracks and peels.

So it's not hard to make a soap that lathers well and gives proper slickness, but getting those characteristics along with good post-shave feel and long term stability is more difficult.

I don't consider scent a performance characteristic, personally. I'm good with soap I can't smell at all, but that's me. Many other people have scent as a primary choice consideration, but even so actual performance for shaving is unrelated to smell.

The artisan industry is slowly learning the tricks of shaving soap -- it wasn't always this way, hobby soapmaking that turns into a cottage industry is going to be prone to quite a bit of "wrong turn" experimentation. A few years back tossing some clay into a bath soap was considered all that was necessary to make "shaving soap", for instance, and I still see that idea popping up when new soap makers read older books on the subject. Commercially, it's not a secret, the proper formulas were by and large all worked out pretty well by the 1920's.

I do hope the artisan soap makers keep going though -- more choice is always a good thing!

 

[Music]

DG is one of my very favorite soaps, but I think I might have a minor skin reaction to it, and I was wondering if it's because of the fragrances (at first I thought it might be the tallow but I don't think it is). So I'm using my WK more and my DG less. But wonder if anyone else has noticed this. I love the DG scents, especially 4th and Pine and Trismegustis, but don't know if there's something in them that is causing a skin reaction for me. I'll keep using them since the performance is so outstanding, but less frequently.

 

[shavefan]

DG is one of my very favorite soaps, but I think I might have a minor skin reaction to it, and I was wondering if it's because of the fragrances (at first I thought it might be the tallow but I don't think it is). So I'm using my WK more and my DG less. But wonder if anyone else has noticed this. I love the DG scents, especially 4th and Pine and Trismegustis, but don't know if there's something in them that is causing a skin reaction for me. I'll keep using them since the performance is so outstanding, but less frequently.

Everyone's skin is different so you may indeed be having some reaction to one or more of the ingredients. Impossible for 'outsiders' to say with any certainty. But if it isn't working for you, well...

 

[meliahog]

I love Darkfall and just ordered The Shore.

 

[pbrmhl]

I love Darkfall and just ordered The Shore.

I also have a tub of Shore en route. I’ve got at least 15 tubs of DG, including the Icarus Santal Auster, so I definitely have a DG problem. There’s something about how the soap matches my nose, hand, face, scuttle, water, shaving technique, etc. to make a perfect lathering experience every time...

 

[SoullessSingularity]

Thank you very I’d really like to try them! I was going to take a chance and order the Lemon but trying a sample is always best and it would be much appreciated.

Sorry for the slow response. Send me a PM with your address and I’ll send you some penny samples.

 

[TropicalHotDogNight]

I've been shaving with an unscented soap for the past few months, but I decided to pick up a sample of Declaration Grooming Original with my last Maggard Razors order. (It was the only sample they had left in stock.) Right out of the container, it had an unusual smell, which in a nutshell, could be described as a mixture of clay and Earl Grey tea. It wasn't a bad scent, just a bit odd as a men's fragrance. I had a shave with it, and the bergamot really started to grow on me! I kept going back to the soap all day to have another smell. I shaved with it again the next day, and then did not use it for two more days. The day after that, I used it again, and noticed that the scent profile had changed from the sample sitting open and exposed for those past few days. The bergamot had mellowed out, and the sandalwood became very forward. This time, I felt like the scent was obnoxiously strong, and I didn't care for it like I did before. So with that being said, I'm not sure what to make of this scent. The remnants of soap left in the sealed container still smell great, but I don't like what happens when the soap dries out.

Performance wise, I haven't used the soap enough to really get to know it, but I feel like it is lacking slickness to some degree. I didn't hydrate it enough on my first use, so my razor was dragging a bit, but I lathered it properly the next two times, and it just didn't seem as slick as I wanted it to be. I'm going to keep experimenting with my lather to see if there is a sweet spot. Because the soap is so soft, it lathers quite easily, so perhaps I just haven't been working the lather hard enough.

 

[les24preludes]

I've so far tried Trismegistus and Yuzu Rose Patchouli. Didn't like Trismegistus at all and that got sold immediately. Not sure of YRP - very sweet and my first reaction was this is a rather muddled scent. Lather is good, but I'm not sure if the post-shave feel is quite clean. I like the linger more - it's kind of growing on me.

On the evidence of these two soaps I'm finding it hard to place DG in the same top tier as WK, SV, Grooming Dept. or B&M. I'd would put them together with Tallow & Steel - good performance but don't quite have a grip on how to put the best scents together, so hits and misses.

 

[Nerollin']

I'm kind of in the same boat as the OP and here is what I have tried:
Original, Bandwagon, After The Rain, Trismegistus, TSM Fougere, Bon Vivant, Darkfall and Icarus Contemplation, Shore and Sweet Lemon...

I believe that 3 of these; Trismegistus (another take on Acqua di Parma), Shore and Sweet Lemon should be accessible to most noses. As far as the others go, none are foul; but maybe a little too sophisticated for a caveman like myself.

 

[RayClem]

My opinion of Declaration Grooming is that Scott is a better soapmaker than a perfumer. Thus, I do not particularly care for those scents that Scott developed on his own. However, the collaborations with Chatillon Lux seem to be better. Overall, however, I find a funky undertone in many of the scents, especially the Icarus soaps. Thus, I rate the performance of the DG soaps higher than the scents. Because my skin is sensitive to several scent ingredients, I do not like Scott's new policy of releasing only vague descriptions of the scents rather than detailed scent notes. Thus, I am reluctant to try the newer scents, in spite of the soap performance.

 

[tyoung]

I have a few soaps that I feel give me sub-par performance now, but I like the scent so I still use them. The funny part is, when I first bought these soaps (mainly Razorock) I was coming away from using Barbasol cans, and I though they were pretty amazing at the time. In the end, all of my soaps accomplish the same thing, but it is a special treat using something like Wholly Kaw or DG once in a while.

Also the hobbyist/collector part of me wants to try everything. Not because the next new thing might necessarily be the absolute best, but just because it is different or unique.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I have a few soaps that I feel give me sub-par performance now, but I like the scent so I still use them. The funny part is, when I first bought these soaps (mainly Razorock) I was coming away from using Barbasol cans, and I though they were pretty amazing at the time. In the end, all of my soaps accomplish the same thing, but it is a special treat using something like Wholly Kaw or DG once in a while.

Also the hobbyist/collector part of me wants to try everything. Not because the next new thing might necessarily be the absolute best, but just because it is different or unique.

Happy shaves,

Jim, Logic Professor @ BOSC University

 

[Bratwurst]

Declaration Grooming Tsm Fougere, was it just a one of special edition colaboration, or will it come back?

I have that with Tallow + Steel in the bad way, super nice lather and the soap base is fantastic. One of the best I've used. But the level of essential oils and the amount of it just kills any scent I've tried from them.
Like when you cooking a stew, and put all spices in there you can find you end up with a terrible taste.

 

[les24preludes]

Declaration Grooming Tsm Fougere, was it just a one of special edition colaboration, or will it come back?

I have that with Tallow + Steel in the bad way, super nice lather and the soap base is fantastic. One of the best I've used. But the level of essential oils and the amount of it just kills any scent I've tried from them.
Like when you cooking a stew, and put all spices in there you can find you end up with a terrible taste.

That's a very good description. I found exactly that with T&S - chaotic scents.

 

[pbrmhl]

The TSM Fougere scent was created by Chatillon Lux, not Declaration. CL provided the scent to DG for use in the soap.

I find the Chatillon Lux scents to be the best in the shaving industry. Obviously, your mileage varies...

 

[Bogeyman]

...I find the Chatillon Lux scents to be the best in the shaving industry. Obviously, your mileage varies...

And to my nose their scents are borderline repulsive.

 

[RayClem]

And to my nose their scents are borderline repulsive.

I have found with many scents that I do not like initially that allowing the soaps to air out for several days or even weeks allows some of the tops notes to evaporate leaving an improved scent. I found the scent of Tabac to be repulsive when first unwrapped, but after leaving it uncovered for a few weeks, I can use the soap with no issue. I find the DG scents to be somewhat "gamey" at first. Airing out the soaps definitely helps improve the scent. That also allows some of the dominant notes to tone down.