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Declaration Grooming?

Thanks for your explanation. I would like to try ethos but it seems to be only one single choice available (lime). Or is there a more extensive range available at some other website?

If you look at some other shaving forums you can find the soap makers contact info easily.

On offer now is Melange d’agrumes(Grapefruit) and Lavender. He might have Pineapple and unscented still around.
 
Well to be fair he isn't alone, some razor maker are like that too. I don't know if they get way to numerous emails, busy or lazy etc... Who knows? It's a bit of a gripe to me also, at times.

That’s why it might be a good idea for them to just take their email address off the site if their too busy to answer within a month, or get too many mails. It’s a bad look to blow off potential customers. Anyway I’m really looking forward to finally trying this brand.
 
That’s why it might be a good idea for them to just take their email address off the site if their too busy to answer within a month, or get too many mails. It’s a bad look to blow off potential customers. Anyway I’m really looking forward to finally trying this brand.
Yep got ya. Hope you like it. What scent are you getting?
 
I have my very first Declaration Grooming order on the way.

The guy who runs DG, should take his email address off his website because he blows off people who write to him to ask a question or two.

In what way did he blow you off? Do you mean he never replied to you?
 
That's my understanding!

Here is a paragraph from the link. Secrecy about ingredients shouldn't be taking lightly.

"First, be aware that it’s unlikely that FDA will grant your request. We’ve received only a handful of trade secret requests in the last 20 years and have granted such a request only once."

Thanks for that info. What about just stating "fragrance"? I notice that is a practice of many soaps. Is that in compliance with this law?
 
In what way did he blow you off? Do you mean he never replied to you?

They never replied. I wrote three different times. Basically blown off. That’s ok though. I know they must be too busy to deal with a prospective customer, so I didn’t let it bother me. I wound up finding the answer from another. Water under the bridge. I look forward to trying their soap.
 
They never replied. I wrote three different times. Basically blown off. That’s ok though. I know they must be too busy to deal with a prospective customer, so I didn’t let it bother me. I wound up finding the answer from another. Water under the bridge. I look forward to trying their soap.

Yeah there are plenty of soaps in the sink so to speak
 
DG is crazy fatty and protective. Not the slickest I’ve encountered but very good. I would agree it’s a notch above B&M due to the insane amount of cushion it has. The lather is practically goop it’s so dense and protective.

It sounds like your lather might benefit from the addition of a little more water. With most soaps, as you add water, the slickness improves, but the cushion decreases. Thus, if you are more than satisfied with the cushion, but not quite satisfied with the slickness, adding a little water a few drops at a time might get the lather to the perfect balance for you. Some folks like dense, protective cushiion. Some folks want super slick lathers and do not care so much about cushion. I want to achieve the perfect balance.
 
Milksteak is a great soap base and this is a really fun summer scent. I’ll go through this jar quickly.

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I have my very first Declaration Grooming order on the way.

The guy who runs DG, should take his email address off his website because he blows off people who write to him to ask a question or two.

That's not the first time I have read this sort of feedback, but not my experience at all. Scott has answered every email I have ever sent.
 
They never replied. I wrote three different times. Basically blown off. That’s ok though. I know they must be too busy to deal with a prospective customer, so I didn’t let it bother me. I wound up finding the answer from another. Water under the bridge. I look forward to trying their soap.

just want to verify... are you referring to Declaration Grooming or possibly Grooming Department? The names are somewhat similar and I’ve seen them confused before.
 
just want to verify... are you referring to Declaration Grooming or possibly Grooming Department? The names are somewhat similar and I’ve seen them confused before.

It’s Declaration Grooming, not Mohammad with Grooming Dept. I made three inquiries and got zero response. It turned out fine. I found the information I was looking for here and I received my first order so everything is good.

Before trying a new “small soap company”, I do a quick test and send a basic inquiry. 99% are really on top of things, but I found the 1% slacking was Declaration Grooming and Wholly Kaw.
 
It’s Declaration Grooming, not Mohammad with Grooming Dept. I made three inquiries and got zero response. It turned out fine. I found the information I was looking for here and I received my first order so everything is good.

Before trying a new “small soap company”, I do a quick test and send a basic inquiry. 99% are really on top of things, but I found the 1% slacking was Declaration Grooming and Wholly Kaw.


I do not think I have ever corresponded with Scott of DG, but I have communicated with Sri of WK. He wrote me back fairly quickly. Remember that many of the "small soap companies" are just a single individual. If they are sick, on vacation, traveling on buisness, have a personal situation to take care of, or even if they are in the middle of making a batch of soap, they may not have time to write back in a timely fashion. It is also possible that your email went into their spam folder depending upon their email service provider and the email address from which you are sending your inquiry. If you do not succeed at first, try again. I do not know the content of your "basic inquiry", but if you are not serious about purchasing their products, the artisan might sense that your inquiry is just a test of their response speed and fail to respond.

I did meet Scott and Sri face-to-face at the June 2019 Maggard meetup. Both seemed to be very interested in hearing what their potential customers has to say, as were the other artisans present.
 
Nice current tops! Yes you really need to try A&E, Lisa's Natural, CBL Soaps, & WK Bufala base! The DG Icarus was not as good of a lather as the DG bison base no matter how I tried to do it. But hopefully it will be good for you.
If you're not using one then I recommend heartily one of the newest generations of synthetic brushes. e.g., Cashmere, SynBad & Tuxedo. I get superb lather from both the original and the new Icarus base with the latter getting a nod as a slightly better overall performer. Call me biased, but the newest synthetics simply work better & faster in achieving max lather performance, at least for my handsome face.
I just tried the CBL shaving soaps and they are stellar.......Waygu beef formula and great scents.....the face feel is superb and the owner is a nice guy any moving ahead with a collaboration with ETHOS all in all a good shaving experience!

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk
 
I just tried the CBL shaving soaps and they are stellar.......Waygu beef formula and great scents.....the face feel is superb and the owner is a nice guy any moving ahead with a collaboration with ETHOS all in all a good shaving experience!

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

I have a couple of the Waygu beef formula soaps from CBL that I got a little over a year ago. He may have revised the formula since then. However, I was not particularly impressed with the soaps from a year ago. Ruds Shaves gave the CBL soaps a rating of 91, which is similar to Oleo Soapworks Canard, Stirling, Mystic Waters, and the Sudsy Soapery tallow. These are all very good soaps, but they do not come up to the standards of the best soaps released in the past year. If Chris has revised his formula in the past year, then my comments may no longer be valid.
 
I’m blown away by how some guys will post here as if they KNOW something (even say “I know ...”) without actually knowing anything about what they are posting. ...and others follow along like the other guy actually knows what he’s taking about. STOP a minute and think about what you’re doing. Your post lives on in perpetuity, well beyond the time you’ll spend trying to recall what you think you read or heard somewhere about this artisan or that one. Yet the damage your misinformation does to that person’s brand or business, a business they probably put more hours and money into than you’ve spent on this or any other forum, will be everlasting. Why? So you can look like you know something someone else didn’t ...but could easily go find out by searching this or another forum or emailing the artisans directly.

It is totally fair to make personal statements based on your own experiences or preferences, but to make statements of fact or imply through your statements that something one artisan is doing is superior To others (or what others are doing inferior, dangerous or wrong) without it being easily proven is just irresponsible.

NO, CBL doesn’t make the ETHOS soap, he only made the one lime scent. It says right on the CBLsoap website that soap was a one off collaboration, made with a modified CBL base and scent and ETHOS EOS Stuff.

“ETHOS is not made in someone’s home, it’s made using more sterile lab equipment?” REALLY? Sure Frank works in the skin/hair care industry and has access to his employers lab equipment...but is he making his soap there? Do you KNOW that or are you assuming? Do you know what equipment CBL, Stirling, Declaration Grooming, Grooming Department, A&E, Wholly Kaw, Chiselled Face, etc are using Does it even matter? Have you seen how Martin D Candre makes soap...using a kitchen aid type mixer?

Then you have the guy that implied HE has SEEN the mythical ETHOS lab and it’s “shady and illegal” before going on to attack the listing of ‘EOS COMPLEX’ without further delineating its ingredients as being illegal. Cue the links to the FDA labeling laws. *I don’t know what’s in that EOS stuff or what the rules are regarding ...or if there’s a lab and if there is, if it’s shady and illegal...but MAN, it sure seems y’all don’t like this Frank guy.

“Most artisans are using candle fragrances (and won’t tell you) ...or if you’re lucky, synthetic oils?” Do you have any idea how many fragrances are readily available for soap making, ones that are specifically tested and cleared by all the appropriate agencies to be used in soap? Why would a soap make use candle fragrance? That statement serves only one purpose and that is to poison minds against those using fragrance oils. I’ll go one further, it was implied the use of aroma Chemicals or EO’s to scent soap was superior to the use of synthetic fragrances ...but aroma chemicals ARE synthetic and quite often aroma chemicals and EO’s are more volatile and easily damaged by the heat involved in soap production or saponification that occurs during further curing. A soap maker may be using what they are using because it’s the right oil for the application. ....but wait, maybe you DO like Frank because HE uses the essential oils and aroma chemicals.

Seriously, it’s like a High School quad at lunch time around here the way you guys pile on different artisans and make stuff up. This is what these guys do for a living, They put the effort out so we can be petty and nit pick their products in exchange for $20 here and there.
 
.... Remember that many of the "small soap companies" are just a single individual. If they are sick, on vacation, traveling on buisness, have a personal situation to take care of, or even if they are in the middle of making a batch of soap, they may not have time to write back in a timely fashion. It is also possible that your email went into their spam folder depending upon their email service provider and the email address from which you are sending your inquiry. If you do not succeed at first, try again. I do not know the content of your "basic inquiry", but if you are not serious about purchasing their products, the artisan might sense that your inquiry is just a test of their response speed and fail to respond.

I have a business, and I’m essentially a one man show, and I sure wish customers were so understanding like the many super cool people from here are, that I am “just a single individual” or “may not have time to write back in a timely fashion” or understand maybe the message went to the “spam folder”.

I guess I have higher standards because I have to fight for customers and they can be brutal and they don’t like excuses and I quickly learned to value them because it’s my livelihood. This is why I use auto responders when I’m buried, and contact forms that an assistant can comb through and screen, and I also comb through the spam folder because when a potential customer reaches out to me, I make sure they know that I value them. Business 101 stuff. Excuses are a bad look.

Anyway, enough of that. Shaving soaps make the world better and shavers happy and that’s what I’ll focus on and leave it to other business owners how they choose to run their business.
 
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