Does VDH make Col Conk soap under contract?

[Matt P]

Gentlemen,

I've wondered this for a while. The VDH deluxe is very similar in performance to Conks Bay Rum. They also are shaped the same and both come in that plastic clam shell thing. It doesn't really matter, I'm just curious.

 

[jkh]

I believe the fine people at Surrey produce both VDH and Col. Conk

 

[Deltaboy]

Well I am loving the VDH Deluxe that I am getting at Wal-mart so cheap!

 

[Bertilak]

I live in Liberty Hill, TX, the home of VDH. On day I checked in on their factory. I got there when nobody except two apparently low-level people were around -- two of them, one on a fork lift and I'm not sure what the other was doing but neither one looked like they wanted to be interrupted. The office was empty. I therefore wasn't able to ask any questions. No one objected to me wandering around, though.

I saw lots of VDH stuff but no Col. Conk.

What I did see the most of was several largish racks of generic-looking white boxes labeled "soap base". They had some equipment that looked like it was used for mixing in various scents and for packaging it.

My guess is that "soap base" is a pretty common item that is either much the same wherever you get it or maybe there aren't that many places to get it from. Maybe Col. Conk and VDH use the same, or nearly the same, soap base.

 

[Leche]

Well I am loving the VDH Deluxe that I am getting at Wal-mart so cheap!

I've always been meh about VDH deluxe but I used is for about a week straight and really appreciated this inexpensive soap. Quite boring scent wise but good performance. I think I have been too critical in the past.

 

[Bertilak]

I've always been under the impression that they came off the same line.

Their office had a bunch of samples -- I assume one of each of their products -- on a shelf. VDH but no Conk.

Here is Conk info (for some reason listed twice):
http://www.manta.com/company/mmdbgv7
http://www.manta.com/company/mm87jzt

Here is VDH info:
http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_fmxwkm

Doesn't seem to be any relationship.

There is/was a relationship between Surrey and Van Der Hagen:
http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2001/04/23/daily14.html
Note that Leander is a town directly adjacent to Liberty Hill.

Note also that VDH produces a shaving soap called Surrey:
http://drugsdepot.com/store.php/drugsdepot/store.php?seller=drugsdepot&pd=223250&disp=info#INFO

The best I can make out is that the Van der Hagen's (there are several of them) owned stock in a publicly-held Leander company called Surrey. The Van der Hagens were probably the founders of Surrey. Surrey sold itself to Jean Charles Inc. (In California). Surrey is/was a soap maker and may have produced shaving soap with the brand name Van Der Hagen (just guessing). My further guess is that the sale of the company left the Van der Hagens as owners of that particular brand which, as a much smaller company, they now produce in Liberty Hill -- not far from the original Surrey site in Leander.

 

[Koss]

I've heard that VDH is from texas, and Col. Conk is based in new mexico.

 

[dog]

I've always been meh about VDH deluxe but I used is for about a week straight and really appreciated this inexpensive soap. Quite boring scent wise but good performance. I think I have been too critical in the past.

It is boring scent-wise. With my VDH and with my Omega boar brushes it lathers really well and gives a nice cushion to shave with though. And being able to go down to the corner WalMart or drug store and get some for $1.50 is pretty much as convenient as it gets for shaving soap (around here anyway.)

 

[kingfisher]

Shaved with VDH Deluxe this morning. Great lather, great shave, great face feel after the shave. This is a vastly underappreciated product.

 

[DavidB]

A number of years ago, I asked VDH whether they made Conk soap, and they said they did, to Conk's specifications.

Dave

 

[Swampfox]

Their website is either down or being rebuilt, but a couple of weeks ago when I bought my first VDH puck, I found their company website. I remember reading that the Van der Hagen family had been in the US since the early 1900s and had been in the shaving soap business since before coming to this country.

 

[Bertilak]

A number of years ago, I asked VDH whether they made Conk soap, and they said they did, to Conk's specifications.

Dave

If that was before April 2001 it was when the company making VDH was Surrey with about 200 employees. They may have made VDH and Conk and maybe even others. In 2001 Surrey was sold off and the Van der Hagens went on to create the VDH company which currently employs less than a dozen (and possibly as few as 5) per the link in my previous post.

Their current factory (and there is only one according to that link) had lots of VDH stuff lying around when I visited but no Conk that I saw.

Perhaps they still do make Conk but for some reason I didn't see any empty packages, etc. on the factory floor or in the office. I suppose that is possible. Maybe they do things in batches and I happened to visit at a time when no Conk stuff was being made. As I said no one in charge was available to talk to at the time of my visit.

 

[Hanzo]

Wouldn't Conk just keep things quiet, not wanting the public to know. Conk puts out straights, they are rebranded Dovos, so its doubtful they produce their own soap and on and on with their products.On the old VDH site they said they made rebranded products for a number of companies but for obvious reasons did not name them.

Giovanni of Razor and Brush said how one Italian brush maker was making brushes for a number of British makers . I think he said he saw the brushes on the production line and it was explained to him exactly what brushes were being made for who.

As wet shavers we think our hobby products are unique and wonderful because we like them so. We want to imagine Simpson sitting in a rural village making our brush with our name on it. But its probably that many shaving products are just rebrands from a few sources ,nothing unique.

 

[Bertilak]

Wouldn't Conk just keep things quiet,...

Maybe, but I don't think they'd send a cleanup crew from New Mexico to Texas to remove all traces from the VDH location. Would they do this daily? weekly? monthly?

 

[Matt P]

Maybe, but I don't think they'd send a cleanup crew from New Mexico to Texas to remove all traces from the VDH location. Would they do this daily? weekly? monthly?

They just send in "The Wolf" and everything is like two little Fonzies.

I couldn't resist.

From all the discussion it sounds like they might make Conk but probably not.

 

[Bertilak]

They just send in "The Wolf" and everything is like two little Fonzies.

Now that explains everything!

 

[mike72]

Shaved with VDH Deluxe this morning. Great lather, great shave, great face feel after the shave. This is a vastly underappreciated product.

i agree

 

[M. McCord]

I've always been meh about VDH deluxe but I used is for about a week straight and really appreciated this inexpensive soap. Quite boring scent wise but good performance. I think I have been too critical in the past.

I put a few drops of Vi Jon OS into my lather this morning, a nice little change to the scent. Worked well.

 

[SavantStrike]

Milling VDH into a container and leaving the soap residue in the container at the end of the shave produces some fantastic results.

Adding a couple drops of glycerin and rubbing it around on the top of the milled soap before the first shave does even more . The result with my Rooney 3/1 pure today were impressive. The lather was almost the consistency of whipped butter...

 

[duotone]

Bought some around february when I was in Utah on holiday.

Its give a decent shave, very good value. Personally I dislike the scent though. In the Uk we can get Palmolive for slightly cheaper which to me smells miles better.