I know there have been a few threads on this, which I have read. But if I can, I would like to get more info. For starters, I use a straight razor and I have only recently learned to whip up a decent lather in a scuttle with a hot reservoir. I used A&E Kaizen and the shave was fantastic! I now understand the benefits of a good lather. Looking online, I have found some soaps in the $80 to $100 range. I don't mind spending that much. I have also read here that some get fantastic results with a $20 (or less) soap. So I would like to know which expensive soaps some members buy and why they pay that much. Any advice will be appreciated.
Expensive soaps?
- Thread starter Eastcoast30
- Start date
I think the most I paid for soap was $20 for Tabula Rasa. And I might have paid a little more for vintage Old Spice in its original soap mug.
I can't image a $100 soap providing four times the results and benefits of these...or for that matter, even a 10 dollar soap.
I can't image a $100 soap providing four times the results and benefits of these...or for that matter, even a 10 dollar soap.
I have wayyyyy too many soaps as it is but would never ever pay that kind of money for a soap. I don’t care how long it lasts. I think the most I paid was the retail price of Castle Forbes ... $38 or Saponifico Varesino, forgot the price. I’d probably by both again too. IMHO $14 to $25 soaps work just fine for me. $80 to $100 no way.
I might splash out on an EDT or straight razor but not that high priced soap, but that’s just me.
I might splash out on an EDT or straight razor but not that high priced soap, but that’s just me.
I bought some Martin de Candre and SV. The main reason for MDC is the scent. The performance is great but not 10 times better than some good 15$ soaps. But I'm curious to see how many shaves I will do with a 200g jar because after 15 shaves it looks like new. I first tried a sample that a member put in a soap lot I bought and with the 25g sample I've done over 40 shaves so the cost per shave seems to be good and the cost might get better than some 40 shaves croaps.
Anyways I would be happy to shave exclusively with the various MDC scents I've got for the rest of my life. I ordered them directly from the Factory in France and it cost me less than buying them here. ( Im in Canada )
Anyways I would be happy to shave exclusively with the various MDC scents I've got for the rest of my life. I ordered them directly from the Factory in France and it cost me less than buying them here. ( Im in Canada )
In my purchase history, soap can be divided into two types :
Category 1 :
Expensive and medium lasting : $18 to $22
(This is the most I've paid for a single soap)
B&M : They are amazing soap, performance and post shave feel is phenomenal (atleast for me) and it's scent is complex and one of my favourite.
Category 2 :
Medium Expensive and long lasting :
(This is for my purchase history, people who have used $30 and above soaps can consider as entry level expensive soap)
Tabac/ Mitchell's : Performance, Scent, Slickness and post shave feel are great, added bonus - it'll last a long time, so if you have a habit of overloading the brush, no worries here, just add more water.
Why I pay for the 1st category :
To experience the blissful combination of scents and performance, making my shaving experience special.
Why I pay for 2nd category :
These soaps are great example of fuss free, all weather consistent performance soap without compromise on slickness and post shave feel.
Only thing lacking in these soaps is the Zing, the Panache if get the idea.
So, basically, soaps from both category are capable enough to satisfy the need of good to great lather, what you will add to your Den depends on what you desire.
If it's singular scents along with performance and VFM factor, Stirling, Tabac and Mitchell's can be great (almost risk free) choices.
If it's the Zing, performance and great post shave feel that you are looking for, then B&M, DG and SV will be good.
Some gentlemen here can easily afford to have every version of MDC or SV on rotation (for example) and still love to use Tabac or Mitchell's happily.
At the end of the day, you will experience some soaps and decide what you'll like to use, regardless of the price tag.
Category 1 :
Expensive and medium lasting : $18 to $22
(This is the most I've paid for a single soap)
B&M : They are amazing soap, performance and post shave feel is phenomenal (atleast for me) and it's scent is complex and one of my favourite.
Category 2 :
Medium Expensive and long lasting :
(This is for my purchase history, people who have used $30 and above soaps can consider as entry level expensive soap)
Tabac/ Mitchell's : Performance, Scent, Slickness and post shave feel are great, added bonus - it'll last a long time, so if you have a habit of overloading the brush, no worries here, just add more water.
Why I pay for the 1st category :
To experience the blissful combination of scents and performance, making my shaving experience special.
Why I pay for 2nd category :
These soaps are great example of fuss free, all weather consistent performance soap without compromise on slickness and post shave feel.
Only thing lacking in these soaps is the Zing, the Panache if get the idea.
So, basically, soaps from both category are capable enough to satisfy the need of good to great lather, what you will add to your Den depends on what you desire.
If it's singular scents along with performance and VFM factor, Stirling, Tabac and Mitchell's can be great (almost risk free) choices.
If it's the Zing, performance and great post shave feel that you are looking for, then B&M, DG and SV will be good.
Some gentlemen here can easily afford to have every version of MDC or SV on rotation (for example) and still love to use Tabac or Mitchell's happily.
At the end of the day, you will experience some soaps and decide what you'll like to use, regardless of the price tag.
It's all preference. Most of the people who spring for the expensive stuff (Martin de Candre, Saponificio Veresino, Creed, etc.) do so more for the unique scents. None of those perform significantly better than most of your $3-$5 per oz. soaps. They 'may' tend to last a bit longer because most of them are triple-milled, meaning they're harder soaps.
I bought MdC and SV because both had a great reputation for performance and scent and I was curious to try them out. It helps that they are harder soaps and will last longer than less firm soaps.
I also bought Castle Forbes lime just for the scent but the performance is good too.
I also bought Castle Forbes lime just for the scent but the performance is good too.
jackgoldman123
Boring and predictable
imho best value for the price (in no particular order):
CRSW Oliva
CRSW Select
CRSW Glide
Wholly Kaw (donkey milk)
Zingari
Barrister & Mann
CRSW Oliva
CRSW Select
CRSW Glide
Wholly Kaw (donkey milk)
Zingari
Barrister & Mann
I did a usage test with mdc. And it is actually a pretty economical soap, even if you have to pay $60 or $70 to get a tub of it to come across the pond to the United states.
I use a bowl and so I don't waste a lot of soap. I often use and need less soap than most face latherers out there because I don't have concentrate being flushed down the drain after the first pass. With Stirling and chiseled face I found that I used about half a gram per shave and that would deliver me four or more passes of very nice slick lather.
I say that to tell you that my usage may not be the same as yours, it just depends on how you lather up.
But for me my calculations indicated that I would use up the whole tub in 25 months.! And that is about four passes of nice lather every day during that period.
and that actually made it a very economical soap to use when you do the math. It just cost a lot up front.
What I also discovered was that MDC was not all that special in the performance department. There are many soaps that I like the lather of much better than MDC.. and some of them cost $12.
Now maybe if you load heavy and like a dry lather then this one might feel better than some of the others in a similar state, but that's not how I like my lathers at all. I like them hydrated really well until they're just about to lose their creaminess. And to me MDC falls very short.
Castle Forbes was also a huge disappointment. It gets the job done, but with all the hype that I was reading it just flopped for me. I got a couple of samples of that and it is a cream of course, and maybe it's good for a cream... but like mdc, it just doesn't compare to any of the good croaps out there , much less the hard pucks.
Xpec is another high-end one that I got a sample of, but pretty much feel the same about it as Castle forbes.
Not all croaps are great. Gentleman's Nod is a fairly recent addition to that market, and while I did like the scent of the samples I received, the performance was more like a $10 soap instead of I think maybe 27 was the approximate price of that one. It was getting a lot of kudos from some different YouTubers out there but I just didn't see why. Again, my issues with it may be because I really like a lot of water pushed into my lather and don't overload the brush like many face latherers do.
As always, just my two cents, here.
(Sent from mobile)
I use a bowl and so I don't waste a lot of soap. I often use and need less soap than most face latherers out there because I don't have concentrate being flushed down the drain after the first pass. With Stirling and chiseled face I found that I used about half a gram per shave and that would deliver me four or more passes of very nice slick lather.
I say that to tell you that my usage may not be the same as yours, it just depends on how you lather up.
But for me my calculations indicated that I would use up the whole tub in 25 months.! And that is about four passes of nice lather every day during that period.
and that actually made it a very economical soap to use when you do the math. It just cost a lot up front.
What I also discovered was that MDC was not all that special in the performance department. There are many soaps that I like the lather of much better than MDC.. and some of them cost $12.
Now maybe if you load heavy and like a dry lather then this one might feel better than some of the others in a similar state, but that's not how I like my lathers at all. I like them hydrated really well until they're just about to lose their creaminess. And to me MDC falls very short.
Castle Forbes was also a huge disappointment. It gets the job done, but with all the hype that I was reading it just flopped for me. I got a couple of samples of that and it is a cream of course, and maybe it's good for a cream... but like mdc, it just doesn't compare to any of the good croaps out there , much less the hard pucks.
Xpec is another high-end one that I got a sample of, but pretty much feel the same about it as Castle forbes.
Not all croaps are great. Gentleman's Nod is a fairly recent addition to that market, and while I did like the scent of the samples I received, the performance was more like a $10 soap instead of I think maybe 27 was the approximate price of that one. It was getting a lot of kudos from some different YouTubers out there but I just didn't see why. Again, my issues with it may be because I really like a lot of water pushed into my lather and don't overload the brush like many face latherers do.
As always, just my two cents, here.
(Sent from mobile)
Wholly Kaw is another soap maker that I don't consider as good of a value. They cost a lot and I often have to use twice as much product to get the same amount of lather, so that almost makes them cost 3x as much as Stirling or declaration grooming or barrister and man or noble otter or summer break or southern witchcrafts or zingari man, etc.
But, the performance is still really good and they do have a few fragrances that I really do enjoy, so since I can get so many uses out of a tub, generally speaking, I have a few of those sitting around anyway.
(Sent from mobile)
But, the performance is still really good and they do have a few fragrances that I really do enjoy, so since I can get so many uses out of a tub, generally speaking, I have a few of those sitting around anyway.
(Sent from mobile)
That's the eternal question, @Eastcoast30, isn't it? Is this soap worth the cost of admission?
For me, performance is paramount, with scent being a close second. There are 4 critical factors in soap performance: #1 - your water quality (hard, soft, etc), #2 - your equipment (brush, etc), #3 - your skill at lathering, and #4 - the soap itself (cause sometimes you get a bum batch of soap, or the soap is too old and just won't).
I've been able to get very good performance from Williams (can be had for 97 cents a puck, but scent is so-so) and excellent performance from PdP 63 ($10 with a great scent profile). I've tried Pannacrema Nuavia (PCN) that has both great performance and great scent profile (but costs around $42). And I'm currently using MEM Olive shaving cream that performs better than any of these but the scent is 1970's.
That all said; the answer is an ambiguous yes-and-no, sometimes the expensive soaps are worth it, just to try the King's soap, while other times it's awesome to find an everyman priced soap that outperforms the expensive offerings.
For me, performance is paramount, with scent being a close second. There are 4 critical factors in soap performance: #1 - your water quality (hard, soft, etc), #2 - your equipment (brush, etc), #3 - your skill at lathering, and #4 - the soap itself (cause sometimes you get a bum batch of soap, or the soap is too old and just won't).
I've been able to get very good performance from Williams (can be had for 97 cents a puck, but scent is so-so) and excellent performance from PdP 63 ($10 with a great scent profile). I've tried Pannacrema Nuavia (PCN) that has both great performance and great scent profile (but costs around $42). And I'm currently using MEM Olive shaving cream that performs better than any of these but the scent is 1970's.
That all said; the answer is an ambiguous yes-and-no, sometimes the expensive soaps are worth it, just to try the King's soap, while other times it's awesome to find an everyman priced soap that outperforms the expensive offerings.
A good soap can really make a shave. Particularly the post shave that lasts well into the day. Almost anything will get the job done but some will do it better than others.
I’ve tried lots of soaps and settled in a small selection that works the best for me. Cost has nothing to do with my selection. Some are cheap, some are expensive but the cost per use is low enough that I don’t worry about it. Scent is subjective but I do like a nice scent to wake up the senses in the morning.
I’ve recently moved more to creams for the convenience and reduced prep time. I do still like a hard puck on the weekend though.
I like to stick with things that I can get locally where I can. International shippping is killer.
My picks are
1. Acqua di Parma
2. Baume
3. Castle Forbes 1445
4. Santa Maria Novella
5. Saponificio Varesino Cubebe 4.3
6. Speick Original Cream
7. Tabac
If you are looking for slickness with your straights, SMN is the slickest soap I’ve ever tried by a large margin. AdP is probably my current favorite for ease of loading, performance, scent and post shave. It’s just a great way to start the day. With Tabac available so cheaply there’s no reason that anyone should go without a great soap.
I’ve tried lots of soaps and settled in a small selection that works the best for me. Cost has nothing to do with my selection. Some are cheap, some are expensive but the cost per use is low enough that I don’t worry about it. Scent is subjective but I do like a nice scent to wake up the senses in the morning.
I’ve recently moved more to creams for the convenience and reduced prep time. I do still like a hard puck on the weekend though.
I like to stick with things that I can get locally where I can. International shippping is killer.
My picks are
1. Acqua di Parma
2. Baume
3. Castle Forbes 1445
4. Santa Maria Novella
5. Saponificio Varesino Cubebe 4.3
6. Speick Original Cream
7. Tabac
If you are looking for slickness with your straights, SMN is the slickest soap I’ve ever tried by a large margin. AdP is probably my current favorite for ease of loading, performance, scent and post shave. It’s just a great way to start the day. With Tabac available so cheaply there’s no reason that anyone should go without a great soap.
I realized that most soaps I tried delivered a good to very good lather even those at 5$. So the main difference is the scent. I fell in love with some expansive soaps scents but you might find your favorite scent in a 5$ tub. To me a great scent upgrades my experience. SV got very nice complexe scents while MDC got fantastic natural scents. ( The true essential oils raise the price tag )
Cost is a big factor in my selection. So many work so well for so little. Always happy to find a top performer that offers good value, they’re out there. I’ve splurged on the big names out of curiosity........meh. I’m on the hunt for budget friendly consistent performers, which allows for variety on my limited budget.
What are the soaps you are seeing in the €80-100 range? Are they just soaps, soaps in standard plastic tubs or soaps in fancy ceramic or wooden bowls? How they are packaged can make a big difference in price! (especially with some European soaps)
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
There are some sub $5 soaps that give fantastic results as far as a shave is concerned. Williams, while finicky to lather is a very nice soap for a straight due to its excellent slickness.
Pricier soaps I like
Boellis Panama 1924
MdC
MWF
Ziegenbart
Baum.be (cream, not soap)
I'm not a fan of the many of the superfatted, axe like scent, artisan soaps in abundance today. They are only better than a normal soap if you have dry skin. If you have oily skin, they aren't as good as a normal soap.
Going forward, I will probably always have some Boellis and MdC on hand, but will probably buy a 2kg block of Vitos and simplify. Find something that works and then quit looking.
NO ONE TALKS TRASH ABOUT WHOLLY KAW
Lol kidding...but I've actually found their soaps to spring into gobs of ultra slick, ultra protective lather very quickly with very little product. I got about ten shaves from a sample with stupid amounts of lather each time, more than enough for two passes head, face and neck. And per Oz (and general usage as it's not a milled soap), it's probably one of the most expensive soaps I've bought, but I don't see it as a bad value at all. In fact, I just bit the bullet on KOO soap, as and edt because it's too good not to have. Especially when it seems to edge out everything else. I'm a frugal guy, but I'll buy WK again and again
Water issues?
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
MdC nails scents. Spot on and not over done. I like rose scent, but I've never tried a rose scented shave soap. I'll try a sample of MdC sometime and I bet I like it. It doesn't have to be 10 times better than a $15 soap. It only costs about 4 to 5 times as much as a $15 soap and it will outlast many many other soaps.
I bought rose recently because after doing a thread poll on Mdc scents, it came up very high. I don't regret it, I could even say Im addicted. It's my soap choice for fixed four for March. Before I had tried a sample of Tobs rose and liked it but the scent is different, Mdc is like true rose.
Martin de Candre and Saponifico Varesino are next on my list.
