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Experiences with Viking Soaps?

I just ordered couple of Viking soaps and have one of their custom brush handles on the way! Excited to try them out and will leave my feedback on the products.
 
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The Soaps are in! I got a Citron and Iceland. I took a look at the ingredients and boy, do they looks appealing. They look like natural products mixed in with essential oils. I think it'll be good for the skin and perform well.

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My first impression of these soaps is positive. Good presentation, good amount, and smells nice. Citron has a tallow scent mixed with Citrus and menthol. Iceland has a minty kick with menthol and Vicks scent. They are both around 4/10 for scent strength which I enjoy. Anything more than a 5 is leaning towards no for me. I'll be posting more feedbacks after the shave during the weekend.

Also, if you didn't see, I got a beautiful custom handle from Viking S&C. I'll post more about that in the brush sections. :)
 
Wow. First time using Viking Soaps Citron and I loved it! Slick and creamy lather that gave for a great shave. One of the fattiest soaps I've ever used. Great residual slickness and protected the skin nicely. The video serves as an evidence to these points.


I definitely will be trying them out more as I loved my first time with it. So far, it's been really enjoyable.
 
I tried Viking in the latest soap pass around and really liked it. It was one of my favorites. The scents are all very tasteful and not overpowering at all. The performance is top notch. The lather definitely has its own character—it’s light and fluffy with an incredible sheen and slickness. I purchased a puck of Ragnar and the matching aftershave based on my experience. The prices are also quite reasonable.
 
I tried Viking in the latest soap pass around and really liked it. It was one of my favorites. The scents are all very tasteful and not overpowering at all. The performance is top notch. The lather definitely has its own character—it’s light and fluffy with an incredible sheen and slickness. I purchased a puck of Ragnar and the matching aftershave based on my experience. The prices are also quite reasonable.
Yup. It's definitely a good soap. Although I felt that it was relatively dense, similar to Stirling soaps. The Citron soap has a bit of tallow scent but it comes out refreshing with the citrus notes. It can be my daily soap if i had to choose one.
 
Yeah when I think “light & fluffy” lather, I think first of the top shelf pure stearic acid vegan soaps like Caties Bubbles or Gunslinger. Those two in particular you can build as big and cartoonishly thick of a lather as your heart desires, but tweaking the water level only has limited effects in terms of changing the lather characteristics in use.

With Viking I find I can go for that same type of piled high fluffy lather, or I can dial it down thinner with a sheen and it seems to gain some slickness with the trade off being it breaks down a bit faster on your face. I also find it changes lathering character significantly with different brushes, but I only have a few brushes to test it with. The old broken in small badger bulb works MUCH better than the huge semogue boar.

It’s for sure a top shelf soap with premium ingredients for cheap, so I think I’ll always have a tub around.
 
Yeah when I think “light & fluffy” lather, I think first of the top shelf pure stearic acid vegan soaps like Caties Bubbles or Gunslinger. Those two in particular you can build as big and cartoonishly thick of a lather as your heart desires, but tweaking the water level only has limited effects in terms of changing the lather characteristics in use.

With Viking I find I can go for that same type of piled high fluffy lather, or I can dial it down thinner with a sheen and it seems to gain some slickness with the trade off being it breaks down a bit faster on your face. I also find it changes lathering character significantly with different brushes, but I only have a few brushes to test it with. The old broken in small badger bulb works MUCH better than the huge semogue boar.

It’s for sure a top shelf soap with premium ingredients for cheap, so I think I’ll always have a tub around.
Exactly. Catie's Bubbles is lighter lather for me. Although I'm sure you can make Viking Soaps light if you add ridiculous amount of water. I usually do 2-3 drips of water added onto the brush and it makes a voluminous and thick lather that I love. As for the brush, I've had good times with badgers/synthetics but have not tried with boars.
 
It doesn't get the "traction" it deserves for sure as many today are literally obsessed with a handful of soaps that they believe supplant any need for post shave balms/moisturizers. It's gotten ridiculous IMHO. Regardless, there is something different about Viking in that it is obviously made with top shelf ingredients and meticulous construction. The scents, while certainly not "tsunamilike", are nonetheless very tasteful in a bespoke sense. It's a definite "sleeper' alongside Sudsy Soapery and Lisa's Herbal Creations.
 
It doesn't get the "traction" it deserves for sure as many today are literally obsessed with a handful of soaps that they believe supplant any need for post shave balms/moisturizers. It's gotten ridiculous IMHO. Regardless, there is something different about Viking in that it is obviously made with top shelf ingredients and meticulous construction. The scents, while certainly not "tsunamilike", are nonetheless very tasteful in a bespoke sense. It's a definite "sleeper' alongside Sudsy Soapery and Lisa's Herbal Creations.
Yeah. I wasn't blown away by the scent but it's nice and calm for me. But the performance was top notch and it's hard to go wrong with it, especially for the value. I'm definitely keeping at least one Viking soap on me at all times.
 
It doesn't get the "traction" it deserves for sure as many today are literally obsessed with a handful of soaps that they believe supplant any need for post shave balms/moisturizers. It's gotten ridiculous IMHO. Regardless, there is something different about Viking in that it is obviously made with top shelf ingredients and meticulous construction. The scents, while certainly not "tsunamilike", are nonetheless very tasteful in a bespoke sense. It's a definite "sleeper' alongside Sudsy Soapery and Lisa's Herbal Creations.

Actually I’m solidly in with the grooming department groupies on this one. I believe that The right soap base as prescribed by mad scientist Mo could cure melanoma in the beard area. There exists a world beyond post shave, that the anointed call the post-post shave and there are very few soaps that can take you there. It’s definitely one of those situations where different beards and skins want different things, but my face wants GD and the signals are very clear.

I’m definitely not stock piling any soaps though, and the availability issues are just crazy. I’m never gonna log onto Facebook to try and put the next mid-day soap drop on my work calendar so I can skip some meeting and order the latest scent within the first 10 minutes... So Viking is my #2 soap and so far nothing is seriously threatening it’s position, including many of the darling soaps of this forum. I can’t find any reason for it not having a fan base.
 
Actually I’m solidly in with the grooming department groupies on this one. I believe that The right soap base as prescribed by mad scientist Mo could cure melanoma in the beard area. There exists a world beyond post shave, that the anointed call the post-post shave and there are very few soaps that can take you there. It’s definitely one of those situations where different beards and skins want different things, but my face wants GD and the signals are very clear...


You know, the owner/maker is a software guy and not a dermatologist, right?

That said, slathering on various butters & oils is not "skincare". If you really want to help your face then try some facial acid cleansers, e.g., gycolic, mandelic, salicylic, lactic, etc. I can assure you that the results will be light years ahead of any shaving soap. Trust real science on this one. ;)
 
Actually I’m solidly in with the grooming department groupies on this one. I believe that The right soap base as prescribed by mad scientist Mo could cure melanoma in the beard area. There exists a world beyond post shave, that the anointed call the post-post shave and there are very few soaps that can take you there. It’s definitely one of those situations where different beards and skins want different things, but my face wants GD and the signals are very clear.

I’m definitely not stock piling any soaps though, and the availability issues are just crazy. I’m never gonna log onto Facebook to try and put the next mid-day soap drop on my work calendar so I can skip some meeting and order the latest scent within the first 10 minutes... So Viking is my #2 soap and so far nothing is seriously threatening it’s position, including many of the darling soaps of this forum. I can’t find any reason for it not having a fan base.
I haven't tried GD but heard a lot of good reviews on the soap. That said, I'm already obsessed with Stirling and their performance so I'm hesitant to venture out. But Viking soaps is high up there for me as well. I'd say it's within top 5.

Having tried Proraso soaps right after Viking soaps, I had some regrets.. I miss the creamy lather.
 
You know, the owner/maker is a software guy and not a dermatologist, right?

That said, slathering on various butters & oils is not "skincare". If you really want to help your face then try some facial acid cleansers, e.g., gycolic, mandelic, salicylic, lactic, etc. I can assure you that the results will be light years ahead of any shaving soap. Trust real science on this one. ;)

Mo knows his soap. It’s not pH balanced, but I’m a man of science and I don’t question the results I see in use.

I’m not even actually that impressed with his soaps during the shave, they’re about dead average in lather texture and protective feel using my water. The post post shave is pure magic even beyond many post shave balms IME, and that’s what it’s all about for that product line.
 
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