Favorite Tallow-Based Soap - 2023

[Cale]

My all-time favorite is Mickey Lee Soapworks Souq, but no longer available.

2023 favorites:
Grooming Dept
Declaration Grooming
Mike's Natural
Siliski Soaps
Noble Otter
Pinnacle
B&M
Stirling

 

[Nargothrond]

My favorite tallow soaps are the Mystic Water soaps. The Leather is a dream when you get it to the right consistency. Barrister & Mann Omnibus is also great. Otherwise, Mitchell's has often been mentioned here, which always works.
However, there are plenty of tallow-free soaps that are great too. MdC, Haslinger, Klar Klassik are my favourites.

 

[Jayson74]

As of right now MWF and Razorock XXX.

This may change in May. Ordering a tub of Macduffs soap. Have read good things.

Be well
Jay

 

[steve638]

My newly discovered dream soap is B&M Waves. A/S is also phenomenal

Other great ones for me are Noble Otter Orbit and Firefighter or Stirling Deep Blue Sea

 

[AJMiami]

In production and widely available;
# 1 Mitchell’s Wool Fat
Then Cella and Arko

 

[CoreyWoodmancy]

I have come to appreciate the classics again being Cella , and MWF though I just picked up some Arko as well.

 

[AJMiami]

Stirling, MWF, and Arko are about it except for smaller artisan makers where supply is hit or miss. Stirling and MWF both have lanolin in them if that makes a difference.

My favorites are non-tallow, ABC hard soap, early and late versions and Pre de Provence (harder soaps), Santa Maria Novella (will become a croap pretty quickly), Martin de Candre, Acqua di Parma (cream). I’ve been reaching for one of these 95% of the time. The new Barba Sana by Furbo is a fantastic performer (Bullgoose) but I’m not crazy about the scents.

I don’t find that tallow really adds anything vs the non-tallow soaps mentioned above. In discontinued soaps, Valobra was an excellent tallow soap, but the non-tallow I Coloniali Mango Oil soap was as good and slicker with better post shave feel. It would seem to come down to the skill of the maker, not whether ti soap has tallow in it or not.

Coloniali Mango oil, a soap “or cream?”that was under the radar for a long time and is the best soap I own.
For me, better than all the tallow based I have used (mwf, tabac, irish moose, palmolive, arko, valobra, aoc sandalwood, p160, cella, and others).
For me it worked better than MdC
I just ordered SV, and hoping the performance is close or on par with Coloniali.
So sad that is now discontinued

 

[Joetomlin01]

It would have to be Stirling for me

 

[Feldgrun]

I have really been impressed with Stirling. Its performance far exceeds its price.

 

[thombrogan]

the new version is less creamy but slicker.

Thank you for this news of wondrousness.

My addled brain was stuck pondering the inconsequential “will it smell better or worse than the purses of righteously hawt babes?” and not the evermore pertinent “how slick is it?”

For the original questions, my favorite tallow shave soap is ARKO! and my overall favorite is Canada Shaving Soap because it’s almost as easy to use as ARKO! and works great.

 

[htownmmm]

1. Tabac (Original)
2. MWF
3. DR Harris Arlington
4. Speick stick
5. Stirling

marty

 

[GMM]

Just to beat an already dead horse.....
At some point you should try Mitchell's Wool Fat if only to understand why it is in so beloved and in many shavers dens. It is one of the "classic" shave soaps that has been around for over a century.
Lathering, shave and post shave performance is superb. Better than most, if not all, "modern" shave soaps. Cost for a puck is very reasonable.
Another "classic" I'd recommend is Tabac.

 

[GrizzlyCA]

I agree with all that is said on tallow vs vegan. That said:
Grooming Dept. This is my top tier
House of Mammoth
Murphy McNeil
Lisa’s Naturals

 

[Journeyman]

Tabac old tallow formula. It’s been my number one since the day I first tried it. Love the scent too. Hopefully I’ve hoarded enough to get me through the rest of my life.

 

[njpaddy]

Some of my soaps go back over 12 years. To be honest, I couldn't tell you which of my current favorite soaps have tallow, and which don't. I never considered tallow as the be-all/end-all. One of my all-time favorite discontinued soaps, SRD, was a melt & pour soap. Great scents & great performers. I still have some SRD Opus X left that I use sparingly.

 

[cryhavoc]

I have many tallow soaps but my #1 is still Mike's Natural Soaps.

 

[KW Driver]

I agree with this.
There are some great non-tallow soaps and there are some garbage tallow based ones.
If it's a good soap, it's a good soap and if it's garbage - it's garbage no matter what is in it.
Though my personal experience has been that a maker who had a great tallow soap and who later switched to a non-tallow version usually winds up with a sub-par soap. I give you Tabac as a prime example.
It's not that tallow was the deciding factor, it's that there are enough differences in the reformulation that the new version fails to live up to the performance of the old formulation.

Word to the wise to soap makers out there:
If you have a great tallow soap that you're going to reformulate to a non-tallow version, don't roll it out till it's as good as the one it's replacing.
If you have a terrible tallow soap that you're going to reformulate to a non-tallow version, go ahead, what have you got to lose?

Can’t disagree with this.

Hasslinger’s is the only tallow to veggie soap I can think of that I’ve tried that mirrors the other in quality and ease of use. It is indistinguishable to me.

My experience has been that good veggie soaps take a bit longer, or fine tuning the building of the lather to get to the same result as a comparable tallow. But I’ve still always preferred tallows beyond that.

I’m still working with my permanent rotation of tallows until I run out. I haven’t tried reformulations yet except the Hasslinger’s

Mike’s
Speick (14 sticks left, 200g in a container?)
MWF
Hasslinger’s Aloe Vera (3 pucks left)
I Coloniali until it’s gone (mine were/are tallow)

Sterling is phenomenal performance, but really strongly scented for me. Unscented mutton would be the only one I’d buy.

There are plenty of really good tallow artisan soaps, but scent profile/strength and/or price points limit my ability to offer more suggestions.

 

[Kurkahn]

I have several tallow based favourites but MWF the most. Areffa is a very close second together with Mike’s Natural Barbershop.

It might be my favourite soap overall but I think that spot currently goes to Proraso Green.

Guido

Well, not anymore!

 

[purecro]

Anything tallow because tallow is great. That is that plus the list dwindles. Areffa is one of my favorites in all seriousness.

 

[Capt. Pat]

I'd say that Tabac was my favorite tallow-based soap, though I don't pay much attention to the ingredients. I'm looking for something that develops a good lather easily, is sufficiently slick and the smell is not offensive -- Tabac was a winner in each of these. Soaps that require precise steps and muttered incantations to yield a passable shave are not my thing, regardless of the inclusion of tallow in the formulation.