- Thread starter
- #21
Two new ones:
Arganbio Savon Noir de Rasage
Les Simples Savon Surgras de Rasage a l'Huile de Carotte (artisanal)
Arganbio Savon Noir de Rasage
Les Simples Savon Surgras de Rasage a l'Huile de Carotte (artisanal)
French Shaving Soap Compendium.
- Thread starter AJS
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #22
Another new one Le Savon du Barbier by Le Comptoir du Pharmacien.
I won't rest until I have tried every French shaving soap there is.
EDIT.
Another new French artisanal soap at Melisane.fr offering Savon du Barbier Vetyver.
I won't rest until I have tried every French shaving soap there is.
EDIT.
Another new French artisanal soap at Melisane.fr offering Savon du Barbier Vetyver.
Nice list. I already have tried about a dozen of them and french soaps now ranks among my favorite. Any thoughts about the soap made by l'Olivier? Worth the trouble of getting it?
Thanks,
Noc.
Thanks,
Noc.
- Thread starter
- #26
Nocturne, I quite like the Olivier Shaving Soap myself. Although Olive Oil is at the top of the ingredients list it doesn't have the same there one-second, gone the next lather that seems to typify artisanal Olive Oil soaps. I also find Centifolia and Tade to be excellent Shaving Soaps despite their Olive Oil content. Maybe those of French ancestry know something about Olive Oil soaps, that the vast majority of the rest of us don't, I can't think of any other way to explain it.
It's a very soft soap that loads a brush very quickly, and whilst the lather is neither as thick nor as stable as many other French Shaving Soaps, it is perfectly servicable in it's own right.
It used to come in a nice Terracota pot, that was much more attractive than the one they use now, so I'd just get the refill. That being said, I am a little reluctant to give any endorsement to Olive Oil soaps, because while I love the Tade Shaving Soap, many have contacted me to say that it was just as bad as the majority of other Olive Oil Shaving Soaps that they had tried. I can't account for this discrepancy, because usually, I hate Olive Oil soaps as much as the next man.
TstebinsB, whilst the initial cost may be more, you do get a full 170g of soap when you buy Martin de Candre, and based on the performance alone I would say that it is definitely worth it, IMO at least.
It's a very soft soap that loads a brush very quickly, and whilst the lather is neither as thick nor as stable as many other French Shaving Soaps, it is perfectly servicable in it's own right.
It used to come in a nice Terracota pot, that was much more attractive than the one they use now, so I'd just get the refill. That being said, I am a little reluctant to give any endorsement to Olive Oil soaps, because while I love the Tade Shaving Soap, many have contacted me to say that it was just as bad as the majority of other Olive Oil Shaving Soaps that they had tried. I can't account for this discrepancy, because usually, I hate Olive Oil soaps as much as the next man.
TstebinsB, whilst the initial cost may be more, you do get a full 170g of soap when you buy Martin de Candre, and based on the performance alone I would say that it is definitely worth it, IMO at least.
Thank you very much Alex for your honest and extensive explainations. I'll keep an eye on your thread as - like I said before - I really enjoy french soaps.
Regards,
Noc.
Regards,
Noc.
W/r/t the Tadé, any advice for those of us who have had the usual problems getting olive oil soaps to lather?
I tried using just a little water and scrubbing and scrubbing my brush over the puck to gather a lot of soap on and in the bristles - and then lathering with this almost raw soap stuff rather than soap-and-water lather. It felt promising at first, almost thickish and cushiony - but then faded to patchy, transparent foam before I could really get shaving.
Love everything else about the soap though...
And love the Joris and Martin de Candre - even though I had to pay more for shipping and customs for the latter than for the soap itself.
- Thread starter
- #30
I'm afraid I'm as puzzzled as the rest of you when it comes to just how different my experience with the Tade Shaving Soap is to almost everyone else.
Some observations I've made regarding the differences between my Tade soap and what is available elsewhere: Firstly, my Tade soap is a golden brown colour, not the green colour that is seen on the websites carrying the soap, in fact on the German forum Nassrasur it is most commonly referred to as Syrian Green Soap. Secondly, my Tade soap smells like Olive Oil plain and simple, on Nassrasur it is described as having a minty scent, although, seeing as the soap is advertised as having no added fragrance, I'm not certain it should have any scent. Thirdly, my soap had an expiry date of April 2008 eventhough I bought it around the end of October/ start of November 08. Maybe the soap had dried out some and this is what helped with the lather.
As to how I use the soap, when I first used it and realised how much water the lather absorbed I started soaking the soap, this was a mistake. I've found that it works best with one tsp. of hot water on top of the soap and give it time to soak in. I then shake all of the water out of my brush and start working the soap until it won't move easily on top of the soap. At this point the brush should be completely gummed up with the lather, I then add 1tsp. of water and face lather. I keep adding water 1tsp. at a time until the lather starts to thin out and then just keep working the brush on my face. The lather increases dramatically with the addition of water, and I would say it is as thick and cushioning as any cream I've tried. Also, as I've said many times before, the hard water in my area means that the lather tends to dry out between passes and the addition of more water simply washes out what's left in the brush. Tade, and more recently Xpec Shaving Soap, are the only soaps that actually carry on working when more water is added before subsequent passes, in fact the lather from the Tade improves more each pass.
Like I said, I really can't explain the discrepancies, Tade is the polar opposite of every other Olive Oil soap I've tried. It loses none of the slickness or skincare qualities of other Olive soaps, but for me at least, the lather is protective, rich and above all, stable.
Of course, this leaves me with the troubling realisation that once this particular puck runs out, I might not be able to replace it.
- Thread starter
- #31
Another artisanal French soap, this time containing Donkey's milk, can be found here http://www.vegetari-anes.com/produits.html
Greetings to all as this is my first post on this forum after having read it for a short while. After reading this thread I actually bought a MdCandre and the Tadé soap. I love the MDC one, it has the potential to be a real classic. I can also get a much better foam with the Tadé as with other natural soaps I have used including Olivia´s including the WM. I also like the hamman touch of it!
I would be intersted in reading your impressions on the various "artisanal" and natural soaps as I am French (living in Germany) and thus able to source the soaps without having to pay astronomic postage costs. I am looking at soaps without harmful chemicals incl. conservatives, most colorants, etc..
JJ
I would be intersted in reading your impressions on the various "artisanal" and natural soaps as I am French (living in Germany) and thus able to source the soaps without having to pay astronomic postage costs. I am looking at soaps without harmful chemicals incl. conservatives, most colorants, etc..
JJ
- Thread starter
- #33
Centifolia, La Cigale and La Grange aux Herbes would seem to fit your requirements as they don't contain any parabens, petrochemical byproducts, preservatives or SLS.
I have both Centifolia and La grange aux Herbes, but so far have only used the Centifolia. Personally, I like it. It as an Olive Oil soap, but Olive Oil is pretty far down the ingredients list, and it doesn't seem to have a detrimental impact on the shave. It lathers quickly and provides a nice, slick lather. For the price, 4-6 EUR, there isn't anything that's significantly better.
As far as the other two are concerned they've both been reviewed on the French forum Coupe Chou Club; the La Grange aux Herbes was well regarded, but La Cigale wasn't quite so well received, although it sounded perfectly functional.
If you're living in Germany you may also be interested in the soaps from Calani.net, I'm still waiting to place my order, but they seem to be very highly regarded on the German language boards. Some seem to use synthetic fragrances, but there is an unscented one too.
Seeing as you are French yourself, you wouldn't happen to know of an Internet supplier for La Cigale would you? I can't find an official website for the company, and although certain stores carry some of their soaps, no has the Savon Barbe.
I wonder if this is at the root of it all. My Tade soap is dark green. Perhaps this denotes the use of more and/or different olive oil. I think I also need to moisten the soap with far less water the next time I use it. But you're right; disappearing lather or no, the stuff sure is slick.
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- #35
I really do hope that there are different versions of the soap floating around, as I would hate it if I couldn't replace the one I've got. The only information given regarding quantities of ingredients on mine though is the 16% Laurel content, what's yours?
interesting findings! mine is also very green ...definately not brown, and my lather, while extremely slick, does not hold a stable lather.
Thank you AJS for the reply: I do read the French and German Forum you mention but failed to find anything about la Grange aux Herbes. Calani is an option too. I´ll send you a private mail concerning la Cigale.
As for the Tade, as far as I can recognize it is really hand made in Syria, which is probably prone to produce some difference between the individual soaps you will get. I also guess the difference between green and brown is proportional to the length of time to soap was left to dry. A greener soap is a younger soap ( I am not quite aure but I saw pictures of the production with a soap with a brown shell and a green heart as an exanple of a soap that still needed some drying). I shaved with mine this morning and observed that it is much easier to get a more stable lather on pass 2 and 3 than for the first one for some reason. It has the character of a natural soap but I find it much easier to lather than Olivia´s or one from Pere Pelletier than I bought last summer in Brittany.
Cheers,
JJ
As for the Tade, as far as I can recognize it is really hand made in Syria, which is probably prone to produce some difference between the individual soaps you will get. I also guess the difference between green and brown is proportional to the length of time to soap was left to dry. A greener soap is a younger soap ( I am not quite aure but I saw pictures of the production with a soap with a brown shell and a green heart as an exanple of a soap that still needed some drying). I shaved with mine this morning and observed that it is much easier to get a more stable lather on pass 2 and 3 than for the first one for some reason. It has the character of a natural soap but I find it much easier to lather than Olivia´s or one from Pere Pelletier than I bought last summer in Brittany.
Cheers,
JJ
- Thread starter
- #39
Which Le Pere Pelletier soap is it that you have? I bought the Karite one some time ago and I liked it, it's not the best soap I have but it was certainly good. More recently however, I received the Amande Douce soap in one of their shaving sets and it's one of the worst soaps I've ever tried. The lather has a shorter lifespan than any Olive Oil soap, and it doesn't leave a residual film on the skin, so the shave is dreadful.
It was Amande douce allright! It smelled fantastic (like the white paper glue french pupils used to use at school) but I had to re-lather a couple of time in the same pass and had a very "macho" shave! AJS, did you get my PM? I tried to send you one but can´t find it anymore on my exit box anymore so I am uncertain.
Cheers,
JJ
Cheers,
JJ
