I have tried 3 different tubs of barbershop, and never any funk. Indeed one was so lightly scented that any funk at all would have been easily discerned.
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gamey smell in soap?
- Thread starter FireDragon76
- Start date
I've occasionally gotten this gamey scent off of soaps. Oddly, it was also a one time occurrence each time and repeat use of the soap did not yield the same scent, even if it was the next day.
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
Commercial, cheaper tallow soaps usually don't smell "gamey" to any by the most sensitive nose. When you get into the smaller batch stuff, especially the super fatted ones, you get some gaminess. The best bet there is to realize that going in, which many don't unless they stumble across a thread such as this.
Samples are a good thing, IF the soap you are interested offers them. Otherwise, as others have said, there is no magic in tallow. Plenty of great non tallow soaps out there.
As a rule of thumb, the more you pay for your tallow soap, the more likely it is to have that animal smell.
Samples are a good thing, IF the soap you are interested offers them. Otherwise, as others have said, there is no magic in tallow. Plenty of great non tallow soaps out there.
As a rule of thumb, the more you pay for your tallow soap, the more likely it is to have that animal smell.
- Thread starter
- #25
I think it would help if I knew the fragrance notes. I am getting amber/rum (I can't tell which) and perhaps patchouli, some bay oil, and maybe musk. What I think the tallow is doing is adding a dirty, greasy tar note that gives the impression of somebody wearing bay rum and reeking of cigarettes. The patchouli, if it's there, is coming across more like tobacco than a clean herbal patchouli.
I'm pretty sure that Stirling is using a common, off-the-shelf fragrance for this soap. I've smelled similar fragrances from other artisans, but they were presented in aftershaves so they were cleaner.
I’ve had lip gloss that’s gone rancid. It’s the absolute worst. Thank god none of my soaps so far.
Same here. Yuck.
Too bad Arko doesn't make a lip balm!
People's heads would explode!
Tallow, even refined tallow, has a definite smell that I would describe as gamey. To me it's familiar and pleasant. I played clarinet growing up and we used tallow (a.k.a. "cork grease") to keep the cork fittings preserved and lubricated.
I notice the note in my tallow-based soaps but it's in the background and doesn't seem overpowering to me. Your nose may vary.
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Most tallow soaps, IME, leave a greasy-scented undertone that I can only detect when I walk outside after shaving or placing the brush near an open window. The only tallow-based soap that doesn't do this is MWF for some reason but Tabac, Palmolive, Speick, Valobra, DRH, Stirling, Mike's all leave this undesirable scent underneath the fragrance. Even my favorite hand soap, Duke Cannon Big *** Beer soap, leaves this subtle funk behind as well but I use it anyway since the fragrance covers most of it up anyway. Once you smell it, you cannot un-smell it! I have been using non-tallow based soaps as of late like TOBS Jermyn St, Sandalwood, and St. James soaps that leave none of this underlying scent post-shave on me, or my brushes. Why MWF doesn't do this is beyond me but I can say none of my non-tallow based soaps leave this scent behind so I can only associate the scent with tallow.
I've heard the similar reviews about the older versions of Stirling soaps. When did you get the soaps?
The recent batches are smelling fine and clean for me. I don't get any gamey scent at all.
- Thread starter
- #32
I was thinking of buying some Haslinger's Meersalgen but the fact it was older stock with tallow put me off because I don't think tallow and seaweed would mix very well.
Most soaps I have used in the past that contained tallow were soaps like Arko and Williams, where tallow wasn't the major ingredient. Usually stearic acid was more prominent. And I've never noticed the smell before with those kinds of soaps.
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I've occasionally gotten gamey whifs from Arko. Funny because it will be there for one shave, and then I may never get it again from the same stick.
- Thread starter
- #34
I am surprised by the MWF, especially because it contains lanolin which can be very funky.
Some of you fellas must have super sensitive noses to pick up the tallow in this many scents and have it be a bother. I don’t envy you. I don’t have the best sniffer but rarely if ever have I picked out a gamey type scent outside of a couple of duck fat soaps.
fyi, I never got any kind of dirty, or any other kind of, tar note or cigarettes etc, from any of the Stirling Barbershops I've tried.
It sounds like @FireDragon76 got a bad batch. I’ve gone through 8 different tubs of Stirling and have never had a bad one yet. There was a scent I didn’t like once, but it was not from tallow.
I would suggest contacting Rod at Stirling.
I would suggest contacting Rod at Stirling.
- Thread starter
- #38
Out of curiosity, what's the best scent if you don't particularly like heavy fragrances?
The sample of Tsuka I got smells like it's more up to my speed. It's not the same soap base, though.
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With each post, your descriptions of the smell are getting more repulsive.
- Thread starter
- #40
With each post, your descriptions of the smell are getting more repulsive.
I think it's like Tabac... some people love it other people think it smells like a woman's old handbag.
Some people probably love Stirling Barbershop, but I'm not one of them.
I had my S.O. smell it and give me whatever impressions she had. "Rum" and "old" were words she used to describe it. She didn't particular like or dislike it, though.
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