If a soap requires the proper phase of the moon, me standing on my head and getting water from a lake in the far north to give me a good lather I have one solution - out the door. There are just too many great soaps to waste time with one that wasn't built to lather.
Geo F Trumper Rose Soap, What am I doing wrong?
- Thread starter JFT
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From everything I have read, TOBS and Trumpers make better creams than soaps and DR Harris makes a better soap than a cream. However, as far as I am concerned, you can do a lot better than either of these three.
@samhain666 recommended Tabac. Although I had to air out Tabac for two weeks before I could stand the aroma, it performs as well as many artisan soaps in my well stocked den. I rate it as a Tier II soap. The others mentioned fall into my Tier III group. The soaps that are in my Tier I group are all premium artisan soaps with excellent post-shave properties. If you do not care about post-shave, Tabac is a good choice. You can purchase a refill puck or you can purchase it in a nice storage container.
@samhain666 recommended Tabac. Although I had to air out Tabac for two weeks before I could stand the aroma, it performs as well as many artisan soaps in my well stocked den. I rate it as a Tier II soap. The others mentioned fall into my Tier III group. The soaps that are in my Tier I group are all premium artisan soaps with excellent post-shave properties. If you do not care about post-shave, Tabac is a good choice. You can purchase a refill puck or you can purchase it in a nice storage container.
Do you still have the packaging? Do you know what the first ingredient is?
I used Harris, TOBS, and Trumpers creams this week. They are quite good. Not the slickest like MWF or Tabac or some artisans, but they are quite nice and provide more then enough slickness for daily two to three passes like I do. I like the fragrance variety they offer—Arlington is great for example, but so is Eucris and TOBS Sandalwood.
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Once of the reasons I rate Harris, TOBS and Trumpers as Tier III is that they are not as slick as they should be. I find that even some inexpensive bath soaps like Irish Spring and Yardleys bath bar produce a slicker lather than the three shaving soaps/creams. Even ARKO produces a slicker lather.
Harris, TOBS and Trumpers are priced in the same range as mid-range artisan soaps, yet they do not perform as well. To me, that is poor value. Vintage versions of these products may have been superior to the current versions, but I never tried the vintage products.
This soap is the worst shaving soap I've ever tried, and over the years I've used very many soaps. Actually if I see it for sale at a site I see it as an indication of that the site owner might not really care about his customers.
I have used Trumper's cream, but not the soap. However, if it is the worst soap you have ever used, I presume you have never used Taconic Shave glycerin soap. I had the Urban Woods scent. The performance and the scent were both so bad I was glad to get rid of it.
@JFT at the hazard of sounding biased, I'll tell you this: I like traditional, I like English too, but the once great English soaps are the thing of the past. These used be top products, but it's been a while since they've fallen behind.
In my mind, there are 3 brands that make the very best product in each respective category, all reasonably priced.
Shaving cream: Cella
Soft soap (aka "croap"): Ariana & Evans
Hard, triple milled soap: Saponificio Varesino
And when the push comes to shove, A&E makes the very best shaving products of them all, be it hard, soft or cream. Some come close, but none quite alike.
So, there you have it.
In my mind, there are 3 brands that make the very best product in each respective category, all reasonably priced.
Shaving cream: Cella
Soft soap (aka "croap"): Ariana & Evans
Hard, triple milled soap: Saponificio Varesino
And when the push comes to shove, A&E makes the very best shaving products of them all, be it hard, soft or cream. Some come close, but none quite alike.
So, there you have it.
I haven't used any glycerine based shave soap. Trumpers Rose soap was so bad that I actually sent a respectful mail to them kindly informing them that I couldn't make it lather. To my surprise I actually got an answer telling me how to lather a shave soap. In any case the soap served as a very mediocre hand soap. I really shouldn't be annoyed now many years later.
New Floris and Apsley hard soaps are actually stellar, ime.
I agree about the GFT hard soap though.
- Thread starter
- #31
@JFT at the hazard of sounding biased, I'll tell you this: I like traditional, I like English too, but the once great English soaps are the thing of the past. These used be top products, but it's been a while since they've fallen behind.
In my mind, there are 3 brands that make the very best product in each respective category, all reasonably priced.
Shaving cream: Cella
Soft soap (aka "croap"): Ariana & Evans
Hard, triple milled soap: Saponificio Varesino
And when the push comes to shove, A&E makes the very best shaving products of them all, be it hard, soft or cream. Some come close, but none quite alike.
So, there you have it.
Thank you for the recommendation I’ll look into these!
Edit: actually just ordered Desert Vetiver from Saponificio Varesino! I’ll report back once I receive it [emoji6]
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DRHarris Soap is still a top performer. It’s up there with Valobra (rip). And yes, better than their cream, but I stand by that their cream is a fine performer. You just have to dial in the right mix of water, too much and it loses its slickness.
Now, one exception to the mediocrity is the TOBS Avocado. I pulled that out, and it is truly excellent. Too bad they just discontinued it. I stocked up on a few more from Italian Barber this week with a razor purchase. If you haven’t tried it, you’re missing out. It’s top notch.
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Now, one exception to the mediocrity is the TOBS Avocado. I pulled that out, and it is truly excellent. Too bad they just discontinued it. I stocked up on a few more from Italian Barber this week with a razor purchase. If you haven’t tried it, you’re missing out. It’s top notch.
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Lefonque
Even more clueless than you
I am following this thread with interest. Waiting for a breakthrough.
You can get decent lathers from Trumper soaps without having to resort to grating. I used a puck of Trumper Rose and got very good lathers from it. You just need to load more from the puck. Overdo it at first, say, loading for 45 seconds. See how that works and then dial it back. I had 4 good months of lathering with it. @Jim has always been right with his advice to use more product.
It’s not even close to the worst soap I’ve used. That would be Captain Fawcett’s. It wouldn’t lather worth a darn. Several ‘artisan’ soaps weren’t far behind.
It’s not even close to the worst soap I’ve used. That would be Captain Fawcett’s. It wouldn’t lather worth a darn. Several ‘artisan’ soaps weren’t far behind.
- Thread starter
- #36
Thank you for the trick I’ll to « overload » it !
- Thread starter
- #37
Those reading this thread should enjoy the following the video.
- Thread starter
- #40
Thank you very much for this link! It confirms the long loading time previously mentioned and also showed me mr error... my brush was too wet and I was working the lather in a bowl.
I’m definitely going to retry with his method!
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