Grooming Department Veggie Soaps & Unobtanium GD Soaps

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

How are the Grooming Department Veggie Soaps?

I've tried only two GD soaps. Both are samples which a generous member sent me.

1. Chypre Vert (Lusso base)
2. Sandalwood Fig Musk (Primus base)

The scents of both are very much to my liking. The performance of the Primus based soap is quite good. However, the Lusso based soap's performance is, for me, stellar.

Liking 'em is easy, buying them is another matter. All I see on the website is the veggie soaps. I have no idea whether I'd like them and no idea how they compare to the Lusso based Chypre Vert's performance.

In general I like good soaps and have no bias about either veggie soaps or tallow soaps being inherently superior.

Any pointers, tips, or suggestions?

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[SonofdavidS]

I have several vegan soaps,
Basique
Magnolia
Klonisch

The vegan soaps to me are basically as good as the tallow. I wouldn’t hesitate to get the vegan if that’s all that was left.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Jim I have both and I much prefer the tallow based soaps by a long shot.

In fact I have a slightly used tub of Amber you can have if you’d like to send me your address. The scent and performance is just not to my liking. I prefer SV, MDC and PannaCremma as far as vegan soaps goes.

The Sandalwood Fig and Musk is a very good soap but I get no Fig in it at all. Musk stands out more than the sandalwood also.

Sent you a PM, sir.

I love SV and also MdC, but neither more than Wickham 1912. All being veggie based of course. Mostly I don't pay attention to what's in a soap until people talk about it, but I notice the GD veggie soaps are not sold out. Don't know if that means anything.

I have several vegan soaps,
Basique
Magnolia
Klonisch

The vegan soaps to me are basically as good as the tallow. I wouldn’t hesitate to get the vegan if that’s all that was left.

Maybe the GD veggie soaps are as good. Certainly they are for some people (across the board, not just GD soaps). I'd say there might be a slight tendency on B&B to prefer tallow based soaps, but plenty of us like the really good veggie soaps.

I'm pretty convinced soap performance varies somewhat with skin type and whisker type, and all that can vary will vary (if that makes sense).

My shave with the Lusso base (one shave mind you) still feels stellar hours later. I'm impressed.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Sure looks like there's more demand than supply in the GD market.

Obvious solution?

Maybe I'm missing something, but what's his name should...well, none of my business.

It would be very interesting to know the market shares the various soaps have. My guess is very inexpensive soaps, much more widely available have the lion's share. It would be interesting to know the price histories of a number of soaps. It looks like a very interesting market.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[pork]

I love Kölnisch. It's on elf my favorite soaps, tallow or vegan.

 

[SHAVEWIZARD420]

Grooming Dept is one of the best soaps on the market IMO only a few others come close performance wise. Doesnt matter which GD soap base you choose, they all are excellent quality products. Just used the Conco De Oro (spelling?) Yesterday, it is the vegan base and whipped up a top notch lather.

The scents from GD are mostly unique and something a bit different.

 

[Marcos1]

GD’s donkey vegan formula is by far the best vegan formulation I’ve tried.

 

[barreno]

I've Elan good performance soap, but too much juniper essential oil that causes itching to me. Eufros vegan soaps, are in the same league about performance, but they have better scents for my like.

Anyway, I prefer tallow soaps, they give me better post-shave

 

[steelhead52]

Sent you a PM, sir.

I love SV and also MdC, but neither more than Wickham 1912. All being veggie based of course. Mostly I don't pay attention to what's in a soap until people talk about it, but I notice the GD veggie soaps are not sold out. Don't know if that means anything.



Maybe the GD veggie soaps are as good. Certainly they are for some people (across the board, not just GD soaps). I'd say there might be a slight tendency on B&B to prefer tallow based soaps, but plenty of us like the really good veggie soaps.

I'm pretty convinced soap performance varies somewhat with skin type and whisker type, and all that can vary will vary (if that makes sense).

My shave with the Lusso base (one shave mind you) still feels stellar hours later. I'm impressed.

Happy shaves,

Jim

I agree that both the various Tallow versions of GD and the Vegan based soaps are all stellar. I've been wrestling with the tallow vs vegan performance issue since I started wet shaving. I think lately I have been preferring the tallow versions but then I have such a great shave with the veggie versions that I can't make a blanket statement that tallow is better.

This is just my observation after a number of years. While I find both Tallow and Vegan capable of very slick soaps, I find tallow soaps generally slightly more protective due to the different fat or grease barrier that also contributes to a favorable post shave result. I find the vegan soaps slightly more efficient because they tend to lack this greasy barrier. I easily get a BBS with either if they are good soaps but it takes me a few more strokes with the tallow. On the other hand, I can push the limits with the tallow a little further due to its inherent protective nature giving me a really great shave with little irritation due to perhaps more residual slickness. I find most vegan soaps to be slightly more drying if containing coconut oil, but many artisans like GD add moisturizing butters and oils that offset this for me. I also find vegan soaps rinse easier with a cleaner feeling afterwards. Veggie soaps from GD, MdC, SV, Nuavia, Soap Commander, etc. will always be in rotation along with tallows from GD, DG T&S,Turtleship, Eufros, WK, A&E, Talbot, Tabac, and many more. Haslinger's is proving the point that there often is not a lot of difference as they have switched to a vegan base. I think I notice the difference but maybe its mental.

All that said, I think GD tallows are some of the best all around performing soaps in existence and are currently my favorites.

 

[Hooman]

Well said, some tallow soaps give me that slightly overwhelming, heavy, buttery, somewhat greasy post shave feel which I don't really like. The only exception would be Barrister and Mann Latha (discontinued sadly) as well as Tallow and Steel, they provide the performance of a tallow soap with that vegan type clean, fresh, light post-shave feel, if that makes any sense!

 

[dfoulk]

The Vegan soaps from Grooming Dept are exceptional. Not quite as luxurious as their own newer formulas but still much better than everything else out there. Definitely worth buying. I use all of their formulas on a regular basis.

As far as the supply goes the vendor is buying ingredients in larger quantities and making larger and many more batches. Unfortunately for us, the demand has been rising at the same time as well. With the last launch it was followed by another launch shortly after and some outside vendors were also stocked around the same time. So, many more soaps went out the door this time and less people were getting shut out completely.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

The Vegan soaps from Grooming Dept are exceptional. Not quite as luxurious as their own newer formulas but still much better than everything else out there. Definitely worth buying. I use all of their formulas on a regular basis.

As far as the supply goes the vendor is buying ingredients in larger quantities and making larger and many more batches. Unfortunately for us, the demand has been rising at the same time as well. With the last launch it was followed by another launch shortly after and some outside vendors were also stocked around the same time. So, many more soaps went out the door this time and less people were getting shut out completely.

That is very good news.

I just shaved with a sample of B&M Vespers (which a generous member sent me when he also sent me GDCV which I loved). The B&M product was very, very impressive (and I think you can actually buy it any ole time).

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[boilerphan]

That is very good news.

I just shaved with a sample of B&M Vespers (which a generous member sent me when he also sent me GDCV which I loved). The B&M product was very, very impressive (and I think you can actually buy it any ole time).

Happy shaves,

Jim

Will is phasing out the Vespers seasonal scent on March 1st, but he will be releasing other scents in the Excelsior base.