I understand that Kairos SE is a newer, improved version of the original Kairos shave soap base. For those of you who have tried both of these soap bases, would you please share your thoughts on each. Are the "improvements" mainly in the post-shave area, or does the Kairos SE have a noticeably better in-shave experience : lathering, slickness, etc. I find the regular Kairos base to be a bit challenging to get a consistently good lather and I was wondering if the Kairos SE base is better in this respect. Thanks
Grooming Dept. Kairos vs. Kairos SE
- Thread starter Ramsay
- Start date
They're both really excellent. SE lather feels softer on the face and the post shave is improved. I feel like the razor head glides on air with SE lather. I've tried many different artisans soaps but these are the best available IMO. The last mallard base that dropped i felt was even better than Kairos. But the SE is the best I've tried. It is Grooming Dept and he's known to modify formulas frequently so I'll guess we'll see how this particular drop feels compared to the others- but I still expect it to be nothing short of spectacular.
I would also recommend getting samples from the razor company but SE is harder to lather.
I agree with these thoughts. The lamb tallow and emu oil in SE create a different feeling soap as compared to standard Kairos with beef tallow. Mallard (the last mallard drop) is different still with duck fat.
Depending on when the soap was released various Kairos soaps seem to vary as well. I am not sure whether that is due to the age of the soap or whether the formula was changed. As an example, I used Valencia in beef tallow Kairos this morning. I purchased this soap some time ago when Kairos was first introduced and am now down to one or two more uses left. It lathered differently from another Kairos soap, Mumtaz, that I purchased months after Valencia and used a couple of shaves ago. Both were good but Valencia provided a richer lather. The Mumtaz lather was thin--though, admittedly, it may have been user error.
Mo has been releasing some of his popular scents in Kairos SE. As an example, Mumtaz has just been re-released in the new Kairos SE formula. The scent is rich and pleasing. I am confident that Mumtaz in Kairos SE would be excellent. Unfortunately, I had to give Mumtaz in SE a pass because I have way too many soaps. I did place an order for a La'Avventura set.
Mo has been getting very sophisticated with regards to his scents. The soap formulas are top-notch and the scents are very good to excellent. I am of the opinion that blind buying a Grooming Dept soap presents a low risk these days for that reason. I am very pleased with the four Mallards I recently purchased and with the several Kairos SE soaps I recently purchased as well.
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Scents are harder for me to figure out here. I have given away quite a few so I like to try them first.
I have settled on these for now and will try the lavender sample soon.
Mallard I like coconut rum and earl grey gelato.
Pineapple, Tobaco, Balsam and Lavenfer.
Where are you guys getting the mallard soaps?
Not sure that you can buy any at the moment- would be all secondary market stuff. It was a drop he did back in Q1 2022. There are plenty of Kairos soaps available at stockists. You can buy Kairos SE soaps on the GD website but looks like the 2 safest scents- Laundry2 and Lavender are sold out. I'm pretty sure Mo said there will be more Mallards coming up- i suspect you'll have to wait a few months.
Where are you getting that sample?
2.99 each at the Razor Company. English Lavender is a good one and very safe.
Thanks. I saw on his facebook page he was releasing a bunch of mallard soaps so wondered if I missed it. GD is my 2nd favorite base after Omnibus.
I was informed that soaps made from duck fat will be available in late Feb.
Ah, brilliant. Thanks much. Banking the pennies to buy more excellent soaps I do not need.
Haha! I can't afford any of these soaps. I only have GD soaps pre Kairos.
Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
@RayClem or @Barbarian80 — I obtained Kairos, 2022 Kairos SE and 2023 Kairos SE soaps. I find Kairos a significantly inferior lather (almost disappearing too quickly) to the SE versions. Is there something about the Kairos base you can share which might help?
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Load more soap add more water. What do you think of SE?
Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
I’ll try. I think SE is truly brilliant. And I’m no GD fanboy. Even better than B&M Omnibus.
I still love and use B&M. I have a whole collection of them but it's getting tougher to use after adding a few GD soaps to the den. The mallard soaps are great also- better than OG Kairos.
Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
My Mallard has not lasted long at all. I think I’ve had maybe 12-13 shaves on it and a donut has arrived.
I would let Mo know about this. I have the same soap, after about 30 shaves, the jar weighs 137g. The empty jar weighs 55g.
I still have not seen these the Kairos SE soaps in EU. Which one, where did you buy yours from?
Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
I obtained mine from another B&B’er.
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