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Grooming Dept club

Anything equated with 'Laundry' only brings to mind Arko, the smell of the laundry detergent aisle in the grocery store.
dave
 

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
So, I got two of the vegan soaps from Westcoast Shaving today. I was wondering what was rattling in the box, so I did open it asap. Here is what I found. The Basique had a shrunken puck in it, that weighed in at 3.75 oz. The other soap looked like it was filled a bit extra with a spoon or so, this one weighs about 4.5 oz. Try them in the next two days.
 

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Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
The amount is somewhat inconsistent in my experience.

Quality, too, is somewhat inconsistent in my experience; all are excellent; some, even better.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
I wanna say those are old supply, but I could be wrong. It’s his old vegan formula, and the Voyage was his old label. So the shrinkage isn’t a surprise if it was from old stock.
 
His soaps as well as other soft soaps do not travel well in hot weather.

I have the View attachment 988096 and so far I have used it for 12 shaves. I like the way it performs but I am surprised at how fast it is disappearing. When it arrived it came in uneven in the tub. One side was significantly higher than the other. This is how it looks after only 12 shaves.
View attachment 988098

I have three other GD soaps and this is the only one that has disappeared so fast.
 
I wanna say those are old supply, but I could be wrong. It’s his old vegan formula, and the Voyage was his old label. So the shrinkage isn’t a surprise if it was from old stock.

Two observations:
  1. I don't know what the old formula was, but I got a jar of Voyage in the recent drop, and the same ingredients are listed in the same order on my jar as on the current product page.
  2. The top of the soap in my jar has also pulled away from the edges, but only slightly, and in my case the soap remains firmly affixed in the jar. More importantly perhaps, I like the soap.
And @Rudy Vey ... Good luck Rudy. It's not a job; it's an adventure.
 
Two observations:
  1. I don't know what the old formula was, but I got a jar of Voyage in the recent drop, and the same ingredients are listed in the same order on my jar as on the current product page.
  2. The top of the soap in my jar has also pulled away from the edges, but only slightly, and in my case the soap remains firmly affixed in the jar. More importantly perhaps, I like the soap.
And @Rudy Vey ... Good luck Rudy. It's not a job; it's an adventure.

WCS recently had a few older Vegan soaps pop up on their product page last week. These were presumable older stock as many of them haven't been available in a long time. As well the original Voyage was available during this random drop on WCS. That voyage had the original label, from the original release some months ago. This new release on the GD website was the newer Janus Vegan base which is different from his original vegan formula.

The soap will shrink as it loses water, that’s normal with any soap. All my GDs have pulled away (as long as they were a harder soap).
 
The soap will shrink as it loses water, that’s normal with any soap. All my GDs have pulled away (as long as they were a harder soap).
I have had a few scents from Stirling that I purchased and have used monthly going on 2+ yrs now and they haven't shrank at all... The only soaps I've seen in my somewhat short time, 2.5 yrs, here on B&B is Grooming Dept. soaps and no others so I'd say this is a GD thing only!!
 
It probably because he doesn't let his soaps cure properly before shipping them out.

On at least 2 well-documented occasions, he shipped out runny/soupy soaps, that when opened, spilled out and hit customers floors.
 

Chandu

I Waxed The Badger.
How do you like the Mallard Lavender? Been thinking of ordering it since it's still in stock.
If you like lavender it's one you can skip. Not that great at all. As a soap it's decent, but I have others I like as much or more. I really don't see why so many consider this one of the best soaps ever. It's good, not great imho. Sending $25 to Nancy Boy is better in my opinion. La Toja leaves me with better face feel. Ach Brito Lavenda is a much nicer lavender.
 

Chandu

I Waxed The Badger.
These are soft soaps with no preservatives, right? Use them up asap.

That would seem to be somewhat of a risk with as many as some have. $1000 in soap is one thing, but it going bad is quite another. Of course, if you can sit on $1000 worth of soap, it going bad probably isn't going to put you in the poor house either. It makes for amazing shave gluttony shots though.
 
I have heard great things about Grooming Department's "Laundry" shaving soap. Do they make an aftershave with this particular scent? I haven't been able to locate it, or the soap, for that matter.

Sir Forkbeard, you might try a whiff of Penhaligon's Sartorial cologne, which is styled after tailor shops in old London!!

penhaligons sartorial muehle joris january 12 2018.jpg
 
When I first tried a Grooming Department soap (Magnolia) I noticed that my skin felt very smooth after my shave. I also noticed that the lather was slicker than most other soaps I have used. I later purchased the After the Fire soap. Once again, I noticed how slick the lather was and how great my face felt after the shave. I looked at the ingredients of the soap and saw that it contained many ingredients than other soaps.

I then decided to look at the ingredients of various soap makers. The first thing I saw was that GD soaps seem to have many more ingredients in contrast to classic and other artisan soaps. In addition, GD soaps contain more variety of oils in their soaps.

For example, here is a list of ingredients that Murphy & McNeill Claddagh contains:
  • Stearic Acid, Water, Beef Tallow, Duck Fat, Potassium Hydroxide, Kokum Butter, Castor Oil, Shea Butter, Vegetable Glycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Coconut Milk, Kaolin Clay, Lanolin, Tocopheral, Fragrance, Tussah Silk
These are the ingredients for DR Harris soaps:
  • Potassium Palmate, Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Palmate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Aqua, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Parfum, Linalool, Sodium Chloride, Petrolatum, Palm Kernel Acid, Coumarin, Orthotolyl Biguanide, Benzyl Benzoate, Limonene, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium EDTA, CI 77891
I have never tried a Sterling soap but some folks on B&B seem to like it. So I went to their website and found that these are the ingredients for Sterling's Agar soap:
  • Beef Tallow, Stearic Acid, Distilled Water, Castor Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Vegetable Glycerin, Fragrance Oil, Almond Oil, Shea Butter, Coconut Milk, Lanolin, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Lactate
Then I examined the ingredients contained in Grooming Department Soaps. What I observed was that the ingredients vary tremendously depending on the soap. I also noticed that some of the GD soaps contain either Peptides or Silk Amino Acids: ingredients contained in my wife's rather expensive facial cream that she uses.

For example, here are the ingredients in the Asinus, the unscented soap.
  • Aloe Vera Juice, Stearic Acid, Donkey Milk, Potassium Hydroxide, Duck Fat, Lamb Tallow, Castor Oil, Glycerin, Kokum Butter, Shea Butter, Cupuacu Butter, Sucrose Cocoate, Fragrance, Safflower Oil, Jojoba Oil, Coconut Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Acacia Senegal Gum, Kaolin Clay, Avocado Oil, Mango Butter, Grapeseed Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Lactate, Sodium Citrate, Xanthan Gum, Carnauba Wax, Allantoin, Chamomile Extract, Sea Buckthorn Extract. Flaxseed Oil, Sacha Inchi Extract. Silk Amino Acids and Tocopheryl Acetate.
The ingredients for the Mallard Lavender soap:
  • Aloe Vera Juice, Stearic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Duck Fat, Castor Oil, Cupuacu Butter, Mango Butter, Coconut Oil, Goat Milk, Meadowfoam Oil, Avocado oil, Fragrance, Silk Peptides, Glycerin, Sunflower Lecithin, Sucrose Cocoate, Xanthan Gum, Betaine, Carnauba wax, Kaolin Clay, Calendula Extract, Sacha Inchi extract, Green Tea Extract, Allantoin, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Lactate and Tocopheryl Acetate.
For Janus, the vegan soap:
  • Aloe Vera Juice, Stearic Acid, Oatmeal Milk, Potassium Hydroxide, Castor Oil, Shea Butter, Cupuacu Butter, Mango Butter, Camelina Oil, Fragrance, Marshmallow Extract, Glycerine, Sunflower Lecithin, Grape Seed Oil, Avocado Oil, Coconut Oil, Larch Arabinogalactan, Glucomannan (Konjac root), Corn Silk Extract, Beta Sitosterol, Kaolin Clay, Sodium hydroxide, Betaine, Allantoin, Sodium Lactate, Sodium Citrate, Xanthan Gum, Grape Seed Extract, Chamomile Extract, Green Tea Extract and Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E).
My conclusion: it's not just beef tallow that seems to make a difference in soaps. Rather, it is the combination of various ingredients that result in the differences.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
When I first tried a Grooming Department soap (Magnolia) I noticed that my skin felt very smooth after my shave....My conclusion: it's not just beef tallow that seems to make a difference in soaps. Rather, it is the combination of various ingredients that result in the differences.

Great information. Thank you.
 
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