Help! I no longer like the soap I love!

[johnwick]

Lots of terrific bay rums out there.

One thing you could try is adding a dollop of Cremo with your existing Oglala. It just might bring it up to par with the rest you’re currently using. My experience has been that Cremo mixed with subpar soaps turns them into great soaps!

 

[shave/brush]

Mystic Water Bay Rum. The best IMO.

 

[primotenore]

Mike's and Barrister and Mann are two terrific choices. Great soaps with no-nonsense bay rum scents.

 

[Whilliam]

@sdimartino : you could try finding an unscented shave cream to mix with the Ogallas that you like the properties of and make a "Frankensoap" that might please you. That way you wouldn't waste your hard earned money.

Works for me. I spray a bit of scent into my lather bowl before soaping up. My favored combination these days is adding 4711 to Cella (which itself has a very mild cherry/almond scent). I'm sure Ogallala would do smashingly, as there's nothing subtle about bay rum.

 

[FarmerTan]

Works for me. I spray a bit of scent into my lather bowl before soaping up. My favored combination these days is adding 4711 to Cella (which itself has a very mild cherry/almond scent). I'm sure Ogallala would do smashingly, as there's nothing subtle about bay rum.

I put some Dollar General brand of Brut in some unscented soap that was like I am sure the soap in Heaven smells!

 

[JCarr]

This damned forum has spoiled me for shaving soap. For the longest time I used Ogallala Bay Rum shaving soap pretty much exclusively because it's my favorite scent. It's always been a decent soap for me, but since I started being active in this forum I've tried a few others and seen that there are soaps that are way more than just decent. So now I'm finding my Ogallala shaves to be, well, almost disappointing. I still adore the bath soap, aftershave and cologne, but the shaving soap just leaves something to be desired.

So far I've tried Stirling, Proraso, and my absolute favorite (and, unfortunately irreplaceable) Vinolia. Proraso is great, Stirling is amazing, and Vinolia has totally blown me away.

Have any of you tried Ogallala in addition to other Bay Rums? Who makes a Bay Rum with a scent similar to Ogallala but with a higher quality lathering experience? I know Stirling (which I've loved so far) has a Bay Rum, but I have no idea how it smells. And I know there's Colonel Conk, but I don't know how it smells or how it lathers.

Even though Bay Rum is my absolute favorite scent, I'm not 100% married to it. If there's a Bay Rum soap out there that smells similar to Ogallala but makes a wonderful lather, that would be ideal, but if there are other soaps out there that lather really well, even if they're not Bay Rum, I'm willing to give them a shot.

So what do y'all recommend?

I like soaps with a thick, rich, slick lather. The Ogallala has been slick, but it seems almost runny and thin relative to better soaps I've tried. Also, I'm pretty sure I have hard water, for what that's worth.

I like Ogallala a lot. I have their shave soap, their aftershave, their hair and body soap and their moisturizing cream. I use them all and like them all. To me...Ogallala has an eggnog'ish scent in the background. There's a seasonal Bay Rum scent put out by Phoenix called Space Nog. It's my favorite Phoenix aftershave. Fairly certain that when it's in season, they make it in a shaving soap also. When it comes back in season, I would recommend it as an Ogallala alternative.

 

[Adam18]

Stirling Bay Rum will blow your socks off!!!

 

[VerbaVolant]

...I'm pretty sure I have hard water, for what that's worth.

Oakland, CA Annual water quality report

Total dissolved solids (ppm) between 33 and 240. Quite a wide range. Look up at your area/water treatment plant.

 

[sdimartino]

By way of update... I'm trying to improve my technique with the Ogallala. I'm loading longer, and being far more deliberate about the rate at which I add water. The net result is that it's taking me much longer to shave when I use it, but if I can get the lather to a place where I'm happy with it, that'll be worth it. In the meantime I'm trying a few other soaps that have come highly recommended. I just picked up some Tabac and Arko, though I haven't had the opportunity to use them yet. Yes, I know they smell nothing like bay rum, but they are so well loved I thought I'd give them a shot. I'm also going to try Stirling, and a few others that have been recommended in this thread. Thanks for all the feedback, guys!

 

[JCarr]

I checked with Phoenix by way of a quick email...their seasonal Space Nog...is generally introduced in December. It's worth the wait in my opinion.

 

[Aaron Hall]

Great thread! Thanks OP and everyone for their input! I'm looking forward to trying some Bay Rum scents. Looking especially forward to the PAA Atomic Age Bay Rum.

 

[JCarr]

By way of update... I'm trying to improve my technique with the Ogallala. I'm loading longer, and being far more deliberate about the rate at which I add water. The net result is that it's taking me much longer to shave when I use it, but if I can get the lather to a place where I'm happy with it, that'll be worth it. In the meantime I'm trying a few other soaps that have come highly recommended. I just picked up some Tabac and Arko, though I haven't had the opportunity to use them yet. Yes, I know they smell nothing like bay rum, but they are so well loved I thought I'd give them a shot. I'm also going to try Stirling, and a few others that have been recommended in this thread. Thanks for all the feedback, guys!

Thanks for the post. I used Ogallala soap this morning and I think it is possible to get a richer, thicker lather with it if you're willing to take the time to work it a bit. I'm branching out with soap also. Just ordered Phoenix Atomic Age, the less expensive blend, and a puck of Stirling Bay Rum soap. I've taken a sudden liking to Stirling's Bay Rum. At first whiff it seems plain, but the complexities slowly come out. My wife said she smelled cinnamon, which I wasn't detecting, but the more I continued to breathe it in, the more stuff kept coming out. Eventually, I could smell what she was smelling.

Happy shaves, comrade!

 

[sdimartino]

I’m performing thread necromancy to announce that I once again love the soap I love. After experimenting with different lathering techniques, I settled on face lathering producing spectacular results. Since I was getting dramatically better results from face lathering with my new favorites, I thought I’d go back and try some of my old favorites again.

Lathered on my face, I’m getting *great* shaves using the OBR. In fact, there is no soap from which I am getting better results. On the face, they’re all awesome. It’s definitely back to being my favorite.

I guess there was something off in my technique, and whatever it was seems to have been remedied by face lathering, which seems to be far more forgiving. I’m definitely doing it that way from now on.