Historical Retrospective: B&B Shaving Soap Perspectives from 15 Years Ago

[PLANofMAN]

Interesting thread. I've only been here six years, but started using traditional shaving soaps and creams rather than the can o' foam well before that. IMO, the biggest change over the years has been the proliferation of new DE razors, including at the top of the high end. Trends in soaps as seen at B&B seem to be more of a fashion thing, much like, pardon the unmanly reference, perfumes. I found and tried Proraso early on as it was for sale locally on the shelves (no longer) and for only $5 (again, no longer). When I joined here, Proraso was still considered great stuff, especially for shaving soap beginners. Not so much any more, though I still like and use it. The artisan soaps seem to have taken over most of the discussion.

I've noticed other trends. For example, sandalwood soaps once were very popular, or at least provoked much discussion. I rarely see them mentioned now. That's fine with me, as the only sandalwood soap I've tried that has what I consider the genuine scent is the Mysore brand from India, and that is only available as bath soap. But I'm sure they will return to fashion some day.

Proraso red (as far as I know) still contains real sandalwood oil. It's just a smidgen, given the price of Proraso, but there nonetheless.

Between the rising cost of sandalwood oil, EU perfume restrictions, and the tendency of synthetic Sandalwood scents to cause allergic reactions, I'm not surprised to see Sandalwood falling by the wayside as a scent base.

...disappointed, but not surprised.

Edit: It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Proraso sells more soap and cream than all the American "artisans" combined. Just because it doesn't get hyped up, doesn't mean it doesn't get used by millions of traditional wet shavers who just don't care enough about wet shaving to make it a hobby like we do.

 

[nickm]

MWF is one of the staples I haven’t tried yet. Almost finished with a puck of Tabac and I probably won’t buy another. I found it too pasty. Even with tons of water. The scent is interesting but I can live without it.

Haven’t seen MWF. I would encourage you to keep some of the tabac sticks around. You might appreciate them more in a few years. Stick for you might be easier application.

 

[nickm]

You serious, Clark? Not sure if you’re being sarcastic.

Caswell Massey and I recall one of the US Presidents stocked it exclusively in the White House because he liked it so much

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Just because it doesn't get hyped up, doesn't mean it doesn't get used by millions of traditional wet shavers

Proraso Red is the most used soap in my rotation, partly because it's cheap, smells ok, and performs well, but mostly because my skin likes it better than any soaps I've tried. Which is odd considering how much residue it leaves on EVERYTHING. My chin is prone to breakouts but I've had basically none since I started using Proraso regularly.

 

[PLANofMAN]

Proraso Red is the most used soap in my rotation, partly because it's cheap, smells ok, and performs well, but mostly because my skin likes it better than any soaps I've tried. Which is odd considering how much residue it leaves on EVERYTHING. My chin is prone to breakouts but I've had basically none since I started using Proraso regularly.

It's the only soap I have that aggressively marks it's territory. I keep a can of scrubbing bubbles around almost exclusively because of that one single soap.

On the flip side, it's also about the only soap I tried in the first few years of wet shaving that I still re-order. It wasn't around when I first got into wet shaving. IIRC, Proraso Red was some sort of oatmeal based soap/shave cream. Good stuff, as I recall. Discontinued shortly after I tried it, and replaced shortly after with the sandalwood.

There was some grumbling in the forum when they discontinued the red, but it mostly subsided when they re-booted the red and introduced the white.

 

[PLANofMAN]

His name is Joe G. I still talk with him on Facebook. He's doing well.

"People" made him quit the business, unfortunately. It's kind of a long story.

That caused a few neurons to fire in my brain that had been dormant.

Let me see if I get the TLDR version right.

Joe wasn't great at communicating with his customers, so when some kind of emergency (family, personal, or otherwise) ended up with him not being able to ship orders out for about two months, no contact from him to his customers resulted in a ton of PayPal charge backs/refunds. This caused PayPal to suspend his account, effectively cutting off his money and ending his business.

His website also went offline for a bit, which exacerbated the problem.

That about sum it up?

 

[mozartman]

Proraso red (as far as I know) still contains real sandalwood oil. It's just a smidgen, given the price of Proraso, but there nonetheless.

Between the rising cost of sandalwood oil, EU perfume restrictions, and the tendency of synthetic Sandalwood scents to cause allergic reactions, I'm not surprised to see Sandalwood falling by the wayside as a scent base.

...disappointed, but not surprised.

Edit: It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Proraso sells more soap and cream than all the American "artisans" combined. Just because it doesn't get hyped up, doesn't mean it doesn't get used by millions of traditional wet shavers who just don't care enough about wet shaving to make it a hobby like we do.

Yes, no doubt that's true. I also suspect that shave soaps in general, and soaps in general, contain only a smidgen, if any, of any expensive fragrances, not just genuine sandalwood oil. But to be clear, I've long been a Proraso fan and user of their shave soap for sensitive skin, aka Proraso white, as well as the aftershave balm or cream. It doesn't matter to me if it is too common for hobbyists.

On the other hand, I'm fine with artisan soaps too, and think their often higher cost is at least in some cases justified. This is not because of any rare and exotic ingredients, but because the vastly smaller production quantities, and the additional time and care that generally goes into artisan products compared to mass-produced ones, almost inevitably results in higher unit costs. Whether the results are worth it is in significant part a subjective thing.