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

Had some curiosity regarding the state of the B&B shaving soap universe when the forum was first started 15+ years ago. Went through many of the forum posts from 2006 and 2007 and observed the following:
  • B&Bers had many similar questions to those posed today in areas such as technique, storage, soap shelf life and recommendations for a first or next shaving soap.
  • Most B&B members back then appear to have contributed to the site for just a few years though there are some who were members then who continue to post to this day.
  • The forum appears to have been more U.S. centric back then with some U.K. participation. We are more global now.
  • The shaving soap range discussed was narrower than today generally ranging from Williams, Colonel Conk and Mama Bear to the various U.K. brands at the premium end of the market. Specifics include:
    • William's, still readily available in many brick & mortar retailers, was a first soap for many B&Bers. This ranged from new hobbyists who bought one puck and quickly moved on to members who used Williams for decades until exposed to other options on B&B. Note that while opinions of Williams were diverse back then they were not as polarized as many today. The soap was often referred to as an "average" product to move up from.
    • Colonel Conk and Mama Bear were the "hot" mass market U.S.A. soaps at that time with lots of excitement in the posts related to these products. Van Der Hagen/Surrey (VDH) Select and QED soaps were also well regarded at this time. Also saw L'Occitane periodically mentioned as a premium option.
    • Barely any mention of Arko back then. Suspect it was harder to come by in the U.S.A. in those days. Also Williams was still readily available in retail stores.
    • European mass market soaps such as Tabac, Proraso and Speik also received a number of posts and were well regarded though much less common than today, in part due to more limited on-line retail availability.
    • U.K. soaps, such as Mitchell's Wool Fat(MWF), Turefitt & Hill (T&H), Dr. Harris, Trumpers and Taylor of Old Bond Street were considered as the most premium upscale options that had significant use by B&Bers. MWF was almost given cult like status by it's most ardent fans.
    • Art of Shaving (AoS) was rarely mentioned and few had used it. Recall one post where the then $24 puck ($34 today) was gifted and well regarded yet not considered worth the price versus other options.
  • Sensed a larger proportion of "old school" puck adherents who preferred Williams or other discontinued brands such as one B&Ber who mentioned an inventory of 10 Burma Shave pucks versus today.
  • We liked to experiment with melting and mixing soaps as we do now. Recall one post where molten Mama Bear was poured into 5 holes drilled into a Williams Puck with a Bic Pen. Lots of comments on superlathering soaps.
  • It was more challenging to acquire European soaps. They typically had to be ordered from a European based retailer with significant international shipping charges.
  • Small batch Artisan soaps were not a significant part of the market back then. Very little if any mention noted.
  • At the low end pricing was not much different than today. Williams was around a buck a puck, similar to the pricing right before it was discontinued earlier this year. VDH Select was around $2 and Col Conk and Mama Bear were under $5.
  • Interestingly Mitchell's Wool Fat has declined in price. Back then it cost $20-21 in the U.S.A while now it is available typically for $15/under $12 on sale. The decline of the British pound may account for some of this but my sense is that, while it was viewed as a premium product back then, is has more of a mid-market position today.
  • Other higher end soaps such AoS ($34 vs $24 then) and T&H ($28 vs $16 then) have maintained premium pricing. Additionally today's high end extends up to soaps such as Martin de Candre and Saponifico Varesino that can range up to $70 each.
  • Thanks to globalization and the growth in on-line retail over the past 15 years we have much easier access to a broader range of shaving soaps either through direct purchase from the manufacturer/artisan (e.g Stirling) or via retailers such as Maggards, Pasteurs and Amazon.
I did not review every single post so feel free to add any additional observations. Would love to hear from B&Bers who have been around since it's inception who would like to add/clarify the above. It's clear that forums like B&B have played a significant role in making us aware the wide range of shaving options available today.
 
I think you pretty well nailed it. I keep thinking I was reading this place about 10 or so years ago (more as a blog as I didn't register) and what you're recalling is what I remember from those days as well. Mama Bear and Conk were all over the place along with lathering MWF is almost impossible. ;)
 
I remember when I first started getting into this world and lurking in the forum around 2014 or so. I felt like creams ruled supreme. I remember using AoS creams and only cared about creams. The focus seemed to be creams and soaps were looked at as cheap and less than. Fast forward to now, modern soap formulations are incredible, and IMHO, modern soaps with these fantastic bases and scents perform better than anything we had 10-15 years ago whether they were soaps or creams.

I actually think we have seen a bit of a quantum leap in shave soap/creams where a lot of the old soap makers (Tabac, La Toja, etc.) have reformulated which has caused the vintage and old school soap/cream lovers some discomfort. BUT, modern soaps are performing better than even the old formulation of these older soaps. We have never had better-performing soaps and creams than we do now, by a long shot. Some might disagree with that but I stand by it.
 
I started posting in December of 2006, I think. I love to reminisce. There weren't so many choices.

In the old days, artisan soaps were made of mostly glycerine. Mama Bear, Honeybee, Gentlemen's Quarter, etc.

Artisan Hot process soaps (B&M, GD, DG, WK, ZM, GN, NO, etc. ) simply did not exist.

Creams ruled the forum because, in most cases, they worked better than soaps. They were usually European. TOBS, Trumpers, T+H, Crabtree + Evelyn, Proraso, Nivea, Erasmic, Speick, Florena, Omega, The Body Shop, etc.

There weren't tons of retailers. superlather.com. Tryphon. Smallflower. ebay. Westcoastshaving showed up relatively early considering it's still around. Italianbarber was definitely on the early side too.

Italianbarber was a gamechanger for me because I quickly became fond of Italian soft soaps. (P160, Valobra, Figaro, Fitness, 3P, Prep, Cella, etc) I bought 2 kilos of P160 back in '09 or so. I still have quite a bit of it. It still shaves great. IB also introduced me to milled steel razors which kind of ruined vintage DE razors for me.

Speaking of, Vintage razors were interesting back in 2006 because they were DIRT CHEAP, and they shaved better than modern razors. The only modern razors in '06 were Merkur. I really don't even remember Edwin Jagger being available until 2008 or so. Around that time, I had a "Goodfella" razor from New Zealand. I still have it, actually. It was a little, zamac, open-comb razor. Super mild, but great handle design.

Speaking of gamechangers, the second chapter of my shaving career that reinvigorated my journey was Mr. Fine. I 3017'ed 3 pucks in a row. I still like the pucks and the splashes. Simple, and perfect.


Overall, the quality has gone WAY up on almost everything. Prices have come down on quite a bit of stuff due to the abundance of choices. Blades used to be VERY expensive. I paid $40/100 for Gillette Platinum Russians without a second thought, and that was in 2009 dollars MUCH earlier in my career.

The biggest disappointments over the years:
P.160 going out of business.
Valobra going out of business
L'Occitane discontinuing Cade splash, then releasing the EDT that smells nothing like the splash. This store is shadow of its former self.
Floid discontinuing Blue
Proraso slowly reducing the menthol on everything with each reformulation.
Omega moving production from Proraso to somebody else.
Vito's aftershave splashes disappearing. Colonia, amber, Acqua, etc.
Fine discontinuing their hard soaps.
Gillette discontinuing Russian Blue 7OC blades

That's all I have to add right now. This was fun. Great thread idea.

BTW, my first soap post was on page 640 (the 7th page EVER in this forum)
 
Great summaries and recollections here. We are certainly spoiled for choice now in a way that we weren't before.

More stability back then than now (product changes, soap base iterations, new offerings etc.), so product conversations were in more broad strokes than base ABC vs XYZ.

I share a lot of Guitarslinger's observations. Particularly the Proraso changes, I JUST got some super formula and it's got me rethinking my love of the Green soap. And CADE.

I recall MWF, AoS Lavender or Sandalwood, and CF being the top shelf/high performers of the time. OH...and so much Taylor Avocado cream.

Most of the razor talk (again as I recall) was vintage Gillette DEs and Dovo straights. Norton waterstones and "pyramid" honing was the go to. Finishing straights was a lot of diamond vs coticule, with Japanese stones being a more exotic option. Seeing more proliferation of stones and techniques.

In the same way the environment and context has changed, I've changed. I don't have the same time and money to pursue the refinements and diminishing returns. My relationship with "stuff" has changed too. After a beard hiatus, I was overwhelmed with the new boutique offerings and such. There is so much good stuff. I've narrowed in on a few things that I particularly enjoy and focus on those.

The broadest stroke, vibe, perception I see is that it's easier to get into now than in was then. But once you're into it, the rabbit holes are more plentiful and deeper than they were.
 
This all sounds right to me. I joined B&B in 2013 when I had decided to take up DE shaving and wanted to research the products. 2013 was also, coincidentally, around the birth of solid, machined, stainless steel razors and the modern artisan razor era that we have now.

All my research on the site then led me to purchase an Above The Tie razor - about $100 but it was generally considered the best of the best then, and worth the high price (and in fact it did shave noticeably better than the Merkurs and Mühles). The Feather AS-D2 was the only other high end razor option, and it was popular too. The other stuff I bought based on B&B weight of opinion was a Kent BK8 brush and various flavours of Geo Trumpers cream and aftershaves. The noteworthy blades at the time were Feather and Personna - I liked both but stuck with Personnas (which I bought a large stash of and they are the ones now referred to as Israeli Reds).

Then I stopped using B&B and just got on with shaving, until two or three years ago when I logged on again to research aftershaves and I found there was so much interesting stuff available now. And all hell broke loose as a result.

I still have all of the stuff I bought in 2013, and it is all good stuff, except perhaps the Trumpers creams which I didn’t finish and I eventually disposed of (I moved on to Proraso cream in a big tube, which was more convenient).
 
I started posting in December of 2006, I think. I love to reminisce. There weren't so many choices.

In the old days, artisan soaps were made of mostly glycerine. Mama Bear, Honeybee, Gentlemen's Quarter, etc.

Artisan Hot process soaps (B&M, GD, DG, WK, ZM, GN, NO, etc. ) simply did not exist.

Creams ruled the forum because, in most cases, they worked better than soaps. They were usually European. TOBS, Trumpers, T+H, Crabtree + Evelyn, Proraso, Nivea, Erasmic, Speick, Florena, Omega, The Body Shop, etc.

There weren't tons of retailers. superlather.com. Tryphon. Smallflower. ebay. Westcoastshaving showed up relatively early considering it's still around. Italianbarber was definitely on the early side too.

Italianbarber was a gamechanger for me because I quickly became fond of Italian soft soaps. (P160, Valobra, Figaro, Fitness, 3P, Prep, Cella, etc) I bought 2 kilos of P160 back in '09 or so. I still have quite a bit of it. It still shaves great. IB also introduced me to milled steel razors which kind of ruined vintage DE razors for me.

Speaking of, Vintage razors were interesting back in 2006 because they were DIRT CHEAP, and they shaved better than modern razors. The only modern razors in '06 were Merkur. I really don't even remember Edwin Jagger being available until 2008 or so. Around that time, I had a "Goodfella" razor from New Zealand. I still have it, actually. It was a little, zamac, open-comb razor. Super mild, but great handle design.

Speaking of gamechangers, the second chapter of my shaving career that reinvigorated my journey was Mr. Fine. I 3017'ed 3 pucks in a row. I still like the pucks and the splashes. Simple, and perfect.


Overall, the quality has gone WAY up on almost everything. Prices have come down on quite a bit of stuff due to the abundance of choices. Blades used to be VERY expensive. I paid $40/100 for Gillette Platinum Russians without a second thought, and that was in 2009 dollars MUCH earlier in my career.

The biggest disappointments over the years:
P.160 going out of business.
Valobra going out of business
L'Occitane discontinuing Cade splash, then releasing the EDT that smells nothing like the splash. This store is shadow of its former self.
Floid discontinuing Blue
Proraso slowly reducing the menthol on everything with each reformulation.
Omega moving production from Proraso to somebody else.
Vito's aftershave splashes disappearing. Colonia, amber, Acqua, etc.
Fine discontinuing their hard soaps.
Gillette discontinuing Russian Blue 7OC blades

That's all I have to add right now. This was fun. Great thread idea.

BTW, my first soap post was on page 640 (the 7th page EVER in this forum)
Floid Blue will come back. It’s bound to.
 
I, too, joined B&B in 2010 and began my DE wet shaving journey. Tubs of Proraso, tubs of Cella---you know the drill when just starting out. A whole new world. I have to say the fellas have really built this forum up over the years. As mentioned, there are so many more soap and cream choices now than there were then; I can't imagine how limited it must have been in 2006, particularly by today's standards. One thing that really sticks out in my mind is all the chatter on the soap forum early to mid-decade when honored shave soap companies began phasing out their tallow---long time seasoned wet shavers nearly wept! Folks were buying up closetfuls of storied favorites like AoS. Prices of tallowed pucks seemed to double in price overnight--when you were fortunate enough to run into some on the B/S/T or side market. Anyway, darn good thread. Cheers.
 
I started in 2009 with a Gillette Knack, c.o. Bigelow, Aveda aftershave and a tweezerman brush. Groovy stuff! First high end razor I bought was a Weber. Man did those get bashed for a while...and now stupid prices if they come up for sale.

The artisan soap, razor and brush industry has gotten just about impossible to follow. I still largely stick with soaps that came out before 2015....Barrister and Mann and Stirling. I recall ordering Hallows at midnight when it came out in 14 or 15. Rock star soao. .








Fun thread !
 

garyg

B&B membership has its percs
Wow, interesting - there are products mentioned I'd almost forgotten (joined B&B early 2009), some that still warm the heart. One or two that still suck ..

Here's a couple that was the bee's knees then, little heard of now ..

Recall some members adding this tagline, so I'll fake it for this thread's purposes

GaryG
Veteran of the Great Irisch Moos Campaign of 2009


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