What's new

How to handle Soap Acquisition Disorder?

Ok, so I am still a newbie handling soaps. Tried Tabac which I love, Crabtree's Nomad which is ok, glycerin based soaps - not a big fan (sorry Mama & Col Conk). So I am planning on going through some soaps systematically (if possible). Should I stick with one brand and get all flavors, or just try one of each of the most popular from each brand? Which, I am still not convinced on Avocado, but hey, people seem to like, it will just have to go to the bottom of my list. I am not trying to go for broke, just yet, but 3-5 soaps will do.

How did you decided or get started sampling soaps?
 
Last edited:
Are you interested in scents or lather?

I think the lather tends to be similar within a line of products, while the scents will clearly vary. So if I were interested in scents I might get one of every sandalwood, for example. For lather I would probably try one item from each well-reputed maker.

Which ones? Well, the European Palmolive stick is a great value. You can get it from WCS and other vendors. The la toja stick is also great. MWF, Speick, Harris.... Come to think of it I like just about everything I've tried, including Williams.
 

ouch

Stjynnkii membörd dummpsjterd
Buy soaps from many different producers to see the variety of quality that's available.
 
Ouch, you would say that "buy from different producers" I am afraid to ask how many soaps you got in your bathroom. But I am trying to take small bite into this Soap Acquisition Disorder.
 
Unfortunately there is no such thing as small bites with these type of disorders....nibbles will satisfy the hunger of the soap gods...you must gorge on many soaps to appease them.

Seriously, many places offer samples that will allow you to try many products for little cost.
 
Seriously, many places offer samples that will allow you to try many products for little cost.

Well, I find it hard to try out soap samples when they are the size of my thumb. But if there is a shop/s that can make this sample experience painless, then I might be interested. In the past I heard you had to e-mail each one of manufacturer to inquire about samples. Works good for creams, not so sure about soaps.
 
Well the only real way to get that to go away is to go after lather more than scent. I started to get caught up with scents and that did not last long. I made a couple purchases trying scents and some of em smelled horrible and the lather for me was unacceptable. I gave em a couple tries really looking at my lather workup, changing things to find the right process. After that I found that the perfect lather is way more important. Now, I am perfectly fine with Cella, MWF, and Palmolive sticks. I do use the Cella a whole lot more. They do not make P160 anymore so there is no point in getting any if it aint gonna be there in 5 years when my brick ran out.
 
While scents are great, they don't really give you an idea of how good the lather is. Right now you may want a soap that smells great but later you may want one that gives great lather. For ones that do both I would suggest either Tabac or Muhle Sea Buckthorn in triple milled soaps.
For glycerine soaps many people love Mama Bear's soaps. Go read the reviews.
There are so many soap makers out there that you can feel like a kid in a candy store when it comes to buying a soap.
 
One of the great things about soap is that it has a pretty good shelf-life. If you find yourself with a heap of soaps and want to sell/trade them away in the future, the crowd on B/S/T will normally snap them up.
It has been said here before, but life is really too short to shave with poor shave soap. I would select a couple of the pucks with great reputations and try them out (D. R. Harris, MWF, Czech & Speake etc)- once you have been to the top of the mountain, you may find that there is no need to go anywhere else.
 
One of the great things about soap is that it has a pretty good shelf-life. If you find yourself with a heap of soaps and want to sell/trade them away in the future, the crowd on B/S/T will normally snap them up.
It has been said here before, but life is really too short to shave with poor shave soap. I would select a couple of the pucks with great reputations and try them out (D. R. Harris, MWF, Czech & Speake etc)- once you have been to the top of the mountain, you may find that there is no need to go anywhere else.

+1 I definitely recommend quality of lather over scent. It could be the best smelling soap ever, but if it doesn't do what it was intended for, then why bother. Harris makes fine tallow soaps, but I would also recommend pretty much all of the Italian range-Cella, Valobra and P.160 (if you can find it). Like David says, they tend to have a good shelf life.

David
 

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
I also prefer the shave quality over the scent, but then there are some soaps that combine both. The limitation for the SAD is the capacity of my bathroom storage space...:lol:
 
I view shaving soaps much the same way Charlie Sheen views women in Vegas. There are a lot and I want to try them all. I will too someday and so will he.
 
The only way I have of controlling my soap acquisition disorder is to limit myself to paying no more than $10 for any currently produced soap. I have paid higher prices for vintage soaps, most notably Old Spice. I am depriving myself of many fine imported soaps from England, France and Italy, but I do have a very large selection of artisan produced and soaps from third world sources.
 

The Count of Merkur Cristo

B&B's Emperor of Emojis
Ok, so I am still a newbie handling soaps. Tried Tabac which I love, Crabtree's Nomad which is ok, glycerin based soaps - not a big fan (sorry Mama & Col Conk). So I am planning on going through some soaps systematically (if possible). Should I stick with one brand and get all flavors, or just try one of each of the most popular from each brand? Which, I am still not convinced on Avocado, but hey, people seem to like, it will just have to go to the bottom of my list. I am not trying to go for broke, just yet, but 3-5 soaps will do.

How did you decided or get started sampling soaps?
Xavier:
At times..."Resistance is futile".
proxy.php


Christopher
proxy.php
 
This is a difficult question that comes down to the personal question of how much you really want to spend and how long you are willing to take. Over time you will realize that what you originally thought you wanted to no longer want and vice versa. I would follow the advice of Suziki, he really emphasized cost effectiveness and also sampling. He says try a shave stick (Palmolive, Speick, Valobra), a glycerine soap (Mama Bear, TGQ, Honeybee, QED), and one each of the major triple milled (AoS, Trumper, DRH, Tabac, MWF). If you have completed this list and taken the time to appreciate each, then move on to what you personally want.
 
Oh, I sympathize with you. The lure of soaps (and to a lesser extent creams) has turned me into a junkie.

I know how crack addicts feel except I'm well groomed and I have all my teeth.

:lol: see!
 
Top Bottom