I don't understand

[G-Dogg]

Yes, it's important to me. I want my soap to smell like soap, and don't want to subject myself to an unnecessarily unpleasant olfactory experience as part of my overall shave. I struggle with Tabac because, however well it performs as a soap, I really don't care for the scent.

Fortunately, there are plenty of good soaps to keep most of us happy, whatever our preferences!

 

[YKMV]

Now I'm curious. How many of you choose your shower soaps by scent? Lol

I do. I'm currently using Lavanda and will switch to a Stirling soap next.
But i'm very limited on soap choices since I'm on a buying sabbatical.. imposed by SWMBO.

 

[YKMV]

Yes, it's important to me. I want my soap to smell like soap, and don't want to subject myself to an unnecessarily unpleasant olfactory experience as part of my overall shave. I struggle with Tabac because, however well it performs as a soap, I really don't care for the scent.

Fortunately, there are plenty of good soaps to keep most of us happy, whatever our preferences!

Likewise, I don't like tobacco scented soaps so the one or two samples I had got given away.
The scent is important to me.

 

[1Vader]

Yes it is nice to have a soap that smells nice while you shave but is it really all that important when that scent fades quickly as soon as your done shaving and then put on after shave?

You know, I have been in this hobby for quite a bit, and I also bit into the hype, still sometimes does. At times I ask myself this same question. What am I doing? These are just scents.

What's most important is the performance, and the post shave. Soap scents go away quickly anyway. It's just a bonus for me at this point. The cherry on top of a nice shave. As long as the scent isn't repulsive, it doesn't matter much to me anymore.

 

[BigJ]

My preference is performance over scent. That said, scents do matter. Some top performers (such as MdC) are improved by appealing scents, while other well performing soaps (such as Arko) have disagreeable scents IMO.

 

[cvargo]

Performance is most important.

If scent is nice that's a bonus.

If scent is bad it is sold, trashed, or pifed

 

[Smooth Steve]

Scents matter. It is part of the complete experience. Yes the soap scent will be gone by the post. Scents bring back memories, offer pure enjoyment, and help one relax. For me, my daily shaves are a time dedicated to myself where it is like a mini manly spa treatment. The scent of the shave soap helps with that brief moment of escape.
Steve

 

[emwolf]

- TOBS Sandalwood: Incense, cologne-like scent, reminds me of church and crazy gf, won't touch again.

never had a scent remind me of an x-gf yet, that would be disastrous.

 

[SoullessSingularity]

Now I'm curious. How many of you choose your shower soaps by scent? Lol

I do explicitly. There are plenty of soap companies with excellent formula and a wide variety of scents to choose from, so it's a no brained to choose by scent among soap companies with proven performance. Copa soaps, whippedup, sudsandsparkles and a local store called martinsville emporium are all my favorites. I'm trying to find a good shampoo bar that I enjoy the smell of but it's been a struggle, too.

 

[psfred]

The less the better. I'd rather smell the tallow in my shaving soap than some overpowering stink that won't go away. Arko is tolerable, but I could live with 10% of the scent.

Everyone is different, and the trend these days is to the "smell you thirty miles downwind" -- maybe urban living is destroying the ability to smell? I've always been scent sensitive though,

Fortunately I've found a couple good soap recipes, and can scent them to my own preference!

What really counts is good shaving performance -- I'd rather have a faint scent than a bad shave.

 

[Piker]

Scents are just as important to me as performance. For me, wet shaving is a joy because it engages four of the five senses. The feel of a mild razor, sound of chatter from a blade, look of the sheen on a good lather, and the scents create an awesome experience. I also like my aftershave to match the soap or at least compliment it. It sort of creates a good mood for the day.

 

[August West]

"It is good we all like different things or everyone would be chasing your grandmother."

-My Italian Grandfather(Pietro Vito)

 

[davent]

Scent is a tolerated element that i'm happy to have disappear in a flash. Even if it's a scent a find pleasant i'd really rather not have to smell it while shaving, the experience of the container opening waft is quite enough.

dave

Olfactory Fatigue, your body is cutting you off to allow for the detection of new stimuli.

Olfactory fatigue, also known as odor fatigue or olfactory adaptation, is the temporary, normal inability to distinguish a particular odor after a prolonged exposure to that airborne compound.[1] For example, when entering a restaurant initially the odor of food is often perceived as being very strong, but after time the awareness of the odor normally fades to the point where the smell is not perceptible or is much weaker. After leaving the area of high odor, the sensitivity is restored with time. Anosmia is the permanent loss of the sense of smell, and is different from olfactory fatigue.

It is a term commonly used in wine tasting, where one loses the ability to smell and distinguish wine bouquet after sniffing at wine(s) continuously for an extended period of time. The term is also used in the study of indoor air quality, for example, in the perception of odors from people, tobacco, and cleaning agents.

Olfactory fatigue is an example of neural adaptation or sensory adaptation. The body becomes desensitized to stimuli to prevent the overloading of the nervous system, thus allowing it to respond to new stimuli that are 'out of the ordinary'.

Olfactory fatigue - Wikipedia

dave

The Cream Version of the thread.
I don't understand.
dave

 

[agrippas]

Yes it is nice to have a soap that smells nice while you shave but is it really all that important when that scent fades quickly as soon as your done shaving and then put on after shave?

To me, performance is way more important than scent. B&M Rhapsody, to me, smells awful, but it's in my regular rotation because it's a great performer.

 

[YKMV]

"It is good we all like different things or everyone would be chasing your grandmother."

-My Italian Grandfather(Pietro Vito)

 

[SHAVEWIZARD420]

Scented soaps is the reason I started wet shaving in the first place, so yea scent is very important to me, however the occasional vintage soap that lost its scent is used from time to time. Soap artisans these days have been coming up with some very creative complex scents that make the shaving experience that much more enjoyable and IMO a very important part of this hobby.

 

[babydials]

It makes the experience more enjoyable. It is not like there is a trade off between performance and scent where you are giving up one for the other. Why not enjoy it?

 

[kingfisher]

It makes the experience more enjoyable. It is not like there is a trade off between performance and scent where you are giving up one for the other. Why not enjoy it?

This hits the nail on the head. It's not like we have two choices, one of which is great performance and the other of which is great scent. It's pretty easy to find soaps that perform they way you like and also smell great. Why wouldn't you want BOTH?

 

[jdp93]

Scent is important to me, I view it as one factor in the overall experience. With the proliferation of so many fantastic soaps in the marketplace now, I see no reason not to shave with soap that smells and performs great with every shave.

 

[shrews824]

I agree with a lot of the previous comments. I love the scents of the soaps. If I'm going to use it I want it to smell nice. Like most I'm sure, I will (almost daily) pick up a random tub out of the den, open it, take in a big whiff and enjoy the scent for a few seconds. Even my not quite 2 year old daughter points to the soaps so she can smell them!!! She loves it!!