I used a non-shaving soap to shave today

[if_6was9]

I work in a hotel. Due to a recent storm, I had to stay in a room for the night following my shift. For the first time, I took a good look at the soap we stock the guestrooms with. Two things I noticed immediately: 1) on the front it says "BERGAMOT" - I LOVE bergamot! 2) the first ingredient listed is sodium tallowate, although there's no stearic acid (which I understand combine to form shaving lather).

Of course I had to bring it home, break out the cheese grater, and shred it/press it into a bowl. The results were actually pretty damn good in terms of the shave. I added what seemed like a gallon of water which eventually resulted in a pretty good three-pass shave. The bergamot was actually quite fragrant when face lathering.

Slickness: 8/10
Cushion: 7/10
Residual: 8/10
Post shave: 3/10

The soap reminded me of Arko, performance-wise. Quite slick with good cushion. Residual slickness was impressive, as I had to do some buffing following the third pass. Didn't need to relather for it. Post-shave was very drying, ala Arko.

 

[RayClem]

Your evaluation of the soap is fairly typical of a bath/hand soap. The performance during the shave is decent, but the post shave is lacking. There are a few soaps like Yardley of London Cocoa Butter Extra Moisturizing soap that contain Shea Butter and Cocoa Butter that provide a decent post-shave as well.

I bet the bergamot smelled good though.

If the hotel had a bottle of hair conditioner, that could have been used for shaving as well. When I traveled about 10 days per month during the last half my career, I often shaved using whatever shampoo or conditioner was available in the hotel.