I'm hoping I can get some clarification on the differences between these products. Are Klar and Klar Kabinett -- both at Royal Shave -- different products or only different sizes? And how does Gold Dachs compare?
Klar v. Klar Kabinett v. Gold Dachs
- Thread starter UngerWoo
- Start date
They are entirely different products.
Klar Seifen, or what you are referring to as Klar, is a phenomenal soap. My #1 out of many great performers. I think its better than MdC. Its THAT good. The sandalwood is a very nice take, and the sport is a refreshing clean scent.
Klar Kabbinett is also very good, and significantly cheaper. It only comes in 1 size and thats 2-250 g "barber sized" bars. It has a powdery rose scent. I enjoy it, and I don't even care for rose all that much, but some people don't like the scent. While I'd rate it in my top 10, it isn't quite as good as the Klar Seifen, although that is to be expected I suppose. I still think its much better than Tabac or Cella, but it isn't better (for me) than MdC. It's a top performer as well.
Gold Dachs I haven't personally tried. There is a rumor that the soap is produced by Dr. Dittmar. This is NOT true. I spoke with someone who personally knows Dr. Dittmar, and was told that he used to produce the soap, but there was a long, drawn out lawsuit some years back, and long story short Dr. Dittmar is now producing his own soap, and Gold Dachs is different entirely. I've heard that the Dr. Dittmar soap is the superior of the 2, and I think its fantastic. It also has a very clean scent. Don't let the price fool you, it spanks many soaps costing multiple times more.
I hope this is helpful. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask as I've tried pretty much every german made shaving soap out there.
While you're at shopping at RoyalShave, pick up a puck of Calani if they have it in stock. Its my my #2 soap behind Klar Seifen, and above MdC. It's phenomenal. I've never had a bad shave when using it
Klar Seifen, or what you are referring to as Klar, is a phenomenal soap. My #1 out of many great performers. I think its better than MdC. Its THAT good. The sandalwood is a very nice take, and the sport is a refreshing clean scent.
Klar Kabbinett is also very good, and significantly cheaper. It only comes in 1 size and thats 2-250 g "barber sized" bars. It has a powdery rose scent. I enjoy it, and I don't even care for rose all that much, but some people don't like the scent. While I'd rate it in my top 10, it isn't quite as good as the Klar Seifen, although that is to be expected I suppose. I still think its much better than Tabac or Cella, but it isn't better (for me) than MdC. It's a top performer as well.
Gold Dachs I haven't personally tried. There is a rumor that the soap is produced by Dr. Dittmar. This is NOT true. I spoke with someone who personally knows Dr. Dittmar, and was told that he used to produce the soap, but there was a long, drawn out lawsuit some years back, and long story short Dr. Dittmar is now producing his own soap, and Gold Dachs is different entirely. I've heard that the Dr. Dittmar soap is the superior of the 2, and I think its fantastic. It also has a very clean scent. Don't let the price fool you, it spanks many soaps costing multiple times more.
I hope this is helpful. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask as I've tried pretty much every german made shaving soap out there.
While you're at shopping at RoyalShave, pick up a puck of Calani if they have it in stock. Its my my #2 soap behind Klar Seifen, and above MdC. It's phenomenal. I've never had a bad shave when using it
- Thread starter
- #3
This is great information. Thank you. I ordered a puck of Calani Plum last night and have an email in to see if I can add the Klar travel tin to my order. Glad to hear it's so good. MdC is probably my favorite soap, so I'm eager to try these German soaps based on your comparison.
In general, how do German soaps compare to French? Is it possible to make such a generalized comparison?
In general, how do German soaps compare to French? Is it possible to make such a generalized comparison?
I have tried two German soaps, Tabac and Speick. Both are pretty much legendary and almost anyone on this board will tell you they are top tier performers. Tabac is still my favorite out of a rotation that contains MdC, MWF, AOS sandalwood, Castle Forbes lavender, Mystic Water lavender, DRH Arlington and a couple RazoRock soaps.
To sum it up: Germans make good stuff. All you need is a Thater brush to lather it and you are all set
To sum it up: Germans make good stuff. All you need is a Thater brush to lather it and you are all set
I think the French soaps were the first to use veggie bases and Shea heavily. I think IK is the best of that genre. I've seen IK marketed specially for men over 60. Joris coming in second (w/o Shea). Then MdC came around and shocked everyone with good simple ingredients.
The German stuff is creamier overall. Blade protection from the most aggressive blades. Gold Dachs is fairly plain much like Joris and a veggie shaver. These are ver good, but not in the league of Tabac and Calani.
You wont regret Calani. I've been using the Honey, Malabar and Plum all week. Phenominal. Looks like Klar is next on my list to try.
The German stuff is creamier overall. Blade protection from the most aggressive blades. Gold Dachs is fairly plain much like Joris and a veggie shaver. These are ver good, but not in the league of Tabac and Calani.
You wont regret Calani. I've been using the Honey, Malabar and Plum all week. Phenominal. Looks like Klar is next on my list to try.
I just placed an order at Royal Shave for some Klar Seifen and some Calani soap based on the recommendations in this thread.
I got the Spanish Sun scent. The only other scent available was Tea Time and Spanish Sun sounded better to me. I'll post my thoughts once I get the soaps.
I got the Spanish Sun scent. The only other scent available was Tea Time and Spanish Sun sounded better to me. I'll post my thoughts once I get the soaps.
I think its difficult to make such a sweeping generalization. Not because I'm against generalizing, as it is helpful in many instances, but I'll try anyway.
First, most of the german soaps are "hard" soaps. While the vast majority of italian soaps are croaps, I don't know of any soft german soaps. The French tend to be in the middle. That may be a starting place to think about it. While the french do make some very good soaps, I find, in general, they tend to be more moisturizing and less slick and dense. There aren't THAT many french soaps. Some of the ones I've tried and can comment on are:
Cade. Ubiquitous at malls everywhere. Decent performer, pleasant scent. Can be a little tricky to lather, but worth the effort
MdC. The soap all soaps aspire to be, even if the other german ones I mentioned I personally find better. Makes copious amounts of yogurty lather. I like the scent, but it isn't for everyone. Note that this is actually a bit of a sticky paste and not a hard soap as the jar leads you to believe
Monsavon. A drugstore goodie of france. Cheap in france, expensive stateside. This is actually more of a croap. Good performance, but the smell is polarizing and unique
Savon du Midi. A very good yet obscure on the forums soap. It's a hard soap, similar to the german ones.
Others I know about that I haven't tried:
Pre de Provence and institute Karite. Joris is actually english made if I recall correctly.
I use a straight and face lather, and I prefer my german ones to my french ones, except for MdC. While some people go gaga over the italian soaps, I personally choose the soap, not the country of origin. It just so happens some of my absolute top performers are german made. MdC, Cade, and Savon du Midi are all soaps I can recommend, however. Also, I should note that in terms of Shea Butter, the only ones that contain shea butter are PdP and IK. Surprisingly, Cade does not, nor does MdC, monsavon, or savon du midi.
While Tabac is the heavy hitter of the german soaps, I personally don't care for it that much. Not really the scent, but the performance is a little lacking for me. I know there are TONS of tabac fans here, so I'll chalk it up to YMMV. It is popular in my estimation for 2 reasons. 1) It is a good soap. But mainly 2) its easily available. A lot of these soaps are only found from 1-2 sellers, so they just aren't nearly as easy to get as adding a puck to your usual online order. I'm always looking for hard to find soaps, and the ones I've mentioned are well worth the effort.
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What do you think of the Malabar scent? It sounds good, can you describe it at all or compare it to anything?
I did as well, in "Sport" & "Oriental Plum".
You're in for a treat! Hope you don't love your other soaps too much
The anticipation is killing me already.
Thank you for the recommendations!
It's my pleasure! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on them. Here are a couple poor photos in the meantime
BTW: These are my top 5, in order
Klar:
Calani:
MdC:
Dr. Dittmar:
"TFS":
View attachment 248257
BTW: These are my top 5, in order
Klar:
Calani:
MdC:
Dr. Dittmar:
"TFS":
View attachment 248257
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Very nice lather pics Nick.
I will report back with reviews and pics after I get the soaps and try them out.
I will report back with reviews and pics after I get the soaps and try them out.
- Thread starter
- #14
Thanks again for the great information. I've now added Dittmar and Klar to the Calani order. Really looking forward to getting all these. Glad to hear these are something like Savon du Midi, as that's a favorite of mine.
I'm with you on Tabac. While I like it, there are others -- MdC, Savon du Midi, Cade, IK, Provence Sante, PdP, MWF -- that I like more. I've only used it once, but I really enjoyed Zi' Peppino, too.
I'm with you on Tabac. While I like it, there are others -- MdC, Savon du Midi, Cade, IK, Provence Sante, PdP, MWF -- that I like more. I've only used it once, but I really enjoyed Zi' Peppino, too.
While I normally use boars for my soft soaps, despite having a preference for badgers, try using a badger with the ZP. I find it loads more similarly to MdC than Cella. Meaning, load for maybe 20 seconds or so, and then work up the lather, as opposed to predominantly lathering on the "puck". If you haven't tried this already, it may really "kick it up a notch" for you
- Thread starter
- #16
That's my usual method of application. How do you load Cella?
I actually don't care for cella, but for the traditional Italian soft soaps I load heavily with a boar, essentially building the lather on the puck
Another great post, Nick. Which also makes me sad, since I'll have to ban you for disrespecting Tabac.
The Malabar scent is as strong and fantastic as Plum. It's a bit more foodie I suppose - strong in cinnamon, but the other elements saffron and spice come though. It's dark, warm and smooth. Easy to like. In other words, she did it again. It's a "in the mood" type scent.
Honestly guys, Calani has killed my soap hunt for a while. They are that good. The aftershave is fantastic also - strong scented though - but good. My lady freaked over the honey AS complimenting how much she liked it. It took me a few days to get used to the strength, but it's good stuff - very healing. I'll be ordering more of the AS also.
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