La Toja Stick: Revisited

[BudgetShaverGuy]

I had such a great shave today, I had to share the details. Back in February, I tried La Toja fo the first time and experienced the burn, as some have experienced. Back then I was grinding up shave sticks into a bowl and then loading the brush like it was the end of the world or something. La Toja burned and I was bummed as I absolutely loved the warm/tobacco-ey scent. Well all these months later having fully embraced the power of the stick, as intended, I am glad to report that I not only experienced ZERO burn, but I also had one of the smoothest/closest shaves I've ever had since I started wet-shaving. My stick standards for excellence are: TOBS St. James, Valobra, Speick, Palmolive, and Tabac and use them all on a regular basis. I simply rubbed an thin/opaque layer of La Toja on my beard and went to town with my damp Semogue 1800, quite the brush for face-lathering as an aside, and built enough protective / slick lather for 2 passes and touch-ups. A little goes a long way and I can see why this stick is so well loved on this forum. As much as I love the above sticks, I think La Toja is the best as an all around product. Just wanted to share!

 

[FarmerTan]

Never tried it, but love the Palmolive you sent me.

Doesn't smell as good as Arko, but works well.

And there is no man with lather on his face on the label.

All good soaps need the lather faced man!

 

[never-stop-learning]

La Toja was the first stick I tried. GREAT stuff.

Was wondering how rubbing the La Toja stick on my face and then topping things off with some bowl lathered La Toja Cream (with a dime sized dollop of Cremo to kick off the nuclear reaction ) would end up working?

"News at 11:00.....The lather that ate Las Vegas....."

 

[rockviper]

La Toe-ha is wonderful!

 

[polanalyst]

For me, La Toja is perhaps the best price and performance soap on the market with a nice inoffensive scent. I wish it was available in a full size tub as well.


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[BigJ]

Congratulations!! Revisiting a product sometimes pays great dividends!!

The LaToja stick is absolutely top-notch for me also!

 

[MikeTbass]

I have been using the La Toja stick most mornings for a few weeks now. I was originally going to grate them up into a bowl, but after using the soap as a shave stick I have kept with it. The performance is great but the post shave is what has sold me - I can tell a difference even mid day if I used the La Toja vs. anything else. Must be the "mineral salts"...

 

[shave/brush]

Best stick around.

 

[Boghopper]

I got piffed a stick and to me it smells like a baby.
I haven’t shaved with it yet. Does anyone else get that baby smell from it? Sort of talcumy, fresh, clean?

 

[Chandu]

but the post shave is what has sold me - I can tell a difference even mid day if I used the La Toja vs. anything else. Must be the "mineral salts"...

I like it too. I have oily skin and it works great. I don't need a bucket of oil dumped on my face post shave. So I do fine with most normal soaps, even some find drying. But La Toja has a nice feel. I'll admit to whipping up a lather just to wash my face with it in the summer when I need to "degrease" later in the day.

I got piffed a stick and to me it smells like a baby.

Kind of. To me it's a lighter scented Tabac smell.

 

[beginish]

Best. Soap. Period. IMHO, no soaps of 2010’s vintage can touch La Toja for performance. If only they made a puck version.

 

[rockviper]

Isn't a stick just a tall, skinny puck?

 

[Bad Badger]

Best. Soap. Period. IMHO, no soaps of 2010’s vintage can touch La Toja for performance. If only they made a puck version.

cheese grater is your friend

 

[MikeTbass]

I grated a stick with a half puck of Tabac and made La Tobac, it's very, very nice!

 

[Bad Badger]

I grated a stick with a half puck of Tabac and made La Tobac, it's very, very nice!

whoa!

 

[Atlantic59]

I got piffed a stick and to me it smells like a baby.
I haven’t shaved with it yet. Does anyone else get that baby smell from it? Sort of talcumy, fresh, clean?

The scent changes when you lather it. I imagine someone has hung freshly washed clothes out to dry in the bright sunlight on a hill overlooking the sea.
🏖

 

[Boghopper]

That sounds more appealing

 

[MrSmith83]

10/10 soap stick for me. It's also, somewhat like Speick in that the scent isn't anything fancy but just perfect for what it is.

 

[Bad Badger]

It really is crazy how well it performs. Can easily hang with all my top-tier, high-dollar soaps.

 

[Atlantic59]

A couple of related things, that might already be well-known:

* These sticks can be found in Spain very cheaply at supermarkets. A couple of sticks for less than 4.50 euro (< $5). It gets a big price bump crossing the ocean to us. I can't think of anything else that performs this well for $5/100 grams. Buying it from a shop in the EU can be cost effective in quantity, if you can get reasonable shipping.

* I found soaking the end of the stick in warm water for about a minute makes it a lot easier to apply, since it is a fairly hard soap. I don't mind the stick format, good for travel, but also at home.