I’m usually not one to sit down and write out my thoughts on this soap or that, this blade or that—I have done so when I did my review of Battle Brothers blades, and I have certainly written of my persistent SAD. To be fair, I certainly have commented on this product or that on various threads, that’s what we do here. Point being, this typically isn’t my thing, but I thought I’d toss this hat in the ring because I see so little mentioned about this artisan and thought I’d shove my two cents worth down your throats. LOL
This story began back in April when I attended the Big Shave S’West here in AZ. Being my first ever shave related meet-up I jumped at the opportunity to get a swag bag full of shaving goodies. Had a good time and soon as I got home I emptied the bag (much like we used to do with our candy haul on Halloween) and, just like those Halloweens past, quickly sorted the important from incidental, soaps and such from marketing stuff like business cards and stickers; recall childhood Christmases when you’d get a pair of socks or other clothing and it was placed ‘over there’ in our ravenous search for that toy we asked for—yeah, that kind of sorting.
Having soap samples set aside, I immediately embarked on a round of initial sniffing.
Opened the event-themed Big Shave soap made by PAA, a nice, desert-scent—white sage with a woody touch of rosewood and musk. Col. Conk’s Rio Grande Lavender was next, a heady but kind of earthy lavender, floral and sweet, followed by a small sample from Edwin Jagger (Pomegranate & Lime) and a couple small samples from HSSC and Cooper & French. In a 10z tub was a simply labeled sample of Lakewood’s Prairie Song. I twisted off the top and inhaled deeply . . . that couldn’t be right, there was next to no scent at all. Not sure what I expected, but I expected something perhaps earthy, reminiscent of a wide open prairie. There was something, but nothing that stood out—I can’t say it was unscented, but seemed darn close.
I didn’t get back to it for about a month, then cracked it open again . . . still, not much there. Well, it was free and I am certainly not going to let free product go to waste, so I gave it a shot. I have to tell you gentlemen that the first go scent-wise was kind of lackluster. Performance was good, but at that time I didn’t take note of anything worth remembrance, much less drooling over.
A little time passed and I got around to my second use . . . this was a little different. I was picking up something fresh, light, but really nice—I could detect a hint of leather, but certainly sage, lemongrass and vetiver. Apparently it has tobacco, patchouli and whiskey, too. The performance seemed improved as well. By the third go I was really picking up the scent and enjoying it, and the soap’s performance was top notch . . . slick, smooth, wonderful face feel, lathered easily and well.
By the fourth use I was compelled to check out their website to get a feel for their product line. One of the first things I see is a fairly new scent named Coquette. Well played, Lakewood! Placing a pin-up girl on your label is a sure fire eye-catcher. And with a name like Coquette it had to be something intriguing, and sure enough . . . red raspberry, pink grapefruit, and a touch of rose. My SAD perked up—I’m not proud of it, just sayin’.
I know some have written about Beale Street and Smokeberry. They seemed to have favorable things to say about the product, so, combined with my growing affinity for Prairie Song I began making mental notes—okay, a wish list. By no means did I need more soap, but anyone reading this knows how that movie ends.
So, after that fourth use of the Prairie Song sample, I sat down and wrote my thoughts on it, pretty much as you read above. I included my initial thoughts on it first-whiff underwhelming but also of my growing appreciation for its wonderful freshness of scent. Toward the end I mentioned that I wasn’t anywhere near in need of soap, but based on my genuine enjoyment of the PS sample I would be mighty tempted “to set self-imposed restrictions aside and immerse myself in the full-size pleasures of Prairie Song and Coquette.” Sent it off and forgot about it.
About a day later Linda (Lakewood’s self-professed Mixtress) wrote me back thanking me for my thoughts: “Thanks so much for contacting me...I appreciate all feedback, not just the good stuff.” She went on to tell me about her first impressions of PS and how it grew on her, then explained a little further about the scent profile. She closed with the completely unexpected statement “I totally understand about SAD, but I’m an enabler . . .” , said she would send me a sample of Coquette. Could have knocked me over with a feather; I hadn’t seen that coming. A few days later I received a package with the Coquette sample and a sample of Smoky Mountain Rain and @13:33 Hrs. An enabler, indeed!
For those of us who can use scented soaps the shave experience can be greatly enhanced by a nose full of beautiful pungency. But scent isn’t what gets the job done, it’s performance that counts. I’ll spare you more tedious reading and confess I wound up ordering full tubs of Prairie Song, Coquette, and Smoky Mountain Rain. My take on each one is below.
I readily admit to not having used many of the big names that always get batted around in these forums. I haven’t tried Mike’s or Catie’s Bubbles, Stirling or MdC, Arko, Tabac, Chiseled Face, Noble Otter, Wholly Kaw, nor may others. I have B&M’s Diamond, and love how it performs. I also have a tub of TOBS—one of my faves. I also like WSP’s products, and the couple of PAA soaps I’ve tried; I’ve tried Declaration Grooming’s After The Rain and Gratiot League Square. Bottom line is, of course, it’s all subjective. We all have different tastes and opinions. The degree to which we believe one soap is better than another, while again subjective, still is valid—I’d bet we all have encountered soaps that just weren’t as good as others.
I must say though, Lakewood’s offerings perform on par with the best I have used.
Prairie Song
Just like the sample from the swag bag, I was easily able to get this to generate a deeply satisfying lather on my face and then another easy two passes worth in the scuttle. To me the scent is nice and clean, nothing overarching or beating other scents down—it’s scent strength is, I believe, just about right, not overbearing and certainly no wallflower. Just refreshing, uncluttered, fresh aroma that lasted me through three passes each time.
As for performance it’s no second class citizen. The first time I used the sample I didn’t have it dialed in properly, but from the second go forward it has always produced a slick, protective lather. I’ve never had to work it too long to get it where I want it. Nice and stable, great stuff until the final rinse. The pic below was the result of my working the soap in preparation for passes two and three with my horsehair brush.
Coquette
I absolutely love the summer-y, citrus, freshness of this scent. The red raspberry really stands out above the rest but not so much that you can’t pick out the pink grapefruit or the hint of rose. I will say the rose is by no means strong, so if you are fond of that fragrance then you might be disappointed here, but as a playmate to the other two it mingles very nicely.
When I started wet shaving I read a lot about guys favoring certain scents as ‘seasonal’ and I couldn’t understand why . . . I figured you go with a scent you like whenever you like, and that holds more than a kernel of truth. But now I’m beginning to understand the simple pleasure of a lighter scent in the morning when you know it’s going to be blistering outside. Coquette, in that regard, is indeed a touch flirty but you couldn’t stay mad at it, it’s that pleasant.
Same soap base, so it performed just as well as PS. I used the Atomic Rocket with it and got a stupid amount of lather. Man, I love the handle on that thing! Makes lathering in a bowl or scuttle a breeze.
Smoky Mountain Rain
Used my badger this morning and the initial load and face plastering went nicely. Added a little water and got my face lather to the promised land with ease. For some odd reason—I suspect something about the softness of the badger—I had to work a little more (and load a little more) to get my 2nd and 3rd pass lather worked up in the scuttle, but it wasn’t the soaps fault. But as you can see below, it came out very nice indeed.
If you’re wondering about @13:33 Hrs it’s a bay run scent with a touch of ‘charred’ sandalwood (you can detect the trace of charcoal) and amber. I’m not a huge bay rum guy, but this is a really nice melding of warm scents, and I actually like this bay rum because it’s not over the top like some are—not a bad thing, just not my thing.
Fellas, if you haven’t heard of Lakewood, or have but never tried them, do yourself a favor and give one of these a shot. I like these so much I’m looking for any reason to lather some up. Truly a nice product and performs beautifully.
This story began back in April when I attended the Big Shave S’West here in AZ. Being my first ever shave related meet-up I jumped at the opportunity to get a swag bag full of shaving goodies. Had a good time and soon as I got home I emptied the bag (much like we used to do with our candy haul on Halloween) and, just like those Halloweens past, quickly sorted the important from incidental, soaps and such from marketing stuff like business cards and stickers; recall childhood Christmases when you’d get a pair of socks or other clothing and it was placed ‘over there’ in our ravenous search for that toy we asked for—yeah, that kind of sorting.
Having soap samples set aside, I immediately embarked on a round of initial sniffing.
Opened the event-themed Big Shave soap made by PAA, a nice, desert-scent—white sage with a woody touch of rosewood and musk. Col. Conk’s Rio Grande Lavender was next, a heady but kind of earthy lavender, floral and sweet, followed by a small sample from Edwin Jagger (Pomegranate & Lime) and a couple small samples from HSSC and Cooper & French. In a 10z tub was a simply labeled sample of Lakewood’s Prairie Song. I twisted off the top and inhaled deeply . . . that couldn’t be right, there was next to no scent at all. Not sure what I expected, but I expected something perhaps earthy, reminiscent of a wide open prairie. There was something, but nothing that stood out—I can’t say it was unscented, but seemed darn close.
I didn’t get back to it for about a month, then cracked it open again . . . still, not much there. Well, it was free and I am certainly not going to let free product go to waste, so I gave it a shot. I have to tell you gentlemen that the first go scent-wise was kind of lackluster. Performance was good, but at that time I didn’t take note of anything worth remembrance, much less drooling over.
A little time passed and I got around to my second use . . . this was a little different. I was picking up something fresh, light, but really nice—I could detect a hint of leather, but certainly sage, lemongrass and vetiver. Apparently it has tobacco, patchouli and whiskey, too. The performance seemed improved as well. By the third go I was really picking up the scent and enjoying it, and the soap’s performance was top notch . . . slick, smooth, wonderful face feel, lathered easily and well.
By the fourth use I was compelled to check out their website to get a feel for their product line. One of the first things I see is a fairly new scent named Coquette. Well played, Lakewood! Placing a pin-up girl on your label is a sure fire eye-catcher. And with a name like Coquette it had to be something intriguing, and sure enough . . . red raspberry, pink grapefruit, and a touch of rose. My SAD perked up—I’m not proud of it, just sayin’.
I know some have written about Beale Street and Smokeberry. They seemed to have favorable things to say about the product, so, combined with my growing affinity for Prairie Song I began making mental notes—okay, a wish list. By no means did I need more soap, but anyone reading this knows how that movie ends.
So, after that fourth use of the Prairie Song sample, I sat down and wrote my thoughts on it, pretty much as you read above. I included my initial thoughts on it first-whiff underwhelming but also of my growing appreciation for its wonderful freshness of scent. Toward the end I mentioned that I wasn’t anywhere near in need of soap, but based on my genuine enjoyment of the PS sample I would be mighty tempted “to set self-imposed restrictions aside and immerse myself in the full-size pleasures of Prairie Song and Coquette.” Sent it off and forgot about it.
About a day later Linda (Lakewood’s self-professed Mixtress) wrote me back thanking me for my thoughts: “Thanks so much for contacting me...I appreciate all feedback, not just the good stuff.” She went on to tell me about her first impressions of PS and how it grew on her, then explained a little further about the scent profile. She closed with the completely unexpected statement “I totally understand about SAD, but I’m an enabler . . .” , said she would send me a sample of Coquette. Could have knocked me over with a feather; I hadn’t seen that coming. A few days later I received a package with the Coquette sample and a sample of Smoky Mountain Rain and @13:33 Hrs. An enabler, indeed!
For those of us who can use scented soaps the shave experience can be greatly enhanced by a nose full of beautiful pungency. But scent isn’t what gets the job done, it’s performance that counts. I’ll spare you more tedious reading and confess I wound up ordering full tubs of Prairie Song, Coquette, and Smoky Mountain Rain. My take on each one is below.
I readily admit to not having used many of the big names that always get batted around in these forums. I haven’t tried Mike’s or Catie’s Bubbles, Stirling or MdC, Arko, Tabac, Chiseled Face, Noble Otter, Wholly Kaw, nor may others. I have B&M’s Diamond, and love how it performs. I also have a tub of TOBS—one of my faves. I also like WSP’s products, and the couple of PAA soaps I’ve tried; I’ve tried Declaration Grooming’s After The Rain and Gratiot League Square. Bottom line is, of course, it’s all subjective. We all have different tastes and opinions. The degree to which we believe one soap is better than another, while again subjective, still is valid—I’d bet we all have encountered soaps that just weren’t as good as others.
I must say though, Lakewood’s offerings perform on par with the best I have used.
Prairie Song
Just like the sample from the swag bag, I was easily able to get this to generate a deeply satisfying lather on my face and then another easy two passes worth in the scuttle. To me the scent is nice and clean, nothing overarching or beating other scents down—it’s scent strength is, I believe, just about right, not overbearing and certainly no wallflower. Just refreshing, uncluttered, fresh aroma that lasted me through three passes each time.
As for performance it’s no second class citizen. The first time I used the sample I didn’t have it dialed in properly, but from the second go forward it has always produced a slick, protective lather. I’ve never had to work it too long to get it where I want it. Nice and stable, great stuff until the final rinse. The pic below was the result of my working the soap in preparation for passes two and three with my horsehair brush.
Coquette
I absolutely love the summer-y, citrus, freshness of this scent. The red raspberry really stands out above the rest but not so much that you can’t pick out the pink grapefruit or the hint of rose. I will say the rose is by no means strong, so if you are fond of that fragrance then you might be disappointed here, but as a playmate to the other two it mingles very nicely.
When I started wet shaving I read a lot about guys favoring certain scents as ‘seasonal’ and I couldn’t understand why . . . I figured you go with a scent you like whenever you like, and that holds more than a kernel of truth. But now I’m beginning to understand the simple pleasure of a lighter scent in the morning when you know it’s going to be blistering outside. Coquette, in that regard, is indeed a touch flirty but you couldn’t stay mad at it, it’s that pleasant.
Same soap base, so it performed just as well as PS. I used the Atomic Rocket with it and got a stupid amount of lather. Man, I love the handle on that thing! Makes lathering in a bowl or scuttle a breeze.
Smoky Mountain Rain
Used my badger this morning and the initial load and face plastering went nicely. Added a little water and got my face lather to the promised land with ease. For some odd reason—I suspect something about the softness of the badger—I had to work a little more (and load a little more) to get my 2nd and 3rd pass lather worked up in the scuttle, but it wasn’t the soaps fault. But as you can see below, it came out very nice indeed.
If you’re wondering about @13:33 Hrs it’s a bay run scent with a touch of ‘charred’ sandalwood (you can detect the trace of charcoal) and amber. I’m not a huge bay rum guy, but this is a really nice melding of warm scents, and I actually like this bay rum because it’s not over the top like some are—not a bad thing, just not my thing.
Fellas, if you haven’t heard of Lakewood, or have but never tried them, do yourself a favor and give one of these a shot. I like these so much I’m looking for any reason to lather some up. Truly a nice product and performs beautifully.