Like many on the forum, I've been a big fan of GD, T&S, WK, DG, Turtleship, B&M Reserve, A&E, Lisa's Artisan, etc. There are so many great soaps out there these days. Of course we are all looking for the Holy Grail of performance including glide, protection, residual slickness, scent, and post shave.
I have to admit I've been really surprised by this small Wisconsin artisan. I've finished their Bay Rhum and loved it and now am into Hunting Lodge which I like just as much or more.
The soap comes in either pucks or is poured into small containers resembling scaled down Soap Commander containers. I found the containers satisfactory to load from but I found I could optimize the lather by scooping out an almond size amount of soap and pressing it into my Captain's Choice flared edge copper shaving bowl. I use a damp shaken brush to build lather and add water as necessary. The containers demonstrate an excellent presentation as they are nice quality with waterproof labels. I will continue to buy the soap in the containers because I like the quality and I can reuse them with Haslinger pucks. So what is it that I love about this soap?
Scent: Hunting Lodge is a blend of Leather, Tobacco, and Bay Rhum. I find the leather and tobacco to be the dominant scents. I've been looking for a manly leather scent for quite awhile and this soap scent has become the gold standard for me. Very manly, not overpowering, but the type of scent that conjures up great thoughts and memories of my wilderness experiences. Also the scent unfolds nicely during the shave adding to the experience.
Lather: Using the method I mentioned above to build lather, this soap is an absolute lather monster. It is not a particularly thirsty soap, but adding just a few drops at a time you will find a bowl of thick, slick lather as you build to the sweet point. Any type of brush works well as I have used badgers, boars, and synthetics with great results.
Slickness/cushion: I find this tallow based soap to be very slick with excellent residual slickness of course useful for us fanatics always aiming for a BBS shave. Cushion is also excellent. I find that even when using my mid-aggressive razors such as the Timeless SS .95, the Karve plate F, GC .84, that I can always obtain an irritation free BBS and that is my ultimate goal.
Ingredients: water, locally-sourced organic tallow, coconut oil, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, aloe vera, unrefined shea butter, fragrance, babassu oil. Simple ingredients, but generating a great lather and even though the container is only 3 oz. I get the same number of shaves that I get from 4 oz. of GD or Turtleship which I find as very fast using soaps.
Post Shave: Post Shave is very good. Perhaps not to the GD or Turtleship level, but excellent non-the-less. Part of this is due to the excellent protection of the soap and part is related to the excellent ingredients.
Overall, this is a soap that has moved into my top tier rotation. It won't push the others I mentioned above out of their top places, but it will certainly join them. I have yet to have a difficult shave with this soap and find it an excellent value at $12.
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I have to admit I've been really surprised by this small Wisconsin artisan. I've finished their Bay Rhum and loved it and now am into Hunting Lodge which I like just as much or more.
The soap comes in either pucks or is poured into small containers resembling scaled down Soap Commander containers. I found the containers satisfactory to load from but I found I could optimize the lather by scooping out an almond size amount of soap and pressing it into my Captain's Choice flared edge copper shaving bowl. I use a damp shaken brush to build lather and add water as necessary. The containers demonstrate an excellent presentation as they are nice quality with waterproof labels. I will continue to buy the soap in the containers because I like the quality and I can reuse them with Haslinger pucks. So what is it that I love about this soap?
Scent: Hunting Lodge is a blend of Leather, Tobacco, and Bay Rhum. I find the leather and tobacco to be the dominant scents. I've been looking for a manly leather scent for quite awhile and this soap scent has become the gold standard for me. Very manly, not overpowering, but the type of scent that conjures up great thoughts and memories of my wilderness experiences. Also the scent unfolds nicely during the shave adding to the experience.
Lather: Using the method I mentioned above to build lather, this soap is an absolute lather monster. It is not a particularly thirsty soap, but adding just a few drops at a time you will find a bowl of thick, slick lather as you build to the sweet point. Any type of brush works well as I have used badgers, boars, and synthetics with great results.
Slickness/cushion: I find this tallow based soap to be very slick with excellent residual slickness of course useful for us fanatics always aiming for a BBS shave. Cushion is also excellent. I find that even when using my mid-aggressive razors such as the Timeless SS .95, the Karve plate F, GC .84, that I can always obtain an irritation free BBS and that is my ultimate goal.
Ingredients: water, locally-sourced organic tallow, coconut oil, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, aloe vera, unrefined shea butter, fragrance, babassu oil. Simple ingredients, but generating a great lather and even though the container is only 3 oz. I get the same number of shaves that I get from 4 oz. of GD or Turtleship which I find as very fast using soaps.
Post Shave: Post Shave is very good. Perhaps not to the GD or Turtleship level, but excellent non-the-less. Part of this is due to the excellent protection of the soap and part is related to the excellent ingredients.
Overall, this is a soap that has moved into my top tier rotation. It won't push the others I mentioned above out of their top places, but it will certainly join them. I have yet to have a difficult shave with this soap and find it an excellent value at $12.
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