Loving D R Harris, but scared of the soap!

[weeksie92]

Hi all. Those of you who frequent the shave clinic may have seen my other post a while back about my not getting good results with TOBS soap. Alas, I have tried all methods suggested but to no avail. Recently, however, I have converted to D R Harris and love their creams, but I am scared to invest in their soap lest I be equally disappointed by its performance. Can anyone shed some light on the talk of D R Harris soaps being superior to TOBS, and will this superiority extend to radically improving on the performance of Taylor's soap? I suppose I am worried that it's me, not the soap (not that we're going through a messy breakup). Thanks!

 

[djh]

Grab the soap- it is a great performer and (IMHO) superior to TOBS soaps. If you struggle at first, simply take the soap puck in your hand and rub it on your face as if it were a shave stick.

 

[Rohrbach]

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/member.php/69511-weeksie92weeksie92, have you considered buying a sample from Gary's Sample Shop? That way you don't have to commit to an entire puck.

 

[john parker]

I have TOBS sandalwood soap and get good results from it, including ease of lathering. However, I also have D.R. Harris lavender soap; get easier lather with it and a better shave. For both soaps I put a bit of water on the soap, then soak my brush. When ready, I wring out the brush and start swirling, adding a bit of water at a time until I get a nice build-up on my brush. Then I splash my face with water and commence face lathering. Have had no problem. But get a better lather if I dip the tip of my brush in water while I work the lather on my face.

 

[eth]

I haven't tried any TOBS soap. I have however tried both creams and soaps from D.R. Harris, and I can tell you that I think the soaps perform much better than the cream, and the soaps are very easy to lather.

 

[Squidma]

I do not have experience with TOBS hard soaps, but have tried T&H hard soaps and DRH hard soaps. The DRH, IMO, is an outstanding performer. I have lavender and Windsor. I love the scent of Windsor, but it tends to irritate my skin a bit. The lavender...every time I lather up with this soap I wind up asking myself, "Why don't I use this more often?". It really is a top notch soap which provides great protection, has a great scent, and is very easy to build lather with. Certainly well worth the money, though as Rohrbach stated, it may be beneficial to you to get a sample.

 

[k2clones29]

If the only reason you're worried about DR Harris soaps is performance, you need not be. Their soap is top notch! It is a terrific performer and very reliable. I highly recommend Arlington, but you can't go wrong with any of their scents.

 

[Mick]

D.R. Harris soaps have tallow as the second ingredient. They lather very well.

This week has been D.R. Harris for the item of the week. Go to that thread and see what others have to say after using it for a full week (today was the last day)

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/350051-DR-Harris-Shave-Soap-Item-of-the-Week-6-10-13

I used D.R. Harris Arlington shave stick to day and had enough lather to have been able to shave TWICE

 

[AABCDS]

D.R. Harris' soaps are even better than their creams. You should definitely give them a try.

 

[cactusjack]

My second soap is a D R Harris and I love it. I bowl lather and i find it very easy to load the brush with and to get a good lather. Give it a shot I say

 

[Niles]

D.R. Harris' soaps are even better than their creams. You should definitely give them a try.

+1

 

[njpaddy]

I'm a face latherer. I didn't care for Harris creams, but after buying and using my first Harris soap, I ordered the other 4.

 

[oldhickory]

I have the Windsor soap. While I'm not the most experienced shaver ( maybe tried 5 or 6 soaps) DRH is by far the best performer. It lathers easy and provides great cushion. I love it and would recommend it to anyone

 

[blzrfn]

Go check in the General Shaving forum for the DR Harris soap item of the week. There you will find several gentlemen who used DRH soaps over the last week and the one thing you should notice is that everybody got good lather. I have tried DRH, TOBS and Trumper and can easily put DR Harris at the top of that class and it isn't even close. TOBS is a good soap, Trumper isn't worth the ingredients its made of, but DR Harris is leaps and bounds ahead in lather quality and performance. Garry's Sample Shop usually has the soaps available if you are leery, but I fill confident in saying the only real question should be which scent(s) to try.

 

[franz]

Once you do the inevitable and pick up a puck, my recommendation would be to load the heck out of it. Harris is excellent, but it can take some extra loading time relative to a softer soap simply because it is triple-milled (more dense). Your patience will be repaid in full, though.

 

[takeshi]

Alas, I have tried all methods suggested but to no avail. Recently, however, I have converted to D R Harris and love their creams, but I am scared to invest in their soap lest I be equally disappointed by its performance. Can anyone shed some light on the talk of D R Harris soaps being superior to TOBS, and will this superiority extend to radically improving on the performance of Taylor's soap?

You won't find out by not trying DRH. Buy it and give it a shot. If you have problems, people will be happy to help. You wouldn't be the first to ask for assistance with lathering DRH by a long shot.

 

[DukeNDuke]

I can certainly understand your trepidation about trying DRH soaps. I, like you, had a terrible experience with a different English soap.....Trumper's Violet. I couldn't produce anything resembling a lather with it no matter what I did. But after reading the high praise for DRH on B&B, I decided to give it a try. I was able to pick up a bowl of Marlborough on BST last week and gave it a swirl yesterday. I wasn't disappointed. My first try with it produced a nice rich lather with minimal effort. The scent was faint, but the performance was great! I'd recommend you give it a try.

 

[dushea]

Also, if you do end up buying it and not liking it, it'd be snatched up very quickly on the BST.

 

[Chris H]

Grab the soap- it is a great performer and (IMHO) superior to TOBS soaps. If you struggle at first, simply take the soap puck in your hand and rub it on your face as if it were a shave stick.

Agreed. While the TOBS cream is outstanding, the soap is not. D.R. Harris makes excellent soap and cream. In fact, I think the soap is better than the cream (but the cream is still great).

 

[RobW]

A wise...dude...once said:

"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

Don't suffer! Embrace the fear, buy a puck (forget the samples, Arlington or Lavender are perfectly good choices), load for 30-60 seconds (depending on water quality), and bathe in the luxurious lather of D.R. Harris soaps!