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Mama Bear Soaps pt 2

Today was my first day using any type of shaving soap (had the L'occitane and Floris for a while but haven't used them yet) and I have a few observations that I would like to share.
Firstly the MB soaps themselves smell very nice. Given the widespread consternation my gushing over the Nancy Boy products caused I will be more restrained here, but I do like the olfactory experience these soaps provided.
Given that I have only received them today, I haven't got much beyond smelling most of the different varieties but as far as the scents go I would say that the real standout quality of these soaps is the combination of different fragrances and the way they combine. The scents are expertly layered and it is this dynamic interplay of different aromas that makes them special. The Elements of Bamboo soap is the weakest smelling of the four I ordered (still nice though) but the other three are STRONG. Christmas Forest Frgarance almost made my eyes water (in a good way) and Dragons Blood and Celestial Waters are both first rate. The soaps themselves represent excellent value for money and even with shipping to the UK I only paid $35 for the four soaps, the cost being roughly the same as the CADE shave soap (maybe slightly less) They come in a standard plastic tub, but each has a different graphic on the tub representing the various fragrances, not as nice as the CADE metal bowl, but given the value of these soaps there are no grounds for complaint.
Onto the shave, this was my first time using a soap, for a fair assessment I will need a lot more time to try them with different brushes and different techniques. With that said, for a first time experience I got good results from these soaps. I am still using my beleaguered BK4 (for those who advised me to send it back, I thankyou for the advice, and I am sure that a more sensible person would have followed it, but I am an idiot. I will stick to this brush until my Superior and Shavemac brushes arrive and I also have a PJ so there will be more to choose from soon) and I didn't think that the Kent, being so soft, would be ideally suited to soaps, but the Celestial Waters lathered very nicely. The lather itself was much less cushioning than I am used to, but there was definitely much more slip than with a cream so the shave was still smooth. The use of a soap allowed me to get a much better shave with the Slant Bar, but without the added protection of a cream I should have been more delicate than I was. Still, there were no nicks and cuts, and certainly no loss of blood, and any fault can be traced back to my technique (or lack thereof.)
Still, given that this was my first time using a soap the results were very encouraging, and I am certain that the quality of the soaps themselves played a huge role in how positive an experience this was.
As for the Celestial Waters, it has a perfumed, floral scent. I would have expected something slightly lighter and slightly more fresh given the name, but this is what I would describe as a Meadow scent, the balance of wildflowers is nice with the honeysuckle scent coming to the fore. It has considerable staying power too and I like it a lot. It's moisturising qualities obviously aren't the same as a cream, but my skin is reassuringly soft and given the havoc the Nancy Boy Facial Cleanser has been playing with my skin the results could have been a lot worse.
Before I can give a definitive review of these soaps I will need to spend more time with them, and on improving my techniques. But overall, the initial results are promising, for my continued use of soaps in general and Mama Bear in particular.
Warm regards,
Alex
 
I guess this thread is as good as any to weigh in on my Mama Bear experience :eek:

After reading all the grand reviews, I just had to try some of this stuff. So, I ordered the Hydrogen, Rosemary Mint and Sandlewood. Sue emailed me, stating the Sandlewood wouldn't ship until next week and if I wanted to wait to ship all 3, or ship the other 2 now and the SW next week. At this point, I simply asked her to substitute the SW with another, similar fragrance. After giving her a few details of my skin type and such, I even gave her carte blanche as to the substitute, as I like a surprise :tongue_sm

Her response was: "Hmmmmmm. Why don't I go into the kitchen and create a new scent just for you?" :w00t: :w00t: :lol: :lol:

I must say that I can't really recall EVER getting this level of customer service and attention. Dealing with Sue has just been great and she now has a customer for life! To top it all off, 2 soaps arrived TODAY.........and all this took place 2 days ago!! She went ahead and shipped the Hydrogen and RM and is experimenting with my other scent now.

If you haven't ordered any of these fine soaps yet, please don't hesitate any longer. You'll not find a better deal and will be hard-pressed to find an equal to her level of customer service. Bravo!!!!
 
RWelch76 said:
I guess this thread is as good as any to weigh in on my Mama Bear experience :eek:

After reading all the grand reviews, I just had to try some of this stuff. So, I ordered the Hydrogen, Rosemary Mint and Sandlewood. Sue emailed me, stating the Sandlewood wouldn't ship until next week and if I wanted to wait to ship all 3, or ship the other 2 now and the SW next week. At this point, I simply asked her to substitute the SW with another, similar fragrance. After giving her a few details of my skin type and such, I even gave her carte blanche as to the substitute, as I like a surprise :tongue_sm

Her response was: "Hmmmmmm. Why don't I go into the kitchen and create a new scent just for you?" :w00t: :w00t: :lol: :lol:

I must say that I can't really recall EVER getting this level of customer service and attention. Dealing with Sue has just been great and she now has a customer for life! To top it all off, 2 soaps arrived TODAY.........and all this took place 2 days ago!! She went ahead and shipped the Hydrogen and RM and is experimenting with my other scent now.

If you haven't ordered any of these fine soaps yet, please don't hesitate any longer. You'll not find a better deal and will be hard-pressed to find an equal to her level of customer service. Bravo!!!!
It's a shame more companies aren't able to do this. Thanks for sharing!
 
rtaylor61 said:
Rik,

Based on your last order, aren't you now the majority stock holder in Sue's company? :lol:

Randy
:lol: I never thought of it like that. It's like shaving with gold. I'm rich! I'm rich! Oh wait a minute, it just went down the drain. Ah such is life. Life's too short to not stop and take a wiff of the shaving products. :smile:
 
Rik said:
:lol: I never thought of it like that. It's like shaving with gold. I'm rich! I'm rich! Oh wait a minute, it just went down the drain. Ah such is life. Life's too short to not stop and take a wiff of the shaving products. :smile:

I know what you mean. Life is too short not to stop and smell the roses, and the rosemary mint, and the patchouli, and the vetiver...

Randy
 
I am getting ready to make an order and was going to purchase more QED soaps but after reading this thread I am thinking of going with Mamma. How does mamma stack up against QED?
 
My second day with Mama Bear soaps I decided to go with Dragon's Blood. As far as performance goes this provided the same amount of incredibly lubricating lather as the Celestial Water's (in other words it is an excellent performer.) Unfortunately for me, this stuff burns with the intensity of a thousand suns:cursing: I don't think I have ever experienced quite so much pain from a grooming product in my life. I have seen a couple of reports of bad reactions to this particular scent so I guess one of the ingredients just doesn't agree with us sensitive skinned types. Still, it is a very good soap and the smell is out of this world. It is an exotic and intense perfume, the Vanilla really stands out, and the staying power is amazing. I shaved with this yesterday and the scent lingered on my hands and face all day . Waking up this morning it was still present and whats more, my brush, my towel, in fact my whole house absolutely reeks of this incredible aroma. If you like staying power in your scents then this is the one to go for.
Warm regards,
Alex
 
i'm sorry to hear of your burning sensation! i had a similar experince last week with some soap from the gentlemen's quarter. the scent was outstanding, my wife commented numerous times about it & i was dumb enough to give it a second try thinking a scrub caused the problem. day two sans scrub and it was even worse than the day before!

s~s

gotta get on the mama bear train soon.
 
AJS said:
My second day with Mama Bear soaps I decided to go with Dragon's Blood. As far as performance goes this provided the same amount of incredibly lubricating lather as the Celestial Water's (in other words it is an excellent performer.) Unfortunately for me, this stuff burns with the intensity of a thousand suns:cursing: I don't think I have ever experienced quite so much pain from a grooming product in my life. I have seen a couple of reports of bad reactions to this particular scent so I guess one of the ingredients just doesn't agree with us sensitive skinned types. Still, it is a very good soap and the smell is out of this world. It is an exotic and intense perfume, the Vanilla really stands out, and the staying power is amazing. I shaved with this yesterday and the scent lingered on my hands and face all day . Waking up this morning it was still present and whats more, my brush, my towel, in fact my whole house absolutely reeks of this incredible aroma. If you like staying power in your scents then this is the one to go for.
Warm regards,
Alex
Sorry to hear that Alex. Unfortunately products with natural and not synthetic essential oils can cause an allergic reaction. I have the same reaction to e-shave's cucumber which is really frustrating as it smells so good. I'd give Sue a call to see if she may know what EO you're allergic to and what other products have the same ingredients so you don't end up with a similar reaction. If there's another MB fragrance you would like to trade for, let me know.
 
Clark said:
I am getting ready to make an order and was going to purchase more QED soaps but after reading this thread I am thinking of going with Mamma. How does mamma stack up against QED?

QED soap is some world class stuff.... that said - I wouldn't say Mamma's is leaps and bounds superior, but I personally find Mamma Bear's soap to provide superior lubrication - however QED's offers a touch more protection. If push came to shove, I would choose Mamma Bear's over QED soap, as I think it shaves closer, smells much better, is less expensive, and I like the jar this comes in and the fact that it is a cake - not molded to the bowl. (When you get low on QED soap the bottom of the cake is worn out to the plastic, however most of the sides have a fair amount of soap left - so to use it, you have to melt it, and you always will have a little ring around the far edges, as due to the shape of the shaving brush, and how hard it is to get the bristle to the very edge of the tub - you will always wear the center of the cake down first. The Mamma Bear's soap you can wear down to the bottom without a problem as there is pleanty of room around the soap - and the soap stays put where you place it after the first shave, and gives you so "breathing room" around the cake of soap to generate lather - which enables you to create an outstanding lather with ZERO mess, even with a decent sized brush... outstanding tubs for travel!)
 
AJS said:
My second day with Mama Bear soaps I decided to go with Dragon's Blood. As far as performance goes this provided the same amount of incredibly lubricating lather as the Celestial Water's (in other words it is an excellent performer.) Unfortunately for me, this stuff burns with the intensity of a thousand suns:cursing: I don't think I have ever experienced quite so much pain from a grooming product in my life. I have seen a couple of reports of bad reactions to this particular scent so I guess one of the ingredients just doesn't agree with us sensitive skinned types. Still, it is a very good soap and the smell is out of this world. It is an exotic and intense perfume, the Vanilla really stands out, and the staying power is amazing. I shaved with this yesterday and the scent lingered on my hands and face all day . Waking up this morning it was still present and whats more, my brush, my towel, in fact my whole house absolutely reeks of this incredible aroma. If you like staying power in your scents then this is the one to go for.
Warm regards,
Alex

Same here, exact same actually. And since I'm poor I can't afford to buy a new one at the moment. I think I'll trade it away though. That's a good idea.
 
After all these posts I would like to try a few Mama Bear soaps but how do I choose among 500 different ones.

Should I go with the ones that only contain essential oils ?

While I love a great smell of shaving soap as much as the next guy and aromatherapy ranks high on my list I would like to know if the ingredients in the soap actually have some medicinal value and are not just there for the great smell.

Do you think that eucalyptus or peppermint actually does something positive to my skin ? Any recommendations in that regard?
 
finegelernt said:
After all these posts I would like to try a few Mama Bear soaps but how do I choose among 500 different ones.

Should I go with the ones that only contain essential oils ?

While I love a great smell of shaving soap as much as the next guy and aromatherapy ranks high on my list I would like to know if the ingredients in the soap actually have some medicinal value and are not just there for the great smell.

Do you think that eucalyptus or peppermint actually does something positive to my skin ? Any recommendations in that regard?
I highly recommend you call Mama Bear (Sue) directly. She is very knowledgeable about the ingredients of her soaps and their properties. A couple of out of this world fragrances are Rosemary Mint and Hydrogen but I don't think you can go wrong with any of her products.
 
joel said:
QED soap is some world class stuff.... that said - I wouldn't say Mamma's is leaps and bounds superior, but I personally find Mamma Bear's soap to provide superior lubrication - however QED's offers a touch more protection. If push came to shove, I would choose Mamma Bear's over QED soap, as I think it shaves closer, smells much better, is less expensive, and I like the jar this comes in and the fact that it is a cake - not molded to the bowl. (When you get low on QED soap the bottom of the cake is worn out to the plastic, however most of the sides have a fair amount of soap left - so to use it, you have to melt it, and you always will have a little ring around the far edges, as due to the shape of the shaving brush, and how hard it is to get the bristle to the very edge of the tub - you will always wear the center of the cake down first. The Mamma Bear's soap you can wear down to the bottom without a problem as there is pleanty of room around the soap - and the soap stays put where you place it after the first shave, and gives you so "breathing room" around the cake of soap to generate lather - which enables you to create an outstanding lather with ZERO mess, even with a decent sized brush... outstanding tubs for travel!)

Thanks Joel appreciate your feedback!
 
Rik said:
I highly recommend you call Mama Bear (Sue) directly. She is very knowledgeable about the ingredients of her soaps and their properties. A couple of out of this world fragrances are Rosemary Mint and Hydrogen but I don't think you can go wrong with any of her products.

Rik,
What do you think of the sweetgrass? This is one I have heard no buzz about... but I keep finding myself with my nose burried in the tub! Maybe it is just me... but the sweetgrass is one of the cleanest scent I have ever experienced. It was superb at first - but it keeps growing on me exponentially!
 
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