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MER Shaving - Banshee’s Breath (duck fat version) Review

Banshee.jpg
ban·shee ˈbanSHē/
noun
  1. (In Irish legend) a female spirit whose wailing warns of an impending death in a house. (source - Online Dictionary)
Let me dispel any concerns about death; the only thing which might die is my desire for a similarly scented soap...I am unashamedly in love with this scent and the link to my Irish heritage adds a fun wrinkle.

(From MER Shaving’s Etsy site):
Ingredients:
Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Water, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Coconut Oil, Duck Fat, Duck Fat, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Lanolin, Glycerin, Sodium Lactate, Fragrance
Scent Description: Smells similar to a popular Irish fragrance

I believe it is his take on the Green Irish Tweed, though I have no comparison since I have not tried it and at $195 for 4 ounces, even at Walmart, it is highly unlikely I will.

For me the scent is a fresh Fougere; nice spring green fern with lemon, floral and something else I cannot make out. I am not one for floral scents so I am happy to report this is more of citrus fresh and something else, rather than a prominent floral. The scent is not heavy, however, you can customize your order and ask for more scent...I like it just as it is. Thirty minutes after my shave my bride could still pick up the scent on my face and she gave me the all over face nuzzle. :blush:

Set Up:
1. 1961 Fatboy, restored by Cap Murphy and re-plated by Chris Evatt.
2. Restored Ever-Ready Butterscotch brush with a 20mm Ace Finest Badger knot. 3. Personna blade
4. Vintage Old Spice mug

Performance:
This is a medium soft soap and is very easy to lather, taking roughly 40 seconds to load with my vintage 20mm Ever-Ready brush. Using my OS mug and adding drips of water along the way, this easily produced enough lather for a three pass shave with touch up and still enough left over for another pass or two. The soap produces a very slick lather with plenty of glide and cushion, not to mention residual slickness.

After a three pass shave with touch ups my face felt just shy of BBS and the ‘61 Fatboy with a Personna Blade, at times, felt like it had no blade at all. My face felt so great that after the cold water rinse I decided to skip my usual Captain’s Choice or Dominica Bay Rum after shave. All day long...a smooth face that felt well hydrated.

I have his Duck Sauce soap which is amazing and is the same formula. In fact you can order any of his soaps with duck fat or you can order them without. You can also add menthol, extra menthol, extra fragrance and extra menthol; your choice.

Day two:
After yesterday’s shave, I decided to do something I have never done; shave one side of my face with one soap and use a different soap on the other….Banshee’s Breath versus Saponificio Varesino Felce Aromatica.

Both soaps were lathered in separate Old Spice mugs; I used the same ’61 Fatboy and the same Personna blade. Brushes were a custom silvertip and the aforementioned vintage Ever-Ready.

Results:
I asked my bride to be the judge and she could not tell which side was smoother. She likes both scents, but for different reasons…”do not ask me to choose, I like them both.”

For me the Banshee’s Breath side provided a more comfortable end result today with no appreciable sting when applying the Captain’s Choice Bay Rum aftershave. The SV side had a bit more sting on my neck; typical trouble area. After completing the shave, I compared the slickness of the remaining lather and in my opinion Banshee’s Breath is a bit slicker. Post shave the Banshee side feels more hydrated. During today’s shave the Banshee also has a slight edge when it came to the razor gliding across my skin.

All in all this has been an enjoyable experiment/comparison and while I really enjoy Saponificio Varesino Felce Aromatica, it has, until futher notice, lost its place as my favorite fougere and perhaps my top soap. Only time will tell.

I hope this has been informative and interesting, feel free to ask questions.
 
View attachment 842608
ban·shee ˈbanSHē/
noun
  1. (In Irish legend) a female spirit whose wailing warns of an impending death in a house. (source - Online Dictionary)
Let me dispel any concerns about death; the only thing which might die is my desire for a similarly scented soap...I am unashamedly in love with this scent and the link to my Irish heritage adds a fun wrinkle.

(From MER Shaving’s Etsy site):
Ingredients:
Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Water, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Coconut Oil, Duck Fat, Duck Fat, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Lanolin, Glycerin, Sodium Lactate, Fragrance
Scent Description: Smells similar to a popular Irish fragrance

I believe it is his take on the Green Irish Tweed, though I have no comparison since I have not tried it and at $195 for 4 ounces, even at Walmart, it is highly unlikely I will.

For me the scent is a fresh Fougere; nice spring green fern with lemon, floral and something else I cannot make out. I am not one for floral scents so I am happy to report this is more of citrus fresh and something else, rather than a prominent floral. The scent is not heavy, however, you can customize your order and ask for more scent...I like it just as it is. Thirty minutes after my shave my bride could still pick up the scent on my face and she gave me the all over face nuzzle. :blush:

Set Up:
1. 1961 Fatboy, restored by Cap Murphy and re-plated by Chris Evatt.
2. Restored Ever-Ready Butterscotch brush with a 20mm Ace Finest Badger knot. 3. Personna blade
4. Vintage Old Spice mug

Performance:
This is a medium soft soap and is very easy to lather, taking roughly 40 seconds to load with my vintage 20mm Ever-Ready brush. Using my OS mug and adding drips of water along the way, this easily produced enough lather for a three pass shave with touch up and still enough left over for another pass or two. The soap produces a very slick lather with plenty of glide and cushion, not to mention residual slickness.

After a three pass shave with touch ups my face felt just shy of BBS and the ‘61 Fatboy with a Personna Blade, at times, felt like it had no blade at all. My face felt so great that after the cold water rinse I decided to skip my usual Captain’s Choice or Dominica Bay Rum after shave. All day long...a smooth face that felt well hydrated.

I have his Duck Sauce soap which is amazing and is the same formula. In fact you can order any of his soaps with duck fat or you can order them without. You can also add menthol, extra menthol, extra fragrance and extra menthol; your choice.

Day two:
After yesterday’s shave, I decided to do something I have never done; shave one side of my face with one soap and use a different soap on the other….Banshee’s Breath versus Saponificio Varesino Felce Aromatica.

Both soaps were lathered in separate Old Spice mugs; I used the same ’61 Fatboy and the same Personna blade. Brushes were a custom silvertip and the aforementioned vintage Ever-Ready.

Results:
I asked my bride to be the judge and she could not tell which side was smoother. She likes both scents, but for different reasons…”do not ask me to choose, I like them both.”

For me the Banshee’s Breath side provided a more comfortable end result today with no appreciable sting when applying the Captain’s Choice Bay Rum aftershave. The SV side had a bit more sting on my neck; typical trouble area. After completing the shave, I compared the slickness of the remaining lather and in my opinion Banshee’s Breath is a bit slicker. Post shave the Banshee side feels more hydrated. During today’s shave the Banshee also has a slight edge when it came to the razor gliding across my skin.

All in all this has been an enjoyable experiment/comparison and while I really enjoy Saponificio Varesino Felce Aromatica, it has, until futher notice, lost its place as my favorite fougere and perhaps my top soap. Only time will tell.

I hope this has been informative and interesting, feel free to ask questions.
I enjoyed this write up.
Thanks.
 
Great review! MER Shaving is a top notch artisan. Havent tried their brushes yet but people speak highly of them. I have their Duck Sauce and Barbershop soaps, both perform well and smell nice. The Barbershop is a bit unique, almost has a boosey note to it that is intoxicating.
 
Great review! MER Shaving is a top notch artisan. Havent tried their brushes yet but people speak highly of them. I have their Duck Sauce and Barbershop soaps, both perform well and smell nice. The Barbershop is a bit unique, almost has a boosey note to it that is intoxicating.
Very nice review!!

Thank you gentlemen, so glad you enjoyed reading through it. Shavewizard420, I have the Barbershop scent with the veg formula and I really enjoy it also. I have asked my children for Bamboo Grapefruit for Christmas.
 
I have bamboo grapefruit, barbershop, duck sauce, fougere bay, more bs, and bubbling Scrubbles. All fantastic. Some in duck fat, some without. I haven't been disappointed yet.
 
Thank you gentlemen, so glad you enjoyed reading through it. Shavewizard420, I have the Barbershop scent with the veg formula and I really enjoy it also. I have asked my children for Bamboo Grapefruit for Christmas.


Haven't tried their vegan formula yet. Will have to keep it in mind for the future. All this talk about MER makes me want to bust out one of the soaps, haven't reached for them in a while...too many soaps not enough time lol.
 
Terrific review! Based on my experience duck fat improves most anything (especially mashed potatoes), but this is the first time I have seen it used in a shaving soap!
 
Haven't tried their vegan formula yet. Will have to keep it in mind for the future. All this talk about MER makes me want to bust out one of the soaps, haven't reached for them in a while...too many soaps not enough time lol.

My favorite vegan is the Barbershop scent and I know what you mean about too many soaps.

Terrific review! Based on my experience duck fat improves most anything (especially mashed potatoes), but this is the first time I have seen it used in a shaving soap!

The Duck Sauce soap smells so good it tempts you to give it a taste.
 
2 questions

1 - how strongly are the soaps scented? I saw the option for extra scent

2 - I looked but couldn't find one, is there a page with scent descriptions?
 
2 questions

1 - how strongly are the soaps scented? I saw the option for extra scent

2 - I looked but couldn't find one, is there a page with scent descriptions?

1. When comparing Banshees Breath and SV, in my opinion, they are the same scent strength. The scent lingers for a little bit after the shave. If you were wanting the scent to remain for a few hours then the extra scent option would be the way to go.

2. The link to the scent profiles is below; scroll down the page and open the “Details” section.
Duck Fat Shaving Soap 5 oz. Customizable scents
 
Haven't tried their vegan formula yet. Will have to keep it in mind for the future. All this talk about MER makes me want to bust out one of the soaps, haven't reached for them in a while...too many soaps not enough time lol.


Actually I take that back, used the MER Barbershop the other day and I did not see tallow in the ingredients, but there was lanolin, which doesn't make it vegan but it did provide a great shave!
 
2 questions

1 - how strongly are the soaps scented? I saw the option for extra scent

2 - I looked but couldn't find one, is there a page with scent descriptions?


Yea I agree, you may want to go with the extra scent option if scent strength is a concern. I have Duck Sauce and Barbershop and the Duck Sauce is about a 5-6/10 and the barbershop is a tad stronger to my nose. They are not light scents but not powerhouses either, hope that helps answer your question.
 
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