In the world of artisan shave soaps, there are some incredible artisan examples like Sterling, Barrister & Mann, Declaration Grooming, etc that seem to be fairly popular in the lexicon. One soap company that I miss so much is Micky Lee Soapworks and I think about their soaps a lot. What are some fantastic small lot artisan shave soaps that are a must-try?
Mind-blowing soaps, croaps, creams that aren't being talked about?
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I miss Mickey Lee Soapworks and wish someone would comment on thier history, sadly no longer in business
Superb all areas including intoxicating scents
1 tub and 2.5 bottles Kraken left
Half bottle bella suds splash and half tub soap left
One boltle The Drunken Goat
MLS is truly gold good stuff
Royal elixir
Superb all areas including intoxicating scents
1 tub and 2.5 bottles Kraken left
Half bottle bella suds splash and half tub soap left
One boltle The Drunken Goat
MLS is truly gold good stuff
Royal elixir
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I miss The Kraken so much!!!
Wilkinson sword shaving stick. The blue stick. It gets a mention here and there but it deserves more recognition. Much better than La Toja or Speick (tallow) in my opinion.
Santa Maria Novella shaving cream. A tobacco and eucalyptus shaving cream that is just pure bliss.
Murdock shaving cream. A bit pricey but it has some really good ingredients and it truly is a performer. Very concentrated and the smell….oh my. It smells just like Acqua di Parma colonia. A bit more herbal and aromatic. Pretty strongely scented too.
Vitos. Not the bricks or the ”IV-bags”. The other ”line” in the tubs. Really amazing creams with awesome scents. Macho man is a favourite.
Derby shaving stick/tub. Smells better than Arko and, for me, performs better.
Santa Maria Novella shaving cream. A tobacco and eucalyptus shaving cream that is just pure bliss.
Murdock shaving cream. A bit pricey but it has some really good ingredients and it truly is a performer. Very concentrated and the smell….oh my. It smells just like Acqua di Parma colonia. A bit more herbal and aromatic. Pretty strongely scented too.
Vitos. Not the bricks or the ”IV-bags”. The other ”line” in the tubs. Really amazing creams with awesome scents. Macho man is a favourite.
Derby shaving stick/tub. Smells better than Arko and, for me, performs better.
Ethos and Grooming Dept. Ethos scents are natural and that doesn't satisfy everybody, but the guy(Frank) worked at a skin care company before starting his brand. Ethos best seller, Success, has recently been released in his new F base soap. He has a line of new shave creams that aren't fully launched yet. His big thing is his new post shave serum, but I haven't tried it. The aftershave splash is worth buying stand alone, it actually has alcohol. Mo @Grooming Dept has a spotty record for releases due to his health, but just recently got some of the big retailers supplied. Unfortunately, while his scents are excellent, there is no real way to guess what you are getting exactly. More so that average. His products have constantly pushed to envelope for post shave feel, constantly changing to stay ahead of others.
The Body Shop, Maca Root & Aloe Shave Cream. Not often mentioned, but praised by users. I get great shaves with it.
This isn’t quite what you are asking for but I have grown a bit tired of artisan shave soaps, the heavy, gloopy lather many of them generate, the amount of water you need to spend ten minutes adding and whipping, and all the skincare ingredients they are so unnecessarily loaded with. They may look clever in YouTube videos and give you something to talk about on shaving forums, but I am finding them tiresome to use. Also the density and stickiness isn’t ideal with straight or barber razors that I’m using sometimes now.
So lately I’ve been enjoying shaving soap that is like shaving soap. In particular, I am enjoying Via Barberia soap by Omega (the Herbae version is my favourite). It‘s a really nice and easy soap to use, quick to work with, and the scent is very pleasant and light. I just keep going back to it. La Toja shave sticks are also very nice and quite similar in behaviour and scent style.
I don’t really see people talking about the Via Barberia soaps, so that’s why I raise it here. But I felt I needed to explain so nobody buys it expecting a creamy, dense artisan style soap.
So lately I’ve been enjoying shaving soap that is like shaving soap. In particular, I am enjoying Via Barberia soap by Omega (the Herbae version is my favourite). It‘s a really nice and easy soap to use, quick to work with, and the scent is very pleasant and light. I just keep going back to it. La Toja shave sticks are also very nice and quite similar in behaviour and scent style.
I don’t really see people talking about the Via Barberia soaps, so that’s why I raise it here. But I felt I needed to explain so nobody buys it expecting a creamy, dense artisan style soap.
I am not disappointed in most of the US artisans that I tried yet (Zingary Sego base, Stirling, Moon) but IAMCDB also mentioned in one of his videos that soaps can become overloaded with stuff that makes it hard to lather and that soap makers know about this. Now I spend more time lathering than needed most of the time cause I enjoy the process and use a lot of product.
That being said: I am from Europe, so my choice of artisans that I find acceptable price / performance wise are rather limited. I would like to try some but those are either shipped from the US or UK without importers or pre paid taxes. And I dont wanna pay for import duties myself since the post will add a flat hefty administrative fee for each package.
But I think the EU products that I have used so far, like Lothur, LPL, SV, Haslinger, and lately Abbate y la Mantia (Krokos and Fufluns). Also other Italian soaps / croaps are often very easy for me to work with and not overloaded but still taking care enough of my skin to leave it feeling nice after the shave.
But I mentioned in several posts now that I find the shaving butter from A&E amazing scent wise but needing too much effort to create a decent lather in the way I enjoy making lathers.
But from the ones I mentioned I think Abbate y la Mantia is not mentioned enough on these forums. I am glad I discovered them. Lothur is also mentioned a bunch, but still not as much as SV or Haslinger.
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Have you thought about ordering from CA, maybe Italian Barber?
Not really, shipping costs are too much. I guess in a way I am spoiled with most shops offering free shipping on orders over 20 euro's here. And, Wholly Kaw is almost as expensive as SV for example, same with A&E and CK6 and other Artisans that are available. Why even bother? I doubt my shave will improve and that is what I meant with price performance not being worth it.
I would like to try the cheaper artisans, I used mama bear in the past for example, but back then shipping was cheaper and import duties did not apply under 25 euro's.
There is no mind blowing soap, but i have to say if youre not using Grooming Dept you're missing out.
Eufros
Lots of great soaps out there. The noteworthy ‘outsiders’ I’m glad to have tried are:
Abbate y la Mantia Krokos
Baume BE cream
Klar Seifen Charcoal
Fitjar Islands Fjellheim cream
Meißner Dark Limes hard soap
Musgo Real Classic cream
On the cheaper end, Palmolive Lather Shave cream bats well above its humble price tag.
Abbate y la Mantia Krokos
Baume BE cream
Klar Seifen Charcoal
Fitjar Islands Fjellheim cream
Meißner Dark Limes hard soap
Musgo Real Classic cream
On the cheaper end, Palmolive Lather Shave cream bats well above its humble price tag.
I'd like to make you aware of Mike's Natural Soaps. He makes a very good soap but they're often sold out. You have to watch the site and but when you can. I have the Orange, Cedarwood, Black Pepper soap and its very good. I also just checked the site and the are a few available now. I'm even getting tempted to pick up another.
Unfortunately he only ships to U.S. and Canadian addresses. So there's that.
Unfortunately he only ships to U.S. and Canadian addresses. So there's that.
I'd say Mystic water soaps
Was going to mention Mike’s, still such a good performer even though the formula has been the same for years (at least as far as I know).
Lisa’s Natura Herbal Creations is another one that probably doesn’t get enough recognition. Some great performing soaps.
Croatian line of shaving soaps called Meštar. I **** you not it has slickness of Tabac, WMF, A&E, SV and many more COMBINED
I like Master Soap Creations.
Actually, thinking a bit more about the kind of thing I think you’re looking for, you really should try Macduff Soap Company. I think if you like artisan type soaps then Macduff is as good as it gets - best artisan soap base I’ve used so far, anyway.
It makes a gloopy lather that can hold a lot of water, rather like B&M Omnibus, but it’s more runny and way more residual slickness than Omnibus. Actually I find Macduff soap residue way more slick than anything else I’ve used - slicker than snail snot on oiled ice. It seems to stay on your face more than other soaps when you shave so it’s very good for the buffers among us. Bags of cushion, rinses off easily with a really nice skin feel, and really well blended and interesting scents (especially some particularly nice gourmand ones).
And nobody talks about Macduff soap. All the ones I have are brown, though, so if you mind having beige lather then you’re out of luck.
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