I created this for another site and figured some people here would be interested. Just a quick rundown of the Canadian products I own.
Lots of great value to be found in the Canadian artisans, as well as some of the best scents I've experienced in wetshaving. My biggest gripe is the lack of alcohol-based aftershaves - Maol Grooming is really the only one. Almost everybody else only makes balms or witch hazel splashes.
I have pretty hard water and find the most slickness with a fairly dense, shiny, stable lather. This might get repetitive because all these soaps are top notch.
Group shot.
Back row: Maol Marlogue Woods, Maol Heliopteris, Purely Skinful Fougere Mysterieuse, Highland Springs Kootenay Blue
Middle row: Paragon Sunlit Forest, First Canadian Vetiver, First Canadian Loretto Lime & Rosemary, Jilek's Star Anise, Jilek's Green Fern
Front row: Highland Springs Citrus, The Handsome Grouse Unscented, Midnight & Two Provence, and a couple Purely Skinful sample pucks
First Canadian Shave - extremely soft, superfatted tallow croap. Softest soap I own by far. Loads fast. Lathers fast. Comfortable, slick, easy shaves. My favourite soap right now, and both of these scents are simple but nice.
Paragon Shaving - this soap is technically American as it is made by Through The Fire Fine Craft. Tallow. Mid-firm. Makes volumes of slick lather pretty easily. Absolutely gorgeous scent considering it's essential oil only - orange, lavender and wood
Highland Spring - this is their "premium" base. I haven't tried the other base yet. Vegan. Mid-firm even though they label it as soft. Dark and warm smell with orange and lemon topnotes. Nice and slick. Lots of skin conditioning ingredients.
Jilek's - huge, fancy containers of firm soap, should last forever. Found it pretty easy to dial in. The Anise is is latest vegan formula - mild single-note scent - and the Fern is last year's batch of tallow soap - mild but complex scent.
The Handsome Grouse - simple mid-hard tallow puck at a great price. Lathers so fast I can't believe it. Haven't tried any of their scented products but they are all essential oil only.
Midnight & Two - firm vegan soap. Small container filled the the brim. Loads nice and treats your skin well. This isn't a scent I was really looking at, but I found it on sale - it's a very pleasant lavender. Pretty expensive soap that I maybe wouldn't buy at the regular price, but it's great quality.
Copper Hat - I forgot this one in the group shot because I had just done a test lather with it (which seemed promising). Hard puck. Would be vegan if it didn't have goat's milk. Haven't actually shaved with it yet, but it was so cheap I couldn't resist buying it.
Purely Skinful - Reasonably priced hard tallow pucks with some pretty nice scents. These ones are the sample size and are good for 30+ shaves easily. I've tried the beef tallow base so far, and it's a bit hard to load, and finicky to dial in with my hard water, but rewards you with nice lather. They call it thirsty, but I found the opposite - too much water easily collapses your lather. Might fare better with softer water.
Maol Grooming - Canada's answer to Chatillon Lux. Gorgeous scents in a soothing & moisturizing alcohol-based splash, available with or without menthol. Scent performance varies by flavour.
Purely Skinful - thick balm that rubs in nicely, not greasy. Scent performance is not bad.
Highland Springs - milky alcohol-free splash. Treats the skin well. This is one of the best fragrances I've found in wetshaving so far, but I wish it was stronger and lasted way longer. (I also wish it came in glass instead of plastic, and had alcohol)
All of these except for Jilek's and Handsome Grouse were purchased through either stonefieldshave.com or topofthechain.ca
Lots of great value to be found in the Canadian artisans, as well as some of the best scents I've experienced in wetshaving. My biggest gripe is the lack of alcohol-based aftershaves - Maol Grooming is really the only one. Almost everybody else only makes balms or witch hazel splashes.
I have pretty hard water and find the most slickness with a fairly dense, shiny, stable lather. This might get repetitive because all these soaps are top notch.
Group shot.
Back row: Maol Marlogue Woods, Maol Heliopteris, Purely Skinful Fougere Mysterieuse, Highland Springs Kootenay Blue
Middle row: Paragon Sunlit Forest, First Canadian Vetiver, First Canadian Loretto Lime & Rosemary, Jilek's Star Anise, Jilek's Green Fern
Front row: Highland Springs Citrus, The Handsome Grouse Unscented, Midnight & Two Provence, and a couple Purely Skinful sample pucks
First Canadian Shave - extremely soft, superfatted tallow croap. Softest soap I own by far. Loads fast. Lathers fast. Comfortable, slick, easy shaves. My favourite soap right now, and both of these scents are simple but nice.
Paragon Shaving - this soap is technically American as it is made by Through The Fire Fine Craft. Tallow. Mid-firm. Makes volumes of slick lather pretty easily. Absolutely gorgeous scent considering it's essential oil only - orange, lavender and wood
Highland Spring - this is their "premium" base. I haven't tried the other base yet. Vegan. Mid-firm even though they label it as soft. Dark and warm smell with orange and lemon topnotes. Nice and slick. Lots of skin conditioning ingredients.
Jilek's - huge, fancy containers of firm soap, should last forever. Found it pretty easy to dial in. The Anise is is latest vegan formula - mild single-note scent - and the Fern is last year's batch of tallow soap - mild but complex scent.
The Handsome Grouse - simple mid-hard tallow puck at a great price. Lathers so fast I can't believe it. Haven't tried any of their scented products but they are all essential oil only.
Midnight & Two - firm vegan soap. Small container filled the the brim. Loads nice and treats your skin well. This isn't a scent I was really looking at, but I found it on sale - it's a very pleasant lavender. Pretty expensive soap that I maybe wouldn't buy at the regular price, but it's great quality.
Copper Hat - I forgot this one in the group shot because I had just done a test lather with it (which seemed promising). Hard puck. Would be vegan if it didn't have goat's milk. Haven't actually shaved with it yet, but it was so cheap I couldn't resist buying it.
Purely Skinful - Reasonably priced hard tallow pucks with some pretty nice scents. These ones are the sample size and are good for 30+ shaves easily. I've tried the beef tallow base so far, and it's a bit hard to load, and finicky to dial in with my hard water, but rewards you with nice lather. They call it thirsty, but I found the opposite - too much water easily collapses your lather. Might fare better with softer water.
Maol Grooming - Canada's answer to Chatillon Lux. Gorgeous scents in a soothing & moisturizing alcohol-based splash, available with or without menthol. Scent performance varies by flavour.
Purely Skinful - thick balm that rubs in nicely, not greasy. Scent performance is not bad.
Highland Springs - milky alcohol-free splash. Treats the skin well. This is one of the best fragrances I've found in wetshaving so far, but I wish it was stronger and lasted way longer. (I also wish it came in glass instead of plastic, and had alcohol)
All of these except for Jilek's and Handsome Grouse were purchased through either stonefieldshave.com or topofthechain.ca
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Certainly none in eastern New Brunswick. The most exciting place might be The Body Shop franchise store, in Moncton. One pretty good shaving cream, one brush of debatable quality.
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