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Mitchell's Wool Fat Fans: Is there a shaving soap that is equal or better?

Tim , @GNR , as long as it's wine and not another Paladin brush, I'm fine with that!! Damn, those halloween special editions!!!

PS. Get the Dancing Skeleton AND some South African wine to go with it! And POST pictures!!!
My wife says I’m not allowed to chat with my friend from Brazil.

Something about bad influence or something…I wasn’t really listening I was too busy looking at the Paladin website.
 
I absolutely adore mwf, but there are other soaps that I find matches it’s performance and at an even better price point. Those being:

Speick shave stick
La toja shave stick
Proraso green (super formula)
Palmolive stick
Arch mogno

Along with MWF, Those are the pantheon of shave soaps if you ask me.

Just a notch below those are arko and tabac. Performance wise these two are in the same category but don’t smell as nice as the others mentioned.

I haven’t tried cella bio yet but based on people I trust, it’s at a similar level to all soaps I listed.
 
After a few years of trying various soaps and creams, those I'd buy again are, SV , Meißner, MWF, Haslinger, Castle Forbes and Proraso. In each case, I'd have any of their varieties and each gives me the same wondertul lather. What I've found is that don't skimp on loading your brush and using the product without worrying how long a tub should last, unless of course your budget is tight. So often I see guys saying s tub of soap lasts when they have dozens of tubs!
 
I absolutely adore mwf, but there are other soaps that I find matches it’s performance and at an even better price point. Those being:

Speick shave stick
La toja shave stick
Proraso green (super formula)
Palmolive stick
Arch mogno

Along with MWF, Those are the pantheon of shave soaps if you ask me.

Just a notch below those are arko and tabac. Performance wise these two are in the same category but don’t smell as nice as the others mentioned.

I haven’t tried cella bio yet but based on people I trust, it’s at a similar level to all soaps I listed.
+1 on the Palmolive stick if you can get it. Mixed in a mug with la Toja it’s MWF’s equal.
 
What soaps might those be? There is no harm in checking them out if they are available online.

I have found that some of the very best soaps come from Ariana and Evans, Declaration Grooming, Grooming Dept, House of Mammoth, Oaken Lab (Indonesian artisan), Wholly Kaw, and Zingari Man, but there are others that are almost as good. Barrister and Mann just came out with their Omnibus base which I have not tried, so I do not know how it compares to the others listed.

Slickboys UK sells soaps from several of these vendors. These are not had pucks like MWF and Tabac, so be careful not to overload the brush. I generally load for no more than8-10 seconds with a 24 mm brush.
 

musicman1951

three-tu-tu, three-tu-tu
There are quite a few "3 favorite soaps" posts (sometimes 5, sometimes 1) over the years and these can be valuable when searching for another soap.

They will tell you two things:
1. There is no "best" soap, and the variety on these lists is vast and deep.
2. But you will find a small handful of soaps that keep appearing on many of the lists. I always imagine those to be safer bets.

It's always a good idea to give a price range when you're looking for a new soap. SV covers all of your requirements and then some, but cost me well over $100 a year in daily use. Haslinger is an excellent soap at a fraction of that cost.
 
I'm from - and live in - Brazil.

I use Connaught for MWF.

Gifts and Care for Haslinger and other soaps. They carry some of the soaps that @RayClem ranks as "top tier".

For me, the problem with artisans is getting them here and the "scent roulette". Especially the "scent roulette". I've also had 2 sample purchases lost in customs. But I really can't "picture" what 99% of the descriptions are. Go to the artisans and things get even worse.

Shavedash has a large selection of samples. Great service. Since we're at it, I'd try Savonniere du Moulin (I'm really curious about it). It seems to me that this soap is along the lines of MWF.

PS. We're about the same distance from soap producers, but you beat me hands down for wine!!! You've got the goods on your backyard!
I think we share many of the same challenges regarding soaps and other supplies, but one place where you beat me is your local coffee.
I will definitely check out those vendors, Thanks!
 
There are quite a few "3 favorite soaps" posts (sometimes 5, sometimes 1) over the years and these can be valuable when searching for another soap.

They will tell you two things:
1. There is no "best" soap, and the variety on these lists is vast and deep.
2. But you will find a small handful of soaps that keep appearing on many of the lists. I always imagine those to be safer bets.

It's always a good idea to give a price range when you're looking for a new soap. SV covers all of your requirements and then some, but cost me well over $100 a year in daily use. Haslinger is an excellent soap at a fraction of that cost.
I can definitely see your point based on the the variety of the responses.
And yes of course, it is all completely subjective.

My intention is more a case of asking:
If you love to use MWF because of the combination of after shave face feel, scent and price, but you can't get if for whatever reason, then what would you buy to use until you can get it again.

From what I can tell, the closest contenders are similar in that they all have some kind of a sheep theme and I guess they all contain lanolin.

I just don't want to make this a "Best lanolin soap" thread because there might be other soaps that come close to meeting my criteria that do not contain lanolin.

This is a good example:
+1 on the Palmolive stick if you can get it. Mixed in a mug with la Toja it’s MWF’s equal.

Here we see that a combination of two products can give a similar result, something else worth looking into.
Although the "if you can get it" makes it sound like unobtainium is involved.
 
Thanks to everybody who has contributed so far.
I have looked at most of the suggestions and thought it would be best to categorize them into 3 groups.
Please feel free to suggest adding or removing or moving a soap.

1) Same league

Stirling Sheep
Haslinger Schafmilch
Cold River Soap Works Schamenmelk

2) Superior in performance and price

Saponificio Varesino
Wholly Kaw

3) Will do in a pinch

Cella bio
Cyril R Salter
Klar Seifen

Speick shave stick
La toja shave stick
Arch mogno
 
Hello Everybody,

I am a long time user of Mitchell's Wool Fat shaving soap.
I think it works really well, I really like the after shave feel that it leaves, and I also like the virtual lack of scent.
The price is also very reasonable especially considering how long a puck can last.
Oh, and it's not made of Unobtainium i.e. it's fairly easy to find from internet vendors who sell other shaving goods - this helps with the product cost to shipping cost ratio.

I am now looking for alternatives that can match the above criteria or better.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!


Welcome to B&B, Sir StellaNova!

It's hard to beat da' Fat!!

woolfat sep 2013-8106s.jpg
 
Thanks to everybody who has contributed so far.
I have looked at most of the suggestions and thought it would be best to categorize them into 3 groups.
Please feel free to suggest adding or removing or moving a soap.

1) Same league

Stirling Sheep
Haslinger Schafmilch
Cold River Soap Works Schamenmelk

2) Superior in performance and price

Saponificio Varesino
Wholly Kaw

3) Will do in a pinch

Cella bio
Cyril R Salter
Klar Seifen

Speick shave stick
La toja shave stick
Arch mogno
You left out Golddachs and Dr. Dittmar. These soaps receive next to no attention on the forum for reasons I don't understand. Perhaps they are too old-fashioned? Or they don't have an exciting scent? Or they don't contain unicorn butter? Performance is excellent. But then, the same things are true for MWF.

Calling Klar Seifen and Cyril R Salter Solid Soap as "will do in a pinch" made me chuckle. Maybe you should broaden your horizons a little.

:laugh:
 
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You left out Golddachs and Dr. Dittmar. These soaps receive next to no attention on the forum for reasons I don't understand. Perhaps they are too old-fashioned? Or they don't have an exciting scent? Or they don't contain unicorn butter? Performance is excellent. But then, the same things are true for MWF.

Calling Klar Seifen and Cyril R Salter Solid Soap as "will do in a pinch" made me chuckle. Maybe you should broaden your horizons a little.

:laugh:
Thanks for your input, I was in a bit of a rush when I compiled the list.
And by the way, I really like your previous post a lot, it is very informative.

Maybe you should broaden your horizons a little.
This thread is all about the broadening of horizons, the parameters are just quite narrow :)
 
OK all interested parties, I have updated the list.
I may still rank the products according to number of mentions or something when I get a chance.
Any more suggestions are most welcome as long as they can compete with MWF in terms of face feel, mildness of scent and price.

1) Same League

Stirling Sheep
Haslinger Schafmilch
Cold River Soap Works Schamenmelk

2) Superior in Performance and Price

Saponificio Varesino
Wholly Kaw

3) Fair Contenders

Cella Bio
Cyril R Salter
Klar Seifen
Golddachs
Dr. Dittmar

Speick shave stick
La Toja shave stick
Ach Brito Mogno
 
Practically anything is better them “Da Fat”.
I guess that means that you are not a Mitchell's Wool Fat fan then ?
Many aspects of shaving are very subjective and YMMV all the way.

My intention for this thread is for people who actually like MWF to suggest other products that at least share the good attributes of MWF.

Thanks for contributing anyway :)
 
I'm not sure about the current veggie formula but the older tallow version of the Lea classic puck is basically the exact same soap as MWF!

It lathers up the same (starts frothy and gets thicker as water is added), and a very similar post shave feel which only MWF and Lea provide.

Initially I thought Mitchell's produced the soap but I confirmed with Lea that it's made in-house.

I'll have to try the veggie formula one day just to compare.
 
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