My first shave with an English shaving soap...TERRIBLE!

[christian83germany]

Hey Folks!

Today, I had my first shave with an English shaving soap. I bought the Arlington one from D.R.Harris here in Düsseldorf.

I do not know what went wrong but either I am allergic to one ingredient (maybe "Citral") or I made a mistake in my pre-shave routine - which was not different than any time before.

Strange, but only seconds after I applied lather to my face I felt my skin itching and become tense. The lather was neither too dry, nor too wet. It performed very well (it is a triple-milled-soap with Sodium Tallowate).

I did not stop shaving and afterwards the tingling disappeared withing minutes, but my skin was tense for some hours (I did not apply an aftershave balm deliberately to see how it will work out).

Maybe my skin does not tolerate these very hard soaps, that are very alkali?

Any one out there having made a similiar experience with that soap (ARLINGTON)?

I do use Speick, The Art of Shaving Unscented and Palmolive (European Version) shaving creams. The soaps I use: Speick, Mühle Sanddorn (Sea-Buckthorn) and Valobra Almond.

I really do not know what it was but I am really sad because I was so looking forward to my first triple-milled English shaving soap. Damn!!!

Thanks to everyone who might help me.

Kind greetings from Germany!

 

[akokandy]

Sounds to me like something in the fragrance is not agreeing with the skin on your face.

 

[mretzloff]

You are probably allergice to some ingredient in the soap. I cannot think of anything else. Looking at the bright side, you live in Germany where plenty of good, high quality, low price soaps exist. Try some of those and see how they compare.

 

[Jim]

Make some lather up and put on the inside of your arm near the elbow. If it turns red and itches it could be an allergy.

 

[kingfisher]

Make some lather up and put on the inside of your arm near the elbow. If it turns red and itches it could be an allergy.

this is what I do, but I don't even bother to lather it first. I just take a Q-tip and rub it on the soap until I can see it is loaded, then apply it to the skin near the inside of the elbow. Then I wait about 16 hours or more. If no redness appears, I figure I'm good to go.

 

[Jcof3474]

Arlington is one of the only shaving soaps to give me irritation and I do think it was from the scent. Creams really irritated me bad, but most soaps work very well for me.

Good luck.

J.

 

[wulfgar1976]

I had a similar albeit milder reaction with an Erasmic shave stick. My skin tingled for a long time after I shaved with it.

 

[mdunn]

my first shave with arlington was rubbish. i found that it really likes a dry brush to start with and can be a bit tricky. hopefully youre not alergic, caust it works really well for me now

 

[Gustav]

I have the exact same trouble with an Arlington stick. After I had shaved with it, my face felt as though somebody had skinned it. It felt so raw and itchy that I could barely stand putting ASB on it or even touch it. I suspect that the preservative, or its oxidized form, does not agree with me. I got the much the same reaction with De Vergulde Hand which has the same preservative but after the second shave with DVH the effect went away (I have not checked the other ingredients though). No such luck with Arlington though. Some people have had success washing or stripping the outer layer of the soap, which would remove the oxidized preservative, but it did not work for me. Good Luck,

 

[Seraphim]

I sold my Arlington for the very same reason. I think the citrus irritated my soft, velvety smooth, tender skin.

Other citrus based products likewise irritate.

 

[bladebuff]

Despite it's rave reviews DRH Arlington Shaving Soap was a bit of a disappointment for me, it was fine on the skin but just was only so so in shaving, on the other hand the DRH Arlington Shave Cream is one of my top picks.

 

[Legion]

Strange. Arlington is one of my favourite soaps. I've always had a good result from it. Could be an allergy, I guess. I'm sure you could sell it if you have only used it a couple of times. I bought my first puck, just to try it out, from someone who, I guess, didn't like it either. Since then I have bought more of it and also the Marlborough.

 

[norman931]

I had a similar reaction to L'Occitane Cade.

 

[luvmysuper]

Just curious, did you do a lot of face scrubbing with the brush? It seems you use a lot of creams, and I'm just curious if maybe you overdid it on the face lathering part. A brush, though soft, can cause irritation if overdone.

If it is the fragrance you have a reaction to, be of good cheer, as I hear that Tabac grows on trees over there and you can just pick a fresh puck to use on the way out to the post.

 

[Antique Hoosier]

Trumpers Limes Soap had a similar reaction for me. Shame because I really liked the scent and lather but sold it after one shave.