Ugh, where to start? How 'bout a little background....
Queen Charlotte Soaps (http://www.queencharlottesoaps.com/) is a startup company by a member on our board, Mretzloff (Matthew).They offer an array of bath soaps, shaving soaps, and a few bath accessories like their soap sudser which I have been looking for one FOREVER
Anyways, Recently I've been making the transition from DE shaving to Str8's so I've been on the lookout for soaps that have more "slip" or "lubrication" if you will. After reading several reviews on different companies and products, I settled on Matt's soaps.
So a few days ago I placed my order with him. I grabbed one tub of the Cedarwood Lemongrass "cream soap" and the one soap sudser. They arrived today and I was able to get a shave with them tonight.
Well gents, I have good news and I have bad news. Good news first you say?
The good news is that this is the best soap and or cream that I have ever used. I'll say I'm right around 30 products to include all the big name's that always pop up on the "what's your favorite soap ever" threads. Soaps, creams, sticks, you name it. Matt's top's them all.
Lathering this stuff was a little tricky. I'm a face lathering guy and I exclusively use boar. This product, to me, needs to be treated more like a cream.
-I tried lathering it like a triple milled soap and had a runny frothy mess everywhere.
-I tried treating it like a cream and taking an almond sized dollop out and then trying to face lather it...didn't work
I finally gave my boar brush a slight squeeze ( I know, a big no-no ) and swirled it around on top of the cream soap until it was well loaded About 10 seconds. Then once I applied it to my face where I knew it would be too thick, I dipped the tips in hot water and ended up with the most luxurious lather I've ever experienced ( You hear that all you mom and pop soap makers? Tallow FTW! ) This stuff was rich, creamy, slick, smooth. Just wonderful. Left my face slick and moisturized. I really can't see anything topping this stuff in the performance department
Now for the bad news. Truth be told, seeing as how I got the best shave ever from this stuff, and the maker is one of our own, I feel AWFUL even mentioning something that I didn't like about it
I have sensitive skin. Mama Bear's burns me up like crazy. I kept that in mind as I looked around Matt's website. I was originally looking at the Sandalwood, but after hearing a lot of negativity about the scent I decided to go elsewhere. I really liked the sound of the Briar and the Celestial Woods but was afraid that with all those scent oils in there that they might irritate my skin. None of the other scents interested me in the least, so Cedarwood Lemongrass is where I landed.
That was not a good choice. I opened it up and immediately noticed that I wasn't a fan. Let SWMBO sniff it and she turned her nose up at it. I would describe the scent as 20% Cedarwood 80% Lemongrass. Whatever scent he uses for his Lemongrass, it's great stuff because it smells like the real thing. Unfortunately, when the Cedarwood tries to come through it almost smells like a piece of lemongrass covered in mud and dirt.
You'd have to smell it to know what I'm talking about. It almost takes on a scent similar to Williams or Arko, but different.
It also irritated my skin, but just slightly.
All in all, I'm very happy with my purchase. Matt has some EXCELLENT quality products and I'll be using it exclusively for at least a week or two regardless of my opposition to the scent, it's just that good.
I've really got my fingers crossed that he'll launch some new scents before I need to re-order (which I will be doing again, and again, and again) that will be more pleasing to my senses and gentler on my face. It's a top notch product that even my college budget can appreciate, and for that, I owe him a big Thank You He's got a customer for life in me and I'd be more than happy to go out on a limb with my cash and try out his other scents.
I urge you guys to give it a try.
Queen Charlotte Soaps (http://www.queencharlottesoaps.com/) is a startup company by a member on our board, Mretzloff (Matthew).They offer an array of bath soaps, shaving soaps, and a few bath accessories like their soap sudser which I have been looking for one FOREVER
Anyways, Recently I've been making the transition from DE shaving to Str8's so I've been on the lookout for soaps that have more "slip" or "lubrication" if you will. After reading several reviews on different companies and products, I settled on Matt's soaps.
So a few days ago I placed my order with him. I grabbed one tub of the Cedarwood Lemongrass "cream soap" and the one soap sudser. They arrived today and I was able to get a shave with them tonight.
Well gents, I have good news and I have bad news. Good news first you say?
The good news is that this is the best soap and or cream that I have ever used. I'll say I'm right around 30 products to include all the big name's that always pop up on the "what's your favorite soap ever" threads. Soaps, creams, sticks, you name it. Matt's top's them all.
Lathering this stuff was a little tricky. I'm a face lathering guy and I exclusively use boar. This product, to me, needs to be treated more like a cream.
-I tried lathering it like a triple milled soap and had a runny frothy mess everywhere.
-I tried treating it like a cream and taking an almond sized dollop out and then trying to face lather it...didn't work
I finally gave my boar brush a slight squeeze ( I know, a big no-no ) and swirled it around on top of the cream soap until it was well loaded About 10 seconds. Then once I applied it to my face where I knew it would be too thick, I dipped the tips in hot water and ended up with the most luxurious lather I've ever experienced ( You hear that all you mom and pop soap makers? Tallow FTW! ) This stuff was rich, creamy, slick, smooth. Just wonderful. Left my face slick and moisturized. I really can't see anything topping this stuff in the performance department
Now for the bad news. Truth be told, seeing as how I got the best shave ever from this stuff, and the maker is one of our own, I feel AWFUL even mentioning something that I didn't like about it
I have sensitive skin. Mama Bear's burns me up like crazy. I kept that in mind as I looked around Matt's website. I was originally looking at the Sandalwood, but after hearing a lot of negativity about the scent I decided to go elsewhere. I really liked the sound of the Briar and the Celestial Woods but was afraid that with all those scent oils in there that they might irritate my skin. None of the other scents interested me in the least, so Cedarwood Lemongrass is where I landed.
That was not a good choice. I opened it up and immediately noticed that I wasn't a fan. Let SWMBO sniff it and she turned her nose up at it. I would describe the scent as 20% Cedarwood 80% Lemongrass. Whatever scent he uses for his Lemongrass, it's great stuff because it smells like the real thing. Unfortunately, when the Cedarwood tries to come through it almost smells like a piece of lemongrass covered in mud and dirt.
You'd have to smell it to know what I'm talking about. It almost takes on a scent similar to Williams or Arko, but different.It also irritated my skin, but just slightly.
All in all, I'm very happy with my purchase. Matt has some EXCELLENT quality products and I'll be using it exclusively for at least a week or two regardless of my opposition to the scent, it's just that good.
I've really got my fingers crossed that he'll launch some new scents before I need to re-order (which I will be doing again, and again, and again) that will be more pleasing to my senses and gentler on my face. It's a top notch product that even my college budget can appreciate, and for that, I owe him a big Thank You
He's got a customer for life in me and I'd be more than happy to go out on a limb with my cash and try out his other scents.I urge you guys to give it a try.
An unscented version for the sensitives would be nice, and kiss on the scented versions, imho. You will be pleased that you tried this product, hope I don't get labeled a shill.
Just a satisfied user, Bradley
