Narrowing it down to the very best . . .

[MrMoJoe]

Like many/most of you, over the years I have tried and acquired many, many different soaps; that's part of the fun of this obsession. I'm at a point now, where I have found some real favorites. Over the past few weeks, I have shaved with some soaps that have a fantastic scent, but just don't produce a lather that equals the very best soaps in my stash. Then when I shave with one of those lather monsters, I realize what I'm missing, and I am losing my desire to shave with anything less. Scent is still important (I won't shave with anything that is unpleasant), but performance must be top-notch. I'm getting to a place where I don't need or want anything less, which means my stash is about to get thinned out to a handful of great soaps. I figure this gets me down to about 8 soaps max, if that. I figure my scent cravings can be easily satisfied with a variety of aftershaves.

Anybody else? How many soaps in your regular rotation?

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I have tried quite a few vintage hard soaps, and have recently sold a lot with some more to go. I had been keeping my favourites for my retirement, but the last few years have made me realise how important it is to treat every day as if it may be your last. So I now use my favourites every day; I probably load my brush with too much soap, but I certainly enjoy it. My regular rotation now consists of four soaps - Yardley Black Label, Yardley Lavender, Shulton Old Spice, and tallow Tabac. I use some others occasionally, such as Colgate, Williams, Palmolive, and Dubarry, but these four are my main soaps.

 

[BigJ]

.. the last few years have made me realise how important it is to treat every day as if it may be your last...

+1!! Yes, indeed!! Words of wisdom!!

 

[Marco]

I have narrowed down my shaving soaps to 2 manufacturers: SV and TFS (TFS, RazoRock and Mastro Michè). I have in rotation 2 soaps for each brand, so it's a total of 8. Honestly, I couldn't be happier.

 

[MrMoJoe]

I have narrowed down my shaving soaps to 2 manufacturers: SV and TFS (TFS, RazoRock and Mastro Michè). I have in rotation 2 soaps for each brand, so it's a total of 8. Honestly, I couldn't be happier.

That's pretty much where I'm headed. I love MdC, SV, Haslinger, and PdP, which are my absolute favorites. I still have some old LaToja and some Tabac which are great, and a couple of RazoRock and Stirling soaps which are oustanding as well, but I may not replinish when done.

 

[jesseix]

There's a handful of artisans that I've come to consider the top of my list:
B&M
Declaration Grooming
Ethos
Grooming Dept/Aion

I also have several A&E soaps but haven't been buying any more, and then I have a bunch of other tubs that end up being 1 or 2 scents from other artisans that I really like (Wholly Kaw, Mammoth, MacDuffs, Talbot, Stirling, Noble Otter). There are definitely a few other artisans that I'd like to try at some point, but I'm really trying not to buy any soap for the time being because I have a lot of stuff that I think is great that I'm never going to get through as it is...

 

[NorthernSoul]

I'd like to narrow it down, but there are still too many soaps on the shelf to do that. Eventually.

Some favorites are Haslinger, Provence Sante, Speick (tallow), Tabac (tallow), Cyril R Salter solid and/or DR Harris. I also have a few artisan type soaps such as Signature Soaps (from UK).

Some old favorites are not around anymore, such as Valobra and Fine (hard soap). Of course, MWF (older tallow).

 

[Quaznoid]

A mixture of Dove and Irish Spring. Fantastic

 

[Eben Stone]

This year I downsized from approx 41 to 8 soaps.

I got rid of all the stuff I wasnt actually using.

Then, with the help of this review I read about Bayberry soap on The Sudsy Soapery website by someone named "Mike":

Many people want a scent that will clear a room but they are actually looking for a fragrance, not a shave soap. That's the beauty of SS soaps. While they may 'fit' a time of year, the scents don't stick with too long and won't clash with literally any aftershave or fragrance you choose - Bayberry leaning more fall/winter profile. That's a bonus, not a detractor. Less soaps (that don't clash) - more aftershaves for variety

I was able to get over my obsession with buying matching sets. My goal is to have one lightly neutrally scented soap, and allow the many aftershaves to satisfy the thirst for variety. My lightly neutrally scented soap is Boellis Panama.

I have a few others I'm keeping, SV, Body Shop, Sudsy Soapery. And I just bought OneBlade Lavender. And MacDuffs The Northman is on the way. That gives me 8 soaps total. I'm happy with that.

Now the obsession will be only with aftershaves...

 

[Eben Stone]

I figure my scent cravings can be easily satisfied with a variety of aftershaves.

Great minds think alike.

 

[The Coffee Bandit]

I've tried many, many different soap bases including virtually all the brands oft mentioned on the forums and then some. I've very much enjoyed my long exploration of different soaps. I've been working on 3017ing the past two years, so my current stash is finally down to less than 16.

As much as I enjoyed my soap exploration, when I get through my remaining soaps, only 6 or 7 will be re purchased and kept in permanent rotation.

 

[rsp1202]

Trying to keep to three in rotation, a purely arbitrary number, but I don't want a collection. Canada is a keeper as is Kali Flower Citrus/Cedar. Experiments continue currently with eleven and Southern Witchcrafts. I've been teasing getting a lime cream, Salter lime, for the longest time and still haven't pulled the trigger. Strange that I associate lime with cream and haven't researched soap choices.

 

[coops]

if i had to or wanted to only have one - it would be SV Argania (mixed 50/50 with Myrsol shave cream as a stick).

Of course, i’ve just received some Razorock For Chicago - hoping it to be another favourite as it’s an Issey Miyake L’Eau D’Issey dupe with lanolin, argan oil, jojoba and glycerin so sounds like a very promising recipe.

 

[WThomas0814]

I'm down to one soap. Excellent lather every time and it's cheap. Arko, every shave.

 

[gdawg55]

I have narrowed down my shaving soaps to 2 manufacturers: SV and TFS (TFS, RazoRock and Mastro Michè). I have in rotation 2 soaps for each brand, so it's a total of 8. Honestly, I couldn't be happier.

No Proraso?

 

[helicopter]

I have a small cabinet full of soaps and splashes, a couple dozen of each. I am currently working through a blend of Denali Dreams and Arko as my main target to use up. Eventually I want to get down to a handful of lightly fragranced and versatile soaps, creams, and splashes, and use cologne to drive my daily scent.

I sample most colognes, so I only have a handful of good ones, maybe a couple dozen, and then a few dozen more that were cheap enough not to bother with samples.

When I work through the chaff, I plan to replace and keep in rotation, Cremo cream, Barbasol in a can, B&M Omnibus, A&E K2e or Legacy, depending on which has the most suitable fragrance, glacial Stirling. Maybe Shulton Old Spice, if people keep sullpying it to ebay via estate sales. Maybe MdC or SV. I need to use them more to decide if they're worth having along side the American tallow soaps. Probably something else I am yet to try. Splashes will inDickinson, or Nivea balm, green proraso, old spice, AV musk, bay rum, Dickinsons, and a couple B&M scents.

 

[reformedshavr]

Last fall I realized have way too much of everything so I joined the 2024 Sabbatical and quickly realized I likely won't need to purchase anything for years.

I did my first 3017 on Proraso Green cream which broke me of being obsessed with matching sets as well as clarified how long one tube of cream can last.
As a couple others have mentioned, I'd be happy with one or two soaps and a nice selection of aftershaves... and yes life is short, shaving is a relatively cheap pleasure, and only the best will do.

 

[brucered]

I'm ready to get rid of a hoad of one soap (didn't work as I had hoped) and use Tabac and Proraso Blue exclusively.

When I try something else or new, I'm usually let down.

I'll try Vegan Haslinger before going all in on those two. I haven't used it since tallow was removed.

I don't have much in my soap pile. Just a handful of not available any longer soaps.

 

[Lane101]

A mixture of Dove and Irish Spring. Fantastic

Dove and bath soap is a great combination for a good low cost shaving soap. Back in early 2022 I experimented with an Ivory/Dove Men+Care blend with good results. Link below to the detailed write-up for anyone interested. Quaznoid, believe a shared this link with you a few months ago.

Dove Men+Care: Miracle Superlather Ingredient & Very Good for Shaving When Mixed with Ivory in 50/50 Blend

As promised in my post on Big Jim's thread (link below) I've further experimented and tested Dove Men+Care (DMC) in various shaving soap blends. Overall results were as follows: Dove Men+Care is an excellent superlathering ingredient when combined with other shave soaps either per shave or in...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Lane101]

I've settled on a rotation of about 16 shaving soaps and creams. I keep a primary rotation of three in my apothecary mugs with the rest in sealed containers for more occasional use. I'll use the primaries 4-5 times per week and the other soaps 1-2 times.

My current primary rotation includes Tabac (new formula), Williams and Razorock What the Puck. In the sealed containers I've Mitchell's Wool Fat, Cyril R. Salter, D.R. Harris Windsor, Arko, two Cyril R. Salter creams, two LEA creams, four Razorock/TFS soft Italian soaps, Proraso Red, and a Van Der Hagen Luxury puck.

This is the first time in years I don't have one of my custom blended pucks in rotation. Just 3017'd one yesterday and replaced it with a fresh Williams puck.

By tailoring my lathering technique per soap/cream type I'm able to build great lather from any of the above soaps. Typically slicker wetter lather from the hard soaps and a richer creamier lather from the soft soaps and creams. Additional variety in the area of scents and post shave feel.