No.88 Redux

[garyg]

Let’s keep in mind that according to Phil’s missive above, this is not the new soap, it’s the last 30 pucks of Valobra-made soap. The new soap has not landed in the US yet.

Like everyone else, I don’t know what’s going on, but let us not pre-judge the new soap that no one has tried yet. The new Floris pucks are excellent, of course unlike Valobra-made C&S, it would have been difficult for Floris to make one worse than the old.

I've seen somewhere of disappointing results with the "new" stuff - a European poster maybe since those last 30 pucks of "old" are gone from his store but likely haven't been received by the purchasers in the US? Wonder if there will be a visual clue between the old & new, like AoS did? There's certainly enough confusion over ingredient lists to make sales of alleged NOS No.88 somewhat concerning

 

[Steve56]

I've seen somewhere of disappointing results with the "new" stuff - a European poster maybe since those last 30 pucks of "old" are gone from his store but likely haven't been received by the purchasers in the US? Wonder if there will be a visual clue between the old & new, like AoS did? There's certainly enough confusion over ingredient lists to make sales of alleged NOS No.88 somewhat concerning

The ‘new’ puck that I got from Phil was shiny like a piece of injection molded plastic, and I don’t remember the old Valobra-made pucks looking like that. I have some vintage pucks but they’re boxed and I’m not inclined to unwrap one just for the comparison of appearances.

 

[dabrock]

The ‘new’ puck that I got from Phil was shiny like a piece of injection molded plastic, and I don’t remember the old Valobra-made pucks looking like that. I have some vintage pucks but they’re boxed and I’m not inclined to unwrap one just for the comparison of appearances.

Sounds like the sodium base pucks. My GFT pucks look like that but none of my Valobra products look like that.

 

[Steve56]

Sounds like the sodium base pucks. My GFT pucks look like that but none of my Valobra products look like that.

That was exactly what some folks on the English ATG forum said.

 

[Steve56]

Reformulate is a four-letter word here normally.

There’s an old saying, ‘Change is the mother of twins, progress and trouble’.

 

[alex1921]

Well I ended with the new one as well. Got an email from a vendor that they have the old soaps but received the new one. Exactly like Steve described, gray plastic puck, color is different comparing to the old one. Loaded with CH3 Manchurian. The lather just disappears. It feels anemic. I pulled out the old formula puck and the lather is completely different.
I emailed the vendor and asked return it.

 

[RGF]

Well I ended with the new one as well. Got an email from a vendor that they have the old soaps but received the new one. Exactly like Steve described, gray plastic puck, color is different comparing to the old one. Loaded with CH3 Manchurian. The lather just disappears. It feels anemic. I pulled out the old formula puck and the lather is completely different.
I emailed the vendor and asked return it.

Curious to know what the vendor says. I got the plastic looking one from one vendor and then got an email from another vendor that they have the old stuff, so I ordered. I'm guessing it's the same vendor you ordered from.

 

[alex1921]

Probably. He is getting in touch with the guys in the UK and forwarding them my complaint. He did show me the email he got from the US distributor that these were the last soaps from Valobra. I have no reason to doubt him and I think he is just caught in the middle. Took a pic next to a travel size original 88 I got from CS directly this March. The color is completely different.

 

[alex1921]

Looking at the picture now I see that the printing on the soap is different. The small one has the street name, number and the London post code.
The original OC has the same so another thing that has changed on these new soaps.

 

[dabrock]

Why do the UK companies all want to move towards this base when it's almost universally hated? I guess they aren't interested in shaving anymore, just selling their frags.

 

[alex1921]

I dont get it. You have something that works. Why ruin it?

 

[RGF]

Probably. He is getting in touch with the guys in the UK and forwarding them my complaint. He did show me the email he got from the US distributor that these were the last soaps from Valobra. I have no reason to doubt him and I think he is just caught in the middle. Took a pic next to a travel size original 88 I got from CS directly this March. The color is completely different.

View attachment 1280878

Yeah the puck I got from vendor 1 is as described - plastic looking, grey, different stamp, and the lather was horrible - foamy and disappeared quickly on the face. Vendor 2 advertised that it had the last of the old stuff made in Italy so I bit. Well, it got here today and it is exactly the same as the puck I got from vendor 1. I guess I'm one of the suckers that's born every minute. Very disappointing. I'll be spending my dollars elsewhere from now on.

 

[macintoshBR]

I dont get it. You have something that works. Why ruin it?

because Valobra shut its doors down out of the blue and they suddenly found themselves without a supplier? It’s not a Trumper’s situation. C&S was forced to change its supplier and there’s no one making soaps like Valobra anymore

of course , they could have opted for the DR Harris tallow base, but I assume most English companies are going for the politically correct “no animal products in our products” these days

by the way, Valobra has not produced a single bar of soap for nearly 2 years now, and even C&S had some old stock until recently. That tells you how “fast” shaving soaps fly off their shelves. It’s probably a product they carry just to complete their lines, but they don’t truly make a lot of money from them

 

[ask4Edge]

of course , they could have opted for the DR Harris tallow base, but I assume most English companies are going for the politically correct “no animal products in our products” these days

Yes, they could have, especially since their new soap is (purportedly) still tallow-based (per the C&S site new list of ingredients).
But if they wanted to go tallow-free, they could have opted for the excellent T&H Apsley or Floris formulae.

 

[dabrock]

because Valobra shut its doors down out of the blue and they suddenly found themselves without a supplier? It’s not a Trumper’s situation. C&S was forced to change its supplier and there’s no one making soaps like Valobra anymore

of course , they could have opted for the DR Harris tallow base, but I assume most English companies are going for the politically correct “no animal products in our products” these days

by the way, Valobra has not produced a single bar of soap for nearly 2 years now, and even C&S had some old stock until recently. That tells you how “fast” shaving soaps fly off their shelves. It’s probably a product they carry just to complete their lines, but they don’t truly make a lot of money from them

Too bad they didn't opt for SV or a good French maker like the one that makes L'Occitane Cade if they wanted one that didn't have animal products.

 

[macintoshBR]

like the one that makes L'Occitane Cade

L’Occitane Cade switched formula some time last year and the reviews are mostly negative

 

[dabrock]

L’Occitane Cade switched formula some time last year and the reviews are mostly negative

Glad I have 3 pucks in my stash. Not sure why these companies have no clue what their customers actually want.

 

[Edinburgh]

I only managed to grab some travel pucks of the original 88 and O&C.
Glad I did. I also have some decent Valobra stock. It's a shame when
this kind of this happens to a classic soap.

I would be embarrassed to admit how many Valobra sticks I stocked up on.

 

[Edinburgh]

I think you misunderstood what I meant, I meant that their new base seems to be the same as the Soapworks poorly lathering sodium hydroxide base that is used by UK soaps like GFT, T&H, Penn etc. C&S, DRH, and TOBS were some of the few that had not given in to the dark side.

I agree entirely, with one exception. The Penhaligon’s soaps I have (Blenheim Bouquet, Sartorial and Bayolea) work pretty well. I want to say that Penhaligon’s made the formulas much better only to finally discontinue them shortly thereafter.

 

[Doti B]

I would be embarrassed to admit how many Valobra sticks I stocked up on.

I got into wet shaving too late to experience the Valobra sticks but hear they were very good