Penhaligon's Shave Soaps

[drw6895]

I am looking at the Penhaligon's English Fern & Blenheim Bouquet shaving soaps as a first shaving soap. These are on the ones featured on the English Shaving Company. I am currently using AOS Lavender cream which is good, but my skin is a little dry even though I use an aftershave balm (Crabtree & Evelyn Sienna).

Is there a major difference between the Pehaligon's English Fern & Blenheim Bouquet in terms of the quality of the shave? How about scent?

If I buy the English Fern, it does not appear the English Shaving Company sells the bowl to match. Does anyone know if the Pehaligon's soaps will fit into the Edwin Jagger Metal bowls? I am attaching a link for one that is featured on E-bay in the US.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Edwin-Jagger-Sh...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4838694424

Thanks,

DRW

 

[michiganlover]

If you are US based, I believe John @ Shaving Essentials has the Penhaligon's soaps in stock, at least he would if his website were not currently down. Still I am sure you could drop him an e-mail, or call him to order. I believe he had it in both refills, and with the bowl.

 

[ctakim]

The only caveat I would say is that they just reformulated their product (but kept the price the same). I might wait to see what a greater consensus of members think to see if it is still worth $80 for a puck and bowl of the new stuff. For equal (or maybe now better) performance for a much more reasonable price you might try D.R. Harris. But truthfully, for a first soap, you should really go with Tabac. You could whip up great lather with just a toothbrush, and then you can compare it to other soaps as your collection grows.

By the way I love Penhaligon products, having both EF and BB older formulations in my rotation.

 

[SliceOfLife]

There really isn't THAT huge of a premium on old formulation Pens if you can find a bowl. You may want to post in BST-WTB. I hear the new formulation is pretty bad (especially for the price).

 

[markb]

Avoid the new formulation English Fern. I have it and it's not very good.

 

[bassguy]

I'd say save up for Yardley. There's been more of it floating around than old Pen Fern, currently one up on ebay at the moment. Grab an old Pen fern if you see one for sure, but they just don't seem to be for sale now that the new Pen Fern has been panned by the fans.

 

[Blue-EyedSon]

The suggestion to keep an eye out for Yarldeys is good, but it will set you back much, much more than the EF, which you can actually find for much less than the Yardleys. Try posting a WTB ad. I did and got one within a week. Somebody else started asking questions about it and got PIFed a brand new puck in the bowl from a gracious member before they could even post an ad.

As to the quality of the newer Pens ... I can't offer any personal testimony, but I think the general consensus in a thread I posted was that it is not bad soap. In fact, it's actually pretty good soap and comparable to perhaps Trumpers or DR Harris. But as such, it is horribly overpriced and not worth the money unless you absolutely must have the scent that you are looking for.

As to wether it will fit the bowls you ask of ... I'm not sure.

 

[brothers]

I tried a dozen times or more to get a decent lather from a new forumulation Pen's Blenheim Bouquet, even with distilled water, and it was simply lousy. They've ruined it. It would probably be worth $5 or thereabouts. Not the princely sum they are asking for it. You get a real nice bunch of air filled soapsuds. Looks at a distance like real shaving lather. Up close, it's suds.

 

[cbird]

I have both the EF and BB new formulations and like them both. The scents are very different, but both very good (as expected, since Penhaligons is really a perfume company). The lather they make is not very thick, but does work very well for shaving and seems better than most high quality soaps in its moisturizing properties. I would concur with the above opinions that it is not a good value, though. I think you are mainly paying for the scent with the premium they charge, while the shaving soap aspect of it is not distinctly better (if better at all, although it makes a distinctive lather) than other high quality soaps. I think Harris, Trumpers, T and H, TOBS, L'Occitane and others make soaps that will work as well for shaving. L'Occitane is equal or better for moisturizing, too, at a fraction of the cost. You would expect the EF and BB soaps would be about equal in terms of lather, but my EF has seemed better than my BB somehow. Get them if you would like them, nothing is wrong with them, but the other soaps I have mentioned are much better deals. If you like the Penhaligon scents, it would make more sense to get their aftershave balms or colognes and save money on the soaps.