Penhaligon's Soaps Current Performance?

[Craig_From_Cincy]

I'm fighting the urge to buy a puck of Penhaligon's English Fern shave soap. I'm about 90% sure that I'm going to be disappointed, but I've heard recent chatter about some improvements in Pen's shave soaps of late (ditto for Floris). Does anyone have experience with recently produced Pen's soaps?

Cheers,

Craig

 

[Prof. Moriarty]

I had the Floris 89 soap about a year ago, was not really impressed. Here are some more recent reviews (still saying its bad ) http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/326813-Penhaligon-s-shave-soap-bad-or-great?

 

[superkreep]

I tried Pen's Blenheim Bouquet and was super disappointed. Pretty poor scent and pitiful lather.

 

[jwilock]

I've got a puck and to contast with the previous post to show that scent, more than any other aspect of shaving, is truly YMMV, I think BB is just about my favorite scent out of over 30+ creams and soaps I've smelled. But I haven't smelled the EF. As for perfromance I found it OK. Not great but now awful either. Do they make English Fern in a cream?

 

[Phog Allen]

Jim, no they don't make EF in a shave cream and more's the pity. The BB cream was about one of the best I have tried. It was a sample from Garry's Sample Shop a couple of years ago. I have no idea if they have mucked with the formula but I haven't heard a discouraging word so I would hazard it is fine. The packaging is first class. Heavy glass jar with chrome look lid. And a price to match. It is the most frustrating thing to see the class of the English houses have such poor reviews of their shave soaps. If you think Penhaligon's is expensive wait til you check Floris' shave soap prices.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Absolute Mustard]

I also want to try Penhaligons as well...Too bad it get terrible reviews

 

[mistercitizen]

I think Floris is pretty good in terms of performance. I've never tried Pen's soaps. I believe it's very true that you can get better performing soaps for much less money than you can with the Floris soap. I have a feeling that both Pen's and Floris soaps have bad reputations because of price and history. I picked up the Floris soaps when they were on sale and I'm glad I did. They are not as bad as the reviews I read IMO.

Ben

 

[Valerius]

I tried the EF a year ago but to me this soap is overpriced. And the lather quality I managed to make was not as good as the one I get from D.R. Harris soaps. Maybe it's due to my technique and the water quality where I live...

 

[rearviewmirror]

awful soap. just awful. i've heard of people grating it up with a stick of Valobra though and getting good shaves.

 

[Craig_From_Cincy]

I've got a puck and to contast with the previous post to show that scent, more than any other aspect of shaving, is truly YMMV, I think BB is just about my favorite scent out of over 30+ creams and soaps I've smelled. But I haven't smelled the EF. As for perfromance I found it OK. Not great but now awful either. Do they make English Fern in a cream?

Unfortunately Penhaligon's stopped making English Fern cream a number of years ago. It's a pity too, because Pen's haven't mucked up their creams, Blenheim Bouquet and Endymion shave creams are both still first rate.

 

[jwilock]

Unfortunately Penhaligon's stopped making English Fern cream a number of years ago. It's a pity too, because Pen's haven't mucked up their creams, Blenheim Bouquet and Endymion shave creams are both still first rate.

What's the Endymon scent like?

 

[Phog Allen]

I think Floris is pretty good in terms of performance. I've never tried Pen's soaps. I believe it's very true that you can get better performing soaps for much less money than you can with the Floris soap. I have a feeling that both Pen's and Floris soaps have bad reputations because of price and history. I picked up the Floris soaps when they were on sale and I'm glad I did. They are not as bad as the reviews I read IMO.

Ben

Thank you for sharing that. When I got into this about ten years ago I had chances to buy Floris #89 shave soap of the older formula that was supposedly very good indeed. I simply did not get round to it and had to wait for the reformulation. Imagine my horror when some long time users were floored by the complete lack of anything resembling a shave lather with the new #89. I am pretty certain Floris took it up and had the formula adjusted to something that at least worked. Snooze and lose and all that. If it I catch it on sale I may give it a go.

Unfortunately Penhaligon's stopped making English Fern cream a number of years ago. It's a pity too, because Pen's haven't mucked up their creams, Blenheim Bouquet and Endymion shave creams are both still first rate.

Craig. Thank you for stopping by. I knew when I saw you post I would have the straight of it. So Penhaligon's has not mucked the shave creams and I am happy for it. I would have loved to try a EF version. And now apparently they have discontinued the EF a/s splash as well. This is not good for my Anglophile status.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Craig_From_Cincy]

Jim,

Endymion is a nicely done modern scent. It's a Oriental spicy with top notes of mandarin, bergamot, lavender and sage, middle notes of geranium and spice, and base notes of leather, musk, myrhh, vetiver, nutmeg, black pepper, cardamon and sandalwood. I like it in the summer.

 

[Craig_From_Cincy]

Thank you for sharing that. When I got into this about ten years ago I had chances to buy Floris #89 shave soap of the older formula that was supposedly very good indeed. I simply did not get round to it and had to wait for the reformulation. Imagine my horror when some long time users were floored by the complete lack of anything resembling a shave lather with the new #89. I am pretty certain Floris took it up and had the formula adjusted to something that at least worked. Snooze and lose and all that. If it I catch it on sale I may give it a go.



Craig. Thank you for stopping by. I knew when I saw you post I would have the straight of it. So Penhaligon's has not mucked the shave creams and I am happy for it. I would have loved to try a EF version. And now apparently they have discontinued the EF a/s splash as well. This is not good for my Anglophile status.

Cheers, Todd

Todd,

Rumor is that Penhaligon's have discontinued all of their aftershave splashes. Dissapointing to say the least.

 

[sarimento1]

I heard the same from a retailer. But there are a few with inventory still. Be sure to look for "aftershave splash" rather than "edt splash".
Here is one that appears to have stock... http://www.shoplondons.com/peblboafsh10.html

 

[Khelben]

Todd,

Rumor is that Penhaligon's have discontinued all of their aftershave splashes. Dissapointing to say the least.

When I was in their shop in Edinburgh two weeks ago, they told me that the only AS they were stocking was the Blenheim. I was hoping for an English Fern one to go with the fragrance. On the subject of the soap, I tried my first lather with the EF today and got less than stellar results initially, but it was with a badger brush that I don't have much experience with and my first shave after coming back to Korea after a month away. I got better lather out of my later passes, so I might have not been working it enough. I'll try it again tomorrow with my boar and see what happens.

 

[Craig_From_Cincy]

Khelben,

Firstly thank you for your service. And also thank you for the report, very disappointing news about the AS splashes. I'm encouraged by your better results from your later passes with the EF soap. Can you please keep us posted on how the soap performs as you use it more?

Cheers,

Craig

 

[Gustav]

Imagine my horror when some long time users were floored by the complete lack of anything resembling a shave lather with the new #89. I am pretty certain Floris took it up and had the formula adjusted to something that at least worked. Snooze and lose and all that. If it I catch it on sale I may give it a go.

Around 2008-2009 I bought a puck of Floris no 89 which fits what you describe. This formulation was notorious for its poor performance and when I wrote to them to complain they admitted that there was a batch that did not meet expectations. They promptly sent me another puck which was far better but IMO not good enough to warrant the price they were charging for it, especially when considering that soaps like Tabac or Palmolive gave me a better shave. I tinkered a bit with the lather, making superlather and such and finally I got fed up with it and put it on bathroom duty.

The thread wherein the discussion with Floris is featured is here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...e-you-written-it-off-and-why?highlight=Floris

 

[Rudy Vey]

My experience with the reformulations of Pen's soaps is that the new version come close to the old tallow formulations. However, the EF re-form I have is not bad, actually quite good for a veggie soap, just not as good as the old version. The BB was totally crap, and this is what I heard from others, too. You can beef up (pun intended...) EF by grating it up and mix it with either Valobra or Palmolive (also grated up) - in a ratio 1:1. I have done it with the Palmolive stick and the outcome is very nice!

 

[Craig_From_Cincy]

Wiseguys, part of that come from my use of the scent, part bok it came from reading Basenotes about the scent some time ago. By the way, I've been in the wine business for almost 20 years now. I specialise in French and Italian wines and own a wine brokerage company based in Cincinnati Ohio.