Greetings fellow wet shavers!
Today I had the opportunity to try a sample from Yaqi Shave Soap called "PINACOLADA CHILLERS".
A mentholated shave soap that, although it's offered by Yaqi, the creator happens to be Fernando Saraiva, the artisan of Master Soap Creations whose company is based in South Africa. An interesting shave soap that, apart from "Kevy Shaves" video review I haven't found anyone else in this or other forums posting a written review of the version that Fernando created for Yaqi, so I will take this opportunity and post my first contribution to this community.
The ingredients used to create the "Yaqi" shave soap are: Triple pressed stearic acid, tallow, coconut oil, castor oil, avocado oil, shea butter, purified aqua, bentonite clay, glycerine, sodium lactate, pure essential oils, fragance oils, pottasium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide.
1. My shave gear is:
Soap: Yaqi PINACOLADA CHILLERS (Mentholated)
Razor: DSCosmetics DS-D8 316L Stainless Steel razor
Bowl: Via Barberia (OMEGA) Ceramic Lather Bowl
Water Bowl: Generic collapsible bowl
Brush: Mamba Shave Brush
Hardness of water at home: Soft
2. Loading the brush:
As a personal liking, I submerge the brush in the water bowl, remove the excess water and load the brush directly to the shave sample, this way I can obtain a small "pasty" consistency that I can work in the bowl
The first picture is the amount of shave soap loaded in the brush:
The second picture shows the remains that I removed from the sample and placed in the bowl, this way I can leave the sample apart and it can dry faster before closing the lid:
3. Creating the lather:
Without adding any extra water I obtained this:
(I apologize because I had more lather in the bowl but I forgot to take a picture :c )
For my first pass (WTG) I always like to create a pretty dense lather. To do that I work my lather in the bowl with the water retained in the brush. I feel that this way I can have a more protective lather to remove the long whiskers without pulling the hair.
When I finish the the first pass I clean the razor in the "water bowl" so I can reuse the little chunks of lather that float in the water.
I've found that by doing this I can add more water to my lather, hence, blooming the slickness properties of the shave soap without losing the dense lather that I liked from the first pass or having to use a "dry" lather for the XTG/ATG passes. (of course YMMV)
The only "disadvantage" that I can mention with this method is referred to the aesthetics of the lather. You end up obtaining a lather with an excellent performance but with some "whiskers" in it. They don't affect in any way the performance of my shave routine but it doesn't create a "photogenic" lather for posting on internet hahahaha.
The results of this "method" to create the lather used for my second and third pass (XTG and ATG):
4. Performance review:
An excellent shaving soap!, it created a good lather with a great density and level of sickness for each pass.
The scent is good, I could recognize the pineapple and the menthol. I also think that it has a suitable level of menthol, you can feel it on your face specially in the end of the routine (when you rinse your face with water) but it is by no means as strong as the mentholated versions that are offered by Stirling soap co.
The consistency of the soap is also good, as "firm/soft" as stirling.
The slickness of it is awesome, I have tried several brands (Stirling, Tabac, Viking, PAA, B&M, MdC, PannaCrema, TOBS, Proraso...) and (for me, YMMV) the best in slickness is viking shaving soap, the second on the list would be MSC/Yaqi shave soaps.
I also mention that I have a very sensitive skin (I always use a pre-shave and after-shave to prevent razor burn, nicks or dry skin, I can't even use an alum block because my face gets very itchy) but with viking shave soaps, B&M and with this one (either Yaqi or Master Soap Creations) I don't have the necessity of a pre or after shave, and I really liked that thing about the soap.
Overall I would grade it with:
Performance: 4.5/5
Post shave feel: 5/5
Scent strength: 3.5/5
In the case of the price (as a foreigner), it was cheaper (I had a discount coupon) and more feasible the option of buying the version that Fernando created for Yaqi than trying to import one of the shaving soaps of master soap creations. In general, the prices on Ali and WCS are "almost" the same, the main difference are the offered scents, in the end it is up to you about what scent would you like to try first hehehe.
Thank you for reading my review I hope that it can be useful for you.
PS: I apologize for the pictures of the lather/water with whiskers, I wanted to upload my true first impressions/review of the shave soap with my usual shave routine. I will upload better pictures the next time (not forgetting to take pictures of the bowl with lather hahahaha) and create a fluffier lather for the photo hehehe.
Today I had the opportunity to try a sample from Yaqi Shave Soap called "PINACOLADA CHILLERS".
A mentholated shave soap that, although it's offered by Yaqi, the creator happens to be Fernando Saraiva, the artisan of Master Soap Creations whose company is based in South Africa. An interesting shave soap that, apart from "Kevy Shaves" video review I haven't found anyone else in this or other forums posting a written review of the version that Fernando created for Yaqi, so I will take this opportunity and post my first contribution to this community.
The ingredients used to create the "Yaqi" shave soap are: Triple pressed stearic acid, tallow, coconut oil, castor oil, avocado oil, shea butter, purified aqua, bentonite clay, glycerine, sodium lactate, pure essential oils, fragance oils, pottasium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide.
1. My shave gear is:
Soap: Yaqi PINACOLADA CHILLERS (Mentholated)
Razor: DSCosmetics DS-D8 316L Stainless Steel razor
Bowl: Via Barberia (OMEGA) Ceramic Lather Bowl
Water Bowl: Generic collapsible bowl
Brush: Mamba Shave Brush
Hardness of water at home: Soft
2. Loading the brush:
As a personal liking, I submerge the brush in the water bowl, remove the excess water and load the brush directly to the shave sample, this way I can obtain a small "pasty" consistency that I can work in the bowl
The first picture is the amount of shave soap loaded in the brush:
The second picture shows the remains that I removed from the sample and placed in the bowl, this way I can leave the sample apart and it can dry faster before closing the lid:
3. Creating the lather:
Without adding any extra water I obtained this:
(I apologize because I had more lather in the bowl but I forgot to take a picture :c )
For my first pass (WTG) I always like to create a pretty dense lather. To do that I work my lather in the bowl with the water retained in the brush. I feel that this way I can have a more protective lather to remove the long whiskers without pulling the hair.
When I finish the the first pass I clean the razor in the "water bowl" so I can reuse the little chunks of lather that float in the water.
I've found that by doing this I can add more water to my lather, hence, blooming the slickness properties of the shave soap without losing the dense lather that I liked from the first pass or having to use a "dry" lather for the XTG/ATG passes. (of course YMMV)
The only "disadvantage" that I can mention with this method is referred to the aesthetics of the lather. You end up obtaining a lather with an excellent performance but with some "whiskers" in it. They don't affect in any way the performance of my shave routine but it doesn't create a "photogenic" lather for posting on internet hahahaha.
The results of this "method" to create the lather used for my second and third pass (XTG and ATG):
4. Performance review:
An excellent shaving soap!, it created a good lather with a great density and level of sickness for each pass.
The scent is good, I could recognize the pineapple and the menthol. I also think that it has a suitable level of menthol, you can feel it on your face specially in the end of the routine (when you rinse your face with water) but it is by no means as strong as the mentholated versions that are offered by Stirling soap co.
The consistency of the soap is also good, as "firm/soft" as stirling.
The slickness of it is awesome, I have tried several brands (Stirling, Tabac, Viking, PAA, B&M, MdC, PannaCrema, TOBS, Proraso...) and (for me, YMMV) the best in slickness is viking shaving soap, the second on the list would be MSC/Yaqi shave soaps.
I also mention that I have a very sensitive skin (I always use a pre-shave and after-shave to prevent razor burn, nicks or dry skin, I can't even use an alum block because my face gets very itchy) but with viking shave soaps, B&M and with this one (either Yaqi or Master Soap Creations) I don't have the necessity of a pre or after shave, and I really liked that thing about the soap.
Overall I would grade it with:
Performance: 4.5/5
Post shave feel: 5/5
Scent strength: 3.5/5
In the case of the price (as a foreigner), it was cheaper (I had a discount coupon) and more feasible the option of buying the version that Fernando created for Yaqi than trying to import one of the shaving soaps of master soap creations. In general, the prices on Ali and WCS are "almost" the same, the main difference are the offered scents, in the end it is up to you about what scent would you like to try first hehehe.
Thank you for reading my review I hope that it can be useful for you.
PS: I apologize for the pictures of the lather/water with whiskers, I wanted to upload my true first impressions/review of the shave soap with my usual shave routine. I will upload better pictures the next time (not forgetting to take pictures of the bowl with lather hahahaha) and create a fluffier lather for the photo hehehe.