Rocky Mountain Shavers (RMS)

[dkeester]

Speaking of artisans that live in the Rocky Mountain area. In Golden, Colorado there is a small company that makes face and skin care products, including shaving soap. I have yet to try them, but one of my friends swears by their soap.

http://www.spinstersistersco.com/

Perhaps a puck of their soap could be added to an eventual RMS Pass-Around?

Oh, and I am interested in participating in such a pass-around.

 

[dexutter]

Speaking of artisans that live in the Rocky Mountain area. In Golden, Colorado there is a small company that makes face and skin care products, including shaving soap. I have yet to try them, but one of my friends swears by their soap.

http://www.spinstersistersco.com/

Perhaps a puck of their soap could be added to an eventual RMS Pass-Around?

Oh, and I am interested in participating in such a pass-around.

Interesting! I bought some stuff in Idaho Springs, it's hand soap now... couldn't get an actual lather from it... bummer...

 

[cvargo]

Announcement Time


Here are our current members
@dkeester @dexutter @Jaidmaster @bluesman 7 @fordfather @jamzdean @Gallen1119 @SteveWY @Doug57 @Runnin_Ute

That is 11 total members! First of all I know there are more of us out there but that is not the point of this post! So here we go!

I have been in contact with Casey one of the brothers behind BlueBell Artisan Soaps. A soap making company in the small town of BlueBell, Utah; population 593! Here is a little about them and the company; found on the about us section of their website www.bluebellsoap.com

Like Orville and Wilbur, we are brothers with a passion for chasing dreamsand doing things right. Unlike Orville and Wilbur, our names are Caseyand Alex. Alex is the bearded artisan. Casey, the clean-shavenbusinessman.
Bluebell Artisan Soaps is the result of our powerful conversion to the artof traditional wet shaving.
Alex has been making great bar soap for years, but the impetus to form apartnership and sales channel for our own line of soap products came when Caseydiscovered top-shelf shaving soaps and an Edwin Jagger DE89. Alex'sMerkur 34C arrived in the mail soon thereafter and our passion for all thingswet shaving was born.
Named after our home town and the place where the soap is made, we areheadquartered in the thriving metropolis of Bluebell, Utah - population 593.
Bluebell Artisan Soaps is a proud supporter of Operation Smile:
www.operationsmile.org
Operation Smile, headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is aninternational children’s medical charity with a presence in more than 60countries. Since its founding in 1982, Operation Smile has provided morethan 220,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with cleft lip,cleft palate and other facial deformities.
If you are grateful for what you don't see in the mirror when you shave,consider a donation to Operation Smile.


First of all after reading the about us page I can tell these are gentlemen. And after being in contact with Casey for the past 2 weeks roughly I can confirm that is the case. When I asked him a couple questions via email and this little snippet that he sent back in my opinion just shows that he is a regular guy like us:

"Our story is very similar to others. Hated shaving. Had to shave. Suffered for years. Discovered traditional wet shaving. Loved shaving. Decided to try our hand. Made a million batches of soap until we felt ours was as good as anything out there. Built a website. People bought the soap, so we made more. We'll see where it goes!"

Awhile ago via a trade on a facebook site I received a sample of their Barbershop scent, he asked me what I thought of it and this is what I had to say:

"In response to your question i used your Barbershop scent. And correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you don't use tallow? When I use soaps I always look at slickness, protection, lather stability, scent.
I really like tallow soaps and to be honest I was quite surprised, this soap acted and performed similarly to alot of tallow soaps and better than a lot too.
Plenty slick, the protection was perfect for me, the lather was easy to build and was stable through my 3 passes. The only thing I would knock is scent strength... I really like strong smelling soaps. But I must admit the level that the sample was at would be perfect for a lot of people. I'm excited to see the full tub because I know that scent can be lost in samples"



Here was his response:

"Great feedback and thank you very much! The shave soap you will receive is likely a slightly updated recipe from the one you have. We removed clay and added aloe vera juice to replace some of the distilled water. We also removed the avocado oil as there are a surprising number of people who are allergic. The updated recipe performs in a very similar manner during the shave, but we feel the post-shave is now much better. In our view, once your shaving skill is honed, most soaps perform very similarly. Post-shave is really what sets a great soap apart.
I must say that scent is the most difficult factor to feel confident about as a soap maker. Everybody is so different. We test our scents by going to small fairs and shows and listen and watch people very carefully as they experience the product. We watch what men buy for themselves and what women by for their guy. We are often surprised that we can't predict winners and losers very well. Scent strength is also very subjective. We have tried to be middle-of-the-road in that regard.
You are correct. We do not use tallow in our current formulation. We have actually developed some very good tallow-based shave soaps, but decided that our first version would be made without animal products to appeal to a broader spectrum of shavers. As we developed our vegan version the goal was always to match or beat all of the great tallow soaps we had experienced. We feel for the most part that we have succeeded. Everybody's mileage varies, of course. I am sure that we will eventually release a tallow-based version to be sold alongside our current offering to appeal to the tallow-junkies out there. Without doubt tallow makes for a great shave when properly executed."

Are you excited yet???

So here is the plan He is sending 2 full tubs I am not sure on which scents yet, but the idea is that we the Rocky Mountain Shavers will pass these around to us members and make sure to POST reviews! Casey understands that we here at B&B provide HONEST reviews and he stands behind his product, he is planning on joining B&B soon as a vendor soon as well! Let's see these soaps used in SOTD pics, maybe even post a write-up in the Shaving Soap section of B&B... so here are the rules:

Sign-ups will start now, when I send the box there will be the 2 BlueBell soaps, as well as another soap tub from one of my favorite vendors. My hope is that since we are keeping this centralized to us here in the RMS we can probably set the sign-ups up in a way that in some cases we can hand deliver the items to the next in line to save on shipping costs. If you want to add to the box please feel free. I wasn't planning on treating this like a take something leave something. But if it turns into that, it is fine as long as the BlueBell soaps STAY in the box! There is no excuse all 11 of us should participate shipping will be low or near 0 if you decide to hand deliver. So here are the spots please copy and past the rules with the list if you sign up!

1. cvargo (waiting for delivery from BlueBell)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18. Back to cvargo

So why are there extra spots when we currently only have 11 members??? Well I figured that on B&B we are a friendly bunch and I wanted to open this up to a few other respected reviewers that we all know and love and they spend a lot of time in the Journal section. So if one of these gents: @CBLindsay @labrax @cmh737 @Devonmoonshire @Smattayu and @skypsyd feel so inclined and want to partake in the fun please take one of the spots between 12 and 17. 1-11 are reserved for the RMS members.

Any questions please reach out to me and I will do my best to answer them!

 

[dkeester]

I'm in. I would love to try these out and post a review.

Sign-ups will start now, when I send the box there will be the 2 BlueBell soaps, as well as another soap tub from one of my favorite vendors. My hope is that since we are keeping this centralized to us here in the RMS we can probably set the sign-ups up in a way that in some cases we can hand deliver the items to the next in line to save on shipping costs. If you want to add to the box please feel free. I wasn't planning on treating this like a take something leave something. But if it turns into that, it is fine as long as the BlueBell soaps STAY in the box! There is no excuse all 11 of us should participate shipping will be low or near 0 if you decide to hand deliver. So here are the spots please copy and past the rules with the list if you sign up!

1. cvargo (waiting for delivery from BlueBell)
2. dkeester
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18. Back to cvargo

 

[Guestabc]

I'm in. I would love to try these out and post a review.

Sign-ups will start now, when I send the box there will be the 2 BlueBell soaps, as well as another soap tub from one of my favorite vendors. My hope is that since we are keeping this centralized to us here in the RMS we can probably set the sign-ups up in a way that in some cases we can hand deliver the items to the next in line to save on shipping costs. If you want to add to the box please feel free. I wasn't planning on treating this like a take something leave something. But if it turns into that, it is fine as long as the BlueBell soaps STAY in the box! There is no excuse all 11 of us should participate shipping will be low or near 0 if you decide to hand deliver. So here are the spots please copy and past the rules with the list if you sign up!

1. cvargo (waiting for delivery from BlueBell)
2. dkeester
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17. skypsyd
18. Back to cvargo

 

[dexutter]

I'm in! Sounds like good stuff!

Sign-ups will start now, when I send the box there will be the 2 BlueBell soaps, as well as another soap tub from one of my favorite vendors. My hope is that since we are keeping this centralized to us here in the RMS we can probably set the sign-ups up in a way that in some cases we can hand deliver the items to the next in line to save on shipping costs. If you want to add to the box please feel free. I wasn't planning on treating this like a take something leave something. But if it turns into that, it is fine as long as the BlueBell soaps STAY in the box! There is no excuse all 11 of us should participate shipping will be low or near 0 if you decide to hand deliver. So here are the spots please copy and past the rules with the list if you sign up!

1. cvargo (waiting for delivery from BlueBell)
2. dkeester
3. dexutter
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17. skypsyd
18. Back to cvargo

 

[Doug57]

I'm in! I love trying out new stuff.

Sign-ups will start now, when I send the box there will be the 2 BlueBell soaps, as well as another soap tub from one of my favorite vendors. My hope is that since we are keeping this centralized to us here in the RMS we can probably set the sign-ups up in a way that in some cases we can hand deliver the items to the next in line to save on shipping costs. If you want to add to the box please feel free. I wasn't planning on treating this like a take something leave something. But if it turns into that, it is fine as long as the BlueBell soaps STAY in the box! There is no excuse all 11 of us should participate shipping will be low or near 0 if you decide to hand deliver. So here are the spots please copy and past the rules with the list if you sign up!

1. cvargo (waiting for delivery from BlueBell)
2. dkeester
3. dexutter
4. Doug57
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17. skypsyd
18. Back to cvargo

 

[CBLindsay]

I'll pass Chad but I hope Pete & Chris (@labrax & @ cmh373) get in the lineup, they and Dave are much better at evaluating soaps than I am. I love that you engaged an artisan this way and that they are willing to do this. In fact, I think it would be a great idea if new vendor's entry to the B&B forum required some form of similar "sponsorship" (most have a pretty serious following anyway but this would help ensure THEY and the membership get max value)

 

[cvargo]

I'll pass Chad but I hope Pete & Chris (@labrax & @ cmh373) get in the lineup, they and Dave are much better at evaluating soaps than I am. I love that you engaged an artisan this way and that they are willing to do this. In fact, I think it would be a great idea if new vendor's entry to the B&B forum required some form of similar "sponsorship" (most have a pretty serious following anyway but this would help ensure THEY and the membership get max value)

Casey at BlueBell was unaware of B&B, since I reached out to him, we have been in constant email talk about the hobby this guy really enjoys the hobby and I am excited to put his soap through the wringer here.

Even if you don't join in here hopefully you decide to add a puck to your den.

 

[CBLindsay]

Casey at BlueBell was unaware of B&B, since I reached out to him, we have been in constant email talk about the hobby this guy really enjoys the hobby and I am excited to put his soap through the wringer here.

Even if you don't join in here hopefully you decide to add a puck to your den.

You know I trust the oppinion of the C.E.C. Evaluators, all I need is a strong scent and a good word (and 2" on space in my drawer). If you think they are worth supporting I'm in.

 

[Runnin_Ute]

I'll formalize my participation tonight from the laptop as it's easier to do.
I can add another artisan soap from a Utah company as well. Beehivesoap.com. I have a relationship with the owner as she is married to a cousin of mine. About a month ago I got the opportunity to test a new formula Shaving soap. Posted feedback I sent to her in Shaving Soap sub forum.

 

[cvargo]

I'll formalize my participation tonight from the laptop as it's easier to do.
I can add another artisan soap from a Utah company as well. Beehivesoap.com. I have a relationship with the owner as she is married to a cousin of mine. About a month ago I got the opportunity to test a new formula Shaving soap. Posted feedback I sent to her in Shaving Soap sub forum.

I'm sure [MENTION=108196]dexutter[/MENTION] and [MENTION=108562]dkeester[/MENTION] wouldn't mind if you take spot two that way the soap gets in right away.

 

[Smattayu]

Thanks Chad! This is a great way to get us familiarized with an artisan.

Sign-ups will start now, when I send the box there will be the 2 BlueBell soaps, as well as another soap tub from one of my favorite vendors. My hope is that since we are keeping this centralized to us here in the RMS we can probably set the sign-ups up in a way that in some cases we can hand deliver the items to the next in line to save on shipping costs. If you want to add to the box please feel free. I wasn't planning on treating this like a take something leave something. But if it turns into that, it is fine as long as the BlueBell soaps STAY in the box! There is no excuse all 11 of us should participate shipping will be low or near 0 if you decide to hand deliver. So here are the spots please copy and past the rules with the list if you sign up!

1. cvargo (waiting for delivery from BlueBell)
2. dkeester
3. dexutter
4. Doug57
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16. Smattayu
17. skypsyd
18. Back to cvargo

 

[Jaidmaster]

I'm in! This sounds cool. I do have a couple of questions:
1. How long do we get to keep the box?
2. Since this is a fairly small group, if there is something we really like could we scoop a small sample (enough for another 1 or 2 shaves)?
3. A review thread seems like a great idea?

Reshuffle me anywhere in the list that makes sense!
Thanks!

Sign-ups will start now, when I send the box there will be the 2 BlueBell soaps, as well as another soap tub from one of my favorite vendors. My hope is that since we are keeping this centralized to us here in the RMS we can probably set the sign-ups up in a way that in some cases we can hand deliver the items to the next in line to save on shipping costs. If you want to add to the box please feel free. I wasn't planning on treating this like a take something leave something. But if it turns into that, it is fine as long as the BlueBell soaps STAY in the box! There is no excuse all 11 of us should participate shipping will be low or near 0 if you decide to hand deliver. So here are the spots please copy and past the rules with the list if you sign up!

1. cvargo (waiting for delivery from BlueBell)
2. dkeester
3. dexutter
4. Doug57
5. Jaidmaster
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16. Smattayu
17. skypsyd
18. Back to cvargo

 

[Jaidmaster]

Ingredient list looks good, and I seem to really enjoy soaps containing aloe for whatever reason!

 

[cvargo]

I'm in! This sounds cool. I do have a couple of questions:
1. How long do we get to keep the box?
2. Since this is a fairly small group, if there is something we really like could we scoop a small sample (enough for another 1 or 2 shaves)?
3. A review thread seems like a great idea?

Reshuffle me anywhere in the list that makes sense!
Thanks!

Response to your questions:

1. I am hoping at max 1 week. That seems to be ample time to get a good opinion on a soap. If the box grows bigger then we will increase the time

2. I am okay with people removing a sample amount I personally see no problem with that. These soaps were donated to the group so we should be the ones that use it!

3. I like the idea of a review thread. I really want the reviews to be posted here primarily, so I might write up a companion thread in the soap thread as long as everyone is okay with posting primarily here. Casey the artisan will be reading this thread, so if you want your feedback to be heard this is the place to post it.

Also I am planning on doing some re-shuffling once the list is filled up.

 

[dkeester]

Also I am planning on doing some re-shuffling once the list is filled up.

I expected reshuffling to minimize shipping, so arrange me as you see fit.

 

[cakedog02]

I am a relatively new member to B&B. I live in Utah and just found this thread. I'd like to join the RMS if you'll have me. I also wouldn't mind participating in the pass around. Either way I'd still like to join the group.

 

[cvargo]

I am a relatively new member to B&B. I live in Utah and just found this thread. I'd like to join the RMS if you'll have me. I also wouldn't mind participating in the pass around. Either way I'd still like to join the group.

Follow the rules from post one to officially join our ranks. Then go ahead and add yourself to the list. Most passaround require people to be at 50 posts. So make sure you get your count up and I see no problem with you joining in on the fun.

 

[dexutter]

I am a relatively new member to B&B. I live in Utah and just found this thread. I'd like to join the RMS if you'll have me. I also wouldn't mind participating in the pass around. Either way I'd still like to join the group.

What chad said, and welcome!