Introduction
Below is the optimum lather table and review of Saponificio Varesino (SV) shaving soap from my lather optimization guide in the ShaveWiki. Please see the guide for an overview, a disclaimer, and general information about optimizing lather.
Back in June, @Cal generously donated a large sample of SV for evaluation. (Thanks, Cal!) I really liked the scent, but the performance was lacking in slickness and in the post-shave. Overall, it felt like a middle-of-the-road shaving soap. Feedback is welcome.
Optimum Lather Table
| PR | Performance Ranking |
| PD | Purchase Date (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| SCM | Soap/Cream Mass (g) |
| WM | Water Mass (g) |
| TM | Total Mass (g) = SCM + WM |
| WSCR | Water-to-Soap/Cream Ratio = WM / SCM |
| SCIT | Soap/Cream-Incorporation Time (s) |
| LBT | Lather-Building Time (s) |
| SCP | Soap/Cream Price (USD) |
| PR | Soap/Cream | PD | SCM | WM | TM | WSCR | SCIT | LBT | SCP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nanny's Silly Soap (NSS) Original Shaving Soap | 2017-04-23 | 1.20 | 9.60 | 10.80 | 8 | 30 | 45 | 0.15 |
| 2 | Declaration Grooming (DG) Shaving Soap, Premium Bison Tallow Base | 2017-08-11 | 0.81 | 8.91 | 9.72 | 11 | 20 | 60 | 0.15 |
| 3 | Proraso Single Blade (PSB) Shaving Cream | 2018-01-12 | 0.95 | 7.60 | 8.55 | 8 | 3 | 60 | 0.07 |
| 4 | Barrister and Mann (B&M) Shaving Soap | 2017-10-19 | 0.71 | 8.52 | 9.23 | 12 | 25 | 30 | 0.12 |
| 5 | Cold River Soap Works (CRSW) SELECT Shaving Soap | 2017-12-15 | 0.86 | 9.46 | 10.32 | 11 | 6 | 60 | 0.15 |
| 6 | Stirling Soap Co. Shave Soap | 2017-08-14 | 0.53 | 9.01 | 9.54 | 17 | 20 | 30 | 0.04 |
| 7 | Saponificio Varesino (SV) Shaving Soap | 2017-12-01 | 0.64 | 8.32 | 8.96 | 13 | 90 | 90 | 0.15 |
| 8 | Barrister's Reserve Shaving Soap | 2017-06 | 0.96 | 11.52 | 12.48 | 12 | 45 | 60 | 0.15 |
| 9 | Proraso Red Shaving Soap | 2017-11-27 | 0.82 | 8.20 | 9.02 | 10 | 5 | 75 | 0.06 |
| 10 | Martin de Candre (MdC) Shaving Soap | 2018-05-31 | 0.70 | 7.70 | 8.40 | 11 | 45 | 60 | 0.16 |
| 11 | Mike's Natural Shaving Soap | 2017-09 | 0.75 | 9.00 | 9.75 | 12 | 60 | 60 | 0.07 |
| 12 | Barrister and Mann (B&M) Latha Shaving Soap (Discontinued) | 2018-01-30 | 0.75 | 9.75 | 10.50 | 13 | 10 | 30 | 0.07 |
| 13 | The Art of Shaving (AOS) Shaving Cream | 2018-01-03 | 1.00 | 7.00 | 8.00 | 7 | 3 | 45 | 0.19 |
| 14 | Mystic Water (MW) Shaving Soap | 2018-01-27 | 0.70 | 9.10 | 9.80 | 13 | 30 | 30 | 0.07 |
| 15 | The Sudsy Soapery Shave Soap | 2018-02-05 | 0.46 | 8.28 | 8.74 | 18 | 10 | 60 | 0.05 |
Saponificio Varesino (SV) Shaving Soap
Top of aluminum tin, bottom label with ingredient list, and close-up of soap in small jar
Version Name: Felce Aromatica Beta 4.3 (Aromatic Fern) Reformulated
Purchase Date: December 1, 2017. A sample was received on June 16, 2018, from @Cal, who generously donated the soap for evaluation. The sample was then placed in a small jar and photographed. The other photographs were taken by Cal.
Review Period: October 23 to November 6, 2018. 11 optimization shaves and 2 ranking tests.
Manufacturing Location: Brebbia (VA), Italy
Ingredients: Sodium Cocoate, Potassium Stearate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Sodium Rapeseedate, Sodium Sunflower Seedate, Aqua/Water/Eau, Coco Glucoside, Glyceryl Oleate, Erythritol, Ricinus Communis Oil, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Copernica Cerifera Cera, Cera Alba, Fraxinus Ornus (Manna Ash) Sap Extract, Dryopteris filix-mas Root Extract, Galactoarabinan, Shorea Stenoptera Seed Butter, Parfum/Fragrance, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Sucrose Cocoate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Starch, Xanthan Gum, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Sodium Chloride, Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Citric Acid, Alpha Isomethyl Ionone, Citronellol, Coumarin, Limonene, Linalool
Appearance: Yellowish color
Scent: The scent might not be as "fresh and intense" as claimed, in my opinion, but it is very pleasant, nonetheless
Hardness: Harder than average, but not hard, based on my limited experience
Optimum Lather Overview: Sheen is matte to okay. Lather has some good "peaking" and a little yogurt-like behavior of "stringiness". Lather is not "airy", but there are some small visible bubbles. Adhesion and application are pretty good. Scent is noticed a little. Slickness is generally okay to good with a few very good moments and some moments of moderate friction. Cushion/protection is pretty good. Post-shave is okay or pretty good with respect to moisture, but on the dry side, and good with respect to comfort due to very low-level irritation. There might be a little clogging of the razor in spots.
Optimization Details: The water-to-soap ratio was varied from 6 to 22 during the optimization process. At a ratio of 6, slickness was generally not good to okay and rinsing the razor was difficult and annoying because the lather just kept clogging the razor. The lather was not hydrated enough and it took almost three minutes to incorporate all of the soap. With increasing hydration, the soap-incorporation time decreased, slickness generally increased, although not linearly with the hydration ratio, cushion/protection dropped, and the post-shave deteriorated, becoming drier and more irritating. Aside from the typical optimization of total lather mass, optimization reduced to finding the minimum water-to-soap ratio that resulted in lather which would reasonably rinse from the razor. The optimum ratio was found to be 13. Since lather building was complete by the end of the relatively long soap-incorporation period, and more time would have only dropped slickness, optimization of lather-building time was simple.
Ranking Details: Using sequential shaves with optimum lathers, the first ranking test was between Stirling and SV. Adhesion and application were better with SV, and SV's cushion/protection was better, but Stirling's slickness was better. Stirling's post-shave moisture was also better, but the irritation level with Stirling, though not a lot, was seemingly more than that with SV. The shave with Stirling was closer. Overall, as expected, Stirling beat SV. The second ranking test paired SV against Barrister's Reserve. Adhesion and application were better with SV because of its thickness, but Barrister's Reserve had much more sheen and yogurt-like behavior. Barrister's Reserve had more slickness, slickness that was generally good to very good with little moderate friction. Cushion/protection was similar. Barrister's Reserve's post-shave moisture was pretty good, similar to SV's and kind of on the dry side, but there was overall irritation that crept in. SV's post-shave was better because of significantly less irritation. Overall, I got a better shave with Barrister's Reserve, but I enjoyed SV's post-shave more. I originally thought that Barrister's Reserve would be ranked right above SV, but because of SV's better balance and post-shave, I gave the edge to SV.
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