saponificio veriseno

[Burundian Hawk]

I find the scent OK, but no more special than other soaps. I never said I didn't like it though. It worked just fine, and I'll certainly enjoy using the rest of the sample. I just don't think it offers good value, and other products are more deserving of my money.

I'm not trying to dissuade others, just share my own experience and perspective.

Ah, here is the crucial point of all soaps. The scent is extremely subjective. What someone finds divine, another nose might find mundane! Not just in expensive soaps, but in anything. In a recent post, another gentleman told me he finds Rasozero Agrumella's lemon very nice. To me, unfortunately, it reminds me a german brand liquid soap that i use for the car's wipers for the windshield. I did not write it as offense or joke, it is true! I don't smell for long scents that i like when i go shave, but if a scent is unpleasant, i can't stop smelling it! This is why i have grown more fond of simple scents that i can understand or very subtle scents. I particularly fear "woodsy" and "smoked" scents.

I have not tried SV, but performance-wise, i trust the opinion of gentlemen like you and the Italian ambassador to the forum, Mr. Marco, who commented on the matter recently. Scent wise, i trust is it much more refined than my usual soaps. Being African, i am satisfied easily performance wise, so...maybe i will try SV one day, but there are other, cheaper soaps in the meantime out there, that it will have to wait its turn. But...the King of England's hairdressers' product costs less, imagine that and if something suffices for the King of England, shouldn't suffice for a Burundian?! I consider myself a priviledged man already, to have shaved with the King's choice!

 

[DaveHStone]

To me, it was. I have no problem with others forming a different conclusion.

Well apparently you do, as your initial post clearly demonstrates that you do NOT think it's a good V4$ and you are advocating against buying it. This is not being indifferent, this is being biased and telling others what to do, which frankly speaking is not a gentlemanly thing.

I appreciate that this is how you feel, but if you cannot say smth. nice about it, perhaps it's wiser not to say anything.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Well apparently you do, as your initial post clearly demonstrates that you do NOT think it's a good V4$ and you are advocating against buying it. This is not being indifferent, this is being biased and telling others what to do, which frankly speaking is not a gentlemanly thing.

I appreciate that this is how you feel, but if you cannot say smth. nice about it, perhaps it's wiser not to say anything.

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Whether my posts are appropriate or not, is for the moderators to decide, Dave. However, I for one would not want to frequent a forum where only positive opinions could be expressed.

Personally, I'm a big fan of Mitchell's Wool Fat, which probably has more negativity and frustration expressed about it on here than any other product. I believe all that negativity and frustration belongs here, even though I'm a fan of the product, because it's their experiences and perspectives that lend balance to the positive experiences with that soap shared on the forum. If only "nice" things could be said about it, that would certainly be to the detriment of the forum, in my opinion.

I've made clear my opinions on Saponificio Varesino, and that I think SV quality shaves can be had without paying SV level price tags. In doing so, I don't believe I have been disrespectful of other forum members. I don't won't buy it again, but know many others will happily do so.

I'll withdraw from this thread now, and let you have the last say. I feel that's the gentlemanly thing for me to do. Feel free to consult the moderators if you take serious issue with anything I've said.

Just because we disagree, doesn't mean either of us is wrong.

 

[Sotiris_A]

Well apparently you do, as your initial post clearly demonstrates that you do NOT think it's a good V4$ and you are advocating against buying it. This is not being indifferent, this is being biased and telling others what to do, which frankly speaking is not a gentlemanly thing.

I appreciate that this is how you feel, but if you cannot say smth. nice about it, perhaps it's wiser not to say anything.

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I don't understand how you came to the conclusion that someone who tried an expensive soap and didn't find it any better than other, perhaps lower-cost, offerings, is biased. In my point of view, he is just writing a review and expressing an opinion.

I also don't understand why you support that all reviews have to be positive.

 

[Burundian Hawk]

I don't understand how you came to the conclusion that someone who tried an expensive soap and didn't find it any better than other, perhaps lower-cost, offerings, is biased. In my point of view, he is just writing a review and expressing an opinion.

I also don't understand why you support that all reviews have to be positive.

When you like something very much, you try to defend it. It is understandable, because by extension, you defend your preference. It's human.

SV Varesino is certainly a very good soap with no doubt very good smell. It has also a great length of exotic ingredients, which justify or at least try to justify the ever increasing costs. But, it is also a bad soap for those who like to stash soaps for long semi-used. Because all the "natural" ingredients, start going rancid in weeks and the process is well ongoing within a month. Then, metals in the water, can make the soaps oxidize after a couple of years if you don't use it. So, hard water users with long rotation, should be careful. I had read all this and more from the soapmaker himself in an extremely long thread in this forum (use auto translation). DYD is the maker of the soap (the page is random, i can't remember exactly where i had read it, but it was in this forum's thread).

Saponificio Varesino - Saponi da barba - Pagina 10 - Ilrasoio.com

Then, there are people who shave 200 times like mentioned by Mr. @DaveHStone here and there other users that finish the soap in 3 months or less (one uses 1,7g per shave!). The proverbial YMMV.

Price wise, i remember i could find these soaps a couple of years ago at less than €20, at least some of them. Now they are on a continuous race towards the top... With fame, comes price... As it is normal.

 

[Burundian Hawk]

For any gentlemen interested, it was page 107. So, a warning on how to use your well paid soap, while it's at its prime, before all the beautiful ingredients you paid for, go rancid.

 

[DaveHStone]

I don't understand how you came to the conclusion that someone who tried an expensive soap and didn't find it any better than other, perhaps lower-cost, offerings, is biased. In my point of view, he is just writing a review and expressing an opinion.

I also don't understand why you support that all reviews have to be positive.

@Sotiris_A you need to understand the subtleties, nuances and finesses of English language to appreciate what is actually being said. Allow me to try to reiterate it for you in more simple terms:

I will be in no rush whatsoever to buy it really means there is no way I'll be spending my money on this thing.

I finished the shave with a bewildered shrug means I don't understand what's all the fuss about, this is pretty average stuff.

Myth busted... this one is rather self-evident and means if anyone believed there's any truth in it, now know there isn't.

While to you these may not come across as down-right offensive, as a matter of fact this kind of language is extremely negative, bordering on condescending.

I do agree with @AimlessWanderer it's time to put this to rest and agree to disagree.

IMHO, there is a fine line between being candid about not liking a certain product and saying so in a polite manner, without being judgmental (of others) and being cynical about other people's choices (no matter how foolish those choices might seem to you).

My most candid advice - get some SV soap, decide for yourself. Enjoy the shave

 

[MilkCrate]

@Sotiris_A you need to understand the subtleties, nuances and finesses of English language to appreciate what is actually being said. Allow me to try to reiterate it for you in more simple terms

That really wasn’t needed.

 

[Atlantic59]

The whole idea of a discussion board is to hear what other people really think; even when we don't agree, we are hopefully entertained and maybe enlightened. Stifling discussion doesn't do anyone any good, IMHO.

I remember seeing SV Dolomiti priced at under $20 per refill less than two years ago. Currently, it is $38 or more. Is there any real justification for the price increasing so much? I don't mind paying for quality, but I think the current SV pricing is pretty outrageous. Are you offended? I hope not.

 

[DaveHStone]

The whole idea of a discussion board is to hear what other people really think, even when we don't agree, we are hopefully entertained and maybe enlightened. Stifling discussion doesn't do anyone any good, IMHO.

I remember seeing SV Dolomiti priced at under $20 per refill less than two years ago. Currently, it is $38 or more. Is there any real justification for the price increasing so much? I don't mind paying for quality, but I think the current SV pricing is pretty outrageous. Are you offended? I hope not.

No at all, why would I be offended?

This is exactly my point.

Saying candidly - I find it to expensive for my budget is an honest opinion I can appreciate and respect.

Saying "myth busted" and "bewildered shrug", etc OTOH is having an agenda against it and labeling people who do pay whatever they pay for it - essentially - snobbish fools, who wouldn't know any better. And that I do find offensive and condescending.

Can we move on now?

 

[Burundian Hawk]

That really wasn’t needed.

When you go to an english speaking forum, i think this is fair and you should expect that you will not be able to comprehend or speak as well as you would like. I can't speak on behalf of @Sotiris_A , but i think it's within the rights of @DaveHStone to explain what he understood from the same text, so to be able to defend his position on the matter.

 

[English Shaver]

I havent tried the SV but it is on my list. It seems to be around £25 to £30 in the UK, but when you consider you get 150g (5.3 ounces) of triple milled soap, which Im guessing is 150 shaves or more, it works out decent enough value.

I expect i will pick a scent closest to what I like, check out the reviews and put it on a birthday or Christmas list. If I love it then great, if i dont after a fortnight it goes to a new home or the shower. Nothing to stress over.

 

[Burundian Hawk]

The whole idea of a discussion board is to hear what other people really think; even when we don't agree, we are hopefully entertained and maybe enlightened. Stifling discussion doesn't do anyone any good, IMHO.

I remember seeing SV Dolomiti priced at under $20 per refill less than two years ago. Currently, it is $38 or more. Is there any real justification for the price increasing so much? I don't mind paying for quality, but I think the current SV pricing is pretty outrageous. Are you offended? I hope not.

I too, remember the Dolomiti and i think also the Felce and the Stella Alpina, being below €20... And in that forum, if one has patience to read it, because i had read it much time ago, the prices mentioned there were even lower initially, before fame came. But, as with all luxury products. Success and fame, command higher price. And as long as there is willing customer, why not!

 

[English Shaver]

When you go to an english speaking forum, i think this is fair and you should expect that you will not be able to comprehend or speak as well as you would like. I can't speak on behalf of @Sotiris_A , but i think it's within the rights of @DaveHStone to explain what he understood from the same text, so to be able to defend his position on the matter.

As a young man new to the workplace it was explained to me that there can be a world of difference between what someone means to be heard and what another person hears. That difference is not a reflection of character flaws or poor behaviour on the part of either party, its part of being human.

One of the perils of communicating only via written words, with nothing to contextualize the message or nuance the intentions and reaction of either side in the conversation.

 

[MilkCrate]

When you go to an english speaking forum ...

Oh ... do tell?

 

[Burundian Hawk]

Oh ... do tell?

I did!

 

[Atlantic59]

I too, remember the Dolomiti and i think also the Felce and the Stella Alpina, being below €20... And in that forum, if one has patience to read it, because i had read it much time ago, the prices mentioned there were even lower initially, before fame came. But, as with all luxury products. Success and fame, command higher price. And as long as there is willing customer, why not!

That is the game SV is playing, but I'm not willing to play it. I'm willing to pay for quality, to a point, but I don't want to pay for pretentious luxury that does not translate to better performance. So, SV wants to be the Gucci of soaps, or whatever, fine I guess, but it actually repels me and perhaps other potential customers.

I've probably offended somebody now.

 

[Toothpick]

Settle down men. Are we still talking about soap? Or is this a I got more horsepower than you conversation?

It's just shaving!

 

[Burundian Hawk]

That is the game SV is playing, but I'm not willing to play it. I'm willing to pay for quality, to a point, but I don't want to pay for pretentious luxury that does not translate to better performance. So, SV wants to be the Gucci of soaps, or whatever, fine I guess, but it actually repels me and perhaps other potential customers.

I've probably offended somebody now.

SV can play any game deems more profitable. Can they sell? Fine. I think this is exactly what they want. Become the soap Gucci. I didn't buy them when they costed 18 euros, i will buy them at 36? As long as people buy at 36, they (as company) are fine.

About offending, i don't know, i have more and more the feeling that i don't understand what is being written in this thread by the native english speakers, but what can i do!

 

[DaveHStone]

I havent tried the SV but it is on my list. It seems to be around £25 to £30 in the UK, but when you consider you get 150g (5.3 ounces) of triple milled soap, which Im guessing is 150 shaves or more, it works out decent enough value.

I expect i will pick a scent closest to what I like, check out the reviews and put it on a birthday or Christmas list. If I love it then great, if i dont after a fortnight it goes to a new home or the shower. Nothing to stress over.

Amen!