Shave Sticks Review Project

[Luc]

So, my first experience with Erasmic was not very good. However, I feel like I have a different product today as the first Erasmic had a black packaging where the one that I am using today has a red packaging...

The stick was wrapped and had 4 small holes at the bottom (as shown on the picture). However, when I pressed it in the holder, the bottom cracked. I guess the proper way to do this would be to soak the bottom of the stick for a little bit and then press it down. It's starting to reattach itself as I use it, I put a bit of water in the base...

It seems like, comparing the ingredients, that the Titanium Dioxide is now missing and I have the CI 77891 that the old formulation did not have...

How is it? So far, it's better than last time but not great still. I will try my smallest brush as suggested here and see how it goes.

 

[Luc]

I took my Kent synthetic brush this morning as it's smaller than my regular brush. The lather was a tiny bit better but I think that I was missing water in the mix (just a tiny bit). To be continued.

 

[Luc]

I noticed this morning that when I start with a dryer brush, the lather is, evidently, super dry and can easily fly off the brush or my face. This is interesting in the sense that I do not get something like that with a thirsty soap like De Vergulde Hand Shaving Stick. I mean, the lather is not as dry as the Erasmic one. I am trying different methods to apply the lather at the moment in order to get a better lather. What seems to work best so face is to face lather and do a mix of the fist bowl and charging the brush on top of the soap directly (even if it's a stick). At this rate, I might use the stick very quickly as I find that I need a lot of product to get a passable lather. The lather is always gone by the time I finish my 3rd pass.

For the record, from lather building to the 3rd pass, I'm there in less than 10 minutes.

 

[rockviper]

I like the "Not to be used for children under 3 years of age" warning.

 

[Luc]

Today, I went back to my regular (bigger brush) and it worked well. The lather is still not perfect but it's much better than my first run with Erasmic. I'm trying to use a lot of product but there's something in there where the lather always seems to be too dry or it becomes too much like a liquid. I can't seem to find the proper middle ground for this one. I still have plenty of shaves left to figure it out.

 

[Luc]

15 Shaves with Erasmic, picture to follow soon.

It seems that I need to do the same thing than LaToja with this one. In the last 2-3 shaves, I've been soaking the tip of the Erasmic shave stick in warm water while I shower. I understand that this might not be the most efficient way to use a shaving soap but the lather went up a notch doing that. If I simply wet the tip of the shave stick before I shower and then apply the product (with a dip of the shave stick here and there), it's not as good.

Now, I know, before the pitchforks come out again, using distilled water may improve the lather. I fully understand that, I experienced very soft water before. The one that I have is medium-hard to hard. Since all the previous products were tested with the same water, this one will also be tested with the same water. I may do a single shave with distilled water but I doubt it. The reasoning behind this is that I could get so many other products that do not need that special treatment, so why do one?

 

[Luc]

Here's where the Erasmic is at.

 

[Vlad]

So Erasmic is no longer the worst shave soap in the world?

 

[Luc]

So Erasmic is no longer the worst shave soap in the world?

Correct, it's not the best soap in the world either but that formulation is better than the one I tried before. I could risk saying where I think it stands now but I would rather wait until I complete 30 shaves before ranking it.

 

[Luc]

Good stuff!

 

[Luc]

Soaking the shave stick while I shower is a game changer for Erasmic. Again, not saying it's a top stick but it's much better than the previous one. The hot water really helps to soften the product and it's then easier to spread in my beard.

 

[paintflinger]

Soaking the shave stick while I shower is a game changer for Erasmic. Again, not saying it's a top stick but it's much better than the previous one. The hot water really helps to soften the product and it's then easier to spread in my beard.

I really need to try this with my speick stick when I use it next simply because it was so hard and the edge so square that I thought I was trying to shave with it.

 

[Luc]

I really need to try this with my speick stick when I use it next simply because it was so hard and the edge so square that I thought I was trying to shave with it.

It could be useful for the first few shaves. Usually, after 2-3 shaves, the "corners" are rounded and it's fine. But, yes, it could help. I suspect that the soap is melting twice as fast by doing that.

If you are finishing a piece of Speick and you add it to a piece a Speick, I don't think that you would have this issue... Procedure is here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...-Shave-Stick-Ads)/page3?p=5042015#post5042015

 

[Luc]

I have 2 shaves left with Erasmic and I will then move on to another shave stick. Review to follow soonish...

 

[Radium]

I have 2 shaves left with Erasmic and I will then move on to another shave stick. Review to follow soonish...

Good to hear your Erasmic didn`t go to waste Luc! I`ve got like 3 Erasmic sticks left and a Erasmic bowl to work on later down the road.

 

[Luc]

Good to hear your Erasmic didn`t go to waste Luc! I`ve got like 3 Erasmic sticks left and a Erasmic bowl to work on later down the road.

How's the bowl compared to the stick? I have a good idea on where it should go in the list (post 1) but I can't say for now...

 

[Radium]

How's the bowl compared to the stick? I have a good idea on where it should go in the list (post 1) but I can't say for now...

The Erasmic bowl is a melt and pour glycerine based with coconut oil soap and the Erasmic stick is a tallow stick. The Erasmic bowl is much easier to use compared to the Erasmic stick. Often people would wish that Erasmic would use the bowl formula and make a stick out of it.

 

[rockclimber]

Epic Thread! I have only ready 10 pages, I have over 40 to go!

 

[Luc]

While I'm getting the review on paper, he's a bit of reading regarding Erasmic. It seems that the Erasmic black shave stick was replaced by the Erasmic red shave stick...

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/457128-Erasmic-tallow-vs-Erasmic-veg
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...-formulated-re-formulated-Erasmic-shave-stick

 

[Luc]

I made it to 30 shaves where odds were against this shave stick. The first time that I used Erasmic (black package) it was close to a disaster. I mean it worked but it wasn't good. The lather was poor and it ended up in the shower after a few shaves.

This one (red packaging) is a different formula. It's not that different but it's different. The lather is better, but still not great. The best way to make the lather would be to soak the tip of the shave stick while I shower. It will soften the soap and allow more product to be used when I build the lather. I tried the small, medium and large brush. I'm able to obtain the same type of lather with either a small or large brush (medium too). It's an okay product but I don't hide it, there's way better out there. As much as I want to say yes to this product, it's border line okay. So, I'm updating Wiki and the review in the review system with post 1 in a few minutes.

As you can see, soaking the tip of the shave sick is using a lot more product (compared to where I was when I hit 15 shaves). So this one may last another 30 shaves maybe less, so 50-60 shaves total I would say.