Soap Sample Passaround Box

[catchacoolbreeze]

1. A. Feitar - Skipping box 5.
2. ryinzana - In possession Box 3 & 4.
3. jldallas - Skipping the rest of the boxes
4. spolct - in possession of Box 1.
5. Montgomery115
6. catchacoolbreeze - Box2 in transit to CJB3
7. CJB3
8. boghopper
9. FloorPizza
10. mrlandpirate
11. kooldecker
12. dezmil
13. Joshua223
14. Schinny
15. Psusocr
16. SailFast
17. Blaidth
18. Velohammer
19. ’Bout Time
20. ShavedUp
21.jaxstar
22.marhos24
23.
24. Iloverootbeer
25. Suhrim21
26. back to dfoulk for refill.

 

[dfoulk]

My bad, and my apology.

No worries, I know your intentions are good.

 

[ryinzana]

1. A. Feitar - Skipping box 5.
2. ryinzana - In possession Box 4.
3. jldallas - Skipping the rest of the boxes
4. spolct - in possession of Box 1 and 3.
5. Montgomery115
6. catchacoolbreeze - Box2 in transit to CJB3
7. CJB3
8. boghopper
9. FloorPizza
10. mrlandpirate
11. kooldecker
12. dezmil
13. Joshua223
14. Schinny
15. Psusocr
16. SailFast
17. Blaidth
18. Velohammer
19. ’Bout Time
20. ShavedUp
21.jaxstar
22.marhos24
23.
24. Iloverootbeer
25. Suhrim21
26. back to dfoulk for refill.

Updating to reflect location of box 3.

 

[catchacoolbreeze]

Before I sent box2 out to the next user, I shaved with Mystic Waters Barbershop over the weekend. I liked a number of their scents but settled on this one. I have to say this could have been the worst shave I have ever had in my life. I am not sure if I couldn't get it dialed in right or what but the lather would look good going on but by the time I shaved one side of my face, the lather was disintegrated and almost gone. I did 3 passes and on each pass I would try to do something different to generate good lather. Same thing - looks fine going on and then disappeared after I shaved one side of my face. There was some residual slickness but it wasn't anything memorable.

My final ranking of the soaps I used would be the following below. I would consider buying only the top 2 (maybe 3) as I thought they were considerably better than the others.

1. Midnight & Two Provence - The most residual slickness of any soap I have ever used
2. Siliski Soaps Midnight in Tunisia - An amazing scent and really good shave
3. Shannon's Soaps Amaretto - Interesting thick lather like SV4.3, too bad scent changed during lather
4. Sudsy Soapery Almond & Vanilla - Decent across the board
5. Tabac - Lather too thin for me
X. Mystic Waters Barbershop - Lather too thin and disappeared - awful for me

 

[ryinzana]

Wholly Kaw "King of Oud"

To start off the review let's look at the scent as described by the manufacturer:

Top Notes: Bergamot, Lemon, Clary Sage, Rose, Aldehydes and Pink Pepper
Middle notes: Angelica, Rosewood, Galbanum
Base notes: Agarwood or Oud, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Patchouli and Amber

If I could describe the scent, I'd say it is a warm, slightly woody and slighty spicy scent. I could definitely pick up on the Oud and Sandalwood notes. Very nice scent, but not exactly my cup of tea. Scent strength was medium-strong both on the puck and lathered. There was no residual odor to interfere with post-shave products.

I found that the soap was easy to dial in and resulted in a very creamy and luxurious lather. Initial and residual slickness was elite and the post-shave feel was above average in terms of its moisturizing and soothing properties.

Here's the ingredient list:

Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, Donkey Milk, Glycerin, Potassium Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate, Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Potassium Shea Butterate, Sodium Shea Butterate, Garcinia Indica (Kokum) Butter, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Extract, Lanolin, Fragrance

Interesting inclusions include Donkey Milk and Hops Extract, both of which likely contribute to the solid post-shave performance. According to the manufacturer, "Hops Extract is added to provide biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic providing relief for inflammation." I thought this was rather interesting.

Great soap/shave. I'd highly recommend this base!

Storybook "Visions & Revisions"

Like my other reviews, I'll start off with the scent description from the manufacturer:

Visions and Revisions is our take on a classic tea scent. We blended bergamot, orange, and lemon on top of a dark black tea and earthy lavender base to build a citrusy Early Grey scent.

To me, the citrus and lavender stood out. I didn't pick up on the tea notes, but it was a very light and refreshing scent.

The soap provided a fairly average shave. Slickness (both initial and residual) were good and post-shave feel was adequate. Here's the ingredient list:

Stearic Acid, Water, Beef Tallow, Potassium Hydroxide, Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, Fragrance, Shea Butter, Vegetable Glycerin, Rice Bran Oil, Avocado Oil, Apricot Kernel Oil, Sodium Lactate, Tocopherol

While a "good" performer, nothing about this soap really jumped out to me as being particularly noteworthy. I'd say it's a middle-of-the-road artisan offering (which isn't necessarily a bad thing given the quality of offerings out there). If one of their scents catches your eye, I'd say go for it because the base will get the job done.

 

[CJB3]

I received box 2 today. Thank you, Scott (@catchacoolbreeze) and thank you David (@dfoulk) for putting this together! It’s really a fantastic selection of soaps—including Barrister & Mann Reserve, Mike’s, Mystic Water, Sudsy Soapery, Shannon’s Soaps, and MdC among others. Also, a few vintage soaps are in the mix, including Penhaligon’s English Fern.

First up tomorrow—Barrister & Mann’s Reserve Lavender.

 

[CJB3]

1. A. Feitar - Skipping box 5.
2. ryinzana - In possession Box 4.
3. jldallas - Skipping the rest of the boxes
4. spolct - in possession of Box 1 and 3.
5. Montgomery115
6. catchacoolbreeze
7. CJB3 - In possession of Box 2
8. boghopper
9. FloorPizza
10. mrlandpirate
11. kooldecker
12. dezmil
13. Joshua223
14. Schinny
15. Psusocr
16. SailFast
17. Blaidth
18. Velohammer
19. ’Bout Time
20. ShavedUp
21.jaxstar
22.marhos24
23.
24. Iloverootbeer
25. Suhrim21
26. back to dfoulk for refill.

Updating to reflect location of box 2.

 

[ryinzana]

I received box 2 today. Thank you, Scott (@catchacoolbreeze) and thank you David (@dfoulk) for putting this together! It’s really a fantastic selection of soaps—including Barrister & Mann Reserve, Mike’s, Mystic Water, Sudsy Soapery, Shannon’s Soaps, and MdC among others. Also, a few vintage soaps are in the mix, including Penhaligon’s English Fern.

First up tomorrow—Barrister & Mann’s Reserve Lavender.

That’s one of my favorites! I posted a video a while back on how to dial it in. It has a bit of a reputation of being a little finicky (I haven’t experienced this myself). Hope you like it!

 

[CJB3]

That’s one of my favorites! I posted a video a while back on how to dial it in. It has a bit of a reputation of being a little finicky (I haven’t experienced this myself). Hope you like it!

Thanks. I really love the smell. I hear the Reserve soaps need extra water. Have you found that to be true?

 

[ryinzana]

Thanks. I really love the smell. I hear the Reserve soaps need extra water. Have you found that to be true?

Yep. It’s a pretty thirsty soap. It also results in a very low profile lather so don’t expect a ton of volume. What you will wind up with is a very slick/creamy lather. Be sure not to load too much product because it’ll take a ton of water to get things to balance out.

 

[dfoulk]

Thanks. I really love the smell. I hear the Reserve soaps need extra water. Have you found that to be true?

Try doing what I do and lathering with a less wet brush to start. Then once you pick up a good amount of soap then add water about four to six drops at a time, several times over and over until you get the lather right where you want it. I'll stop when it has a nice gel like consistency and a nice wet shine to it. Doing it this way makes it easier to hit the mark no matter what soap you're using.

A lot better than trying to guess up front and hope you hit the mark.

 

[CJB3]

Thanks for the tips, guys.

 

[Tippee]

Try doing what I do and lathering with a less wet brush to start. Then once you pick up a good amount of soap then add water about four to six drops at a time, several times over and over until you get the lather right where you want it. I'll stop when it has a nice gel like consistency and a nice wet shine to it. Doing it this way makes it easier to hit the mark no matter what soap you're using.

A lot better than trying to guess up front and hope you hit the mark.

This is exactly what I picked up on and realized was the best technique. It seems that when starting with a brush that is holding less water, the bristles have more resistance when moving over the soap, so rather than sliding across it the bristles grab onto the soap easier and therefore pick up more much quicker. I found that most always I would rather load too much soap than too little. Starting in this fashion helped me to load more efficiently. After that its just a matter of adding little bits of water at a time to achieve the lather consistency that I desire.

 

[dfoulk]

This is exactly what I picked up on and realized was the best technique. It seems that when starting with a brush that is holding less water, the bristles have more resistance when moving over the soap, so rather than sliding across it the bristles grab onto the soap easier and therefore pick up more much quicker. I found that most always I would rather load too much soap than too little. Starting in this fashion helped me to load more efficiently. After that its just a matter of adding little bits of water at a time to achieve the lather consistency that I desire.

Exactly, that and the fact that every brush and every soap are a little different. So your experience with one brush may differ significantly from another. Soap to soap differences are present as well so if you're guessing on how much water upfront instead of adding it slowly, then you can do the exact same thing that's been working perfectly for you with a different setup and get completely different results.

 

[CJB3]

I really enjoyed Barrister & Mann’s Reserve Lavender. It is a thirsty soap. Until I hit the right water to soap ratio, it had almost a gritty consistency. When I got the water right, it became very slick, without getting runny. The scent was a nice cologne lavender scent. I lathered up with a RazoRock Plissoft brush and shaved with my Game Changer loaded with a GSB.

I’m glad that I finally got a chance to try it. It was on my list.

 

[CJB3]

Since it was Clubman Friday, I decided to try Mike’s Barbershop. It took me a bit longer to work up the lather than I’m used to, but I was rewarded with a nice, slick lather. The soap was definitely up there in performance. I thought the scent was OK, but it didn’t really smell like a barbershop scent to me. The post-shave feel was also quite good—up there with some of the best that I’ve tried.

 

[CJB3]

Since I have a limited amount of time with this box, I decided to lather and shave half of my face with one soap and the other half with another today. Doing so allowed me to do a compare and contrast. My choices today were Sudsy Soapery White Sage and Lime and Midnight & Two Provence.

First, I’ll say that these are both excellent soaps. I would have no hesitation in using either in the future. I found the White Sage and Lime easier to lather. It really exploded into a thick creamy lather with very little effort. Provence took a little more work, but the lather was fantastic and very slick—perhaps more so than the White Sage and Lime. I enjoyed the scent of both. I would have to give the edge, however, to Midnight & Two Provence. What a nice earthy lavender fragrance.

 

[Dov Shaves]

1. A. Feitar - Skipping box 5.
2. ryinzana - In possession Box 4.
3. jldallas - Skipping the rest of the boxes
4. spolct - in possession Box 3.
5. Montgomery115 - Received Box 1 today (10/12)
6. catchacoolbreeze
7. CJB3 - In possession of Box 2
8. boghopper
9. FloorPizza
10. mrlandpirate
11. kooldecker
12. dezmil
13. Joshua223
14. Schinny
15. Psusocr
16. SailFast
17. Blaidth
18. Velohammer
19. ’Bout Time
20. ShavedUp
21.jaxstar
22.marhos24
23.
24. Iloverootbeer
25. Suhrim21
26. back to dfoulk for refill.

Updating to reflect location of box 2.

 

[Dov Shaves]

I received Box #1 on Friday and shaved with Lisa's Premium Doc Holiday this morning. The scent was very pleasing, smells sort of herbal barbershop to me, which wouldn't necessarily reflect the notes in the accord: Lime, tangerine, patchouli, vetiver, spiced mahogany, oud wood, cedarwood, benzoin. Performance was ok but the stand-out feature for me was the post shave. According to Lisa's website, however, the Premium line was replaced with the company's goat milk formulation. The website says, "I spent more than six months researching and testing to bring it [the goat milk formula] to you. This is the replacement for my premium shaving soap. My quest was to bring not just a better shaving soap to my customers, but offer an elite shaving soap. I am confident that my Artisan Shaving Soap is that. What's different? You will find the lather to be dense and very stable, not airy or full of large bubbles. The slickness and residual slickness are leaps and bounds better than the "old premium" version. Post shave, well how about no aftershave moisturizers if you don't want because my artisan shaving soap will give you excellent moisturization post-shave."

The ingredients are intriguing: Glycerin, Palm Stearic Acid (sustainably sourced), Sheep Milk (locally sourced), Aloe Juice, Beef Tallow, Potassium Hydroxide, Lanolin, Meadowfoam Oil, Mango Butter, Cocoa Butter, Safflower Oil, Bentonite Clay, Sucrose Cocoate, Castor Oil, Sodium Lactate, Babassu Seed Oil, Ivy Extract, Orchid Extract, Irish Moss Extract, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Allantoin, Raw Honey, Beeswax, Organic Olive Leaf Extract, Organic Sea Buckthorn Extract, Silk Peptides.

I might try Lisa's goat milk formula some day.

 

[CJB3]

Today I did another half and half shave. I shaved half of my face with Siliski Sea Spice and the other half with Mystic Water Cedar & Sage. The scents of both were superb—especially Cedar & Spice. Unfortunately, the performance was not up to quality of the other samples I tried. I actually abandoned using Cedar & Spice after the first pass and finished the shave with only Sea Spice, which had acceptable lather. The Mystic Water soap produced a thin, airy lather that disappeared soon after application.

I recognize that I probably didn’t dial in the soap/water ratio correctly, so it is a little unfair to judge by one use, but this is my experience nonetheless.