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Soap Sample Passaround Box

The Passaround is currently in Round 3 and started here Soap Sample Passaround Box

Here is the Google Sheet that houses all the soaps Soap Sample Passaround

If you're interested then please follow this thread so that you know when the signups will be. The list does fill up rather quickly so if you want in don't hesitate once the list is posted.
 
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So, I'm not sure if all of you know what this is or what it's all about. When I started wet shaving I was a bit confused on what soap to buy. The names were confusing and most told me nothing about what a soap smelled like. What was the difference between a $20 soap and a $4 soap, after all it's just soap right? So I started buying soaps, and more soaps, samples were great when they were available but they could also be expensive. After accumulating a whole lot of soap I started trading soaps with friends here in an effort to try everything I hadn't tried yet.


At this point I've stopped counting at 400 plus soaps that I've tried. I've now settled on some of my favorites but I still do keep an eye out for ones that are getting some excellent reviews and I do still like to try some new ones here and there.


I moderate another soap passaround box here where you could try several full tubs of soap and then swap out a couple of your personal favorites for the ones you liked in the box. I thought about all of the effort and money I spent getting to try all of the soaps that I've tried and figured why not do a soap sample passaround box.


My intentions were to get together samples of a lot of my personal soaps. These soaps would be mailed out to participants that signed up. They could smell everything and try whatever they'd like, but remove nothing from the box besides the soap they used for their shave. The remainder of the soaps that they used were to stay in the box so that others could try them too. Participants could add any samples that they wanted to the box as we all have samples we haven't finished or something that wasn't a good fit for us. I envisioned this eventually growing into something really great.


I reached out to a couple vendors that had donated soaps to the other passaround box that I oversee. Their response was great, so I reached out to a few more and it took off, so I asked more vendors. It's easy to keep asking when you keep getting yes for an answer. Almost every vendor I contacted was extremely generous and excited about all of the participants getting to try their soaps. It's a perfect opportunity for them because it's not a one time give away. All of their soap will be tried one shave at a time by many different people in the exact market that they are targeting. With this generosity this box went from a great idea to something that is truly outstanding.


We had a great thread for Round one where about 25 participants tried a ton of soaps and posted reviews. Getting to smell about 400 soaps and try whatever you'd like it pretty cool. There are some high end soaps in the box as well as some unobtanium. The way it worked is there were two boxes. You got the first one for a week to try whatever you wanted, then you sent that one to the next person on the list and you were sent the second box for another week.


During the last round some participants, after not seeing their favorite vendors in the box, reached out and sure enough they sent soap as well. I also reached out to some additional vendors when I saw some soaps getting rave reviews to get them included in the box.


What we have now is three medium flat rate boxes full of soaps from vendors, myself, and some other kind forum members. There are several hundred soaps including some vendors entire line of soaps.


Here's a pic of some of it to give you an idea

View attachment 664595

These soaps reside in a box in my closet for refilling the sample containers and I do not use them for my personal use.

I'll take some pictures of all of the samples later on and add them here. I was going to do it last night but my wife had someone over and I didn't want them to think I was crazy taking pictures of soap samples.

Some of the soap makers who have generously donated to the sample passaround box are (in no particular order):

Soap Commander
Reef Point
Tiki
Barrister & Mann
Cold River Soap Co.
LA Shaving
O'Bryans
Captain's Choice
Shannon's Soaps
PannaCrema
Mystic Waters
Dr. Jon's
Sudsy Soapery
Sweet Comb Chicago
Midnight & Two
Strop Shoppe
Catie's Bubbles
Wet Shaving Products (WSP)
Bain Amour
Stirling - samples donated to another passaround were moved to this one and a forum member added some more.

There are many, many more vendors represented in the boxes as well.

If you've read this far I figure you might be interested in participating.

Please do note: People are not to lather on the soaps, they are to remove a small portion and lather it in the bowl of their choice in an effort to keep the soaps as clean as possible for everyone else. The soap I've put in the boxes from the vendors is new but I can't attest to the ones others have added and it's not in my sight at all times. If you're not comfortable using used soap then this might not be something for you.
 
Thanks David, will be watching closely and hope I'm not in one of my 8-hour meetings and fail to make the list haha. That's how Murphy's Law Works!

I'm excited to try Midnight & Two as well as some of the others on the list. Are there any soaps that you are looking for us to add along the way? I know last round people were adding soaps but are there any specific ones that you or other members here would like added?
 
This is the absolute most awesome and truely epic soap passaround of all time. I do not have any words left to describe what it was like to open two boxes of hundreds of soaps to smell and try. It is truely the highlight of my experience here at Badger & Blade and I appreciate all the work you have put into this David. Thank you for organizing and overseeing this passaround.

This passaround will not disappoint anyone. There is something in it for novice and veteran alike. It's well worth the roughly $45 or so postage price for three full medium flat rate boxes of some of the best soap on the planet.
 
Thanks David, will be watching closely and hope I'm not in one of my 8-hour meetings and fail to make the list haha. That's how Murphy's Law Works!

I'm excited to try Midnight & Two as well as some of the others on the list. Are there any soaps that you are looking for us to add along the way? I know last round people were adding soaps but are there any specific ones that you or other members here would like added?

As far as adding soaps it's nice but it's not a requirement. I do like it when someone fills in a missing soap, like something a vendor just came out with that isn't in their line. It doesn't really matter though as anything added that isn't already there is a good thing.
 
This is the absolute most awesome and truely epic soap passaround of all time. I do not have any words left to describe what it was like to open two boxes of hundreds of soaps to smell and try. It is truely the highlight of my experience here at Badger & Blade and I appreciate all the work you have put into this David. Thank you for organizing and overseeing this passaround.

This passaround will not disappoint anyone. There is something in it for novice and veteran alike. It's well worth the roughly $45 or so postage price for three full medium flat rate boxes of some of the best soap on the planet.

They have you to thank as well for adding about every soap that Saponificio Varesino has ever produced in addition to a ton of Mike's soaps. I see the SV stuff being a big hit this round.
 
Not sure if I'd make the cut, being so new, but I'd love to get in on this, and would happily add a few samples in if they were not already represented in the box. :) Keeping my eye on this one!
 
Not sure if I'd make the cut, being so new, but I'd love to get in on this, and would happily add a few samples in if they were not already represented in the box. :) Keeping my eye on this one!

You'll need to get your post count up a bit. You can take a later spot on the list and if you're active here and your post count is up over 100 to 150 by the time the box gets to you you'll be eligible.
 
just some pics...

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I think I counted 283 soaps at the moment. There will probably be a few more added before I send it out.
 
Judging by the fast responses to the pic posting, everyone must be on speed dial like me.
 
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You'll need to get your post count up a bit. You can take a later spot on the list and if you're active here and your post count is up over 100 to 150 by the time the box gets to you you'll be eligible.

I'd fine with that. Working on participating, but I'm not one to post without reason, generally speaking. So we'll see what happens, but a later spot on the list would be absolutely fine with me. :001_smile
 
I'd fine with that. Working on participating, but I'm not one to post without reason, generally speaking. So we'll see what happens, but a later spot on the list would be absolutely fine with me. :001_smile

There are threads here on the forum that ask you what soap, what razor, or what blade you used for the day. If you fill out all three every day then you're post count will go up quickly without posting meaningless stuff. Feel free to browse around the forum for other threads and share where you see fit. The main point of the post count it that you're active on the forums. People that are more active are more likely to follow the passaround rules.

There's always risk involved with these things but we're trying to weigh the risk with the desire to give the opportunity to some new people as they are the ones who benefit the most from something like this. If I said 500 posts were required then the boxes would be much more safe, however the newer members wouldn't really benefit. If you have 100 to 150 posts then you obviously have something to lose by dropping off the forum, but it's still a number that is attainable in a somewhat short amount of time. There will be a time requirement as well, probably three months or so.

It's unfortunate that I have to have the limitations but if a user drops off with a box then everyone else suffers.
 
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