Hmm maybe you have an oily face because those soaps leave my skins very dry. Anyways, those are great products so nothing wrong with stuff that works.
Soaps that don’t work for you
- Thread starter Dzaw
- Start date
Anything heavily scented, anything that reveals itself by scent while in the shave process, beyond an initial waft of scent upon first opening a closed container, i have no use for scent beyond that moment, non-starter.
dave
dave
No, I do not have oily skin. Like most products discussed here they are YMMV.
Everyone is different, and uses the products in very (or slightly) different conditions.
Always best to try products and see what works best for you.
Although I like them, I immediately thought of A&E for #6.
Well said. I enjoy Stirling soaps because they work for me. I have TOBS that is a staple here for many folks, but I don't care for it anymore. Different strokes for different folks.
1. Grooming Dept. Just no
2. Declaration Grooming - used over a full tub and I never get good shaves. Kinda weird
3. Nuavia - lather not protective enough like most veg soaps with the lone exception being Sudsy Soapery. I do like their old tallow formula though, Pure O2
4 - DR Harris - thin airy lather every time. Water is not hard and tried every method imaginable
2. Declaration Grooming - used over a full tub and I never get good shaves. Kinda weird
3. Nuavia - lather not protective enough like most veg soaps with the lone exception being Sudsy Soapery. I do like their old tallow formula though, Pure O2
4 - DR Harris - thin airy lather every time. Water is not hard and tried every method imaginable
+1 on Taconic being a difficult soap to get a stable lather. Could perhaps be due to the Olive Oil content but that would just be a guess.
If you are talking about the Maggard Meet Up i saw that puck of Urban Woods on the PIF table hahaha, it smelled nice but knew better as i had a puck of Bay Rum i had to turn into a pre shave soap- mixed it with a bunch of other sub-par soaps and ingredients in order to make it somewhat useable. Was really dissaopinted with the Taconic soap although their Creams are not nearly as bad as their soaps.
LEA Shaving Puck comes to mind. The first few shaves were not bad but after that had trouble getting a stable lather. There have been other people reporting this same problem with this soap so perhaps may have been a bad batch or something, too bad as it smells nice. May need to revisit it and see if things have changed.
The original Gustafsons Formula- thin airy lather that dissapears before you start shaving. They eventually switched to the Square One Soapworks formula which is excellent and became one among my favorite soap bases which is kind of night and day.
Badger Shaving Soap- available at Kraker Barrel and CVS type stores. Smells nice but latger is universally hated by pretty much anyone that tried it. Right up there with Urban Cowboy and Joshua Tree.
Erasmic Stick- this stuff crumbled into chalk dust and lathers worse than bath soap. One of the worst soaps i have tried out of hundreds is really saying a LOT.
Green Mountain Soaps- they are triple milled and considered "Artisan" plus many people seem to like their soaps, but i couldnt get a stable lather, tried everything from grating to blooming, different brushes and water techniques and after about 6-8 tries i gave up and PIF'ed the rest of the puck that i didnt grate. Many people like this soap so hopefully someone else had better luck than i did. The scent of Cheata was nice thou.
The original Gustafsons Formula- thin airy lather that dissapears before you start shaving. They eventually switched to the Square One Soapworks formula which is excellent and became one among my favorite soap bases which is kind of night and day.
Badger Shaving Soap- available at Kraker Barrel and CVS type stores. Smells nice but latger is universally hated by pretty much anyone that tried it. Right up there with Urban Cowboy and Joshua Tree.
Erasmic Stick- this stuff crumbled into chalk dust and lathers worse than bath soap. One of the worst soaps i have tried out of hundreds is really saying a LOT.
Green Mountain Soaps- they are triple milled and considered "Artisan" plus many people seem to like their soaps, but i couldnt get a stable lather, tried everything from grating to blooming, different brushes and water techniques and after about 6-8 tries i gave up and PIF'ed the rest of the puck that i didnt grate. Many people like this soap so hopefully someone else had better luck than i did. The scent of Cheata was nice thou.
Neither Proraso Green or White are slick enough, and I find their scents objectionable.
Add a bit of Nivea shaving cream, or Gillette Pure though, and I get sufficient slickness and a far more interesting scent for both of them.
I do like Proraso Red as is.
Add a bit of Nivea shaving cream, or Gillette Pure though, and I get sufficient slickness and a far more interesting scent for both of them.
I do like Proraso Red as is.
1. DR Harris.
Awful, Awful Shave performance. You would have a slicker lather using beach sand.
2.Erasmic Shave stick.
Impossible to lather.
3.Williams Shaving Cream.
The blandest thing ever invented and the only soap i have tossed in the bin.
Awful, Awful Shave performance. You would have a slicker lather using beach sand.
2.Erasmic Shave stick.
Impossible to lather.
3.Williams Shaving Cream.
The blandest thing ever invented and the only soap i have tossed in the bin.
For those having issues with Mystic Water, if you feel inclined to give it another try I might suggest using one of their shaving sticks, or forming what you have into a stick and just lathering it directly on your face. It seems like lots of folks have issues with not picking up enough product while loading from the puck, but its easy to get plenty into your beard and then lather from there.
Came here to say that^^^
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
No thanks, life’s too short to dance with finicky soaps. The Mystic Waters maker is a wonderful lady but avoids coconut oil because some folks think it’s drying and so makes a soap that many can’t lather. When she makes a soap that lathers like MdC give me a call at the old folks home. I did speak with her one time about making a coconut oil soft soap like Cella or ABC, and she said that she had considered it.
I don’t have issues with ‘drying’ so I’ll take Martin de Candre, Valobra/Czeck and Speake/I Coloniali .... I might also add that most of the Italian soaps and creams are coconut oil based and no one thinks Santa Maria Novella, Acqua di Parma, ABC etc are drying. But not everyone’s complexion is the same as mine so use what you like. I’ve tried 3 MW soaps and don’t like them.
I have only had two soaps fail on me - the oft-mentioned Badger soap, which became a satisfactory shower soap after two miserable attempts at shaving with it. And one generic olive oil shaving soap that I picked up at a local farmer's market, which also quickly became a shower soap.
I've had a few soaps that I couldn't use because I found the scent unpleasant (but others seem to like). The one that I remember most clearly was Reef Point Dragon's Blood. Besides being cloyingly sweet, this soap discolored my silvertip brush. It did, however, perform extremely well.
I've had a few soaps that I couldn't use because I found the scent unpleasant (but others seem to like). The one that I remember most clearly was Reef Point Dragon's Blood. Besides being cloyingly sweet, this soap discolored my silvertip brush. It did, however, perform extremely well.
I never got on with the AOS veggie soaps. The tallow formula worked great, but I could not get the veg to perform for me no matter what I tried. Eventually gave up and used it as a shower bar.
These soaps are the bottom of the bottom for me. Each failed to do the one thing a shave soap must do: protect my skin from the sharp edge of the blade.
Organic Donkey Milk Shaving Soap (La Savonnerie Bourbonnaise) cedar & lemongrass
This smells good, and a stiff boar brush fully charged with it will produce a lather. But it's a sorry, thin, wispy, entirely unstable lather that evaporates half way through the first pass. The soap is based on olive and coconut oils. They work great in hand soaps, but with only one or two exceptions, this combination of ingredients makes a lousy shave soap. Donkey milk and Shea butter contribute some softness, but the lather offers no cushion whatsoever. A shave with this soap is usually followed immediately by le feu du rasage: red, prickly skin and a fiery oath that I will never pick this up again.
Gentle Women’s Shave Soap (Balade en Provence) orange flower
Again, this smells pretty good, but the lather sucks. It falls apart within seconds. A shave with nothing but hot water would yield the same results. Softening? Yes, the Shea butter did make my skin softer. Gentle? No, it offers no protection from the blade. For women? Only if you hate your wife.
Ziegen Bart (Zartgefühl) lye
“Goat Beard” is the name of this soap in English. It’s scary. I whipped up a dose in my scuttle and then smeared it all over my face, but by the time I picked up my razor, the foam had fled. Nothing there on my cheeks, just pink skin. I tried it again, and again, until I'd used the entire half-ounce sample. Same results: crap lather. This doesn’t smell good and it doesn’t work well. Congratulations Ziegen Bart! You’ve won my award for the worst of the worst soaps I’ve ever tried.
Organic Donkey Milk Shaving Soap (La Savonnerie Bourbonnaise) cedar & lemongrass
This smells good, and a stiff boar brush fully charged with it will produce a lather. But it's a sorry, thin, wispy, entirely unstable lather that evaporates half way through the first pass. The soap is based on olive and coconut oils. They work great in hand soaps, but with only one or two exceptions, this combination of ingredients makes a lousy shave soap. Donkey milk and Shea butter contribute some softness, but the lather offers no cushion whatsoever. A shave with this soap is usually followed immediately by le feu du rasage: red, prickly skin and a fiery oath that I will never pick this up again.
Gentle Women’s Shave Soap (Balade en Provence) orange flower
Again, this smells pretty good, but the lather sucks. It falls apart within seconds. A shave with nothing but hot water would yield the same results. Softening? Yes, the Shea butter did make my skin softer. Gentle? No, it offers no protection from the blade. For women? Only if you hate your wife.
Ziegen Bart (Zartgefühl) lye
“Goat Beard” is the name of this soap in English. It’s scary. I whipped up a dose in my scuttle and then smeared it all over my face, but by the time I picked up my razor, the foam had fled. Nothing there on my cheeks, just pink skin. I tried it again, and again, until I'd used the entire half-ounce sample. Same results: crap lather. This doesn’t smell good and it doesn’t work well. Congratulations Ziegen Bart! You’ve won my award for the worst of the worst soaps I’ve ever tried.
Marvy soap has also been a soap that did not work for me. It was bubbly, airy, and irritating to my skin. A combination that you would not want. Glad it was cheap but still, I would not have wasted money on that puck.
MWF, CRSW, Mikes Natural Soaps to name three.
The Fat: So frustrating to me. I LOVE the neutral scent, performance and post shave feel, but it's just not worth my time getting to that lather. I have used it in hard and soft water, used synthetic, boar, and badger brushes, but just cant get it to work consistently. I get the same brilliant performance (especially my two most important factors - slickness and post shave feel) from TOBS Sandalwood puck, La Toja shave stick and Haslinger's Aloe Vera soap.
CRWS: irritated my skin SO much I couldn't shave for 4 days. Binned it.
Mikes: kind of all of the above.
And I'm not bad mouthing the soaps/vendors - shaving is all about what works best for you own face/skin. What works for one, may not work for the next person. All three that I have mentioned are extremely popular and Im glad they give so many, so much shaving joy. As the thread title asked, they just do not work for me.
The Fat: So frustrating to me. I LOVE the neutral scent, performance and post shave feel, but it's just not worth my time getting to that lather. I have used it in hard and soft water, used synthetic, boar, and badger brushes, but just cant get it to work consistently. I get the same brilliant performance (especially my two most important factors - slickness and post shave feel) from TOBS Sandalwood puck, La Toja shave stick and Haslinger's Aloe Vera soap.
CRWS: irritated my skin SO much I couldn't shave for 4 days. Binned it.
Mikes: kind of all of the above.
And I'm not bad mouthing the soaps/vendors - shaving is all about what works best for you own face/skin. What works for one, may not work for the next person. All three that I have mentioned are extremely popular and Im glad they give so many, so much shaving joy. As the thread title asked, they just do not work for me.
