South Mountain Girls Soaps

[sween1911]

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Hey gang, I got the opportunity to try out some handmade shaving soap.

My father-in-law's sister makes her own soap "South Mountain Girls Soaps". She had gifted my FIL a beautiful brush, handmade cup, and a block of her "Mountain Man Shaving Soap" for Christmas last year. (I know forums have Ad rules, so let me know if I can post the actual link). Unfortunately, he is an electric shaver and does not wet shave. My wife let him know I was all about it, so he gave it all to me recently and I was able to try it out today.

I usually use a cheezy cup I got from a department store, the handmade cup she gave him is beautiful, signed with the maker's name on the bottom. Had a very cool swirl in the bottom inside for great lathering. I originally used the brush she gave him, but as I lathered it up and put it on my face, some part of my brain looked up in my wet shaving reference about how a brand-new REAL brush smells when you first get it wet and I was treated to the feeling of putting my face in a wild animal's rear. I put the brush down and got my old brush out to finish up. (note to self: Look up breaking-in-a-new-brush on BNB. ) Got two nice passes and a great shave. Lathered up amazingly fast. It's a pretty nice manly spicy/sweet combo of ingredients. Great lubrication and feel.

Am honored that my father-in-law gifted this to me so that the shave gear I eventually teach my son with will incorporate things from both his grandfathers.

 

[Isaac]

Glad you like it. It has to be some of the weakest lathering soap I have ever seen. Im not really sure what the purpose of the brush was.

 

[JBLA]

Nice! New gear is always sweet!

(If you're trying to help out a family member's business, you might want to take a better pic with a thicker lather, as olive oil is a pretty controversial oil in shaving soap, in that unless you do it just right, it causes a thin and bubbly lather If you can get a lather like this, you might win some converts.)

EDIT: Looks like that controversy is happening in this thread also. I'd go back and load that brush for about 3 minutes solid, add a little water, bowl lather it, then replace that pic.

 

[franz]

Glad you got a good shave out of it (and I am sure the family connection makes it more meaningful). But the lather looks very airy and wispy to me, to be frank; not very appealing.

 

[sween1911]

This was a just a shot of the stuff together after I swirled it around a little bit. Yeah, that does look crappy if this was supposed to be a shaving soap review. I couldn't take a picture once I got a good lather going or I would have drowned my phone. I'm not really up on using a cake soap that much, I usually shoot some Proraso (the re-branded Bigelow stuff from Bath and Body Works) in the cup and go to town.

Regardless, I did get a good lather with some good substance to it. I'll definitely follow-up with a better shot. This was also with my not-so-smart slider phone too (my penance for breaking the previous company phone).

 

[FL shaver]

Looks similar to the lather I've been getting from Lightfoot's Pine. That is what is left after a couple passes, even though the initial lather has some body. Glad you like it!

 

[brucered]

Nice connection and glad it worked for you.

but as others have said, that later looks atrocious and they are harming the promotion of it, not helping.

 

[Gingerbread]

Olive oil is a lather killer.