Hey gents, tried this shop a bit ago. Southern Witchcrafts uses an etsy store to sell their wares, using a kind of 'witchy' theme to their vegan shaving soaps. They also sell non-alcoholic aftershave splashes. What first drew me to them was hearing about their scents, which I believe are unique to this shop. They all sound super interesting and at 12$ for 4oz, the price is amazing. For short review: Great performance (surprising for a vegan), thirsty but productive, unique scents that no other soap seems to have anything close to, lovely price.
The Soap
Packaged in a plastic 8 oz tub (plenty of room to load lather) the soap comes in a hard croap, firmer than Stirling Soaps, B&M Reserve base, Catie's bubbles. It's probably one of the hardest coaps I've experienced, but had no difficulty lathering.
This soap is a vegan base. The ingredients are: Water, stearic acid, shea butter, coconut oil, castor oil, potassium hydroxide, kaolin clay, silk (non-animal), fragrance
The Scent:
I personally used Alchemist, whose scent profile is "Bergamot, green florals(rose stems, ivy leaves, hyacinth), sandalwood, fungus, birch tar, myrrh, amber, leather, plumeria, smoke" according to their site. Personally, I found this scent super interesting. Smoke is definitely there, as is warm amber, strong woody scents, and the florals and bergamont round it out. From other reviews I've seen, no one smells the same thing in this soap, and even if they do, not in the same order! For me this was somewhat smoke forward, but for others this was floral or woody-forward. I didn't smell anything fungal, but there are so many scents that fungus may actually be playing an accord with the others in rounding it out. This certainly isn't a light or airy scent, but it is pungent, strong, and absolutely fascinating.
I will note the scent was more powerful unlathered. The resulting lather definitely smelled more balanced, carrying an almost 'fresh' note to lighten up the entire affair. I believe this may be work of the green florals/bergamot.
The Performance:
Given a 60 second load I believe I could've lathered a horse. I lathered using distilled water. This soap loves water, very thirsty. I achieved a thick, yogurty lather rather quickly, but the soap just loved more water! Lathering and re-lathering with this thing was like those commercials peddling a something for 3 easy installments of $19.99. Every time you think the lather is done and any more water would collapse it, it just says, wait, there's more!
The overall result was a very comfortable, slick lather that just got more slick and comfortable the more water I tried to stuff in it. Next time I'll really try to find this thing's breaking point. I would describe it as very comparable to many of the good tallow-base soaps I have right now, likely outperforming several of them. Its post-shave is better than most vegan soaps and on par with many tallow soaps but I would definitely recommend some aftershave lotion or moisturizing splash.
Of the soaps I think this outperforms: B&M Glissant(slickness), SV (in post-shave, ease of lather), Caties bubbles(overall), Stirling Soaps(slickness), and A&E(overall).
Of the soaps that outperform it: B&M Reserve(cushion), Dapper Dragon(cushion), Wholly Kaw Donkey Milk(overall), Sudsy Soapery(post-shave), Declaration Grooming(overall)
Disclaimer/Equipment:
Razor: Gillette Super Adjustable 109
Brush: Declaration Grooming Jefferson Clause 27mm
Blade: Fresh Personna Blue
I bought all of these, and the soap, and I am not affiliated with Southern Witchcrafts. I just didn't see them posted around here and I thought you gents might like something rather interesting/unique of this thing I've found which was a surprisingly good performer for me. Their other scents like Pomona and Nekromantik are equally interesting and I've heard another scent, Lycanthropy, is due in February.
Here's some pictures:
The Soap
Packaged in a plastic 8 oz tub (plenty of room to load lather) the soap comes in a hard croap, firmer than Stirling Soaps, B&M Reserve base, Catie's bubbles. It's probably one of the hardest coaps I've experienced, but had no difficulty lathering.
This soap is a vegan base. The ingredients are: Water, stearic acid, shea butter, coconut oil, castor oil, potassium hydroxide, kaolin clay, silk (non-animal), fragrance
The Scent:
I personally used Alchemist, whose scent profile is "Bergamot, green florals(rose stems, ivy leaves, hyacinth), sandalwood, fungus, birch tar, myrrh, amber, leather, plumeria, smoke" according to their site. Personally, I found this scent super interesting. Smoke is definitely there, as is warm amber, strong woody scents, and the florals and bergamont round it out. From other reviews I've seen, no one smells the same thing in this soap, and even if they do, not in the same order! For me this was somewhat smoke forward, but for others this was floral or woody-forward. I didn't smell anything fungal, but there are so many scents that fungus may actually be playing an accord with the others in rounding it out. This certainly isn't a light or airy scent, but it is pungent, strong, and absolutely fascinating.
I will note the scent was more powerful unlathered. The resulting lather definitely smelled more balanced, carrying an almost 'fresh' note to lighten up the entire affair. I believe this may be work of the green florals/bergamot.
The Performance:
Given a 60 second load I believe I could've lathered a horse. I lathered using distilled water. This soap loves water, very thirsty. I achieved a thick, yogurty lather rather quickly, but the soap just loved more water! Lathering and re-lathering with this thing was like those commercials peddling a something for 3 easy installments of $19.99. Every time you think the lather is done and any more water would collapse it, it just says, wait, there's more!
The overall result was a very comfortable, slick lather that just got more slick and comfortable the more water I tried to stuff in it. Next time I'll really try to find this thing's breaking point. I would describe it as very comparable to many of the good tallow-base soaps I have right now, likely outperforming several of them. Its post-shave is better than most vegan soaps and on par with many tallow soaps but I would definitely recommend some aftershave lotion or moisturizing splash.
Of the soaps I think this outperforms: B&M Glissant(slickness), SV (in post-shave, ease of lather), Caties bubbles(overall), Stirling Soaps(slickness), and A&E(overall).
Of the soaps that outperform it: B&M Reserve(cushion), Dapper Dragon(cushion), Wholly Kaw Donkey Milk(overall), Sudsy Soapery(post-shave), Declaration Grooming(overall)
Disclaimer/Equipment:
Razor: Gillette Super Adjustable 109
Brush: Declaration Grooming Jefferson Clause 27mm
Blade: Fresh Personna Blue
I bought all of these, and the soap, and I am not affiliated with Southern Witchcrafts. I just didn't see them posted around here and I thought you gents might like something rather interesting/unique of this thing I've found which was a surprisingly good performer for me. Their other scents like Pomona and Nekromantik are equally interesting and I've heard another scent, Lycanthropy, is due in February.
Here's some pictures:
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