Stirling Syndicate

[mbkintner]

I should probably mention two things to put the following in perspective.

1. I'm an evening shaver. It's a habit I picked up when I first started wet shaving. I have fairly sensitive skin so shaving at night gave me time to recover from bad shaves while my technique was improving. It's a habit I kept up even when that recovery time was no longer needed. It just seems to work better fro my schedule.
2. I'm a fan of The Walking Dead.

So to tie those two seemingly unconnected points together.....

Sunday night I was watching Fear the Walking Dead which is the new Walking Dead spin-off series that is based in Los Angeles. So in honor of the Zombie Apocalypse that is getting started in LA I decided to shave with The Los Angeles Shaving Soap Bay Rum. I don't own any Bay Rum soaps. For some reason they make me think of pumpkin pie, which I don't like. I know.... strange! But I picked it up anyway to celebrate LA zombies and to give LASS a try for the first time.

The soap loaded and lathered easily. I palm lather as it tends to give me a better lather than bowl lathering and I like that I can get a better feel for the lather in my hand and more easily judge the water content. In my palm the LASS lather felt great, one of the best I've felt. I thought I was in for what would be an excellent shave. But that wasn't the case... it was average at best. That said I think it was my fault. I think I added too much water. I tried whipping the lather into shape but never could get it quite right. So I'm not judging the soap and think I'll give the Topanga Fougère a try tomorrow to see if I can get it dialed in.


Don't judge the soap by the picture. As I said, it was likely my fault.

 

[mbkintner]

As follow-up to the mild reaction I seemed to have with Soap Commander (see post #190) I decided to give another Soap Commander scent a try. It still has that artificial smell but I like citrus and Inspiration has a lot of citrus in it. Just like my last experience, Soap Commander lathered well (although the scent faded), felt slick, and gave a good shave. Most importantly..... no reaction like I experienced with Motivation. Maybe I had a reaction to one of the ingredients that are specific to Motivation.

 

[tclobaugh]

As follow-up to the mild reaction I seemed to have with Soap Commander (see post #190) I decided to give another Soap Commander scent a try. It still has that artificial smell but I like citrus and Inspiration has a lot of citrus in it. Just like my last experience, Soap Commander lathered well (although the scent faded), felt slick, and gave a good shave. Most importantly..... no reaction like I experienced with Motivation. Maybe I had a reaction to one of the ingredients that are specific to Motivation.

It's much more common to have a reaction to a specific scent than it is to a specific brand. Unless you have issues with lanolin - that's a fairly common ingredient that causes problems for some and can span a whole line. Myself - there are lots of soaps that give my skin reactions (and bay rum appears to be my kryptonite) but I've never met a brand where I couldn't find a soap that would work for me.

 

[mbkintner]

Christian, I'm sure you are right about it being caused by something related to the scent. I was surprised though. Despite my sensitive skin I've just never experienced any type of reaction to any other soap.... and I've tried LOTS! I just assumed I was invincible.

 

[JimmyTheChooch]

Well mbkintner, I've got two things for you:
1. I'm also an evening shaver. I start work at 6:00am and it is just too early to shave in the morning. I like the evening shower and shave routine.
2. Your reviews are excellent. I very much enjoyed reading them.
I don't have anything to tie this together.

 

[dfoulk]

If you try enough of these things you'll eventually find some that cause a reaction. Usually a reaction is related to the fragrance oils in a soap but it can be caused by a specific soap ingredient as well.

I'm zero for four with Saint Charles Shave soaps as I've had a very strong (feels like my face is on fire) reaction to every one I've tried. I got a slight mild reaction to a few other soaps, of which two were citrus soaps and one was one of the almond cherry ones. These I can still use but not more than maybe one or two days in a row. Overall I think I've gotten off easy as I've tried 400 plus soaps and have had problems with only seven.

 

[tclobaugh]

If you try enough of these things you'll eventually find some that cause a reaction. Usually a reaction is related to the fragrance oils in a soap but it can be caused by a specific soap ingredient as well.

I'm zero for four with Saint Charles Shave soaps as I've had a very strong (feels like my face is on fire) reaction to every one I've tried. I got a slight mild reaction to a few other soaps, of which two were citrus soaps and one was one of the almond cherry ones. These I can still use but not more than maybe one or two days in a row. Overall I think I've gotten off easy as I've tried 400 plus soaps and have had problems with only seven.

That's a pretty good track record. I find I react to about 1 in 3.

 

[Corsair66]

While I'm extremely scent-sensitive (I like what I like and absolutely abhor what I don't), I haven't yet encountered any actual skin reactions. Thankfully.

 

[Corsair66]

I'm slowly closing on the end of box #2 and am down to my last few soaps to be sampled. Today found me back in the Tiki camp (two of the remaining three are also Tiki scents I was unable to resist) with Spice Islands. Unfortunately, I couldn't find this soap on their website, so perhaps it's been discontinued. I thought I detected some cinnamon in the bouquet, but can't be sure. The exact components are a little mysterious, but I liked the scent and so went ahead and tried it.

The lather was right up there to Tiki's usual standard. In other words, excellent!

Today's hardware:

• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (1st shave)
• Brush: Rooney Silvertip

The thick and protective lather had good staying power and a comfortable, three-pass plus touchups shave was the result - with some VIBR to top it off. I really like Tiki's soaps. If you can find a scent you enjoy (or several!), you'd do well to give them a try.

 

[Javelin]

Tomorrow, I'm going to order a bunch of samples with a friend (to split the shipping). I'm excited!

Here is what I'm going to try:

1. Barbershop - Duh!
2. Sharp Dressed Man
3. Ozark Mountains

and maybe a couple of:

4. Frozen Tundra
5. Glacial Lemon Chill
6. Glacial Wintergreen
7. Island Man
8. Texas on Fire

If you're going to try Stirling you really need to try Port-au-Prince. It's a VERY earthy vetiver dominant scent that took me quite some time to really like. But from day one it's the top dog in the Stirling line as far as performance for me. It uses a different clay and I couldn't tell you why, but it's performance is just amazing.

 

[molon_labe]

If you're going to try Stirling you really need to try Port-au-Prince. It's a VERY earthy vetiver dominant scent that took me quite some time to really like. But from day one it's the top dog in the Stirling line as far as performance for me. It uses a different clay and I couldn't tell you why, but it's performance is just amazing.

I plan on giving PaP a try as soon as it's available in 5.8oz jars. It is one of the few Stirling soaps that will still have clay in it as the rest are having the clay phased out to allow the scents to come through better.

 

[JimmyTheChooch]

I bought a slightly used tub of Tiki Spice Islands off the old BST. It was my first tallow soap and I loved the scent and performance. So far this thread is making want CC Lime and a new Tiki.

 

[Corsair66]

Ah, but which new Tiki? I have two left to sample and my list of new soaps to order is still growing!

 

[dfoulk]

Ah, but which new Tiki? I have two left to sample and my list of new soaps to order is still growing!

That's too easy, The Captain scent is outstanding. It's gotta be The Captain.

 

[Corsair66]

If you're only going to pick one Tiki, no doubt at all that The Captain is the way to go. Come to think of it, I'm going to go sniff mine now.

TMI?

 

[dfoulk]

Since I've started these passaround boxes I've purchased:

Captain's Choice Lime Aftershave
Soap Commander Gusto (excellent raspberry lemonade scent)
Strop Shoppe Baker Street SE w/tallow (they had a BOGO sale so I got a backup)
Strop Shoppe Barbershop SE w/tallow (another backup)
LA Shaving Woody Lavender (my favorite LA Shaving scent)
LS Shaving BBS-1 razor (I was on the waiting list a really long time for that one)

Then I found out the local WSP shaving store is really close to where I live.
WSP Rustic - Matterhorn
WSP Rustic - Gaelic Tweed
WSP Rustic - Vetiver
WSP Rustic - Cool Vetiver Aftershave
WSP Rustic - Silvertip knot (that I put in a Rubberset 200 brush I refinished)
WSP Rustic - Mahogany and Gaelic Tweed bath soaps (I'm going to need more WSP bath soaps as I'm liking them a lot)

Still need to buy:
Captain's Choice Lime soap (I should have bought it with the aftershave, it's a must have one for me)
Cold River Select - Bergamot & Bay (the scent is amazing and the soap is excellent, another must have)
PannaCrema Nuavia Blue (the Nuavia soaps are the very best I've tried)
PannaCrema Nuavia Red

and I'm sure there's going to be some more stuff from some other vendors.

 

[Corsair66]

Since we've started this latest series of passarounds, I've only purchased the two Nuavias and the MdC Fougere. However...

I've been making a list as I went along and will post it with my final review from the sample box. OK, I'm stalling for another few days before committing to my selections… lol

 

[JimmyTheChooch]

Ah, but which new Tiki? I have two left to sample and my list of new soaps to order is still growing!

I've heard nothing but good things about The Captain. It would probably be the one I would try. But I reserve the right to change my mind at any time. Does Tiki make a Fougere?

 

[Corsair66]

Good question. I've no idea, but David probably knows...

 

[dfoulk]

I've heard nothing but good things about The Captain. It would probably be the one I would try. But I reserve the right to change my mind at any time. Does Tiki make a Fougere?

They do but repeat after me.... "The Captain is the soap I want to buy".
Just repeat that about ten to fifteen times so that it settles in there and you don't get distracted by the other scents.