Sudsy Soapery Rose and Black Pepper - First Impressions

[Hoka Hey]

I’ve long been a fan of Sudsy Soapery. The Rose and Black Pepper was released Monday, and sounded intriguing. I got my order in early in the morning, and received it around noon today. That’s pretty quick!

On first opening the tub, the scent is a gentle, very natural Rose. No hint of Pepper, at least to me. Consistency is fairly soft. No need to bloom.

Equipment:
Shavemac do-1 3 band.
Black Krome “Beta Test” New Deluxe.
Nacet blade, 3rd or 4th use.

With a fairly wet brush, loading took about 5 seconds. I bowl lather, but no additional water was needed. Here’s where the Black Pepper scent kicked in, dominating the Rose. The Rose scent is there, but much more in the background. Interestingly, after finishing the shave and rinsing my face, the Pepper scent disappeared, leaving the gentle Rose scent.

Quick note on naturally scented soaps:
It’s been my experience with a couple soaps scented with essential oils that the scent can change a bit after a few uses. I’m not sure why. Possibly how the scent oils set up as the soap cures. All this to say that the scent may change a bit with use. Tallow and Steel Boreal, and Sudsy Soapery Jack Frost come to mind. They took a few uses to settle into a consistent scent profile. I’ll be interested to see if the scent profile changes at all in the next few days. It’s not a common occurrence, but is something to be aware of.

Cushion, glide, slickness, protection and after shave feel are all excellent. There’s a reason they are one of my favorites! Scent strength is a bump up from most of the Sudsy Soapery line, and very welcome. Looking forward to using this again!

Mark

 

[Rhody]

Thanks for the review. I managed to resist this holding down my spending .

 

[Snurgblat]

Very nice review @Hoka Hey ! Is it a sharp black pepper scent or subdued? Did you attempt to put any excess lather on a squirrel? That's critical.

 

[rawfox1]

Just got my rose and pepper shaving soap, A/S, and balm. Excellent products with great ingredients. Tier 1. Love the scent.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[Hoka Hey]

Very nice review @Hoka Hey ! Is it a sharp black pepper scent or subdued? Did you attempt to put any excess lather on a squirrel? That's critical.

The Black Pepper scent was only really apparent during lathering and shave. Definitely fresh ground.

Sorry, no squirrels were lathered during this episode of Shave Bunker Theatre.

 

[joeyboy]

I also resisted as I have not been pleased with rose scents. I did find rose mixed with skin bracer blended nicely. It was very manly.

 

[Ad Astra]

Got the e-mail. Glad you tried it!

Seems like the rose Thayer's WH would be a natural for use after.

@Hoka Hey , if you NEED a squirrel, let me know- I can FedEx* you one. I catch them all the time in Havahart traps ... 'round here we call them by their right name, "house-eaters."


AA


*sometimes they chew their way out enroute; you might just get a box with a hole in it. But we can try.

 

[BigJ]

EXCELLENT REVIEW! Sounds like a terrific soap.

 

[Tommy Tutone]

Nice review, HH! Love my SS Lavender and Peppermint and also Mike's Orange, Cedarwood and Black Pepper so this could be in my wheelhouse so to speak.. Thanks, amigo.

 

[Hoka Hey]

Got the e-mail. Glad you tried it!

Seems like the rose Thayer's WH would be a natural for use after.

@Hoka Hey , if you NEED a squirrel, let me know- I can FedEx* you one. I catch them all the time in Havahart traps ... 'round here we call them by their right name, "house-eaters."


AA


*sometimes they chew their way out enroute; you might just get a box with a hole in it. But we can try.

AKA Tree rats! Red squirrels are the worst. We give them high velocity lead poisoning. Thanks for the offer, but no thanks!

I am kinda partial to Goats though.....

 

[Rory1262]

That Black Krome razor caught my eye!

 

[Ad Astra]

I am kinda partial to Goats though.....

We eat those ... too.

ahem, I am a big fan of Sudsy; used to have ALL of their offerings- and still have about five on hand.

Glad this one's a winner, too.


AA

 

[Bbb34]

I like Sudsy soap a lot, but wish they would do scents that are less.... obscure for the lack of better word.
Rose and Black Peppper, I mean what is that combo even supposed to smell like? What scenario in life will lead to these two blending? I suppose you have to stand out from the competition somehow.

Also, tub of Lavender and Peppermint I have might as well be called "Peppermint"
Great performing soap though.

 

[Hoka Hey]

Second use this morning.

The Black Pepper scent was almost completely absent. Just a gentle Rose scent. I even had TLOTH give the lather a sniff, as her nose is much better than mine. Nope. No Black Pepper. Will be interesting to see how the scent settles out.

 

[cmh737]

I too got this Rose & Black Pepper soap. I gave it a test lather yesterday, and then again today, with a couple different brushes. Now, this isn't my first Sudsy soap; I've enjoyed at least 6 different Sudsy soaps scents, and really enjoy the Cola one especially. But I have some different observations about this Rose & Black Pepper that I'll mention, just so folks can make an informed decision on whether to purchase this one.

The scent on the first test lather was very subtle. It was mostly rose, from what little I could discern. But today, the strength of scent was more pronounced with black pepper being quite dominate, and in a rather unpleasant way - I didn't care for it.

The consistency/texture of my tub of soap initially was quite granular/sticky (think drying concrete) and has small white "nodules" that range in size from that of a BB to that of "00" buckshot. The lather was still voluminous and slick, but the aesthetics were perlexing. So I emailed Sudsy Soapery asking what they were. They replied promptly and this is their explanation:

"....Thank you for your careful attention to our hand made artisan soap....As far as the white specks, that is where my wife failed to add the Rose Clay in the oils before saponification, so some clay did not mix in as well as it should have.

"We made an executive decision to keep it as it was, as tests proved the performance was not effected in any way, only the appearance of the soap.

"We do not claim perfection only quality in soap, the best we can offer...."

In my opinion, if this is "the best" they "can offer", then they shouldn't be charging the premium price for this batch since they admittedly made an error in production. If they knew that this was not up to standards, they should have been up front about it and offered it at a discount - call it "seconds", or "introductory", or what have you. But I'm disappointed in the Quality Control of this particular offering. And the more I've been thinking about, the more disingenuous it seems to me. I emailed them back my thoughts and recommendations, but they haven't responded as of yet.

I enjoy trying new soaps, and have enough to last me ten lifetimes, so this one bummer soap isn't a big deal to me. But I do want to let people know my particular opinion of this one.

 

[Cino]

Good to know. Thanks.

 

[rawfox1]

I too got this Rose & Black Pepper soap. I gave it a test lather yesterday, and then again today, with a couple different brushes. Now, this isn't my first Sudsy soap; I've enjoyed at least 6 different Sudsy soaps scents, and really enjoy the Cola one especially. But I have some different observations about this Rose & Black Pepper that I'll mention, just so folks can make an informed decision on whether to purchase this one.

The scent on the first test lather was very subtle. It was mostly rose, from what little I could discern. But today, the strength of scent was more pronounced with black pepper being quite dominate, and in a rather unpleasant way - I didn't care for it.

The consistency/texture of my tub of soap initially was quite granular/sticky (think drying concrete) and has small white "nodules" that range in size from that of a BB to that of "00" buckshot. The lather was still voluminous and slick, but the aesthetics were perlexing. So I emailed Sudsy Soapery asking what they were. They replied promptly and this is their explanation:

"....Thank you for your careful attention to our hand made artisan soap....As far as the white specks, that is where my wife failed to add the Rose Clay in the oils before saponification, so some clay did not mix in as well as it should have.

"We made an executive decision to keep it as it was, as tests proved the performance was not effected in any way, only the appearance of the soap.

"We do not claim perfection only quality in soap, the best we can offer...."

In my opinion, if this is "the best" they "can offer", then they shouldn't be charging the premium price for this batch since they admittedly made an error in production. If they knew that this was not up to standards, they should have been up front about it and offered it at a discount - call it "seconds", or "introductory", or what have you. But I'm disappointed in the Quality Control of this particular offering. And the more I've been thinking about, the more disingenuous it seems to me. I emailed them back my thoughts and recommendations, but they haven't responded as of yet.

I enjoy trying new soaps, and have enough to last me ten lifetimes, so this one bummer soap isn't a big deal to me. But I do want to let people know my particular opinion of this one.

I completely understand what you're saying but I got a whole set of the Rose and pepper shaving soap aftershave and bomb and everything is wonderful very happy with it

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[roosty]

I bought this too. A nice subtle Rose smell, not much black pepper to my nose.
The A/S lasts all day. The scent has grown on me. It’s not quite masculine but not feminine either.
I found the soap to deliver the usual shave to be expected from SS.

White sage and lime is my favorite SS scent.
This scent flies under the radar for some reason.

 

[Hoka Hey]

I bought this too. A nice subtle Rose smell, not much black pepper to my nose.
The A/S lasts all day. The scent has grown on me. It’s not quite masculine but not feminine either.
I found the soap to deliver the usual shave to be expected from SS.

White sage and lime is my favorite SS scent.
This scent flies under the radar for some reason.

The White Sage and Lime is my favorite. On my second tub. The Bay and Citrus is nice also.

 

[Piker]

I took the Rose & Black Pepper for a spin tonight. The triple butter formula is excellent. The scent for me was rose heavy off the puck with the pepper opening up big time when lathering. Loved it. The pepper almost casts a smokey essence to the scent. Different and delightful.