What is the upside and downside of tallow soaps versus other soaps?
tallow vs non tallow
- Thread starter BearHeart
- Start date
Tallow soaps provide a better lather (slicker, more protective) and most of them seem to last longer than non tallow soaps.
Forget tallow vs. Non tallow think quality vs. Non quality not all tallows will behave the same and not all veggies will
I've used a lot of soaps and I have a mix of both my top two are non tallow of my fav five only one is... but they all have different personalities and are different then one another...
But then YMMV
I've used a lot of soaps and I have a mix of both my top two are non tallow of my fav five only one is... but they all have different personalities and are different then one another...
But then YMMV
Yep. I have used some pretty bad tallow soaps. I have also used some very good non tallow soaps (Proraso for instance...almost universally agreed upon...almost). A few shea butter soaps I have used are excellent (PdP), while a few other shea butter soaps were not.
My only non-tallow is QED which I think is pretty good. My tallow soaps are all good in my book. Only have tried Cella, Tabac and the fat though. I imagine these soaps are pretty well respected in the tallow catagory though.
I prefer a tallow too. They just seem to produce better shaves for some reason. The placebo effect maybe?
Tallow for me - current rotation is MWF, Cella, Arko and Proraso. First 3 are tallow.
In my opinion the true distinction should not be done between tallow soaps and non-tallow soaps, but more properly between good ones and bad ones. There are many high quality vegetable soaps that perform at the same high level than the best tallow ones. La Toja Manantiales/stick and Martin de Candre are winners in my book.
If i should to decide my vote is for tallow based soaps.
X eleventy billion.
Same to Syngent's post.
People will all have their favorite products, but those prejudiced against veggie soaps probably just have not used a good product of that type. If we could find unscented versions of 3 tallow & 3 non-tallow of the highest quality, i doubt any but a handful (if that) could tell a difference.
My two favorite soaps are Proraso and AOS. Proraso is not a tallow soap, AOS is. Proraso is probably the best performing soap I've tried. I'll always have it around. AOS is great too, but I favor Proraso for some reason. MWF is close behind those, also a tallow soap.
My favorite soaps are Cella , Tabac , Arko , and vintage Old Spice which are all tallow , as mentioned above , there are also non tallow soaps which are excellent , like Proraso , which I absolutely love..
Upside/downside are always subjective but IMO the importance of tallow is overstated (probably another meme started by those who don't have a good grasp of causal versus coincidental). I've used excellent soaps that both had tallow and didn't have tallow. The best way to answer your question is to try the options and see for yourself.
+1 Excellent comments, here. You will have to try the soaps to see which you prefer!
I love Tallow!
It's like everything around here.... the traditional shaving soaps were mostly all tallow based.
They were also fantastic performers and are better than most modern mass-produced non-tallow soaps. So naturally guys assume ALL tallow soaps are better than non-tallow soaps, but that's an incorrect leap of logic.
They were also fantastic performers and are better than most modern mass-produced non-tallow soaps. So naturally guys assume ALL tallow soaps are better than non-tallow soaps, but that's an incorrect leap of logic.
I Love DR Harris 
As others have said, tallow is not a magical ingredient that makes for better lather. Lots of non-veggie soaps are wonderful, even compared to tallow ones. That being said, my experience is that soaps containing tallow tend to result in a thicker, perhaps creamier lather. That certainly doesn't mean tallow is better, just that there can be differences in consistency depending on whether or not a product has tallow, Of course there are lots of other ingredients that can also affect how a soap performs. As others have mentioned, Proraso is a highly acclaimed non-tallow product, as is MdC.
To address another point, tallow has no direct bearing on how long a soap lasts. Many triple milled, long-lasting soaps happen to contain tallow, but some do not. How a soap is processed has a lot more to do with longevity than any particular ingredient.
To address another point, tallow has no direct bearing on how long a soap lasts. Many triple milled, long-lasting soaps happen to contain tallow, but some do not. How a soap is processed has a lot more to do with longevity than any particular ingredient.
