Testing time!

[Ru4scuba?]

Soap #17 Lather #2

All,

Same setup this a.m. Decided to go with #17 instead of the other new puck to see if yesterday's effort affected the soap at all.

Same setup as before:

Soaked soap/brush while showering.
Squeezed out brush and poured water off soap
put puck in my hand and charged the brush.

Again, for the first lather I usually lather and then apply a hot towel for 2-3 mins per Kyle's prep. No issues with this lather.

By the time the towel prep was finished, the soap required another re-charge. So, I tossed the puck in my scuttle and went to town lathering. Got a quality soap for pass #1 which lasted all the way through. Still the same lack of depth, but what I did have was not airy or bubbly at all and very pervasive...it stuck to the face very well.

Passes 2 and 3 had similar results. Good, high-quality, staying lather that lacked a bit of cushion. I found that I recieved the best lather from this stuff when I charged the brush between passes. This is something I dont have to do with the majority of my other soaps (save DR Harris or MWF).

At the end of the shave, I used Kiehls Astringent after my WWR/CWR (something new for me). This seemed to have a VERY drying effect. I dont know if it was just the astringent or some combination with the heavy Tallow content in the #17 puck. Regardless, I required a balm to finish up after today's shave.

All in all, I think #17 is the best soap I've tried yet from Krissy. Could still use more cushion IMHO, but I'll be interested to read Slag and other BBer's opinions on this one.

I'll take a break this weekend and get back to testing some more next week.

 

[kingfisher]

Agree with Slagle about soap #7. Of the first seven soaps, #5 is the best by quite a bit (for me, anyway).

I have not yet tried the newer soaps but will probably get to them early next week.

 

[Ru4scuba?]

Soap # 17 Lather #3

Ok...came home tonight and wanted to do a quick side by side test. I tested Krissy's #17 vs. DR Harris Arlington SS.

For this test, I used my Vulfix PBB instead of my regular Shavemac Silvertip 177. I wanted to see if a stiffer brush picked up more soap and thus, resulted in more lather.

My setup was to soak both the brush and massage water on the soap. Then let them sit for 5 mins or so while I cleaned up and tidied up the house at the end of the workday. I charged both then palm lathered both so as to have essentially the exact same environment to compare lathers.

I lathered the DR Harris first for my baseline. I purposely picked Harris because I find it to be just a little finnicky. I whipped and whipped and eventually got what I'll call a presentable, non airy though thin lather.

I then lathered up Krissy's #17 to see how close the two compared. Here are a couple of pics for reference...

The first is the DR Harris
View attachment 62822
The second is Krissy's #17
View attachment 62823

As you can see, there are similarities between the two. I still state that Krissy's is slightly thinner, with less cushion but I purposely picked the Harris because it does not lather like my Penhaligons or AoS soap. It also lathers thinly. Both provide more than enough for quality shaves!

 

[Ru4scuba?]

Soap #15 Shave #1

Well, normally not a Sunday shaver. But today I wanted to try Krissy's #15 and return to the Derby Blade. When I first started wetshaving, I used Derby's b/c they are highly recommended here. I've been pondering lately if my poor performance back then was due more to poor technique than the blade. So I decided to give it a shot in my Gillette Fat Boy set to 3. Nope...nicks, & weepers again. I haven’t had this many since my first DE experience. I get better shaves with a Feather! Then I remembered why I dont like experimenting with blades...

Ok...on to the soap!

I used the same setup I've been using:

Soak puck and brush while showering.
Shavemac 177 used for this test

Lather/Pass #1

I put the puck in my palm and lathered away diligently. Got a pretty nice looking lather right off the bat. Moistened my face a tad and moved the brush to the face for a face lather. The stuff went on thick and I thought..."hey, another winner!" Then, I put the brush down, rinsed my hands and began to shave. Right away I noticed a difference between #15 and #17. This stuff was DEFINITELY thinner. Don’t know what it was, but I had to re-lather my neck before I got to it. The shaving went fine (other than the face that it was my Derby experience) and I felt there was good slickness to the soap.

Lather/Pass #2

This time, I threw the puck in my GtP scuttle and decided to bowl lather right on the soap. A dribble of water (few sprinkles at best) and off I went. The lather looked nice and solid (not airy at all) in the scuttle. Moved it to my face and again, it went on thick and looked pretty good. By the end of the pass tho, this stuff was dissipating more than #17. Not as badly as her first batch (1-4 and 6-7) but it was definitely thin.

Lather/Pass #3

Used the scuttle again and same result. Shave was ok, but the lather was gradually disappearing off my face by the end of the pass.

Lather/Pass #4...the all important ATG pass!

I'm a four pass shaver. The fourth pass is my ATG pass and I like to have a lot of cushion for it. For #4, I ALWAYS squeeze the brush out and put all the remaining soap on my face to this end. For #17 I did this and the stuff lasted pretty well. I did it again for #15. Initially, I looked like Santa Claus (as with all my soaps) because of the heavy amount of soap on the face. But even with this much lather on my face it began to disappear by the end of the shave.

All in all, initial results are that this soap is better than the initial batch of Krissy's stuff, but not as good as #17 unfortunately. I'm holding final judgment until I give it a few more whirls.

More to come!

 

[SRock]

#5 was definitely the best formula of the original 7 in my opinion. #15 and #17 arrived today. At Krissy's request I'll start with #17 tomorrow.

 

[kingfisher]

#5 was definitely the best formula of the original 7 in my opinion.
.

+1. Agree entirely.

 

[Sullybob]

I'm enjoying reading the comments and the testing.

Krissy, I hope that your soaps continue to improve. Thank you for making this effort to bring us more tallow soaps.

 

[SRock]

#5 was definitely the best formula of the original 7 in my opinion. #15 and #17 arrived today. At Krissy's request I'll start with #17 tomorrow.

+1. Agree entirely.

This was true right up until I tried #17. Now #17 is the best. I'll do my full write up of day one with #17 soon.

 

[SRock]

Color: Off White
Scent: N/A

#17 is leaps and bounds ahead of the other test soaps. I did a test lather yesterday and lathered/shaved with it today.

Krissy's soaps like more water than many of my soaps. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, just an observation.

I think #17 lathered easier and yielded a greater quantity of lather than the other soaps.

I got a true BBS shave with zero irritation. The AS splash resulted in very little burn.

This was the first soap that truly lasted the entire shave. After loading my brush I never had a need to revisit the puck. I did add a couple of drops of water to my lather bowl and whipped up a little more lather between passes, but again it didn't require any additional visits to the soap.

The overall efficacy of #17 has been the best so far and I'd liken it to many of the other soaps on the market (QED, MamaBear, Gingers Garden etc. etc. just to name a few).

It was very slick and despite feeling as though it didn't provide quite enough cushion it resulted in a great shave.

I see day one results of test soap #17 like this:

Price N/A
Quality 9
Scent N/A
Lather 9
Efficacy 9
Moisturizing 9
Overall 90%

Overall I'd give day one with #17 an A-. If this soap yields consecutive shaves with similar results I'll say that with the right scent I'd buy this formula.

I'd say this formulation is on par with the other small business soap makers we are all so fond of here on the B&B!

 

[Ru4scuba?]

Soap #15 Shave #2

Well, I had a better experience today. I attribute that primarily to not using that damn Derby blade...but the soap performed better as well. Bottom-line, still not as good as #17 IMHO, but better than the first batch of 1-7.

Here was the setup:

Soak puck and Shavemac 177 Silvertip brush in warm water while showering

After shower, thoroughly squeeze out the brush and drain the scuttle. This time, I left the puck IN the scuttle and scuttle lathered throughout...thus, I lathered directly on the puck the whole time. Not my usual method of lathering...but I wanted to see if this changed my first experience. It did.

Pass # 1

As I mentioned, lathered up in the scuttle and moved the fully charged, lathered brush to a damp face. Light lathering on the face resulted in a somewhat airy lather (too much water on the face is probably the culprit...there was plenty in the lather already). Nevertheless, I lathered and started my first WTG pass...no issues. Lather, although light and airy...lasted throughout the shave this time. Different than the previous attempt with #15.

Pass #2

My first XTG pass. Same method. I had to re-charge the puck and scuttle, but I do this with just about all my soaps. A few good swirls in the scuttle (no added water) and back to the face. Same result. Lather lasted throughout and although airy, provided enough slickness and just enough (barely) cushion for the shave.

Pass #3

Second XTG pass...different direction. Same result

Pass #4

All important ATG pass. Re charged the brush in the scuttle and then lightly dusted in on the face. Then squeezed out the brush as is my custom, and added mounds of lather to my face for maximum cushion...Santa Claus effect here. Soap lasted throughout and was better this time than my first soap #15 attempt. I had some decent cushion all the way throughout my last pass.

All in all not a bad experience. I still like #17 the best (by far) but this stuff provides more than enough for a BBS passable shave w/o irritation.

After the shave, I noticed a thin later of film in my scuttle and some spots on my ears and on the outskirts of my jaw where loose lather can collect. Nothing that didn't wipe off with some damp fingers, but it goes to show you the pervasive quality of these last two soaps.

I'm off for travel for three days (I use my Moos when travelling) but I'll be back on the test on Friday or Saturday.

 

[SRock]

Color: Off White
Scent: N/A

This was my second shave with #17. I got a ton of lather out of this soap. More importantly I got a ton of that ultra thick, ultra slick foamy goodness after my last pass by squeezing the brush. I used this ultra good stuff for a touch up pass and got another fantastic BBS shave!

Like any soap the key to #17 is water. Just a touch more water and *boom* (as so many don't like) the lather "exploded" all over the place.

Dare I say it, but I got as good a lather/shave out of the #17 as I can expect from L'Occitane Cade!

I got a true BBS shave with zero irritation. The AS splash resulted in very little burn.

Today I didn't really feel as though #17 lacked any cushion.

I see day two results of test soap #17 like this:

Price N/A
Quality 9
Scent N/A
Lather 9
Efficacy 9
Moisturizing 9
Overall 90%

Overall I'd give day two with #17 an A. It still doesn't stack up to the performance of Tabac or GFT Limes, but it is much improved over previous versions.

 

[kingfisher]

I tried #17 once so far, and had similar results. Rich, creamy lather and a nice, smooth shave.

I will try it at least two more times before posting a full review on the blog, but so far this soap is a real contender.

 

[SRock]

Well upon the completion of my testing I'm happy to say that #17 is a good soap. If she improves on this formula she'll have a decent shave soap for sure! Congrats Krissy and best of luck. Thanks to everyone who helped in this process.

 

[SavantStrike]

Well I'm happy to say I finally tried #17 yesterday, and it was indeed a magnificent soap.

I must be WAY behind eveyone else, but I haven't been shaving very much for the past few weeks , and needed to find a slot where I could give Krissy's soap the best environment in which to work.

As it turns out, I was unable to give the soap a good testing environment, but it created one all on it's own . My face has been extra dry for a few weeks now, and I was reluctant to test the soap on a touchy face, but after I could stand the pressure no longer, I went and tried it. Wouldn't you know it was the first time in weeks the razor hasn't dragged during the second pass .

The soap was quite hydrating, and it was not difficult to lather up with my Tweezerman badger. As others have mentioned, the lather was a bit thinner than some soaps (there wasn't a huge pillow of lather between the blade and my face), but it certainly provides plenty of protection to let one get the job done right.

Something tells me I'm going to be buying a lot of Krissy's soaps .