So, after jumping head first into the Williams Mug shaving soap controversy, I thought it was time to attack the true bete noire in my cabinet: Geo. F. Trumper new formula. I bought this a few years ago when I was shopping with my wife in a posh little shop that was holding a "going out of business sale", (actually it was just changing owners and continuing in more or less the same format) and, as it turns out, carried several of the more expensive brands of shaving accessories. I was late for this sale, as the choicest shaving items clearly had already been cherry picked. And "sale" turns out only to have meant that the 20 percent premium over standard retail prices this store apparently customarily charged was removed. But, OK.
With the soaps, I asked my wife which smelled best to her, and she immediately picked the Trumper almond, so that's what I picked. This morning I finally decided to give it a try, rinsing it in hot water, putting it in a bowl, taking a shower, and getting to it. What a surprise. Unlike Williams, it produced gobs of lather almost immediately. But that lather was even worse than Williams, at least in appearance, foamy, thin, and disappearing, no matter how little or much water was added. After a long period of lathering with a stiff boar brush, it was (just) usable. But even more surprising, bad as it looked, performance was pretty good, even slicker than Williams, which was very slick, and not as drying (though I still needed to use moisturizing shave balm afterwards). And there was just the right trace of its superb scent remaining when I was all done, though I usually prefer to have no remaining scent from soap.
So I get the negative criticisms. If you expect to easily produce thick, silky lather with your pricey soaps, forget this. And it leaves more of a residue than I would typically want. But I easily got my irritation-free BBS shave (not too hard for me in general with my light beard). And, wow. IMO the scent is A1 and more than justifies the price for any connoisseur of scented soaps. I'm betting a few of you are fans of this, even with the new formula.
With the soaps, I asked my wife which smelled best to her, and she immediately picked the Trumper almond, so that's what I picked. This morning I finally decided to give it a try, rinsing it in hot water, putting it in a bowl, taking a shower, and getting to it. What a surprise. Unlike Williams, it produced gobs of lather almost immediately. But that lather was even worse than Williams, at least in appearance, foamy, thin, and disappearing, no matter how little or much water was added. After a long period of lathering with a stiff boar brush, it was (just) usable. But even more surprising, bad as it looked, performance was pretty good, even slicker than Williams, which was very slick, and not as drying (though I still needed to use moisturizing shave balm afterwards). And there was just the right trace of its superb scent remaining when I was all done, though I usually prefer to have no remaining scent from soap.
So I get the negative criticisms. If you expect to easily produce thick, silky lather with your pricey soaps, forget this. And it leaves more of a residue than I would typically want. But I easily got my irritation-free BBS shave (not too hard for me in general with my light beard). And, wow. IMO the scent is A1 and more than justifies the price for any connoisseur of scented soaps. I'm betting a few of you are fans of this, even with the new formula.
