I was planning on posting this last night, based on my first impressions. Unfortunately, mentally writing a post on soap, whilst you're shaving with a straight razor, is not a good idea! See here for details
I'll apologise in advance for the long story, but it's been a while in the making.
Some time ago, I was looking for my "birth year" razor, an M2 Slim. I was offered one by Andy (MrGuy) and rather than wanting money he suggested a soap trade. I sent him a selection of Palmolive and Erasmic in return for the Slim and some Williams and VdH. At one point in the string of PM's, Andy had asked how I felt about vintage soaps....no problem I replied, I'm using a stick of vintage Erasmic from an old travel kit I'd bought.
When the package arrived, I quickly opened it (on the way home from the Post Office as the box was too big for the mailbox). On the top was the Slim (in much better condition than I'd expected from Andy's description), then I found a couple of pucks of Williams and a puck of VdH Deluxe....fantastic, now I could try a couple of the "standards" used by members here at B&B so I'd have a much better benchmark for how my lather was. Then I found another surprise buried at the bottom of the packing peanuts....a puck of NOS Old Spice shave soap (still in it's wrapper)
I quickly PM'd Andy to tell him I'd come out of our trade way ahead of him and offered him some extra compensation. Being a true B&Ber and a gentleman he refused, saying that he'd been lucky acquiring the OS himself.
As I was still relatively new to DE's and "proper" wet shaving, I decided to open the Williams first. I've posted several threads saying how happy I am with it (possibly the benefit of soft, Scottish water), so it's remained in my rotation ever since (I PIF'd the other puck to a fellow Euro-shaver who hadn't tried it yet). Until last night, the Old Spice has remained it's wrapper waiting for me to transfer it to an empty Old Spice mug....it seemed sacreligious to put it in a Tupperware dish or an old coffee mug!
Last night I tried if for the first time....and I must say that I'm impressed!
The scent was very light and subtle, not surprising for a soap that's at least 40 years old I loaded my damp brush (an Omega '49 Pro) with a few good swirls in the OS mug then moved over to my lather bowl (it doesn't get much use nowadays, but it's handy for a first time soap, as it's easier to check the consistency and regulate the water:soap ratio). It quickly built to a nice, rich lather with a slightly more noticeable scent of...."soap" with just a slight hint of real (Shulton) Old Spice, hard to be more specific but I'd say on a scale of 1 to 10 where Palmolive is 8 and Williams is 5, the OS probably scores a 3.
The lather built incredibly quickly and generoulsly...probably on a par with "Euro" Palmolive so it's going to last a while as I won't need much on my brush The small air bubbles quickly emulsified into a nice rich lather with almost the consistency of homemade meringue (it's probably the easiest I've made lather with a new soap).
First application, a few swirls to work it into 2 day's stubble followed by some "paint-brushing"....nice and slick and it gave a lovely rich cushion.
As I posted in the straight forum, the shave was a complete disaster...but that was purely my fault for not concentrating!
Tonight, I tried again....lots of rich, creamy lather that worked perfectly. Nice and slick during the shave and it felt like I'd been applying moisturiser with each pass....my skin feels even better than after a MWF shave!
Finished off with a splash of OS (still waiting on my "new" Shulton bottle, so it had to be the P&G variety) for a very nice shave that got Mrs. Pumpkin's seal of approval
So now I've got a new AD...trying to find some more NOS Old Spice!
Thanks to Andy for a great trade (I still owe you ).
I'll apologise in advance for the long story, but it's been a while in the making.
Some time ago, I was looking for my "birth year" razor, an M2 Slim. I was offered one by Andy (MrGuy) and rather than wanting money he suggested a soap trade. I sent him a selection of Palmolive and Erasmic in return for the Slim and some Williams and VdH. At one point in the string of PM's, Andy had asked how I felt about vintage soaps....no problem I replied, I'm using a stick of vintage Erasmic from an old travel kit I'd bought.
When the package arrived, I quickly opened it (on the way home from the Post Office as the box was too big for the mailbox). On the top was the Slim (in much better condition than I'd expected from Andy's description), then I found a couple of pucks of Williams and a puck of VdH Deluxe....fantastic, now I could try a couple of the "standards" used by members here at B&B so I'd have a much better benchmark for how my lather was. Then I found another surprise buried at the bottom of the packing peanuts....a puck of NOS Old Spice shave soap (still in it's wrapper)
I quickly PM'd Andy to tell him I'd come out of our trade way ahead of him and offered him some extra compensation. Being a true B&Ber and a gentleman he refused, saying that he'd been lucky acquiring the OS himself.
As I was still relatively new to DE's and "proper" wet shaving, I decided to open the Williams first. I've posted several threads saying how happy I am with it (possibly the benefit of soft, Scottish water), so it's remained in my rotation ever since (I PIF'd the other puck to a fellow Euro-shaver who hadn't tried it yet). Until last night, the Old Spice has remained it's wrapper waiting for me to transfer it to an empty Old Spice mug....it seemed sacreligious to put it in a Tupperware dish or an old coffee mug!
Last night I tried if for the first time....and I must say that I'm impressed!
The scent was very light and subtle, not surprising for a soap that's at least 40 years old I loaded my damp brush (an Omega '49 Pro) with a few good swirls in the OS mug then moved over to my lather bowl (it doesn't get much use nowadays, but it's handy for a first time soap, as it's easier to check the consistency and regulate the water:soap ratio). It quickly built to a nice, rich lather with a slightly more noticeable scent of...."soap" with just a slight hint of real (Shulton) Old Spice, hard to be more specific but I'd say on a scale of 1 to 10 where Palmolive is 8 and Williams is 5, the OS probably scores a 3.
The lather built incredibly quickly and generoulsly...probably on a par with "Euro" Palmolive so it's going to last a while as I won't need much on my brush The small air bubbles quickly emulsified into a nice rich lather with almost the consistency of homemade meringue (it's probably the easiest I've made lather with a new soap).
First application, a few swirls to work it into 2 day's stubble followed by some "paint-brushing"....nice and slick and it gave a lovely rich cushion.
As I posted in the straight forum, the shave was a complete disaster...but that was purely my fault for not concentrating!
Tonight, I tried again....lots of rich, creamy lather that worked perfectly. Nice and slick during the shave and it felt like I'd been applying moisturiser with each pass....my skin feels even better than after a MWF shave!
Finished off with a splash of OS (still waiting on my "new" Shulton bottle, so it had to be the P&G variety) for a very nice shave that got Mrs. Pumpkin's seal of approval
So now I've got a new AD...trying to find some more NOS Old Spice!
Thanks to Andy for a great trade (I still owe you ).