Time to move up in the soap world and need some recommendations.

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Italian Barber is a fine website and carries some of the hard to get products.
I've ordered Institut Karite Paris which I cannot find anywhere else (which delivers to my country) along with their What the Puck series.

RazoRock Puros is excellent vfm if you are looking for tobacco scent.

I had to go and order from Italian Barber three times before this year began, they offer some real vfm products under their RazoRock brand.

Although their (Italian Barber) catalogue lacks many American Artisanal soap brands, but you'll get some great Italian and French shaving brands there, and that makes sense to me.

 

[DaveHStone]

Good day gents I hope you all shaved well today.

Been making out ok with my Proraso Soap but now that I mastered my technique I would like to move up in the soap world so to speak. I will cut to the chase what soap would you recommend? Before making recommendations I would ask you to read the additional information I have provided below thx

Now for the fun part, I know that there are many great choices to be had. However ordering from the majority of the specialty shave stores (even the cadadian ones) ends up costing me more than the price of the soap in shipping cost.

Also as some of you may know I am cursed with that coarse hair and sensitive / easy to burn skin.

It's a funny thing I've noticed... just about 9 out of 10 guys new to wet-shaving claim they have a "coarse beard and sensitive skin" ... then a few weeks/months down the road, they discover it was their technique or the premium tier products, that made all the irritation go away all of a sudden. I was no different, it's a part of the learning curve.

That said, I totally get the frustration of sometimes having to pay as much as 50% of the item cost, just to get it shipped to where you live. However, if you compare that relative cost to the value of great shaving experience every morning/evening (or whenever you happen to shave), those $10-15 bucks really become insignificant.

As others have mentioned, in Canada you have RazoRock, which carries some very good soaps. These are actually made in Italy and then shipped in wholesale quantities to Canada or wherever they sell them. I use their Acqua soap, as I like the scent, but performance wise it's nothing to write home about. It's OKAY, no complaints, but not a top-tier soap.

Soaps I'd classify as top tier, based on my own experience are SV (4.3 formula) and A&E new kaizen base.

In Canada, you also have Henri and Victoria, which makes some truly outstanding soaps scent wise.

Anyway, the bottom-line from my own experience is this: go for the top tier products, don't settle for anything "in between". At the end of the day, costs wise it's peanuts. If you shave daily, 3 pucks of soap will last you a year (on average). So, while spending $100+ on a shaving soap might seem a lot, it's a $100 for a full year of enjoyable daily shaves... or 2 years if you shave every other day, etc.