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TOBS Traditional Shaving Soap - first use

I haven't seen many reviews on this and recently came across a puck when I was doing a clear out of old shave gear. My lack of memory forgot why I brought this in the first place but my experimental nature said lets give it a go!

I threw the puck in a Taylor's traditional mug (one of the only mugs I have that fit it perfectly) and lathered with a Simpson Berkeley pure badger. The lather took a while to build up to a good consistency, but this could be attributable to my hard water. After a good minute or so of loading, I proceeded to face lather. It went on very thin, so I went back to the puck and loaded for another 30 seconds or so. This time the lather was acceptable, no scent to speak of, but apparently this soap isn't known for having any fragrance.

Cue the first (WTG) pass, I used a 3-day old Sputnik in a Fatip Piccolo (V1) and I must say the result after one pass was pretty good, a decent amount of my 24-hour stubble removed and a lot of residual slickness. I don't know what happened to the lather after the first pass but it seemed to thicken up for the second pass, providing immense cushion and protection.

The sputniks are an unforgiving blade and demand a good buffer in whatever razor I pair them with, and the TOBS was spot on in this regard. This is a 'double-edge sword' (pun intended) in that I can usually tell from the first stroke how much protection a soap is giving me, and the TOBS was very protecting (the only soap I have that is slightly better is Mitchells Wool Fat).

A third ATG pass was unnecessary, seeing as the piccolo is a very aggressive razor, and I was left with a DFS pretty much everywhere except for my chin and side of the neck, although these are trouble spots for any razor/blade/soap combination, and being honest no one is likely to notice missed spots unless you are right up close.

I suppose the lack of scent is actually a good thing, in that I can put on any after shave / cologne and not mess up the scent profile. So I would recommend this to those of you who like plain / unscented soaps but also like a good lather and protection.

All in all, a very good shave soap and one that I would recommend to those with sensitive skin that might react to certain fragrances, or those that just want a plain, simple soap that does the job. The only negative is the cost, I think I paid about £8 for this and its only a 56gram puck. There are obviously cheaper options out there, and plenty of cheaper soaps which are better value per gram. But for all intents and purposes this fits my requirements, will report back on the longevity when I've used the soap up!


Thanks,

R
 
I haven't seen many reviews on this and recently came across a puck when I was doing a clear out of old shave gear. My lack of memory forgot why I brought this in the first place but my experimental nature said lets give it a go!

I threw the puck in a Taylor's traditional mug (one of the only mugs I have that fit it perfectly) and lathered with a Simpson Berkeley pure badger. The lather took a while to build up to a good consistency, but this could be attributable to my hard water. After a good minute or so of loading, I proceeded to face lather. It went on very thin, so I went back to the puck and loaded for another 30 seconds or so. This time the lather was acceptable, no scent to speak of, but apparently this soap isn't known for having any fragrance.

Cue the first (WTG) pass, I used a 3-day old Sputnik in a Fatip Piccolo (V1) and I must say the result after one pass was pretty good, a decent amount of my 24-hour stubble removed and a lot of residual slickness. I don't know what happened to the lather after the first pass but it seemed to thicken up for the second pass, providing immense cushion and protection.

The sputniks are an unforgiving blade and demand a good buffer in whatever razor I pair them with, and the TOBS was spot on in this regard. This is a 'double-edge sword' (pun intended) in that I can usually tell from the first stroke how much protection a soap is giving me, and the TOBS was very protecting (the only soap I have that is slightly better is Mitchells Wool Fat).

A third ATG pass was unnecessary, seeing as the piccolo is a very aggressive razor, and I was left with a DFS pretty much everywhere except for my chin and side of the neck, although these are trouble spots for any razor/blade/soap combination, and being honest no one is likely to notice missed spots unless you are right up close.

I suppose the lack of scent is actually a good thing, in that I can put on any after shave / cologne and not mess up the scent profile. So I would recommend this to those of you who like plain / unscented soaps but also like a good lather and protection.

All in all, a very good shave soap and one that I would recommend to those with sensitive skin that might react to certain fragrances, or those that just want a plain, simple soap that does the job. The only negative is the cost, I think I paid about £8 for this and its only a 56gram puck. There are obviously cheaper options out there, and plenty of cheaper soaps which are better value per gram. But for all intents and purposes this fits my requirements, will report back on the longevity when I've used the soap up!


Thanks,

R
I believe you are referring to the taylor of old bond street hard shave pucks. I have one in the sandalwood scent and I prefer the hard puck's sandalwood scent over the tobs sandalwood cream which has a somewhat nauseating scent at least to me. Anyways, tobs hard soaps are underrated to me. They lather easily and are pretty good and provide good enough protection when shaving. They don't seem to get a lot of respect or notice on here or other shaving forums, but tobs hard pucks at least to me rank up there at the top of the pack when it comes to best tripled milled shave pucks.
 
I love TOBS Sandalwood hard soap (it works far better for me than MWF). I get my best TOBS lathers by blooming the face of the TOBS soap puck.

What I do is place the puck in my Captain's Choice lather bowl (with water added just to the tops of the grooves in the bottom of the bowl) until I notice the water in the bowl has gotten a little creamy in color. Usually, I do this while I shower and/or brush my teeth (the latter takes about six minutes). Simultaneously, I soak my SOC finest badger brush (in warm water during winter and cold water during summer).

Next, I pour out the bloom water into an empty (old yogurt) cup, squeeze my brush so that it's merely wet/damp (instead of waterlogged), pick up the soap puck in my left hand, and use my right hand to swirl the brush on the puck (over my lather bowl) for a minute. I then paint the loaded soap onto the grooves of my lather bowl. I slowly add back some of the bloom water as I continue to gently circle my brush across the bottom of the lather bowl until I get a lather I like. This usually results in enough cushiony and slick lather for (at least) several passes.
 
TOBS hard soaps perform as well as any soap I've tried, including MWF and DRH soaps and they are rather simple to load and lather. The key I found as with any other hard soap is to use a damp, not wet brush and load up a good paste then slowly add water. The result is a TOBS lather that is both as slick and dense as any other top quality soap out there.
 
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