I can never seem to remember but is Cella the one that smells like urinal cakes or the inside of grandma's purse? 
Unscented Stirling v. Canada shootout
- Thread starter mozartman
- Start date
I can never seem to remember but is Cella the one that smells like urinal cakes or the inside of grandma's purse?
Maybe you are just joking around, but Cella Bio smells like Sterling Executive Man at around 20% of the scent strength.
That's a perfect comparison.
There is less essence (or Basenote, if you will) of "I haven't showered in two weeks and am covering it up with perfume." Bio is more clean?...but still "cologne."
Not knocking Stirling due to my extremist opinions on scent; clearly many people enjoy Executive Man, and Cella is not having any trouble selling Bio or Almond/original either.
I might learn to tolerate Bio due to the performance.
Ooooh...I'm not the smart kid but still know the answer to this one: Arko! Best urinal cakes ever!I can never seem to remember but is Cella the one that smells like urinal cakes or the inside of grandma's purse?
Grandma's Purse? Well, it depends on the Grandma (my Grandma's smelled like nicotine & Hoppes) but there are probably several candidates.
Completely understand the small market for unscented/low scent.
Yeah I probably made too big a deal about cost nor is it way out of line. Just wanted to point out it is not a "cheap" soap due to water content, regardless of ingredient quality. It IS a good soap that can be purchased without taking out a loan, whereas MDC, Canada Shave Soap, SV, etc are much more a leap of faith unless you're lucky enough to find in-stock samples at a vendor while fleshing out another order that is actually "needed" to get free shipping. So they're either a leap of faith or a rat race.
Personally I think Bio works really well and will stock up at better prices if I ever get over the scent. In the end, the daily cost of one's preferred shaving soap still isn't going to break the bank.
All of it...I want it all!
Would rather have performance. Cost is considered when everything else is close. Acquisition costs aka hoarding is probably the biggest issue.I was hoping Cella would be more "organic/aloe/fairy" scented and another candidate for these unscented/lightly scented comparisons, but I clearly missed the memo in past descriptions. It still performs VERY well and would be in the running for my only soap if scent were not an issue. So many to try and just as many to circle back to as well.
Well, the Cella Bio experiment has started! I took the contents of a spare 150g jar and put it in an open container on a covered shelf to air-dry for several months. I'll record the starting weight and check back on the soap in a few months to see how much water and scent has been lost. When the soap stops losing water weight, it will be ready to test.
Well, since you're experimenting, @NorthernSoul , you can spread a little on the corner of wifey's toast and see how she like the latest vegan "cream cheese."
curious to know
I have a jar of red Cella that is perhaps 3 years old and is completely hard but the soap still works well, the fragrance is very faint when shaving you can smell it more
They don't produce more scents in their mutton base because the base itself has a much heavier innate aroma to it that not many fragrance oils take to.
And I agree... Stirling is a phenomenal soap. I find all their bases to run circles around CSS and MDC. Ymmv etc
The base with mutton tallow is a step ahead of other Stirling bases, excellent price and quality
I'm inclined to agree. My personal ranking would probably be:
1- Stirling mutton
2- Stirling UWB
3- Stirling beef/N&S (tie)
4- CSS
5- MDC
...with a considerable gap between 3 and 4. Ymmv etc
I agree with your preference ranking, but I never compare tallow-based soaps to non-tallow soaps
curious to know
OK, after about 2.5 weeks, I have an update on the Cella Bio experiment.
I didn't weight it today, but the soap has lost quite a bit of water on the drying rack. The texture is much firmer, but still can be pressed by hand. The scent strength has not changed all that much. There has been a slight change in the scent, which I would describe as less "cologney" and more "soapy". Still, the scent remains stronger than I'd prefer.
Time will tell as the Cella Bio experiment continues for the next several months.
OK, here's another update on the Cella Bio drying experiment after about 4 weeks.
I discovered a trick that helps to remove the Cella Bio soap scent and speed up the drying process. I just put the soap container in a warm place (approx 105 F). The gentle heat seemed to drive off some of the more volatile scent components and water loss was noticeably faster. What remains is a very light woody-herbal smell without the cologne scent notes. I expect the scent will continue losing strength as the experiment continues.
I started drying my second tub of Cella Bio and it's going well. The soap has lost roughly 1/3 of its original volume with the water loss and the soap is still somewhat soft. This suggests that when you buy a 150ml tub of Cella Bio, you are really getting a little less than 100ml of actual shaving soap with the rest water. IOW, it would require at least two full tubs of Cella Bio to get an equivalent amount of soap to one tub of Canada.
The Cella Bio experiment will continue for several months.
I discovered a trick that helps to remove the Cella Bio soap scent and speed up the drying process. I just put the soap container in a warm place (approx 105 F). The gentle heat seemed to drive off some of the more volatile scent components and water loss was noticeably faster. What remains is a very light woody-herbal smell without the cologne scent notes. I expect the scent will continue losing strength as the experiment continues.
I started drying my second tub of Cella Bio and it's going well. The soap has lost roughly 1/3 of its original volume with the water loss and the soap is still somewhat soft. This suggests that when you buy a 150ml tub of Cella Bio, you are really getting a little less than 100ml of actual shaving soap with the rest water. IOW, it would require at least two full tubs of Cella Bio to get an equivalent amount of soap to one tub of Canada.
The Cella Bio experiment will continue for several months.
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Interesting
Here is my shave for today. I have used Stirling Sheep, which is better than most of their offerings, and I use Cella quite a lot. However, using a straight razor, I find that the dense, protective, and slick lather of the Unscented Beeswax to be better than either. It is so good that I often load a bit of it before loading another soap to help the other soap's performance and still retaining the scent.
OK, here's another update on the Cella Bio drying experiment after about 6 weeks.
I have dried roughly 1.5 jars of the Cella Bio in two containers, left open in a warm place. The soap texture is pretty firm now. After drying, it has lost at least 1/3 of its volume from water loss.
The scent is now very weak, less than Mitchell's Woof Fat, for example. The "cologne" elements seem to be gone. What is left is a mild soapy scent. It is hard to imagine anyone would be bothered by this scent, unless they wanted a totally unscented soap.
I'll be shaving with the dried soap several times in the next few weeks to check the performance. My initial tests indicated it required a bit more loading time, but the resulting lather was similar to the Cella Bio in its original form.
I think this experiment is a tentative success. It is possible to produce a soap fairly similar to Canada, using Cella Bio.
I have dried roughly 1.5 jars of the Cella Bio in two containers, left open in a warm place. The soap texture is pretty firm now. After drying, it has lost at least 1/3 of its volume from water loss.
The scent is now very weak, less than Mitchell's Woof Fat, for example. The "cologne" elements seem to be gone. What is left is a mild soapy scent. It is hard to imagine anyone would be bothered by this scent, unless they wanted a totally unscented soap.
I'll be shaving with the dried soap several times in the next few weeks to check the performance. My initial tests indicated it required a bit more loading time, but the resulting lather was similar to the Cella Bio in its original form.
I think this experiment is a tentative success. It is possible to produce a soap fairly similar to Canada, using Cella Bio.
Great test and very interesting
I would like to know if there are differences between new undried soap and dried soap "in shaving, such as performance and quality of the foam"
I'll post another update after trying it out a few times. I've dried all of the Cella Bio I had in stock, so I won't be able to do a direct A/B comparison with the original Cella Bio. I'll have to rely on memory regarding the original's performance.
