Van Der Hagen - Scented Luxury Soap

[skibik]

I have a feeling you don't understand what I've been saying at all, I never said that you NEED to spend more money to get better soap, that's not how the world works. I've also never said that VDH isn't good, it just has a lot of preservatives in it, as well as a whitening agent, whereas none of the artisan soaps have any of those. So you're paying for something with cleaner ingredients, the base ingredients are perfectly fine for VDH, it's the additives that are the problem, but they need to be there since it's sold all over the country and sits on store shelves, unlike artisan soaps.

Also, yes some soaps will give you a burn and irritate your skin, some fragrance oils, and even essential oils just don't agree with certain peoples skin, and there really isn't anything else you can do other than sell or bin it. My whole point is, VDH is great, very inexpensive soap that performs well, but there are soaps out there that are better IMO and only cost a bit more.

Same feelings here that you don't understand and it appears it can't be explained to you either. See highlighted in red, do you or do you not need to spend more money to get a better soap? I don't think you even know. And yes this is where it appears I maybe don't understand what you have been saying because you contradict yourself. I have plainly said that you don't have to spend more to get a better soap and by spending more you can also get a poorer performing soap. You just seem to have the need to argue about this point to justify having to spend more to get your so-called better soaps. Spend your money anyway you want my point is still going to be that you don't have to buy a soap that may "only cost a bit more" when you don't.

BTW, I now know you have never looked up any of the ingredients and not sure where you come up with whitening agents and preservative. they all have some sort of preservatives added or they wouldn't last on the shelf. Your Stirling soap is tallow based and it certainly has preservatives added or it would go rancid in a week. Set out a pound of ground beef and find out. Your Stirling is made from beef tallow, and that doesn't grow on a tree you know! A little hint, beef is a cow and tallow is the fat rendered from it if you didn't know.

End of discussion!

 

[patrickBOOTH]

So this soap is great (I actually use the unscented), but to kind of rehash the bit of debate above VDH isn't actually soap. It is a syndet bar and to be honest that is what made me gravitate towards it. Syndets don't cause the mineral buildup in my sink, on my razor, (and on my face!) that soaps do. Also, these syndets are a more neutral pH compared to all saponified soaps can ever be. So are other soaps "better"? Well it depends on the criteria. I used to use Sterling's naked and smooth and I feel this VDH gives an equal experience all other things held constant. I see no need to use any other soaps unless I want to experiment with scents.

Also, just as an FYI making soap is much cheaper than formulating a syndet with detergents. Many detergents are derived from oils to begin with so the who "natural vs synthetic" is moot.

 

[Alex S]

I was a Deluxe man for a while until I tried the Luxury Scented and

...what a difference!!

The Luxury Scented out-shinned the Deluxe (which was then my 'go-to' soap), in terms of ingredients, lather, lubrication, cushion, glide and scent.

Same for me! Agreed. Larger puck of soap, too. I use it regularly and it does the job & does it fairly well. Great price, quite convenient & my skin feels pretty damn good from it

Artisan soaps seem interesting to try sometime..I have tried proraso green & arko (yuck) but for now I'm fairly satisfied with Luxury, works better for me.

I definitely recommend trying VDH Luxury for anyone curious. Affordable to try.

 

[masonjarjar]

I prefer their original trio (Deluxe, Glycerin and "white") to the Luxury. I don't find the added cost makes it any better and I don't particularly like the scent.

 

[Michael_W]

I melted a Williams puck into my dwindling Van der Hagen by popping the mug with the Williams atop the VdH into the microwave for thirty seconds (about twice what I should have, but now I know to only set to fifteen), and I have to say that the blend seems to have given me awesome results for lathering.

 

[masonjarjar]

I melted a Williams puck into my dwindling Van der Hagen by popping the mug with the Williams atop the VdH into the microwave for thirty seconds (about twice what I should have, but now I know to only set to fifteen), and I have to say that the blend seems to have given me awesome results for lathering.

Someone years back talked about how they would melt the VDH then drop the puck of Williams into it. Sort of a "best of both worlds" .. never tried it myself. I'm always concerned about ingredients working against each other instead of "with" each other. I stopped doing super lathers years ago as I never really found the benefit. With Williams, however, it's usually improved by adding a better lathering product to it. I used to use it with Proraso or Kiss My Face.

 

[Diggz]

I'd been sitting on the VDH Luxury Scented for a bit and still haven't been around to buying any because I've got a nice set of Stirling samples (5 in all) I've yet to finish. This thread has piqued my curiosity in the VDH even more, so I think it'll be next to try. For anyone looking for a deal, I found a 3 pack on Amazon for $11.64 ($3.88/puck), which is almost too good to pass up. Even if it's just meh for shaving, I can always repurpose it as a facial soap in the shower. Win/win, I figure.

 

[Squirrel]

I think it a great soap you can pick up locally. Have always gotten a decent shave from VDH Luxury. Haven’t tried the others but I will give them a try once my supply of Arko runs out in a few years. I have a puck waiting in the wings for after I finish my 3017 on my Williams.

Enjoy

 

[MilkCrate]

I started out with VDH and it has treated me well. It’s a keeper.

 

[Sammy1]

Our local CVS had the luxury kit, soap, mug, stand, and brush for $7.00. They were marked down 75% from $29.99.

 

[Diggz]

I ended up ordering the 3 pack I mentioned above. It should be arriving today. It'll be a bit before I get to it, but I'll be sure to post some feedback after I've had a few shaves with it.

 

[masonjarjar]

Our local CVS had the luxury kit, soap, mug, stand, and brush for $7.00. They were marked down 75% from $29.99.

Good lord, that's worth it.. now I have to stop and check.

 

[MilkCrate]

We are in a small town and our CVS doesn’t have squat. Stopped at our local small grocer and found Williams, VDH Deluxe pucks and the small bowl/brush/puck combo. The combo was $10.

 

[mozartman]

Does anyone have any experience with this soap? I see these commonly in Walmart these days along with starter kits. At $3.88 is it more of a good soap in a pinch or we looking at a decent soap?

It's been very good for me, and inexpensive as everyone has mentioned. It has a mild scent that to me is sort of coconut/mango -- definitely not lemon, despite what many claim. It may not be the slickest, but it's hard to justify paying the 5 to 10 times more that many other good soaps sell for.

 

[Diggz]

So far, so good after my first shave with the Scented Luxury. To echo the majority of the comments, very hard to pass up based on the price I paid for 3 pucks. I found the lather to be thick and slick and was able to get a great 4-pass shave off of one brush load. Compared to Stirling varieties I've been using for the past year, I found the performance of the VDH to be comparable.

 

[sternej]

I am starting to love VDH scented luxury soap (green box) now that I realized that this soap lathers betters when you use only a little water. Not even a shaken soaked brush, a damp brush. No, I don't know the ingredients, but the shaves are great! The smell is very good. What I would consider a light classic BarberShop scent. I normally use TABC 80% of my shaves. I'm digging this, a lot!

 

[Tallships]

The VDH Basics Deluxe with Aloe Vera and Shea Butter is at the local food store for $3.49. It gives a good slick lather that I like. I'll not say though, that it's nearly as good as a kilo of Cella or Arko (bowl pressed) but I'll keep it in my rotation till the store stops selling it.

 

[sternej]

Old thread, Back to thread basics on the soap. It's cheap, has avery interesting mild clean scent. Great slickness (from glycerine I guess). Shaves great. In my rotation and probably will always be.

Does anyone have any experience with this soap? I see these commonly in Walmart these days along with starter kits. At $3.88 is it more of a good soap in a pinch or we looking at a decent soap?

 

[Lane101]

Old thread, Back to thread basics on the soap. It's cheap, has avery interesting mild clean scent. Great slickness (from glycerine I guess). Shaves great. In my rotation and probably will always be.

Yes, I've used both the Deluxe and Luxury with the main difference the addition of glycerin in the Luxury that does make it much slicker. Interesting how prices have gone up on the Luxury from $3.49 in the post above to typically $4.99-$5.99 today. May be time to pull out my Luxury puck from the back of the drawer that hasn't been used in over a year.

 

[Jan Sobieski]

I use it sometimes but it has one of those "modern cologne" scents. What aftershave would go with it or matches it, generally?