After picking up a puck and bowl of vintage Yardley a few months ago, I was interested in trying other vintage soaps as well, to see how they compared with soaps that are currently on the market. It also added a little variety to my SSAD. I managed to pick up a puck and bowl of vintage Paislay's Lavender shaving soap last week, and it came over the weekend. I was pleased that what arrived actually matched the description, with both the puck and bakelite bowl being in good shape. The soap itself has a texture very reminiscent of the AoS soaps, and you could still detect a lavender scent.
That's all well and good, but how did it perform? I soaked my Rooney Heritage brush in hot water, and put some hot water on the surface of the soap to get it started. The brush has very good backbone but soft tips, and after allowing the excess water to drain out and giving it a little shake, I started loading the brush, working the soap for a full minute. The soap was very responsive to the brush, and a nice lather got going both in the brush and on the surface of the soap. At the end of a minute, the brush was fully loaded.
I am a face latherer, and after my usual hot water followed by CF Pre-shave prep, got to work with the brush. The faint lavender scent that I could easily detect from the dry soap did not survive its bout with some water and a brush, and I could pick up the tallowy undertones that I smell from other lightly fragranced tallow soaps. I added a bit of water to the tips of the brush, and lathered for ~90 seconds. This gave me a very slick and rich lather that I have come to expect from tallow-based soaps. The lather provided great protection from the blades in the Mach3 cartridge I've been using since life invaded and hasn't allowed me sufficient time to use the DE. I did my standard 3 pass shave on a two day growth of stubble, and was very pleased. The soap seemed to minimize the tugging I occasionally get with the cartridge and when rinsing between passes, my face was very slick. In the end, I had an excellent shave, and there were still at least 2 passes left in the brush.
I was quite impressed with the way the Paislay's performed. Granted, it's only a first time through, but it compared favorably to Yardley, and was as good a performer as any tallow-based soaps I have, including AoS, Penhaligon's, and the tallow-based sticks. It only falls flat for me on scent, but then that's to be expected for a decades-old soap, and easily remedied by a good AS. I'm going to continue putting it through its paces this week, and will update as I go.
Bob
That's all well and good, but how did it perform? I soaked my Rooney Heritage brush in hot water, and put some hot water on the surface of the soap to get it started. The brush has very good backbone but soft tips, and after allowing the excess water to drain out and giving it a little shake, I started loading the brush, working the soap for a full minute. The soap was very responsive to the brush, and a nice lather got going both in the brush and on the surface of the soap. At the end of a minute, the brush was fully loaded.
I am a face latherer, and after my usual hot water followed by CF Pre-shave prep, got to work with the brush. The faint lavender scent that I could easily detect from the dry soap did not survive its bout with some water and a brush, and I could pick up the tallowy undertones that I smell from other lightly fragranced tallow soaps. I added a bit of water to the tips of the brush, and lathered for ~90 seconds. This gave me a very slick and rich lather that I have come to expect from tallow-based soaps. The lather provided great protection from the blades in the Mach3 cartridge I've been using since life invaded and hasn't allowed me sufficient time to use the DE. I did my standard 3 pass shave on a two day growth of stubble, and was very pleased. The soap seemed to minimize the tugging I occasionally get with the cartridge and when rinsing between passes, my face was very slick. In the end, I had an excellent shave, and there were still at least 2 passes left in the brush.
I was quite impressed with the way the Paislay's performed. Granted, it's only a first time through, but it compared favorably to Yardley, and was as good a performer as any tallow-based soaps I have, including AoS, Penhaligon's, and the tallow-based sticks. It only falls flat for me on scent, but then that's to be expected for a decades-old soap, and easily remedied by a good AS. I'm going to continue putting it through its paces this week, and will update as I go.
Bob
Glad you like the soap!
