Volunteers selected for Soap Testing at Above the Tie

[Above The Tie]

Finally, here are the volunteers selected to receive samples of our first Shaving Soap (Tangerine Sage) from Above the Tie. Many thanks to all those who offered to help. The samples will be shipped out Monday. I have asked the testers to post their findings here on B&B. They have been asked to review scent, lather, cushion, overall quality and how the soap leaves their skin felling. This is a higher end custom soap so I have asked them to comment on a price range of $15 - $18 for the soap in a quality double walled plastic container with lid. We are very excited here at Above the Tie. So now we wait for the results from; Matt, MVK, JRobinhood, Superbleu, SteveWY, The Vez2, Railroadman, sgtd, bosenberg and John-Roger.
Stan

 

[RailroadMan]

It was here when I got home today. Review coming soon. Thanks again, Stan.

 

[sgtd]

I also received my sample today and will try it out tomorrow. Thanks again.

 

[SteveWY]

I got my sample today as well. I will use for the next 3 days and post my review on Tuesday morning. Thanks Stan!

 

[RailroadMan]

First Impression:

Shave #1:
Nutrogena Face Scrub Prep
T&H Best Moonjava
Old Spice Mug (with the soap in it, old school)
Feather AS head on Weber Bulldog w/ new Feather Blade
Alum
Witch Hazel
Nautica Blue AS

You're kidding, right? I almost had lather when I rinsed the tissue paper off of it. I put it in the mug and swirled the pre-soaked brush around a few times on it, and it exploded in lather and scent. Wonderful citrusy, earthy, manly scent. Now, as far as cushion, I'm not for sure yet. I did use the Feather head (first time), and understand the complaints of mildness, but I could hardly tell between the razor and soap that I had a brand new Feather blade in it. After 3 passes and rinsing away too much wonderful lather, some alum, witch hazel, and my aftershave, my skin feels nice and smooth except for needing to master the Feather. This is an amazing soap, and if the puck is big enough, the price is more than fair in a nice container. I am looking forward to more shaves with this soap, and I'm usually a cream guy. Thanks, Stan! Will have more feedback later.

 

[sgtd]

I've used this soap three times and here are my results:

(Note: All shaves were with a Gillette NEW LC, Polsilver SI blade, MRGLO pre shave wash and a TGN 22mm finest brush used to bowl lather)

This stuff is a lather machine! I used a slightly wetter brush than normal (soaked for about 3 minutes, then a two or three pumps) and the lather just exploded after loading for about 30 seconds. The lather ended up thinning out a bit (maybe as a result of a little too much water) but I reloaded for a few seconds and it straightened out. The scent to me is very nice but subtle. I really think it smells like a spiced gum drop (as does my wife...as soon as she smelled it that's exactly what she said). Each shave I conducted three passes: WTG, XTG and ATG and on all three the shaves were very smooth. The cushion was decent and the slickness was very good. Before my first shave I test lathered it and applied to my face and let it sit for about five minutes or so and the soap felt very good on my face; there was no noticeable irritation/stinging/burning/etc. Following the shave my face did not feel dry at all. Overall, this seems to be a very good soap, especially for the suggested $15-$18 price point. Thanks for the opportunity Stan. If you need any more info or have any questions please let me know. Thanks!

 

[SteveWY]

Greetings: I am on Day #3 so this is my preliminary review. I will post again in a week.

I have been using a Super Speed with an Astra SP and then a Personna Super today. My prep is simple with a basic wash face in shower, no preshave product. I have used two boar brushes and one badger (I know, I shouldn't switch hardware). All brushes handled and held the lather well. I plan to test boar vs. badger later. My first impressions...

Scent I wasn't sure at first as I am not big on citrus scents. I do like the citrus/sage pairing. The scent is pleasant and not overbearing or long lasting. I could not detect any lingering scent after rinsing off.

Lather As the first reviews mentioned, lather is where this soap shines! I loaded in a bowl on the puck and any brush loaded well. I'm still playing with the water to soap ratio and had a couple thin lathers but that was rectified by a few more swirls and more water. The lather thickened up nicely. I mainly face lather so that is where I really saw the lather come on strong. The lather held in the brush well and was smooth on the face. The lather held up OK for a 3-pass shave and today even for some buffing.

Cushion I am not sure about what we are testing for cushion. The lather seemed pretty slick and I detected no drag. I felt that the lather broke down some on my face and in the brush. I will have to see if that is a lather building issue with me.

Overall Quality I don't want to make any final quality judgments yet. So far, I think this is a good glycerine soap that performs well in its category and for the suggested price point. Not sure where to put this but I noticed that the soap does leave the face soft, moist and conditioned well.

 

[mvk]

I have been using my Super Speed with myregular blade.

As mentioned, the lather appears almost instantly and is of a great consistency- feels great on the face. I have not used a glycerin soap before and was very pleasantly surprised.

The scent seemed more of a spiced scent to me and my wife - something like cloves. Oddly enough, after a few shaves, I now seem to detect more of a citrus scent. Perhaps my sample didn't have the scent completely mixed? The scent is pleasant. I would like something heavier on the tangerine though.

I felt it did a good job of providing a nice protective layer with plenty of"slip". After using my Super Speed a couple of times, I tried some of my more aggressive razors and suffered nary a nick. I have used soaps that provided a little more "slip", but this did a great job.

I think it is a very good quality soap, my face felt great after the shave -not dried out like some soaps leave it. I would buy it, but in a different scent. I liked the scent, but it seemed like something I would buy around Christmas time to remind me of past holidays and spiced cider in a ski lodge. I was wondering if the heat might have affected the scent as the day it arrived our temp was around 117 degrees F and it sat in my mail box for a few hours until Igot home from work. At least my mail box wasn't in the sun. The little puck seemed just fine, but I was still wondering.

All in All, I think it will be a great product and all those gents we hear fromwith lathering problems should definitely try this out!

I will repost if I have any further thoughts as I use up the remainder of thesample. Thank you for the opportunity to try it out.

 

[bosenberg]

First, Id like to thank Stan for offering to let me be one of the testers. For those of you that have not been to his site, it is very well done and has plenty of high-quality stuff.

Here is the setup I used. Semogue 620, Fatboy, Astra SP, test sample, Aqua Velva

Scent - I was unable to detect any tangerine or sage from the sample. But the clovey scent I got was very nice, actually. It was very mild. Almost too mild for my tastes (Im used to Mikes Natural Soaps). Quite nice overall though, especially if you are into more subtle scents.

Lather - This was the only area I was a little disappointed. I know that I am used to tallow soaps that lather up to almost a paste, I had a hard time getting a thick lather to last more than one pass. I kept reloading btw passes. I do have very hard water though, if that makes a difference. As the others mentioned, it did seem to produce lather very quickly which I liked.

Cushon - This was very good in my opinion even if the lather was thinner then I like it. My face was nick and irritation free, and very smooth and moisturized. High marks here for sure.

Quality - I give it very high marks overall. Definitely high end product. On price, I would say $15-16 range depending on how much soap is in the container and presentation.

 

[TheVez2]

Thanks for volunteering. I will ship the sample (Tangerine Sage) Monday. After you have used it a few times please grade on; scent, lather, cushion, slickness, over all quality and impressions. BTY there are oils included so note how your skin feels afterward. The final product will be in a very nice double walled black plastic container with lid to better preserve the ingredents of the soap. Your sample will be a 1/4 inch slice for your mug. Please submit your feed back through B&B on the thread I will start for this project.

Many Thanks,
Stan

After my third shave here are my initial impressions:

Presentation & Scent: The paper wrapping was difficult to remove, ended up washing the soap under water to get it off. No big deal, but a plastic wrap might be better for samples. I liked the look of the soap, clear with blue swirled in. Looked very interesting. (Is it supposed to be like that, or did it pick up some color from the blue paper?) The scent is great. If I didn't know what it was, I would have guessed it was bay rum, it smells very similar to bay rum, but it a bit more complex. When I sniff and think about it, then I pick up the other notes. I like the scent a lot! Sage is one of my favorites.

Shave 1:
My standard method for soaps is a 30 second load, then face lathering. So this is where I started for testing. The lather initially exploded on my brush, and after adding a few drops of water to my brush I had some of the thickest lather ever on my face. Very dense and cushiony, but not very slick. Provided a great first pass. My brush had dried out a bit, and I added a couple more drops of water for the second pass and I could not get the same thickness for my second pass. The third pass was even worse. Shave wise it was still great, but I just could not build the thick lather that I strive for for subsequent passes.

Shave 2:
30 second load, bowl lathering. I started lathering in my mug, and added some water. Looked quite airy so I added a bit more water. It got worse. I tried to whip the heck out of it to get it to thicken up, but no dice. I think I had too much water. It was very thin as I applied it to my face, and the lather started to break down almost immediatley. The shave however was still great. There was a distinct difference in the lather this time. It was slick as all get out, not very cushiony but super slick and still a great shave. Even drying out a bit for 2nd and 3rd passes did not get this lather to thicken up to where I'd like it. I need to try a few different things the next time I try to bowl lather.

Shave 3:
1 minute load, face lathering. I tried to add more producty to see if I could get the lather consistency to las through the 3rd pass. For the first pass, the lather was super thick. I think I could have used a tad more water, because by the time I got to the 2nd half of my face, the lather started to dry out. 2nd and third passes were about the same. I did add a tad more water and got a decently thick lather for those passes, but they still wanted to dry out on me.

For my next shaves I will bowl lather with a 30 second load, and use less water; then I will bowl lather with a 1 minute load to see if I can get any different results.

Overall impressions, so far:
A great start, maybe just a little tweaking needed. Regardless of the method I used the first pass was good and exceeded expectations, but the soap dropped off quite a bit for subsequent passes. The lather has initial greatness and lathers easily, it just doesn't have the longevity (consistency) to last through the entire shave. But regardless of how the lather behaved, the shave was still good. And my skin felt great after using it. Definitely did not dry it out. And I could sit and sniff that puck all day long.

Thanks for the chance to try out the soap, and I'll post more results after I've tried a few more things.

 

[Above The Tie]

Great information guys. Just a few more left to hear from. Can't wait. We are very excited about bringing this product to market. Again thanks for taking the time to do the reviews.
Stan

 

[SteveWY]

I have used my sample a couple more times since my original post. My results and opinions are about the same. My experience and rating would be about the same as The Vez2. I still have a little soap/water balance issue but nothing different than any new soap. You have to get used to loading and lathering any new soap. Even with some lather inconsistencies (my loading/lathering technique) I am able to get 3 slick passes. The best characteristic I see is the way this soap leaves my skin. Very soft and smooth.

For me, I think I prefer or at least am used to a tallow and non-glycerine soap. I have only used one other glycerine soap and Stan's soap is as good or better than that. If you favor a glycerine-based soap then I say this one is a good choice at the suggested price point. I would be interested in trying other scents so I will be watching Above the Tie for new releases. Thanks again for the chance to try the soap!

 

[TheVez2]

Well, I tried... And failed. No matter what I did, I could not get a lather that would last me through 3 passes or even one that would maintain its consistency through the entire 2nd pass without either drying out or disentegrating. I hate to say it, but after 6 test shaves, the rest of the sample went into the shower.

The most positive thing I can say about it is the scent. That combo is amazing. On first lather the soap seems amazing, but it doesn't keeP that same consistency throught the shave and subsequent passes. If the recipe was tweaked to fix that it would be a great soap and I will say that it did make my skin feel pretty good afterwards.

But in its current form, I would have to take a pass. YMMV.

 

[Above The Tie]

Just an update, the product boxes are nearly complete and two soaps will be avaliable soon, likely in two to three weeks. The first two soaps will be Tangerine Clove and Sage Lemongrass.
Thanks to everyone who helped refine this product with your valuable input.

 

[Above The Tie]

First, Id like to thank Stan for offering to let me be one of the testers. For those of you that have not been to his site, it is very well done and has plenty of high-quality stuff.

Here is the setup I used. Semogue 620, Fatboy, Astra SP, test sample, Aqua Velva

Scent - I was unable to detect any tangerine or sage from the sample. But the clovey scent I got was very nice, actually. It was very mild. Almost too mild for my tastes (Im used to Mikes Natural Soaps). Quite nice overall though, especially if you are into more subtle scents.

Lather - This was the only area I was a little disappointed. I know that I am used to tallow soaps that lather up to almost a paste, I had a hard time getting a thick lather to last more than one pass. I kept reloading btw passes. I do have very hard water though, if that makes a difference. As the others mentioned, it did seem to produce lather very quickly which I liked.

Cushon - This was very good in my opinion even if the lather was thinner then I like it. My face was nick and irritation free, and very smooth and moisturized. High marks here for sure.

Quality - I give it very high marks overall. Definitely high end product. On price, I would say $15-16 range depending on how much soap is in the container and presentation.

Thanks again for the input. These soaps will be available about the same time as the Titan H1.