Picked up one of the WCS branded soaps several weeks ago, and took it on a trip over the past week, where it was accompanied by my trusty BBS-1 and LA Shaving Soap synthetic brush (my go to for travel).
I pretty much needed to take the tub on a trip so I could use it several days in a row for a proper evaluation. At home, with my den, I seldom use the same soap on consecutive days.
All that said:
Scent = Subtle but "manly". I thought with the name the scent would be more like Bay Rum, but it's actually subtler, with little to no Bay Rum notes. Importantly for me, the scent wasn't overpowering. I like to leave my sink with the scent of my after shave, not my soap. Several recent samples have been overpowering in terms of strength of scent. Thankfully, this was not the case here. As I live in the same town as WCS, I've sniffed their whole line (dry) and all seem to be similarly subtle.
Cushion = 4
Loading / retention = 4 - Several of the more recent artisan samples I've tried start out with a fair amount of lather, but quickly fade to the point where I need to re-load before a second pass. This soap offered abundant lather through two full passes, despite the relatively small size of the LASS brush.
Slickness = 5 - was surprised at how "creamy" the soap was, and this translated into abundant slickness.
Protection against razor burn = 5
Post shave feel = 5 - Face felt soft, but with no residue
Overall, I was very pleased with the performance of this soap, and would put it up against many others I've tried, both big names and artisan.
I pretty much needed to take the tub on a trip so I could use it several days in a row for a proper evaluation. At home, with my den, I seldom use the same soap on consecutive days.
All that said:
Scent = Subtle but "manly". I thought with the name the scent would be more like Bay Rum, but it's actually subtler, with little to no Bay Rum notes. Importantly for me, the scent wasn't overpowering. I like to leave my sink with the scent of my after shave, not my soap. Several recent samples have been overpowering in terms of strength of scent. Thankfully, this was not the case here. As I live in the same town as WCS, I've sniffed their whole line (dry) and all seem to be similarly subtle.
Cushion = 4
Loading / retention = 4 - Several of the more recent artisan samples I've tried start out with a fair amount of lather, but quickly fade to the point where I need to re-load before a second pass. This soap offered abundant lather through two full passes, despite the relatively small size of the LASS brush.
Slickness = 5 - was surprised at how "creamy" the soap was, and this translated into abundant slickness.
Protection against razor burn = 5
Post shave feel = 5 - Face felt soft, but with no residue
Overall, I was very pleased with the performance of this soap, and would put it up against many others I've tried, both big names and artisan.
