What Soap Do You Consider The Best Value?

[ajduplessis]

RazoRock, Stirling, Tabac, Arko & Proraso

 

[Vincentchou]

Thanks, OP.
This thread motivates me to try Arko and PdP.

 

[razorhead63]

VdH
Williams
Arko

 

[HiPowerRon]

Cella or Proraso

 

[catfish1969]

Proraso gets my nod for the best combination of value/performance.

 

[if_6was9]

Cella. The 1kg brick works out to about $1/oz, and is the best performing soap I've used, along with Tabac.

 

[samhain666]

Others have said a Stirling sample only lasts them 4 or 5 shaves!

I never used stirling so I gotta ask, is it a croap? 28gr for 4-5 shaves is 6-7 grams per shave. Stirling refill is 127gram. Using 6gram per shave is about 21 shaves. 21 shaves from a puck of soap that weighs 3.5ounces? Someone didn't have full sample I guarantee you

 

[Jim99]

I never used stirling so I gotta ask, is it a croap? 28gr for 4-5 shaves is 6-7 grams per shave. Stirling refill is 127gram. Using 6gram per shave is about 21 shaves. 21 shaves from a puck of soap that weighs 3.5ounces? Someone didn't have full sample I guarantee you

I can’t speak to the sample, but their 5.8 ounce tub lasts quite a long time. I’m using one right now and I’m probably 140 shaves into it. I can probably go another 30 To 40 shaves with it.

 

[samhain666]

I can’t speak to the sample, but their 5.8 ounce tub lasts quite a long time. I’m using one right now and I’m probably 140 shaves into it. I can probably go another 30 To 40 shaves with it.

This is why I doubt someone spent an ounce in 5 shaves if he wasn't shaving a mamooth

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

It's very inexpensive but I don't use it because of the price. It's an excellent soap. Connaught offers it in 100 ml and 1000 ml sizes.

MdC would be another suggestion (especially at a good price such as mentioned earlier).

The most expensive soaps, the soaps with the highest per shave cost, are the ones you buy and use once and only once. That makes Tabac one of the most expensive soaps. I hated it so much I wanted it gone, as in gone way way away, so I mailed it to a friend in Canada. The postage cost was higher than the cost for the soap to begin with. Tabac was a very expensive purchase for me, but the big cost was the fact I can still, years later, smell it with my mind's nose. Horrible scent.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Wgg2017]

I never used stirling so I gotta ask, is it a croap? 28gr for 4-5 shaves is 6-7 grams per shave. Stirling refill is 127gram. Using 6gram per shave is about 21 shaves. 21 shaves from a puck of soap that weighs 3.5ounces? Someone didn't have full sample I guarantee you

Yes, Stirling is a croap style soap.

 

[Wgg2017]

View attachment 1069710

It's very inexpensive but I don't use it because of the price. It's an excellent soap. Connaught offers it in 100 ml and 1000 ml sizes.

MdC would be another suggestion (especially at a good price such as mentioned earlier).

The most expensive soaps, the soaps with the highest per shave cost, are the ones you buy and use once and only once. That makes Tabac one of the most expensive soaps. I hated it so much I wanted it gone, as in gone way way away, so I mailed it to a friend in Canada. The postage cost was higher than the cost for the soap to begin with. Tabac was a very expensive purchase for me, but the big cost was the fact I can still, years later, smell it with my mind's nose. Horrible scent.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Lol the Tabac sounds like quite a traumatizing experience. One post described it as smelling like an old lady's purse who also smokes. When I read that, I knew it wouldn't be for me. As always though, ymmv.

 

[samhain666]

Lol the Tabac sounds like quite a traumatizing experience. One post described it as smelling like an old lady's purse who also smokes. When I read that, I knew it wouldn't be for me. As always though, ymmv.

Give it a try. I never got that old lady's purse scent. To me it is celan and soapy with undertones of floralnes and something woody/spicy.
And performance is almost unmatched

 

[jdp93]

I'll echo what has been said a few times already - Pre de Provence for sure. The soap was as hard as a brick. I ended up selling mine as I couldn't get a great lather, but I seem to be in the minority there. I'm not sure what the cost per shave would be, but I can't imagine anything beating it.

 

[akh223]

I never used stirling so I gotta ask, is it a croap? 28gr for 4-5 shaves is 6-7 grams per shave. Stirling refill is 127gram. Using 6gram per shave is about 21 shaves. 21 shaves from a puck of soap that weighs 3.5ounces? Someone didn't have full sample I guarantee you

I can’t speak to the sample, but their 5.8 ounce tub lasts quite a long time. I’m using one right now and I’m probably 140 shaves into it. I can probably go another 30 To 40 shaves with it.

To me, the Stirling is about the consistency of a heavy modeling clay. It is much denser than a Razorock croap, but it is not a hard milled soap.

I agree that people must not be getting full 1 oz. samples when they report such low usage on them.

I have shaved through 4 full samples of Stirling, and my average is 31 per sample. Extrapolating that; I am looking at about 180 shaves for a 5.8oz tub of Stirling. I have 50 shaves on one tub, and there is still a LOT of soap left.

I am mostly buying samples from them now (even though it is slightly more per ounce), just so I can try different scents. Hard to commit to 6 months or more of shaving with a single scent.

 

[muzichead]

I never used stirling so I gotta ask, is it a croap? 28gr for 4-5 shaves is 6-7 grams per shave. Stirling refill is 127gram. Using 6gram per shave is about 21 shaves. 21 shaves from a puck of soap that weighs 3.5ounces? Someone didn't have full sample I guarantee you

I can’t speak to the sample, but their 5.8 ounce tub lasts quite a long time. I’m using one right now and I’m probably 140 shaves into it. I can probably go another 30 To 40 shaves with it.

This is why I doubt someone spent an ounce in 5 shaves if he wasn't shaving a mamooth

Yes, Stirling is a croap style soap.

I have shaved through 4 full samples of Stirling, and my average is 31 per sample. Extrapolating that; I am looking at about 180 shaves for a 5.8oz tub of Stirling. I have 50 shaves on one tub, and there is still a LOT of soap left.

Stirling is a soft soap but in no way is it consistent with a croap!! Proraso in the tub is a croap and Stirling is much more dense than Proraso but not as hard as a triple milled soap.... That being said I think @akh223 and @Jim99 got it closest to what I've experienced personally and from most posts in the Brotherhood thread. I get on average of 30+ lathers from Stirling's 1oz. sample which puts it in the $.08-$.10 /shave category. I have been working on 6 Stirling Tubs since Jan 2017 and have only finished 1 so far but to be honest that was a used tub I got from someone on the BST so I expected it to go as it was about 85% when I bought it. The rest of my tubs are about 2/3 gone and about equal across the board as I shave every other day and rotate through them regularly. I've estimated so far that from the 1st tub I purchased 3yrs ago I've had approx 120 shaves with it so far and have maybe 60 more to go.

Now with that being said, there was a thread recently where a couple people said they went through a Stirling tub in something like 3-4 months but from what I recall they have posted some pics in a few places which would lend my thinking that they support the Marko method of lathering directly of the tub with way too much water and waste 10 times more soap than what you actually need to shave with...so that is the other side of it...

 

[houmi]

Best value has to be Arko... around $1 per ounce

 

[Wgg2017]

Stirling is a soft soap but in no way is it consistent with a croap!! Proraso in the tub is a croap and Stirling is much more dense than Proraso but not as hard as a triple milled soap.... That being said I think @akh223 and @Jim99 got it closest to what I've experienced personally and from most posts in the Brotherhood thread. I get on average of 30+ lathers from Stirling's 1oz. sample which puts it in the $.08-$.10 /shave category. I have been working on 6 Stirling Tubs since Jan 2017 and have only finished 1 so far but to be honest that was a used tub I got from someone on the BST so I expected it to go as it was about 85% when I bought it. The rest of my tubs are about 2/3 gone and about equal across the board as I shave every other day and rotate through them regularly. I've estimated so far that from the 1st tub I purchased 3yrs ago I've had approx 120 shaves with it so far and have maybe 60 more to go.

Now with that being said, there was a thread recently where a couple people said they went through a Stirling tub in something like 3-4 months but from what I recall they have posted some pics in a few places which would lend my thinking that they support the Marko method of lathering directly of the tub with way too much water and waste 10 times more soap than what you actually need to shave with...so that is the other side of it...

My bad. I was under the impression that croap and soft soap were essentially the same thing. I've never used Proraso in the tub but I do have some Stirling and it is very dense but not as hard as a triple milled soap.

 

[Post_Shave]

Just wanted to follow-up.

I believe I am addressing OP's criteria of "value", which of course is not the same thing as "inexpensive." For me, I find much more value in harder soaps like MdC or SV than the soft, latest & greatest artisan stuff. But again, my needs aren't the same as others'. I do not care, nor frankly understand, the "post-shave feel" stuff given how I view skin care, and how I shave (pre-shower, 90% of the time). I appreciate others do care about it, so this is not me casting aspersions, just making clear that it impacts the value proposition for me. If "post-shave feel" was of utmost importance, I'd see value in the super-fatted, expensive-per-shave, new wave artisan stuff.

Also, WRT how I use the Arko + Cremo: unless traveling (and even then, more often than not), I bowl lather. I squeeze a not-quite almond sized dollop of Cremo into my lather bowl, then produce a creamy, super slick lather with a brush loaded with Arko (which I have pressed into a hard plastic bowl--3 sticks worth currently).

Are you saying that you combine the Cremo non-lathering cream, which smells wonderful, but is worthless as a shaving tool...and Arko which smells like a urinal cake but is a fantastic shaging tool?? What ever made you think of that combination?

 

[Wgg2017]

I ended up going with PdP 63 after seeing it recommended in so many posts. I also got a couple 2 oz samples of Catie's Bubbles to try. Wanted to try Vitos but I had a store credit at Maggards to use and they don't have Vitos. I'll update with results in a couple years lol.