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What Soap Type Do You Prefer?

I can't say I agree with your classifications but there's thousands of soap out there so YMMV. I would go with 'soap' 'soaps'. Like Prorasso green
 

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
It seems to me that there are distinct types of shaving soap, but I am no expert here….

”Soap soaps” - These are soaps that appear like soap. Smooth, white, dense, produce a lather that is like soap lather. They have a base that smells clean and neutral - like soap, on which the scents are added. Examples are Martin de Candre, Haslinger, Saponificio Varesino.

”Beige smoothies” - These are softer, smooth, always seem to be some shade of beige from ivory to taupe or even hazelnut, produce a lather that is sort of thick and gloopy, or yoghurty. Examples are Barrister & Mann, Noble Otter, Grooming Dept. The bases seem to have a characteristic background odour which I can’t describe other than to say it smells ’beige’ to me, but which is light enough to allow the added scents to stand out in a detailed way, but I think colours the scents slightly.

“Congealed vomit” - These are soft, lumpy, sometimes crystalline, and sometimes slightly glistening in a suspicious manner. They look to me a bit like a tub of vomit that has been kept in the fridge. Examples are Declaration Grooming, Stirling, TFS. It seems to me that these bases have a fairly strong odour - maybe citrusy or acidic - which can overpower subtle scents and appears to require a heavier hand in adding the scent oils. My sense is that this sort of soap yields the most slickness during the shave.

I don’t know if you would agree or disagree with my impressions of these distinct types of soap or these classifications, and feel free to correct me on the characteristics that you observe, but hopefully you see what I mean in general. Are there other kinds too? Do you favour one style in particular - soap soaps, beige smoothies or congealed vomit - and if so, why?
I’m a solid ARKO stick user.
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
I have no idea what my Acca Kappa Barbershop is... which of the three... but it is white so maybe number One, i.e., a soap soap.
 
+1

@Stinkykid
Should have made this a poll
Yeah, I wish I had now. Never expected so many would get into the spirit of it like this. A few got offended, but most not.

I’ve even started thinking to myself things like, “I’m in the mood for a beige smoothie today, what have I got?” I might separate my soaps into boxes by type.

Does anyone actually know what ingredient in beige smoothies makes all these soaps beige? Or what makes the congealed vomit ones lumpy and glistening?
 
Yeah, I wish I had now. Never expected so many would get into the spirit of it like this. A few got offended, but most not.

I’ve even started thinking to myself things like, “I’m in the mood for a beige smoothie today, what have I got?” I might separate my soaps into boxes by type.

Does anyone actually know what ingredient in beige smoothies makes all these soaps beige? Or what makes the congealed vomit ones lumpy and glistening?
I think the texture of CV soaps is attributed to the recipe and the pour
 
One thing we haven’t quite got to in this thread yet is whether these different soap types tend to have different characteristics - strengths and weaknesses. My perception is that congealed vomit (CV) soaps tend to be the slickest, and beige smoothies tend to have superior cushion and protection. Beige smoothies seem to pair well with synthetic brushes. Congealed vomit soaps tend to ‘colour’ the soap fragrance the most.

Is there anything in those perceptions? Do you experience something different? Or do you think we can’t generalise like this about the behaviours of these soap types?
 
Believe there is so much variety that the the three categories proposed would need to be broken down further. Guessing that by "soap soaps" we are looking at what many call hard soaps. As my preference is for hard pucks of soap I'll focus on this category.

Within the category is a wide range of what is defined as "hard" with triple milled tallow based soaps (e.g. Williams, MWF) at one end of the spectrum and the glycerine/humectant based soaps on the other end such as Van Der Hagen or Col. Conk (don't currently own this one). In between those two ends of the "hard" spectrum are soaps like Arko and the non-tallow triple milled soaps like Razorock "What the Puck" as an example of the latter. Lathering characteristics change significantly as one moves across the spectrum. At the hardest end of the spectrum a boar brush works best for building lather while any type of good shaving brush will work for the others. Also lather can be built directly on the hardest pucks while at the softer end of the spectrum it's better to load and then bowl or face lather.

Color is another dimension. On one of my other posts regarding the non-tallow hard soaps I noticed that some manufacturers leave out the pigment (e.g. titanium dioxide, iron oxide)resulting in a slightly translucent puck while others, with very similar almost identical soap ingredients, add them to produce white to reddish beige pucks. Based on observed price points my guess is this is a way to deliver quality shaving performance at a lower cost.

Note that I do have one croap (does this come under the category "beige smoothies"?) Proraso red, that works well for me on occasional solo spins though I mostly use it as a super lathering agent with other soaps or in blends. It lathers amazingly well though with a bit less slickness than my other soaps.
 
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Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
I might agree with that. Of my five favourite soaps, two are soap soaps (MdC Rose, AdP), two are beige smoothies (Noble Otter Rawr, B&O 42), and one is congealed vomit (Paolo Barrasso Red).
I've heard of your first two... not the other 3.

I just bought some Canada Shaving Soap... tried it today for the first time. It's a very hard soap... but lathers up like a charm. It's now among my favorites. Among my very limited selection of other soaps/creams, I like my Acca Kappa Barber (white, but not so hard I can't scoop it), Baume.be (called a cream but just slightly softer than the Acca Kappa) and the ESC Citrus Kiss (a very soft but slick as heck cream). I have a couple more on the way.

So, I'm still learning, but avoiding mistakes now.. instead of buying based on Amazon reviews.
 
Believe there is so much variety that the the three categories proposed would need to be broken down further. Guessing that by "soap soaps" we are looking at what many call hard soaps. As my preference is for hard pucks of soap I'll focus on this category.

Within the category is a wide range of what is defined as "hard" with triple milled tallow based soaps (e.g. Williams, MWF) at one end of the spectrum and the glycerine/humectant based soaps on the other end such as Van Der Hagen or Col. Conk (don't currently own this one). In between those two ends of the "hard" spectrum are soaps like Arko and the non-tallow triple milled soaps like Razorock "What the Puck" as an example of the latter. Lathering characteristics change significantly as one moves across the spectrum. At the hardest end of the spectrum a boar brush works best for building lather while any type of good shaving brush will work for the others. Also lather can be built directly on the hardest pucks while at the softer end of the spectrum it's better to load and then bowl or face lather.

Color is another dimension. On one of my other posts regarding the non-tallow hard soaps I noticed that some manufacturers leave out the pigment (e.g. titanium dioxide, iron oxide)resulting in a slightly translucent puck while others, with very similar almost identical soap ingredients, add them to produce white to reddish beige pucks. Based on observed price points my guess is this is a way to deliver quality shaving performance at a lower cost.

Note that I do have one croap (does this come under the category "beige smoothies"?) Proraso red, that works well for me on occasional solo spins though I mostly use it as a super lathering agent with other soaps or in blends. It lathers amazingly well though with a bit less slickness than my other soaps.
I think there are soap-soaps that are not hard pucks. Martin de Candre is a traditional triple-milled soap but it isn’t really hard. Boellis Panama 1924 is another classic soap-soap that is quite soft - rather like the consistency of marzipan (which it also smells like).
 
I think there are soap-soaps that are not hard pucks. Martin de Candre is a traditional triple-milled soap but it isn’t really hard. Boellis Panama 1924 is another classic soap-soap that is quite soft - rather like the consistency of marzipan (which it also smells like).
Agree and those examples further support the point that there is a wide spectrum under any one of those initial three categories.
 
My mental groupings are similar:

Hard soap - often triple-milled, you can't press your finger into it, like Williams or MWF
Soft soap - lumpy and you can push your finger into it or scoop some of it. I think this is your congealed vomit type. Many artisan soaps are of this type, e.g. Stirling.
Croap - even softer, this must be your smoothie type. They often look like they were blended and put into the container like soft-serve ice cream. Proraso is the most common of this type.

So far I like the soft soap, like Stirling, the best, all else held equal. That said, I think it is more about the soap formulation than how it is milled, scooped, or extruded.
 
Assuming these three categories are valid as distinct types, I certainly prefer the hard white "soap soaps" like Haslinger in general. However, I've been trying some of what I'd been thinking of as "old fashioned" or traditional types that seem to be what is called "CV" here, such as Stirling. I mean, if I use one of my 60-100 year old vintage razors, it seems only right to go old fashioned all the way.
 
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