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What's the worse soap you've used?

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
I tried a Caswell Massey once, actually a few times, but it was non-latherable...(if there is such a word).
The second place goes to some slime sold by Dr Bronners - Shave gel....his bath and liquid soaps are normally very good, but not the shave stuff.
 
Penhaligon's Fern. Found out the original formula was well liked and the current formula is ok, but I had the formula in between the two that no one liked.
 

IMightBeWrong

Loves a smelly brush
Penhaligon's Fern. Found out the original formula was well liked and the current formula is ok, but I had the formula in between the two that no one liked.

That's unfortunate. I have the current Sartorial and it's a very slick soap and isn't too tough to lather.

However, my mind is boggled by the changes that many big English names have made to their formulas. They moved away from tallow, presumably for ethical reasons, and moved on to palm oil based soaps which is much more detrimental to the environment. I enjoy the palm based formulas I have from both Penhaligon's and Floris but I would be much happier with soaps that both performed well and didn't use palm oil. It's not like it's impossible to do, either, with tons of artisans pulling it off and making world class soaps.
 
I loved Geo F Trumper's Rose soap, so when it was used up I got their sandalwood soap. I guess their soaps have been reformulated. It was impossible to get anything resembling shaving lather with this one. I dumped it.
 
Tiki Surf's Up and Tiki The Captain.

Both nautical named soaps seemed more like "dead fish on a beach".

Not for me.
 
I get decent shaves and lather with C&E soaps. I use a boar brush and load the hell out of it. I wouldn't try bowl lathering, as it's better with a more dense face lather. I like the scents too. I actually forgot I had a new puck of the Sandalwood left, and did fine with it this morning. My favorite was Nomad though.

My worst? Remember the awful Burt's Bees Bay Rum? A truly poor-performing soap, which was too bad because the scent was actually quite nice..
 
VDH Deluxe. The lather is acceptable, I even like the talcum powder smell, but the performance just isn't there. Does not protect my skin. I've experimented with using more soap, I've tried using different amounts of water, always performs unremarkably and leaves me bloody. The only other soap I have is Col. Conk Lime, which has me praying that it isn't as bad as the VDH Deluxe lol. Otherwise, I'll just grow a beard for No Shave November while I place an order for actual good soap to arrive (stuff like MWF, Tabac, Proraso).
 
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A few no-name "artisan" soaps my sis-in-law sent me
Modern Williams
Mama Bear

These all come to mind.

Regarding the Mama Bear's; do you bloom your soaps? I typically don't, but I find the difference to be pretty remarkable with Mama Bear's. If I don't bloom it, I get results like yours. But if I do, I get some of the richest, slickest lather I've ever had the pleasure of shaving with. Try putting some hot water on the soap and letting it sit there while you shower.
 
Regarding the Mama Bear's; do you bloom your soaps? I typically don't, but I find the difference to be pretty remarkable with Mama Bear's. If I don't bloom it, I get results like yours. But if I do, I get some of the richest, slickest lather I've ever had the pleasure of shaving with. Try putting some hot water on the soap and letting it sit there while you shower.

I don't know what you mean by "bloom" your soaps. Even if I was able to get acceptable lather, they still burn the hell out of my face and have overpowering scents. I tossed what I had and have no interest in trying them again, or any melt & pour for that matter.
 
Worst ever is GFT Eucris, great smell but horrible for lather, might as well have used a bath bar but I hear they have corrected the formula so who knows but it's still one of the highest priced soaps so it better be REALLY good. On the suprising side I found Wilkinson Sword Blue Bowl to be pretty good except for the generic deodorent smell and it's a bit on the drying side but does provide a decent lather with heavy brushing.
 
I don't know what you mean by "bloom" your soaps. Even if I was able to get acceptable lather, they still burn the hell out of my face and have overpowering scents. I tossed what I had and have no interest in trying them again, or any melt & pour for that matter.

"Blooming" is what they call covering the top of the soap with a little hot water and letting it sit for several minutes to soften it. I get lots of nice lather with Mama Bear's this way. But if your skin reacts to the soaps in a negative way, you're certainly justified in tossing them.
 
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