The proverbial fishing rod is jumping around like a mother right now! Gonna be a week on pins and needles! Are we there yet, are we there yet?
Ok, haven't shaved yet but I have something like 50 or 60 different soaps including the ones I own along with the samples. It is hard to decide what to use. I hope this problem lasts long into the future! Wish you all have this problem too
Bam! Another Happy Customer! As much fun as I've had participating in Razor Pass-arounds, this soap box can't be beat. Unless we do it again?
Palmolive Classic Stick, JR#130 Cypress & Synthetic 1959 Gillette #195 Fat Boy, Dorco ST-301 Platinum SS Alum block, rinsed off, and Proraso Refresh Lotion The Soap Pass around samples haven't been making my rotation lately. I like to trade gear and have so many full tubs that don't get their time in, then there's samples from other members. I've still got a Super Menthol Test Cream I don't use often enough. Has anyone tried the Brand X cream? I sniffed a few of my Box samples and selected the light green sweet smelling sample without knowing what it was. Not knowing it was from a stick I placed 1/2 the sample in the Osaka suribachi and set about whipping up a fine glossy overabundance. Good glide, nice scent, and I used very little of the chunk stuck to the textured bowl. From a Euro retailer I spotted these stick for $1.02/each, or about $2.50 here in the States. That rivals Arko prices, but this Stick is more moisturizing and less lemony. Another Winner!
Super excited and hoping this cold clears up before Monday so I can have a good idea of what the soaps smell like. If not I'll have to rely on my wife and 2 year old. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
After this, my 1st use, I tend to agree. There are a few lousy products calling themselves "shave soap" that still have a fan base. Lots of OK meh products that make me wonder how they stay in business. Then there's the better than mediocre that ought to be in every retail store for easy shopping access. Palmolive Shave Stick is in my winners column for good lather, pleasant scent, and acceptable price point. Thank you The Box for another winner!
April 22 - its bug spray Day!!! With the box gone and the weather a bit grey, I decided to try Stirling's Electric Sheep soap. Wow what a pick me up! Even before opening my ziplock baggie, I could smell the soap. It was definitely lemony and citronella. The official also indicates eucalyptus but I am not familiar with its scent so I will stick with hyper lemony with an electric twist. At first, this turned me off. I grabbed it knowing Stirling made awesome soap and at worse I would have a great lather with a bad scent. Today, it few on me. In some respects it is like the difference between Sprite and Mellow Yellow or Mountain Dew. Sprite is less artificial and just a pleasant lemon taste. The others are like lemon amped up 10 fold. That is what Electric Sheep reminds me of. I do like Mountain Dew and Mellow Yellow so ES falls into this category of pleasantries. As usual, Stirling gave a super thick, rich and slick lather. The 34C with a Day 4 Nacet did not disappoint and yielded a BBS after 4 passes and minor touch up. It is now about an hour after shaving and I am just now failing to smell the soap scent. Could be I went nose blind too. If you like bright amped up flavors and scents, do try Electric Sheep. Will need to add this to my full tub desires.
April 23 - time to slay the Mother of Dragons Yesterday I went through all the samples and grabbed the ones I had some immediate desire to try. Some were unusual, other were scents I have never tried and others were very New from vendors I have never used. Today I reached for Dapper Dragon's Tiamat. To me, it has a rich warm scent that I found pleasing. Officially it is dragon's blood, amber, vanilla and some florals to balance it out. In all, I think I prefer this dragon's blood scent to Reef Point. The soap was left with a dribble of hot water pressed into my bowl. Pored the bloom onto a damp brush and it quickly dissolved upon whipping. A nice lather formed. It had good slickness but slightly less than Stirling. Both of these are tallow soaps. DD also was not as cushiony and showed it during my hydraulic test of pressing it between my hands and squeezing. It was good but less thick than Stirling. 4 passes yielded the BBS shave. I would use this soap as it is the best dragon's blood I have found and I like the scent. I would like a better cushion though. On the ATG pass I wet my face well and found that the soap was breaking and needed extra face whipping to bring it back to full thickness. I do not think I could have added any more water due to this. Smearing it on my hands proved it was nice and glossy as it was. It just couldn't handle added water. The soap was very easy to lather and did have a nice scent. I would put this on the like to have but maybe not love to have list. Stirling has ruined me for anything lesser. It is an excellent soap that is among the top in cushion and slickness. If Martin de Candre is a 10, Stirling for me is a 9 or 9.5. I would give an overall score of 8.5 for Daper Dragon Tiamat
Box is in New Hampshire and is still listed for delivery today. It is out for delivery!!! Your best shave week is about to begin!
Woohoo! Still waiting for the rod tip to bend south!!!! Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Dad? Are we there yet?
Looking forward to seeing the posts and reactions from @wildcatsfan10 upon arrival. @BaylorGator - the box is getting closer! Patience is a virtue! This has been a great pass-around so far and thankful for all the participants and your enjoyment.
April 24 - Broke Down on Rt66 Today was my first use of a Route 66 soap. I chose Rt66 Cranberry Citrus. With all the usage by other members, I was excited to use it. I did my usual - press a demitasse spoon amount thinly into the bottom of my bowl and put about a teaspoon of hot water on it to soften it (or just enough to cover the soap). Today I used my Phoenix SilverTip badger brush. I showered first. I soaked The Phoenix and squeezed out as much water as possible. It was still damp and stuck together but no extra water was in it. The bloom water was poured into the center of the knot and I began to work the lather. The soap dissolved immediately. Lather was a bit of a challenge for my soft water. Not sure if it was difficult to create lather because I started with warm water or what. It just would not increase in volume. Now, I did use hot water at the start of the shower but I use a stainless steel bowl and it should have sucked all the heat out by the time I finished showering. I must have been room temp at best. The lather was very shiny but had no loft. I continued to whip the lather but it would not grow. My first application of the lather was thin and watery. I left it on my face and decided to grab whatever extra soap I grabbed from the sample box. Someone here suggested to grab a bit extra than one would think they needed for soaps they are unfamiliar with. I am glad I did. the addition helped make the lather stable but the quantity did not increase greatly. It helped improve loft slightly. I reapplied and this time the lather was a bit thicker and did not dissipate. I ended up having enough lather for 3 and a half passes. Got a DFS using my Merkur 34C with a Personna Blues blade (day 1). What really shined from this soap was that it was very slick and the scent lasted a good hour after shaving. I also found the scent to be sweet and very pleasing. I expect my lack of experience with Rt66 is what caused this failure. Since I have other Rt66 soaps, this will be possible. I will withhold my decision on this soap until further investigation is done.
Sounds like you used too much water. Route 66 doesn't need a lot of water. I had some samples and would press down into a bowl. Then I'd add just a few drops of water.....just drops.....and then start loading with a dry synthetic brush. Drizzle the knot under running water or dip the tips of the brush and keep working. Route 66 should give you easy, slick, shiny, and impressive lather. Always start with less water so that you add. @Bama Samurai uses a similar method with Route 66 - in fact I stole it from him.
Thanks for the mention! R66 is my first choice in artisan soaps, especially for SR. Very nice products.
I hope I am making this clear that the lather issues I have had are totally my failures and in no way represent the quality of the product. The only thing I can attest to is this product is very slick, leaves no residue and has a great scent with some holding power. All are positives. Now, if I can only get lathering right
Perry that is a great method to use the first time through with most all soaps. The method allows you to dial in the ratio. Many times I will use this ratio and gradually add water until the lather breaks down. This tells me how big the margin of error for water really is.
wildcatsfan10, the Box has been delivered to New Hampshire!!!! Get home fast and start the enjoyment!!! Frank
The box has landed! I completely underestimated the heft of this box and it never seemed to empty as I spread the contents all over the living room. Unfortunately I still can't smell a damn thing so my wife went through about 30 soaps and picked the ones she likes. Talk about a cruel joke. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I couldn't agree more. It is a heavy box of soap. I hope your wife enjoys the scents Wishing you clear nasal passages soon, Frank
