Soap Pass-around Volume II - 2017

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by PLAla, Jan 8, 2017.

  1. PLAla

    PLAla Bit Shy of a Full Puck

    Great! Glad it made it safely. Enjoy your turn!
     
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  2. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    You and me both. I put a pretty good amount of tape hoping like crazy it would not burst open on the trip.
     
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  3. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    April 25 - Route 66 Rum Runner

    Since it was stated I tend to be a little long winded, I will keep this brief.

    Used Rt66. Rum Runner - lots of soap - like nearly double Stirling

    Scent: Excellent scent. Vendor state: Bright White Citrus and Ginger top notes over Sweet Hay, Sandalwood and Cinnamon. Anchored with Sugar Cane Rum and Birch Wood. I can smell rum, wood, and sandalwood mostly. Not sure I smelled citrus, ginger or know what hay smells like. In the end, love the warm inviting scent. So far, Rt66 wins my favor in terms of scents.

    Lather:
    Started with a dry soap. Wet and wrung out Dark Chocolate brush (JR#148 synth). Damp but nothing left to drip. added 4 drops of water to start whipping. Total of about 10 drops water and made a thicker lather, slick but still less volume than what Stirling does. Was enough for 4-5 passes. VERY little water is needed. Shiny and very slick but less cushion. Even with very little. Soap has a nice medium firmness maybe the same or slightly less than Stirling but melts away far faster than any soap I have tried. This could cause more to load on a brush or need less time to load. Should be easy to load even with a soft brush.

    Shave:
    3.5 passes BBS using 34C and Personna Blue (Day 2)

    Pro: Shiny and very slick soap leaves skin nicely moisturized. Lather was creamy. Scent was nicely strong. Great moisturized feel after shaving
    Con: Less cushion than Stirling, less thick. Needed 1.5 -2X the amount of soap used from Stirling.

    Wrap Up: If you are looking for a very slick soap, this is excellent. Excellent post shave feel. I still feel the lack of cushion is my technique. I like a very dense lather. I am too use to soaps that like lots of water. I wonder if needing more water also widens the range of water that makes a good lather from a soap.

    Will go looking for some videos on rt66 soap to get a better idea of how to improve my lather. I am sure I have not gotten the soaps best lather yet but I am improving.
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2017
  4. BaylorGator

    BaylorGator MISTER Fancypants

    You're just taunting me now, aren't you @wildcatsfan10? Seriously, enjoy the box! I just bought tons of soaps a guy is evacuating from his den which should arrive sometime this week. It should give me a bit of inventory to trade and/or add to the box, but from what I'm hearing, I may need to play a lot of tetris in preparation, and we may get sued by the Postal Union Workers if I am successful.
     
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  5. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    Sorry guys, I used a Barrister & Mann Dickens today that wasn't in the box :(

    No soap novel today but I will say that it was thick, rich, needed very little soap and smells delicious long after the shave :)
     
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  6. wildcatsfan10

    wildcatsfan10 Member

    Sorry i haven't been posting, still can't smell a thing - although i did just huff on my Stirling glacial Lemon tub (just like lemon vaporub) and think i caught a slight whiff of lemon/menthol.

    I did sample/use the K Shave Worx Recurve last night on my wife's recommendation. It loaded quickly and gave a thick lather that i would compare to WSP Rustic or Van Yulay. Though not as slick as some other artisans, I got a great shave out of it and would consider using in my rotation as long as I like the scent.

    Previous shaves with the samples sent ahead of time:
    CF - Cedar and spice. The scent wasn't really something i'd go for but the performance was spectacular, tons of dense lather and amazing slickness that compares to the likes of Stirling and B&M.

    Stirling - Beeswax Grapefruit. Not sure if this is an older sample but the scent was a bit subdued and the soap itself was much firmer than any other Stirling products I've used. Performance wise it was also a bit behind their other soaps but this could be that it loads/lathers differently and i botched it.
     
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  7. Tim Spencer

    Tim Spencer Well-Known Member

    If I buy a soap from a vendor that isn't a part of his normal product lineup and want to throw it in here to get feedback if others want it, can I do that? I had a few custom soaps made and I think they are great scents that are for a couple of my $300+ colognes and I think he should carry the scents but he probably doesn't know if they would sell. So, I think maybe I could order them again and toss one of each in this pass around thing and find out what people think. Is this possible?
     
  8. PLAla

    PLAla Bit Shy of a Full Puck

    Thanks, Tim. We can certainly add yours in. Send me a PM and I'll get you some details.
     
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  9. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    SOTD 04252017.gif
    I used a sample of Geo F Trumper from Randy @BaylorGator last night's shave. Because I had several florals to choose from in the batch, I compared GFT to ToBS rose. The ToBS was "bright" to the GFT's "deep".
    Being my first lather of GFT I scooped a fair amount & smeared on the bottom of a textured suribachi. Lather popped up quickly and held consistency through three+ passes. I started with a shavette and suspect the blade was passed service life. No blame on the lather for the skipping stuttering blade. Reached for my Fat Boy, but grabbed the Red Tip my mistake. Not to worry as the Personna Med Prep blade took care of the rest of the shave. Well moisturized finish with no errors. A splash of Proraso Refresh green lotion complimented the lingering cream scent. Thought I prefer hard soaps for longer life, this cream could join my den.
     
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  10. banks741938

    banks741938 Well-Known Member

    Awesome glad you had a good shave with the recurve. K shave works is a good soap for me. Tomahawk is my favorite scent that they make.
     
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  11. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    April 27 - Saponificio Varesino Dolomiti

    Since I got a sample sent to me from the Passaround Box, I will include my comments here on this soap that I used today. There was very little soap left ( a shave or two) and I was offered to be sent the remains of this soap and graciously accepted. Had it not been for the pass around box, I never would have known about this soap. I am happy I got the chance to try it out.

    The Pass around version was a tanish color. I enjoyed it so much that I ordered a full puck from Italian Barber. The version I received (ver. 4.0) I believe is the latest version of this soap. It was a dark grey color. As for performance, it still delivered. It felt very firm. It could be a milled or triple milled soap. If it is not, it is one of the firmest soaps that is not milled I have tried. SV stated this
    The scent was more on the mild side. I might not have noticed all the scents expressed because I started a new sandalwood bath soap that kind a took over the bathroom muting everything else. I did notice the sage scent predominantly. They state this about the scent:
    I grabbed a slightly less than a demitasse spoon amount (.7 gr maybe) and it created a beautiful lather very easily. The lather did turn white. Today's lather was a little less dense than the B&M I made but super slick. I think the Dolomite clay could be responsible or just the type of soap they make is extremely slick. I also find that it has a wide usable water range. When my 3.5 passes were completed, I continued to add water to what lather remained and it just kept accepting it and it remained. No breakdown was seen. I was able to get 5 full passes from such a small quantity of soap.

    BBS resulted and this is a very enjoyable shave. Very happy I grabbed a full refill puck (150gr). With so little used, I am certain I can get over 150, 3+ pass shaves from this refill puck. It mild herbal scent is also a welcome addition to a den largely composed of citrus or cologne replicating scents. Will look forward to each time it comes up in rotation.
     
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  12. PLAla

    PLAla Bit Shy of a Full Puck

    Frank - thanks for your detailed and interesting reports!
     
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  13. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    SOTD 04272017.gif Really wanted to like this soap, not happening. I can't help seeing reviews of products before I try them. I do try to research before I purchase and the Passaround has afforded that opportunity.. With moistened boar brush I attacked the lime oil chips. Slowly adding drips of water something that looked like lather appeared in my suribachi bowl. I applied it to bearded area and it dissipated. After adding the full amount of my sample and beating rented mule style I almost got a lasting lather. Large bubbles, no creaminess. It did provide enough slick to run the shavette around but no visual clue as to where I hadn't made a pass yet. Switching to the Fat Boy, giving the hard little chips of remaining soap one last chance, and employing The Norcalnewb Baseball Lathering Pattern© I finished the slightly scented but disappointing lather procedure. Alum sealed up the weeper on my jawline - fresh shavette blade properly muted. Splash of lime and patchouli infused WH for a decent smooth CCS finish. Afraid this soap isn't on my WTB list.
     
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  14. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    yeah, even with my soft water, I got the same result. Musgo Real is Must GO Really
     
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  15. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    April 28 - Limes, Limes Limes!!! (replicated here)
    Because I was introduced to Castle Forbes Lime cream here, I have replicated my post here.

    I received a tub of Castle Forbes Lime cream recently. This company only offer 3 scents: Lime, Lavendar and Cedar/Sandalwood. I was lucky to have sampled the lime cream from the Soap Pass Around Box II. To me, the cream is luxurious and the small sample made a ton of lather. I happen to find a video on Castle Forbes soaps and all they did to load the cream on the brush was a single rotation or two and only getting an extremely small amount licking a few of the tips of the brush. I decided to replicate this. For me, I needed a total of 4 swirls to replicate the amount loaded on the brush in the video. Looking at it and knowing this is a cream, I had my doubts it would be enough to make enough lather to shave with. Most of the tips were lacking any cream and maybe 10-20% had white tips. Boy was I wrong! This cream likes water and made a ton of delicious lime scented lather enough for 6+ passes. The resulting lather was light but provided great protection with excellent cushion. It also had a nice shine and great glide. The scent was deliciously strong and fill the room with the scent of limes. The lime scent is also a perfect, true scent of limes and had no indication of a candy scent. I would go so far as to say that this smells like perfectly ripened limes and better than a bushel of limes at most supermarkets!

    3.5 passes with the Merkur 34C/Personna Red grabbed a BBS shave. Some would say the $32 -$44 price tag is a bit much for a cream. In this case, I find you use a fraction of the amount needed from soft soaps. I think it was similar in quantity I would use to Martin de Candre and would expect the 200gr tub to last over 200 shaves. I wouldn't be surprised one would get 300+ shaves. The swipe I grabbed didn't even show in the tub. That brings a lathering in the ball park of pennies per shave. The frugal side of me loves that :).

    If you love limes like I do and want a top quality lather, do not pass up a chance of trying Castle Forbes.
     
  16. BaylorGator

    BaylorGator MISTER Fancypants

    I just bought a sample from Maggards last week. Now you've got me anxious to try it out!
     
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  17. Fly2High

    Fly2High Breaking Frugal

    Check this out. A demo of Castle Forbes. It is for real!! I did a few more swirls because my brushes are much smaller and rather soft but the load looked a smidge more.

     
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  18. wildcatsfan10

    wildcatsfan10 Member

    [​IMG]

    Last 2 - shaves dapper dragon signature and Palmolive cream and Brand x.

    Full disclosure, I've never been able to get a great lather out of DD soaps - this one wasn't any different. Lots of volume but not as cushioning or as slick as I would expect from their reputation or ingredient list. Managed a middling shave out of it and still can't speak to the scent although my wife just said "no", so take that as you will. The post shave feel was very good.

    The Palmolive lemon cream was a curiosity for me as I've heard very good things about the performance of the stick but not this product. Rubbed a pea sized amount onto a wet face and began to work it in with a damp brush. Volume wasn't as good as the dragon but the slickness was beyond anything I would have expected. Easy 3 pass BBS shave with good post shave feel.

    Lastly was brand x. This cream was the consistency of a thick maple syrup and the wife thought it smelled like mint chocolate chip icecream so I can only think that it had some menthol in it. Oh boy did it, just about at the level of Stirling's glacial line. I used a similar application as the polmolive and smeared a bit on my face and worked it with the brush, adding a couple drops of water as I went. The resulting lather was a voluminous, slick lather that gave me one of the best shaves in awhile. The one note I did make is that there was little residual slickness when rinsing off post shave but the post shave feel was awesome. Would love to have this in the rotation.

    @RyX - will the maker be selling this in the future?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  19. wildcatsfan10

    wildcatsfan10 Member

    The razor is a Standard Razor, the brush is from Derek at Wild West Brushworks and has a 24mm tuxedo.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  20. BaylorGator

    BaylorGator MISTER Fancypants

    Beautiful brush. I knew it was Wild West Brusheorks without you saying it. Georgeous work. Great pricing. Can't say enough good things about Derek.
     
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