what is the most concentrated soap?

I love that C&S bowl!!

 

Yep. Spun anodized black aluminum & guaranteed to last several lifetimes. One can swap out the C&S & use Williams or whatever puck one fancies....

 

Hahaha that soap must suck then

 

The C&S soap is very, very good. It's made by Valobra in Italy. In my opinion, MdC is a good soap but totally overrated for what it is. Between the two I'll take the Valobra (C&S)...

 

MdC for me. All day long. Lacks nothing in performance, marvelous scent, and lasts through the Apocalypse. Note- the shipping becomes more and more economical the more you order. Four jars ship for minimally more than one. I have six jars of the stuff. Three have been in service in rotation (with about 10 other regulars) for six months or so now. They literally look unused.

 

I'd say you've enough to last you a few days.....

 

I enjoyed the Valobra soap (see my 2nd post) & will probably purchase more in the future. It had comparable performance to the MdC, for about half the price of the MdC and C&S.

'Overrated' with regards to....'what it is'? I'm not sure I understand.
What it is, according to the MdC website is, in translated to English from French "...saponification between 100% vegetable oils (olive, coprah) and with potasse (Alcali). The particularity of this shaving soap is the development of an abundant foam, which stick to the skin....a sweet and unctuous cream." (I don't think I've ever used the word unctuous in describing something, but I suppose in the realm of advertising copy, anything goes. ) MdC does garner its share of glowing reviews by users—not just in this thread—who may 'overrate' the soap's qualities (although I'm not really certain how this task is accomplished). As with any other shaving product, this French-made soap may not be everyone's 'favorite.'

 

2 Swirl Lather Stirling Soap(2):
I did this with my Sharp Dressed Man Soap... any thoughts? This is part 2

 

Here's part1
2 Swirl Lather Stirling Soap(1):

 

Interesting. The addition of the piping hot water and soak time essentially breaks down the tallow puck to the consistency of a soft soap or croap. Two swirls using a croap or soft soap to load a decent badger brush is certainly doable. Because of the softened consistency of the previously-firm soap puck, you are now actually loading more with fewer swirls than would be necessary on a hard puck (or 'cake). I venture to guess you are using actually as much soap if not more than one would achieve with more swirls (8-10) on a standard firm puck. If this were a test for soap concentration and potency per the number of shaves per swirls, then you've skewed testing by introducing additional variables (steaming hot water). Unless, of course, everyone is soaking their pucks in steaming hot water. THEN the number of swirls would mean something side-by-side.
The ease of brush loading is one of the appeals of using soft soaps.
If it were me, I'd skip all the hot water soaking and find a top-performing tallow soft soap (Cella!) and save the bother of presoaking.
Or I'd find a hard soap that didn't require the additional steps to achieve the performance.

 

Yeah, but try these variables... decrease the soak time. Use less water. Do 1 swirl. Even more interesting right?

Hey, with what I did here I can keep my tallow and have a slick shave everyday I have hot water and a shower right?

 

And then there's Tabac as well. Lasts and lasts and lasts!

 

Definitely MDC!

 

Oh, it was a loooong time ago i used tabac

 

Wait, let me add to that.
Definitely MDC! I recently ordered their unscented by mistake, guess I clicked the wrong button (my ADHA). But I also ordered some of their fougere bath soaps and was kinda on the fence about the scent. I bought their irregulars which come by the bag full and the aroma filled my bathroom. After using it in the shower for a week or so, I fell in love with this scent. So, crazy as I am, I went back on line to buy their fougere shaving soap. It was 34.17 Euros, which at todays conversion rate is $43.30. So I didn't feel that the shipping was just for one item, I ordered more fougere bath soap so I will have plenty around and ordered more bath soaps for gifts (BTW, great time of year for that). The total was $100.85 (73.59 euro) less $7.60 VAT tax, "Value Added Tax", which I guess is their version of sales tax. Shipping was $30.41 (24.00 euro) but, since I also bought some fancy soaps to give as gifts, I didn't feel so bad. And, yes, they are fancy & pricey soaps but, very nicely wrapped and, in my opinion, worth the price. I found two places in the U.S. that sells MDC, which I am sure many of you know. The Old Town Shaving Company and French Gardening (sorry, I'm new and can't post links yet). Old Town is not just old town but, a bit old school and, although they have a website, you can't order online and have to call them. So, I did, $65 + $7.00 shipping for the shave soap! French Gardening, also $65! Old Town said they had all the MDC flavors (fougere, lavender mint and unscented) while French Gardening seems to only have lavender mint. Anyway you cut it, it costs less to order direct from MDC. I ordered on a Tuesday and it was here by Thursday, only 2 days! When I first got my unscented, I hadn't read all the reviews as to how little you needed to use. Although the soap comes with instructions that say to swirl your brush only a few times, I loaded my regular way and spent some time swirling (20-30 seconds) and had an awful lot of lather. After reading some reviews and the instructions again, I swirled for only 5 seconds or so and also had an amazing amount of lather. The instructions also say you can leave the soap open between uses and it will harden further and last longer. Nice of them to pass that tip along. I can't imagine this soap lasting anyone less than a year. Performance wise, I judge it by my alum block, which I use after each shave. My lower neck is very sensitive and subject to irritation. The more sting down there from the block, the less protection, that is, in my unscientific opinion. A few shaves with MDC, I only had a very mild sting but, last night ZERO sting. The only other time I had ZERO sting was with Valobra. Value? Consider that T&H, Trumpers and others will cost $30 and up for a tub, which won't last a full year. I won't even get into AOS and their high prices. Well, I will. They charge $30 for a wooden bowl that can be had on online, same quality, for under $10! Or is it the other way around and $30 for the refill puck and $20 for the bowl. Either way, way too much in my opinion. But you can get the puck and bowl for $35 on mensdirect (closeout), instead of $50. Now consider one of my personal favs, Taylor's. One of Britain’s Jermyn Street's 3 T's (I use the soft soaps). Better performance all around (less small bubbles) than T&H, explodes into lather and, at half the price, that is, $15 or less. Well, I guess I got carried away (as usual). But, back to the original question which might have gotten lost along the way, definitely MDC! And thanks for listening! I find poking at the keyboard to be good therapy

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences and info on the variety of soaps you've used, Alan.
My sis is heading back to France in a couple of weeks so I may have her snag a variety of the MdC soaps while she is playing tourist.

 

Ok I have not tried MDC, as I have come to have a preference for creams. Having said I have to say Cella is my go to soap. Great price great slick lather, and wonderful scent. It also lasts and lasts.

 

MdC is not only the longest lasting soap I have by far, it is by far the best I have used. Very small ingredient list, in fact 6 ingredients. I have a brain bowl and a Fougure. Both are incredible, the lather is insane, and yes I have several Razorock, Sterling, Cella and other soaps and creams. Unfortunately MdC has caused me to not use any other soaps in a long time.

 

I'm now wondering about MdC's stability now that I'm using straights. Previously good soaps such as 3P have not had the stability required for me. I did try a sample of MdC and it seemed fairly good- about the level of 3P or other similar coconut oil soaps. But at the time I didn't judge stability any longer than I need with a safety razor. I just thought it expensive for what it is- still a veggie soap;which for me still fall short of the great tallow soaps. Really I just thought a bit of cognitive dissonance was in play here. It wasn't "miraculous" or on its "own level." Some said only "8 swirls" are required for a "miraculous" amount of lather. I failed but was using a terrible brush (a Semogue boar). Another option to consider is just YMMV, obviously.

I did succeed with the notoriously difficult MWF using only 8 swirls to produce enough lather for a total of 7 passes of lather (though to be fair I used a Muhle Black Fiber synthetic). post is http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/do-not-fear-the-fat.36831/page-3#post-679502 This was with absolutely NO soaking time and a cracked puck. I have absolutely no idea how that soap has acquired the hard-to-lather reputation that it has because it is just as easy as anything. Either boar, badger, synthetic, it just lathers.

 

I haven't soaked MdC or Mitchell's. I find MdC miraculous when face lathering, not so much bowl lathering. I have only bowl lathered with Mitchell's but will now face lather to see which is more miraculous than the other,