Among the better artisans, there really isn't a bad shaving soap!

Because I hate Williams. To me it's just good for use as a shower soap. But: It's better than this artisan soap.

 

When I use those soaps I reach for my preshave-oil and that cures that problem. I think the best artisans right now are beginning to find out that Shea Butter and Jojoba Oil are two ingredients (especially shea butter) that stick around after rinsing and leave a lotioned-like softness to the skin. Now, if only I could convince these artisans to test hyaluronic acid in aftershaves and post-shave balms as it promotes collagen formation and attracts water to freshly shaved skin. Also a cue needs to be taken from the women's products of not only Hyaluronic Acid but also Vitamin-C, which are a 1-2 punch of skin rejuvenation and skin quality. I would also point to potentially adding caffeine to these topical products as it is also scientifically tested and proven to be an antioxidant that promotes healing of skin dramatically and promotes collagen production.

People like Chris Cullen seem to be on a quest for ever-better soap and he has realized that shea butter and jojoba oil greatly enhance post-shave feel and moisturize skin like a lotion even after the rinse.

 

We are seeing a number of artisan soap makers rising to the top of their game. As this hobby continues to expand I expect there will be more. For me - I have tended to fall into using three as my primary go to soaps - Stirling, Captain's Choice, and Barrister & Mann. Thats not to say there are a couple of scents that if I had been able to smell them first - I probably would not have bought them. But when it comes to consistent quality and performance these three have never failed me.

 

Most of the newer artisans or ones that have changed formulas have made other artisans have to step their game up a bit. So many great brands to choose from, some may work better than others, but I would say about 95%+ of the artisans listed as peoples favorites in the forums you cant go wrong with. Some artisans are better at making unique or different scents, while others may have a bit better formula.

Things have changed a lot in the last few years with all these new artisan brands popping up with some awesome products. Try some samples and find which brands you like the best.

 

"Rising to the top of their game" ... "step up their game" ... what game is that anyway?

 

Among the better producers of anything, there really isn't a bad product. In my experience, most artisan soap suck. The number of artisan shaving soap makers is now vast, however, which means there are a huge number of artisans that make fantastic soap. The key is to sort the chaff from the wheat. Looking at reviews on wetshaving sites such as this one is very helpful. Etsy has a very large number of artisan soapmakers, and the reviews there are also useful.

 

Yes, if you look at TSD, for example, most of the artisan makers who are praised by many and used by lots of members have more or less been pre-selected by being good enough to make the cut on the shelves of the big online shaving retailers like Maggard Razors, WSP, Italian Barber, Fendrihan, Connaught Shaving and so forth. The total number is under 50. Then there is another couple handfuls that sell from their own websites or Etsy that have been tried and recommended by individual members and are growing their base by word of mouth.

Thus the total number of "top tier artisans" that get some promotion on this website (and the others like it) and are therefore likely to be included in the ones whose products are being tried and reviewed by many shavers is probably less than 100. Meanwhile, every craft fair, local crafts store and farmers' market in North America has a table or section containing the products of one or more alleged soapmakers, many of whom make an alleged shaving soap. The total number of soapmakers has to be in the high thousands and even the smaller segment of "shaving soap" makers is probably in the low thousands.... (The same likely hold true for Europe too, but I haven't visited the local craft scene there to comment.)

Which means the "better artisans" referred to by the OP represent the top 1% or so that for the most part have already gotten past the first big hurdle by being good enough either to make enough money to afford an online presence or better still, to be "prescreened" and selected by the bigger online shaving stores.

 

I would say in this case game=effort of each soap maker to make soap.

 

That's not a game, but a serious undertaking

 

All the soaps I dislike are "artisan"

 

But you do not dislike all artisan soaps.

 

Agree with many in this thread that all of the well known artisan brands perform very similar to each other. Yes some require different load amounts and water ratios, but lather quality is very similar.

My problem is with about 9 soaps (I know it's less than what many here own), I have a 4 yr supply and that's shaving every day. I am tempted daily to buy more but just cannot justify it. I hope that in 3-4 years the formulations and scents are that much better!


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Correct. I've never had a mass market soap fail. Can't say that about artisan, as I've had a few that were basically unusuable. One of my very favorite soaps is R66, and that's as small an operation as exists in soap. In general, if people were to evaluate on performance alone, artisan soap wouldn't stand a chance. Artisan soap excels in skinfeel and scent mostly, but most artisan soap is nowhere near as good (lather) as Arko or even Barbasol, and getting hobbyists to be objective about soap for which they've paid $100/pound is tenuous at best.

 

For about a decade, maybe a little more, I've been buying and using soaps made by Herbaria Soap in St. Louis Missouri. Recently they added some shaving soap but I've always simply used a bar of their soap I keep in a Zip Lock plastic container. One of my favorites from them is called Travelers Choice and it's a great all purpose shampoo, body, shave whatever bar. The base is Jojoba oil with just a hint of Bitter Orange and Rosemary. It lathers up nicely, lasts forever and leaves my face feeling great.

They have about a brazillion different scents, all hand made and all that I've tried over a full decade have been wonderful.

 

The shaving soap game would be the most obvious answer. Although the top of the wet shaving pinnacle (like B&M, CRSW, etc.) could be another answer.

 

Okay, the word "game" obviously has more meanings than I know of

 

There's a German artisan whose soaps smell very nice and have good skincare. The problem is they're terrible lather-makers. Ah well, that's show bizz.

 

I find that the Herbaria soap lathers don't last as long as some of the other soaps and creams BUT (and it is a big BUT) even when it looks like there is no lather the skin is still slick and moist and the lubricants and moisturizers in the soap are still working.

What I do is lather what I will shave as I shave so as an example lather upper lip/shave upper lip; lather left cheek/shave left cheek; lather left neck/shave left neck ...

 

I never heard of these Herbaria soaps.