Best artisan soaps/worst artisan soaps article. Great read

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by Straight razor dandy, Nov 2, 2016.

  1. RaZorBurn123

    RaZorBurn123 waiting hardily...............

    Was. I was very lucky to call him dad for 34 years.
     
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  2. Smooth Steve

    Smooth Steve Well-Known Member

    I take it all with a grain of salt, especially the worst list. I have placed multiple orders with 2 of the "black eyes" as a noob not knowing all the baggage, IB & PAA, and have been happy with all the UNIQUE products ordered. I agree, even with my limited experience, the cheap RR soaps I bought were not my best, but they are pretty good for the price. Basically my biggest issues with IB are weak fragrances and tons of sold out products. PAA offered #9 which is a unique scent I was interested in. The soap & AS are great. I also like how PAA is also providing some fun hardware. Doug also markets well with his character, videos, and graphics while putting in time to not only promote products, but also to help educate new shavers. I do not see other artisans publicly putting this type of time in the community. Not all of his videos just promote his products. He appears to be all in and firing on all cylinders. I like to enjoy my shaves and leave the drama for others. The moment I have been wronged I will be the first to let everyone know, then all the busy bodies can tell me I told you so, but until then, I think this kind of thing only fractures an already small community. I believe the products I ordered have met or exceeded my expectations based on price & performance. Value based products provide those on a budget variety and perform well enough to get new users excited. Vocal promoters of our niche community should be applauded.

    Everyone is entitled to their opinion and if they do not like something, it is fine to say so. I guess picking the worst, in my opinion, should focus on truly poor performing or defective products. I am sure there are 5 companies that are real stinkers, making products that just plain fail and should be avoided. If you want to rate the performance of a company and not the products, and the company makes desired products, criticize them if they can't keep pace with demand to expend the brand to make it more accessible to the community. Overall, I would just like to know who makes awful products to avoid. Uninspired or me too scents are not enough to be upset about. Many just like basic scents, and some companies stick to these primary classics. Maybe I'm all wet, but this is my two cents...
     
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  3. Straight razor dandy

    Straight razor dandy Stuck cleaning the house himself PERMANENTLY

    The top 5 are definitely worth visiting. Stirling Soap and cold river soap works could easily go up there too, but I guess they aren't as "hot" as some of the others at the moment.

    It is tough to rate the bottom 5. I would also rate them on performance and not attitude or poor customer service only, but...for the most part, those are companies I would avoid.
     
  4. Bama Samurai

    Bama Samurai with Laser-like Focus

    Also OP @Straight razor dandy


    I prefer to spend time sharing what products work for me, rather than deconstructing something I didn't enjoy that much, or pondering the choices of people I don't know. Soap and scents are so highly personal and subjective, unless the soap base is defective in some way, I won't say much negative about it. Kerry is right, don't post it if you wouldn't literally say it to someone's face.
     
  5. Straight razor dandy

    Straight razor dandy Stuck cleaning the house himself PERMANENTLY

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  6. ohbrian

    ohbrian Well-Known Member

    It wasn't until I joined some forums that I heard about all the PAA drama, sounded stupid to me, but I like his products.
     
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  7. matteob

    matteob Active Member

    Thing that baffles me about Razorock is they make a limited amount of razors, sell them at a price where the profit margin must be wafer thin then seemingly discontinue them? You go to their page on razors and 75% are out of stock. The fella was charging $19.99 for the Hawk for example, trying to secure one was a nightmare and many of those who did are crowing about selling them on for a handsome profit??? It all seems crazy.

    Not had any dramas with the (tiny) UK soap makers and potters I have dealt with so far. Most back room one man/woman band operations who make a great product and give a good and personal service. Even Edwin Jagger have been spot on and though growing still offer a friendly personal service if you buy direct from them.
     
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  8. PickledNorthern

    PickledNorthern Fabulous, the unicorn

    Welcome to buying Razorock razors. The trick is that you must learn to not care about his razors one way or the other. If you get one, you get one. If you don't, meh.




    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     
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  9. matteob

    matteob Active Member

    Well Razorock Joe told me in email he had mucked up his pricing on the Hawk and did not make any money on them. I was just wondering why a guy running what appears to be a successful business could make pricing blunders like this several times in a row (Baby Smooth etc). I doubt very much those who are trying to sell Hawks on ebay for nearly ten times the price will succeed though. Any buyer who pays that sort of money is a mug IMHO.

    @wristwatchb true but looking at some of the behaviour of those guys, especially the start up guy, would you buy from a guy like that? He hoisted himself up with his own petard with that abusive text. I would not trust the accusations of dishonesty about the Phoenix guy though without hard proof. That post on him smacks of malicious gossip.Basically though the old adage "If you love what we do tell others; if you don't tell us" applies. Businesses should always be prepared to listen to their customers even if it is stuff they don't want to hear."
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2016
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  10. crackstar

    crackstar Israeli Ambassador to TSD

    For me the best soap artisan is Stirling and the worst is this guy in France whose company went out of business after operating perhaps a year. He also charged me an absurd price for the two worst soaps I ever used. :angry019:
     
  11. matteob

    matteob Active Member

    I got to bang the British drum here. I love Wickham Soap especially his Citrus Musk and Classic 24 (barbershop), Phoenix and Beau is also a lovely tallow soap and their Albion soap has a lovely zingy scent (Bergamot, Grapefruit and Lavender)which I love. Last is Nanny's Silly Soap whose Signature Lavender I stick my nose in from time to time even when not shaving as it smells so gorgeous. All tiny little operations run by lovely people. Wickham and Nanny's Signature are particularly good for vegans who still want good glide and cushion. I have found them equal to P&B on that score. I want to try a few US chaps like Barrister and Mann, Phoenix and Mikes and will do in time. One good thing about yesterdays events is that the Dollar is dropping so US products will be cheaper again for us Brits and others.

    As to criticism, if you do it in a contructive fashion most small businesses will take your points on board as it is in their interests to do so. I would never trash a small operation as we are talking about livelihoods here as said. I will just say if something is not for me in a nice way. I critized P&B's new seasonal "Baskerville" for smelling like oversmoky damp bonfire (smell actually made me feel sick) but was careful to say the glide and performance was as good as ever. Kerry the maker was fine about it. One man's meat and all that.
     
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2016
  12. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    That is just a blog, and hence one person's opinion. It is no different than the soap reviews and favorites lists posted on the various forums. Not everyone is going to have Sterling as a favorite soap. There are many other top-notch soaps available.
     
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  13. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    stinks...too bad.
     
  14. matteob

    matteob Active Member

    I am a bit shocked at the bitterness of the debate over certain brands especially on Reddit. I don't know how much is true over the accusations against Smythe and the razorock guy but most of the soaps I use are made by tiny back room organizations who get their business from word of mouth. I guess if you don't like a brand don't use it. Getting in a lather over soap (lol) seems a bit ridiculous to me.
     
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  15. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    I decided to use my second Stirling Barbershop Bath Soap as a hand-washing soap only. After that is finished, I'm thinking about getting something at ManHandsSoaps.
     
  16. Bezoar

    Bezoar Active Member

    public comment is how they learn to do things. Some like wickhams LOVES public commentation so he can see what works and doesn't. Its why he asks for it on TSR. But then again, he cares about the product he makes.

    A lot of product is simply over hyped. I have tried a few products simply because the product got good hype. And to put it politely, most of the time the products SUCKED for me. If you buy a tub of soap, and it makes your skin turn green or your razor rust over night, there is nothing wrong with stating it.

    And if the product was as good as the hype, it would be impossible to hurt the products reputation by saying it turned your skin green, or made your chrome plated fat boy rust over night.
     
  17. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    If some people blow a fuse over other's preferences, so what? Let them. It could be that the brand warriors are hired help, in which case their actions would be part of the job.
     
  18. HolyRollah

    HolyRollah BaconLord

    No issue with disagreement and cordial discourse. Problems arise when personal attacks, name-calling and obscene language erupts from differing opinions. These actions violate the 'golden rule' of this forum and often create dissension, ill will, and bad feelings towards other members — thus requiring action by moderators.
     
  19. PickledNorthern

    PickledNorthern Fabulous, the unicorn

    Isn't is sort of baffling how worked up people can get over something as mundane as soap?
     
  20. HolyRollah

    HolyRollah BaconLord

    I've seen people get seriously worked up on a variety of forums (not just wet shaving) on seemingly trivial topics such as what are the 'best' guitar strings, spark plugs, wood polish, BBQ sauces- so no surprise that the shave soap one chooses and thinks is best is hotly debated. People are peculiar....
     

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