In praise of Stirling Soaps...

Anise - 8/10
Glacial Obsidian - 10/10
Ozark Mountain - 8.5/10
Sharp Dressed Man - 9/10

Coconut-Lime - Full Puck and Sample Coming
Vanilla-Sandalwood - Sample Coming
Black-Cherry - Sample Coming
Rose (Beeswax)- Sample Coming

Every Stirling seems to provide the best lather of every soap I've encountered-thick-slick-yogurt-protective! This is the latheringtechnique I've been using, and not once has it failed! Shaving Soap Lather Tutorial: http://youtu.be/o9wWp4EvEVI

Which stirling products Jane you used?
Rate them based on your experience. As you can see this thread can grow as you try more Stirling Soaps... even me I have more stirling soaps on the way. I'll be coming back to in depth review the products listed.

 

Jeff, let 'er rip!

Glacial Wintergreen: 10/10--Magnificent scent, easy-to-lather, with 50 below zero menthol power and perfect skincare.
Glacial Obsidian: 10/10--I love the strong black licorice scent, it's easy-to-lather, 50 below zero menthol power, and perfect skincare.
Glacial Lemon Chill: 10/10--Wonderful scent, easy-to-lather, 50 below zero menthol power, and perfect skincare.
Glacial Spearmint: 10/10--Great scent, the lather is a bit tricky, (no big deal!) 50 below zero menthol power and perfect skincare.
Black Ice: 9/10--Very nice black licorice scent, easy-to-lather, good menthol power, and very good skincare.
Margaritas in the Arctic: 9/10--Awesome scent, easy-to-lather, very strong menthol power, and excellent skincare. I love the MITA.
Rosemary Mint: 7/10--Very good scent, easy-to-lather, quite cooling, but a little drying on my skin. There are still worse soaps out there.

 

I've used the following Stirling Soaps:

• Beer: 4/10—not a pleasing scent at all. Probably why it is no longer available.
• Black Cherry: 5/10—very sweet smelling
• Glacial Obsidian: 8/10—probably my fav in the Stirling lot, great scent, tons of menthol chill
• Black Ice: 7/10—great scent, good menthol chill
• Margaritas in the Arctic: 7/10 — very nice, refreshing scent
• Coniferous: 6/10— piney, almost 'industrial cleaner' scent
• Frozen Tundra: 7/10 — very nice, refreshing scent with a good menthol chill

I've used 100% of about six of the pucks; about 30% on the rest. The majority of the Stirling scents I enjoy, and the menthol-laced pucks (Black ice, MITA, Glacial Obsidian, Frozen Tundra) are probably my favorites.
I've taken the majority of the Stirling pucks out of my soap rotation as, unlike Jeff's experience above, I've found none of them to be especially easy to lather, nor long-lasting.
I have watched videos (such as the one linked above), soaked pucks, bowl-lathered, face-lathered, used boars, badgers & synthetics, and after while, I just find myself grabbing other makes of soap to use.
I suppose I'm just not destined to be a regular Stirling user which is unfortunate as I do like some of their scents.

 

Moving to this thread... looks like there was a dup

First experience with them after the Seattle Meet Up

I took home the Vanilla Tangerine Shave Soap and the French Vanilla Lip balm

First issue I had was the lip balm doesn't say "Lip Balm" anywhere on the tin, so here was Dumb Glen thinking I had a French Vanilla Soft Soap sample...
Let me tell you cleaning Lip Balm of a HMW knot is not fun
Borax soak, Gain wash, followed by Shampoo and Creme Rinse to get all the balm off my brush. gave up on the shave, way to frustrated to play with a Straight Razor

Next day different brush

Break out the Shave Soap puck and work up a Facelather, smells great at least to me, the lather was good also, WTG pass not bad slickness or protection..
HWR and re-lather
This is where the burning sensation started, could be either the EO or FO does not agree with my face

Will wait at least a week before trying again and report back...

ps: The wife loves the remaining lip balm

 

Can anybody speak on the Rose scent or the Benjamin Franklin (cause I hear that it smells like Rootbeer)?

 

Every single Stirling Soap Product I've used has been exceptional! Including Rods Customer Service.

 

I agree. Rods customer service has been outstanding! They've made me a Custom Black Ice Aftershave Splash, thrown in free samples, corrected shipping on orders... the service is as awesome as their product!

 

Rod has done "special treatment" orders for me as well. He's got a customer for life.

 

The custom order of Super Black Ice was the Black Ice with 2x the menthol and 2x the Anise! Strong Stuff! Really powerful!

 

What has anyone else tried?

 

I'll be super lazy and link to my scent reviews here of;

Naked & Smooth - 4/10
Tea Tree 6/10
Ben Franklin - 5/10
Sharp Dressed Man - 9/10
Bay Rum - 2/10
Rose - 8/10
Sandalwood - 6/10
Lemongrass & Cajeput - 9.5/10

Favorite: Lemongrass & Cajeput. Absolutely amazing.
Least: Bay Rum

 

Darkbulb, they don't offer lemongrass and cajeput anylonger. I'll email Rod if their is a soap that is similar. Any thoughts on that soap now?

 

About a month ago he mentioned that he will bring that soap back again....I am waiting with my finger on the purchase button

 

What is the scent like?

 

See full description here: http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/my-personal-stirling-soap-scent-off.36907/

 

Two other soap varieties:

• Almond Creme — 5/10 Very sweet scent; Similar to the black Cherry; you almost want to eat it!
• Earl Grey — 6/10 Faint scent, but pleasingly refreshing; distinctly bergamot.

 

Here are the links to two of my "Stirling Weeks": 7 days, 7 Stirling soaps.
My favorites remain Margaritas in the Arctic and Ozark Mountain.

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/my-stirling-week.35883/

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threa...rushes-7-aftershaves.38108/page-2#post-676127

 

I'm with Bobcat - MITA and Ozark Mountain. I have WAYYYY too many soaps, most of the popular choices. I rotate them all and never use the same soap twice in a row. There are GREAT soaps out there, but I'm always pleased when a Stirling soap comes up in the rotation. For me, it's the best shave. Is it the easiest to lather? No, but it's not hard, unless you have hard water, I guess, but I get volumes of great lather every time. I love the slickness and after-shave feel. If i had to bring one soap to a desert island, it would be a Stirling soap, or maybe a Barrister and Mann.

 

Got my Stirling shipment.... MAIL CALL!
Coconut-Lime 2 Full Pucks
Coconut-Lime 1 sample
Vanilla-Sandalwood 2 sample (1 to giveaway)
Orange Chill 1 sample
Black Cherry 1 sample
Rose Beeswax 1 sample
Black Pepper Lime Aftershave Splash 1
Honey Oatmeal Bath freebie
Mentha Scrub Bath Soap freebie

Today's shave was Coconut-lime, followed by the Black Pepper-Lime aftershave splash. Maggard MR2, Astra Platinum Blade (4th or 5th shave), Maggard Razors Alum Block, Skin Tight Razor Bump Fighter, Bump Stopper Razor Bump Treatment. Today's shave was smooth as silk!

 

Here are mine from hijacking Darkbulb's thread:

Black Ice 8/10
Sandalwood 4/10
Glastonbury 7/10
Gin & Tonic 8/10
Clubman 5/10