Is your longest lasting soap also your favorite soap

I appreciate your concern. Your question, however, is multifaceted, and would receive a different answer from just about everyone.

I answered, to a degree, above. Now that I have a better idea of what you are asking, specifically, I will modify what I stated to hopefully give you what you are seeking.

To truly find the best possible answer, you need to either try as many soaps as possible (which is prohibitively expensive), or find people that have already done so. I would fall into this latter category.

First off...my parameters: I am a luxury shaver, not a thrifty shaver. I base my favorites on what works the absolute best (ease/quality of lather, moisturizing properties, post-shave feel, cushion, slickness) and has the best scents, regardless of price. This is my hobby, but I have to do it everyday. I'm not going cheap on it. My very last check box would be longevity. If two soaps received the same marks from me across the board but one lasted twice as long, it would be a no-brainer.

I mentioned my top soaps in my previous post (Stirling soap, barrister and mann, catie's bubbles), but I have a second tier as well. My second tier are all very good quality too, but most of them don't reach the top level because they either don't have enough scents that interest me, or they are too hard to obtain. Here's the list: Klar, Tabac, Martin de candre, dr. Jon's vol. 2, L&L grooming, Mickey Lee Soap Works, Jabonman.

The 3 longest lasting soaps that I have ever tried are Tabac, Martin de candre, and Klar. Mdc and Klar are much harder to get. Tabac costs about 15 for a puck, Klar is about 30, and mdc is about 70...but don't let any of these prices fool you...when you figure a price per shave cost, they are some of the cheapest out there. There is just more of an upfront cost. All three work incredibly well and have great scents, but all have fallen from my top three (and into my 2nd tier) simply because they don't offer enough variety. Tabac offers just one scent, mdc offers 4, and I'm not exactly sure how many klar offers, but it is around 4 or so as well.

If you want to go for the cheapest soaps, the look for arko, Williams mug soap, and Palmolive for the lowest in initial cost. Arko is a very polarizing scent. A lot of people hate it, a lot love it. For me, it smells exactly like a urinal cake. It is one of the most artificial and poorest smelling soaps I have tried (and I've tried hundreds and hundreds). Williams mug soap is rumored to be discontinued. Im not sure if there is a definitive answer on this yet, but it doesn't matter because it is a poor performing soap. Can I get it to work? Yes. It is worth it? No way.
Palmolive is a bit harder to get, but it is the best of the three. It lathers the easiest for me and the scent is the best, though pretty light.

Stirling soap is a great mixture of price versus value. They are quite affordable and amongst my top 3 in overall performance. From a value standpoint, it is impossible to go wrong here. You may consider joining our soap passaround on here which would let you try tons of soaps for cheap, including several from Stirling. @PLAla can probably add you if you are interested.

All in all, your questions really depend more on what you personally value. You will see a lot of the same companies pop up in these lists over and over with good reason, but I gave you a more thorough breakdown of the "whys." Think about that and go back over my list.

 

My longest lasting is Tabac and my favorite is Stirling.

 

I posted the below on the Stirling Exchange thread a few days ago. Its the only real "test" I have done as to usage rate of a soap. Stirling which are among my favorites (especially Barbershop, EM, and Bay Rum) seem to have hit that sweet spot of being able to generate a lot of lather but still last a fairly long time. Having said that - of my 30 or so soaps I have yet to finish any of them. I rotate from shave to shave.

Previous post:
For what it is worth: I have now used my Stirling Barbershop 10 times. I weighed it when it was new before using it. After ten shaves (all were 3 passes) I have used .73 oz of the soap. Given the 5.8 oz starting weight - I should be able to get a total of 79 shaves. That seems to me anyway - quite a few shaves from one soap. At that rate, assuming my other Stirling soaps have a similar usage rate, shaving 3 times a week - it will take me 2.5 years to use up my Stirling soaps.

That's my contribution to the corporate knowledge of this thread for the day.

 

Yeah. If it is in a rotation, finishing a Puck of Tabac is like watching waves wear down a rock formation. It is more of a geological era than a finishing of a soap.

 

Absolutely. It once took me three years to finish off a Tabac stick and in between that I finished off three or four Stirling soaps.

 

Tabac is one that I have yet to try. Lots of folks seem to like it.

 

Thus the reason you'll never see me post a favorite

 

Iconiali
MdC
Stirling
Caties Bubbles
SV


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For me picking a favorite soap is like picking a favorite guitar player. Once you reach a certain level of performance, there is no "better than" anymore, just differences. And depending on my mood that given day, I might want to listen to a different "favorite" than yesterday.

 

I am with you. Longest lasting by a wide margin and if I were forced to pick just one soap brand or one soap it would be MdC. I consistently get great shaves when using MdC.

 

Stirling Vanilla Sandalwood and TOBS Sandalwood cream were my first soap and cream when I started shaving with DE razor in September 2014. I finished both by the end of the year so my experience mirrors yours on usage. Stirling is really a very nice soap that I need to revisit as some point.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write what I consider to be a great answer. I much appreciate your feedback .

Thank you

 

If u could only pick one soap company, I would go with barrister and mann...if I could only pick one tub for the rest of my life, then MDC fougere would be my soap.

 

Steve's favorite answer to these "Pick your favorite" questions!

 

This, for the win.

 

Well thanks David

 

Tabac. Lasts forever and ever.

It is not my favorite, right now that is a tie between Caties Bubbles and Barrister and Mann

 

I have not tried any of Caties Bubbles soaps. I know quite a few folks like it and they seem to have a fairly large selection. I do use B&M. I especially enjoy their Taiga (smells like my property with all the cedars and fir trees) and their Bay Rum. But then I have yet to meet a bay rum soap I didn't like.

 

Are they a hard soap or softer like Stirling?

 

They have two series of soaps. The "Latha" series is quite a bit softer than Stirling. Their other soap such as the Bay Rum below is very close to Stirling in hardness. Just as Stirling does - they all produce a very nice lather even with my hard well water. Also, like Stirling, they are a tallow based soap.