Ogallala reformulation

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by jramire2, Sep 24, 2007.

  1. jramire2

    jramire2 Member

    I don't know if this is old news or not, but I thought I'd let the board know that the Ogallala Bay Rum company has reformulated their shaving soaps. Those of you that have experienced the excellent scented and super slick but overall very poor lathering old formulation soaps will be happy to know that this new stuff is getting some pretty good reviews thus far.

    The only real info I have is that the new formulation has shea butter in it, they are now meltable into your favorite mug, and 2 new scents have been added. Bay Rum & Sandalwood, Bay Rum & Lemongrass. From what I've been told, the great bay rum scent has not changed, and the overall strength of these new scents is pretty potent.

    I've got new formulation pucks of BR & Sandalwood, BR & Lemongrass, Bay Rum, and samples of BR sage & cedar, and BR limes & peppercorn on their way to me right now. I'll let everyone know how they perform once I've had a few shaves w/them.


    And just to be clear, I have no affilliation w/OBR at all. As a fellow Nebraskan (though I currently live in TX) I do my part to try and support others from the state, but that's it.
     
  2. qhsdoitall

    qhsdoitall Wilbur

    I'll have to write them, I had a number of email conversations with John there about the soaps. He and I went through a bunch of ways to maybe get that soap to perform better. I know he was upset because he thought his soapmaker was one of the better ones and he couldn't understand why we were having so much trouble with it. He finally admitted defeat and was going to have some R & D sessions with his soapmaker. I'm glad to see he reformulated it without losing the scents.
     
  3. jramire2

    jramire2 Member

    Well, here goes.

    I got my package from OBR last night, which included all five of the scents they sell. They're all opaque(I'm guessing from the shea butter?) and different colors (the BR & Lemongrass is yellow, BR & limes is green, straight BR is a light brown, etc), and depending on the scent combo, some seem to be a bit stronger than others. The BR & lemongrass puck was definitely the strongest, while the others were a bit more muted.

    The same great bay rum scent of OBR hasn't changed, but to be honest I opened up my container of old formula BR soap and got much more of a "kick in the face" scent than the new BR puck. They're the same scent, but not nearly as strong in the new puck. Don't get me wrong, the soap didn't come across as unscented or anything, but I really like the scent of OBR soaps. And the fact that when you used the old formula you'd get a great superstrong BR scent during the shave, but it was gone after you rinsed so it didn't interfere w/your aftershave. The next time I order, I may need to ask John if it's possible to get an "extra strength" bay rum shaving soap.

    I also need to ask John about a couple of the pucks that had a 1/8 to 1/4" layer of pure white on the bottom. I don't know if this is from settling or what during the mfr process, but I wasn't too concerned w/it considering I plan on melting all of mine into containers.

    So anyway, I went ahead and melted the bay rum puck into a container last night and decided to give it a go this morning. I decided to put it to a "real" test by loading up my recently acquired Gillette Milord w/a fresh feather blade. I consider this a pretty big test for the soap since I've gotten into the habit of always using a good cream for the first shave w/any new blade I use (feather, derby, or new injector). The extra cushion I get from a good cream helps break in a new blade w/out the risk of razor burn.

    Right off the bat I could see that OBR really put some thought into their new formulation. It's not quite as slick as the old formulation, but gone are the days of disappearing lather. The soap lathered up easily and created a much thicker denser lather than the old formula. I would say that the lather was very similar to HBS soaps or maybe colonel conk. Though I think this new OBR soap produces a thicker lather than conk. The scent did kick up a bit once it was lathered and I got a great 3 pass shave out of it with no nicks or irriation.

    After my shave I performed my traditional post shave routine;

    warm rinse
    cold rinse
    alum (let dry)
    cold rinse
    pat dry
    alcohol splash (today it was Pinaud bay rum), slap it on, wait for it, wait for it, and then -> :angry021
    light witch hazel splash

    My skin feels smooth as glass, haven't gotten this good a shave w/a non tallow based soap in a long time. Even under my chin is smooth, which never happens.

    I'm not sure quite how much my skin benefited from the shea butter that this soap contains. I think tomorrow I'm going to be brave and just do a warm/cold rinse and not apply anything else. The only glycerin soap I use that I can usually use w/out an aftershave is Mama Bear, we'll see if OBR can do it.

    I'll post an official review in the review section once I've had a few more shaves w/it, but so far it's a thumbs up.
     
  4. qhsdoitall

    qhsdoitall Wilbur

    Thanks Joshua. Good to know they took a step in the right direction. Do you still thnk you an extra strength version even though the scent kicked up during the shave?
     
  5. jramire2

    jramire2 Member

    If you're used to the scent strength of the old formula straight bay rum shaving soap (my favorite of the old soaps), then you might want an extra strength version. But if you like the scent strength of say, Conk or maybe HBS (though I think the OBR was a bit less than HBS), then I think you'll be fine w/the scent of the standard bars. I don't know, maybe it's just me. Scent is so YMMV.

    And keep in mind, it depends on which OBR scent we're talking about. The BR & lemongrass is just as strongly scented as the old soaps, no need for an extra strength version of that one.

    btw, the new scents are really good. BR & lemongrass has a great lemon scent but you can still smell the BR notes, and the BR & sandalwood is excellent as well. Of all the scents, I'd probably put them in the following order of scent strength (from strongest to lightest)

    Bay Rum & Lemon Grass
    Bay Rum & Sage/Cedar (tie w/BR & Sandalwood)
    Bay Rum & Sandalwood (tie w/BR & Sage)
    Bay Rum & Limes/Peppercorn
    Bay Rum

    And I don't want this to come as a knock against these soaps. They all smell amazing, it's just very noticeable that the new BR soap is subtler when you compare it to the old formula soap or to the new BR/lemongrass soap.
     
  6. fritz

    fritz New Member

    Ogallala soaps, pass 2

    Wednesday afternoon my care package from Ogallala arrived, and so I've had a chance to shave with two of the three different soaps, BR & Limes & Peppercorns, and the BR & Lemongrass. These are the second generation of the re-formulation, because John has taken out the colors. If I had to get it down to only one word, it would be "excellent"! They lather quickly, and the lather is quite dense and smooth. The scents are very nice (of course, you hafta like Bay Rum!) and the scent isn't very strong when you smell the puck, but it seems to activate as you build the lather and becomes more pronounced. It also seems to linger for a few hours after the shave, at a very low level. I'm going to try the BR and Sandalwood tomorrow. John threw in a bottle of BR & Sandalwood AS, and a spritzer of BR & Sandalwood room freshener, so I already know what that will smell like. Yummm....

    So now I've got 12 different soaps, and a few tubes of cream. I'm gonna have to stop this... :D
     
  7. seamus402

    seamus402 You don't mess with Big Slim

    I'm glad he took the color out. I told him most of us don't want or care about the color.
     

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