I am going to shave in a little while. Not sure what to use. I really liked the Mystic Water Irish Traveller, the Jermyn Street cream, Mike's Coconut, Ginger's Garden British Empire, and Jeeves Turkish Bath. Right now I'm leaning toward Mike's because I've wanted to try his soap for a long time. I'll report back soon!
SOTD June 3, 2017 Blade: Chinese Schick Razor: Schick M Adjustable injector Brush: Artisan badger Lather: Mike's Coconut Post: Witch hazel, Speick aftershave WTG, touch up I chose Mike's Coconut for my inaugural box shave. What a great soap! Lathers up beautifully and can take a lot of water, very much like Stirling. Slick, protective, and decently moisturizing. I didn't find it to have terrific post-shave qualities like Stirling, but it's certainly acceptable. Overall I really liked this soap. The scent reminds me of sunscreen or tanning lotion more than coconut. But that is one of the unmistakable scents of summer and I liked it a lot. I will be going out of town next week for a while and will have to return to these shaves later on. But I'll post them here when I use a pass-around item.
June 4 - Soap Smooth Riez Merkur 34C Astra SP(day 1) 23 mm AOS Pure Badger DIY PSO Soap Smooth Riez Alum/Thayers/AOS PSB Riez at first smelled like a butter lemon or orange scent. I think I was mixing up the smell of rosemary and mint for this. This soap is supposed to be lavender, rosemary and mint. I found the scent pretty good and stronger than the Ginger's Garden. I would call it more of a medium strength because it was easy to detect but did not fill the room. Lather took a little more effort than GG but GG just leaped into a lather. It took a bit more work but yielded a good lather that I found light but slick. It was still on the quick side to dissolve. Not as thick as recent soaps but it could be that I used too much water. The soap lasted but had a tingly feeling. This could be bubbles bursting . It did not dissipate though and did not need rewhipping. 3 passes and no extra work yielded a BBS. I never felt the soap left anything behind for touch ups. Skin felt clean and soft. Neither greasy nor dry. Alum was quieter today than any shave with the PermaSharp. A light bite to let me know I am fallible that dulled quickly. Thayers was silent. I found SS Riez to be good but I have better. The scent was also good. I could have over watered it a bit and this has skewed the results. I tend to like strong scented soaps that leave something behind that will protect me when I am just too stupid and must shave a lather lacking section. I would buy it if I wasn't a fanboy of Stirling, Saponificio Varesino and Barrister & Mann. These I found to be better. SS is close though and a little less water might reveal this.
June 5 - Mystic Waters Adventures Merkur 34C Astra SP(day 2) 20mm AOS Pure Badger DIY PSO Mystic Waters Pompelmo e Fiori Alum/Thayer/AOS PSB Astra did very well yesterday so I was hoping for a repeat performance. I think this is my first grapefruit scented soap and my first Mystic Waters. I recall the scent being very strong and slightly bitter in the container. My sample from the pass around box must have weakened since I could not detect much other than a slight floral scent. Lathered, it was mild in scent. The lather was good and had good slickness. I do not find it as slick as B&M or Stirling but still up there. 3.5 passes yielded BBS with even less alum bite than before. Face rinsed easily and skin felt fine. To me, I rate post shave as greasy, moisturized, clean or dry depending on how my face feels. I have yet to have a soap leave me greasy and my favorites tend to leave me feeling moisturizer. MW, I would say, leaves me between moisturizer and clean. Only if you have rather dry skin or it is winter would you need a post shave Balm. In all, a soap I would recommend, especially if a newer tub has a stronger scent.
So far, the soap pass around box has helped me with my preferences for soap. I like the thicker lather I tend to get from tallow soaps. Vegan soaps can be very good but they need additions like shea butter, coconut butter, glycerin for me to like them. I tend to prefer soaps that leave something behind after the lather is removed by the blade. Strong scented soaps capture my fancy. I still like citrus and cologne scents but have widened my repertoire to herbal and spicier scents. Bay rums and barbershop scents are ok but still have to be smelled to like. B&M bay Rum smells good but I prefer Crowne & Crane Port Royal Bay Rum for the richer scent. Both are very good smelling but I just prefer C&C. There is such a thing as too sweet to me. As good as Caties Bubbles is and I did like the quality of their lather, too many of their scents are too sweet for me. I did like theirs too. Menthol is wonderful. Scents do not have to be strong to be enjoyed. Sometimes you just feel like a milder scent. Glad there are companies that aren't also in the bathroom deodorizing business. There are lots of soaps that try to mimic Martin de Candre but, to me, there is still only one base I can call Martin de Candre. Can anyone post something they have learned from the box?
I've determined Expensive ≠ High Quality. In another thread discussing Bufflehead soap it was noted that Hype can drive some product prices way beyond the real value. I started my wet shave journey using VDH (glycerin) and Marvy (tallow). Later I did try much better soaps of both types - ColConk & a long list of tallow based. There are some decent vegan soaps that I'd buy again. I prefer tallow based. MWF is OK, but need some scent. MdC was alright, but not in my price range. Those two got me wondering about Castle Forbes. Did anyone try the Brand X sample I put in The Box? It is a tallow based cream, but not like others I've enjoyed. Unique with a better than average post shave feel.
I still like Stirling soap, Barrister and Mann, L&L grooming, and Catie's bubbles. Klar and tabac are great as well. I feel there are good value in all of those listed above.
I'm trying a soap Focus - stick with one until I can't take it any more. Tabac is my first up. I like the lather quality and don't mind the scent. It's mild enough I can use most any AS. I might shop a small quantity of the Tabac AS, but only because reportedly it doesn't smell like the soap. Not sure which soap I'll do next because if I start thinking about it I'll already have made a step towards it. Might be Klar Mandel (Almond), but I need to pick up some Pinaud Classic Vanilla AS to go with it.
The tabac Aftershave is similar, but you're right...not an exact match. The Pinaud vanilla will work well with the klar Mandel. Excellent choices.
Tabac AS smells like the soap. I love the stuff for nostalgic reasons. It smells like a 1950s department store.
Thank you for that. I like the lather quality of Tabac, and I can enjoy the Certs mixed fruit breath mint scent while I shave. I'm not ready to wear it all day. I do like your Tobacco Leaf & Amber shave soap. Great scent and slick!
Thanks guys. TLA has been one of our most popular fragrances from the start. Our AS balm makes the aroma last for hours.
This morning I tried Sterling Ben Franklin. Smelled good but not over powering, latheted great buy again I had that sticking or skipping feeling with the razor. What am I doing wrong? They lather and seem slick but the razor doesnt seem to slide the way it does with my prorasso. Otherwise I liked it a lot but the skipping made for an interesting shave. Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
Hmm....I've never had a razor skip with Stirling. In fact I experience the opposite. Stirling mows through my toughest whiskers (chin area) with the best ease of any soap I own.
Stirling can take almost as much water as you can throw at it. I work it in very slowly by adding water at the base of the handle and then letting it drip down through the bristles. I can add much more water with Stirling than other soaps I own. You want the lather to be really shiny and a yogurt-like texture.
