I just wrapped up a week of having a showdown between Pre De Provence 63 and Blades Grim Smoulder. Why these two you ask they are both 14.99 for 4 oz, both vegan, both come in cool aluminum tins, both have great scents, and are both pretty widely available. Scent: Both of these soaps smell great and both have a fairly weak scent strength while using them. I don't think anyone would really mind either scent but Smoulder is a little more complex than PdP 63, and PdP 63 is just a little on the perfume side of scent so Smoulder wins by a small margin here. Ease of Lather Between the two soaps the more croap like Smoulder is certainly easier to lather so Smoulder wins the round. That being said Pre de Provence 63 isn't tough to lather at all. Performance. Smoulder seems to dry out on the face before a full pass is completed making it a bit sporadic in terms of performance. Pre de Provence 63 does has a bit more lasting power and can be brought back easily with just a little water. Slight win for Pre de Provence 63 on performance. Slickness Pre de Provence 63 is a pretty slick soap and it maintains that slickness through the entire shave and definitely has enough to go over a spot without soap on it. Smoulder is okay in sickness but not great and I wouldn't try Shaving a spot without lather with this one. Easy win for Pre de Provence 63. Postshave This one is a close one because neither one has an amazing post shave feel but neither one is bad either. I'm calling a tie on this one. Value With both products priced at 14.99 for 4 oz this looks like an obvious tie on the surface. Dig a little deeper and a tie couldn't be further from the case. With it's soft almost croap like feel Smoulder is easy to over use. Pre de Provence 63 is a quadruple milled hard soap so it's a significantly denser 4 oz of soap that will most likely last for years. The winner is... Pre de Provence 63 pulling ahead with way better value, better lather performance, and more slickness through the shave. Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk
Next week it's going to be 2 cologne inspired scents that perform way above their price range. Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk
By the way I would love to see some other members showdowns between soaps. Feel free to add to the thread just a few particulars about it. 1. Give the showdown a week to make it fair 2. Use the same setup for the whole showdown to keep the variables low 3. Have fun with and share results
You just challenged ME to do a showdown-but it will be later in the year, or next year when I make my purchases for NB18.
With any luck the thread will still be around I broke a no buy last night because I found Tabac in the bowl for 14.99 shipped on Amazon and I had to grab it. Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk
It's coming from the U.K. so it's not due to arrive until the 20th but $15 free shipping with the bowl was too good to pass up. I had it in my shave gear wish list for later and got the price drop notification had to jump on it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thank you feel free to have a showdown of your own if you would like! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
So this weeks showdown is two of the best budget performance soaps around. Both have loyal fan bases and both really push the envelope on price versus expectations. Both Arlie nice Tallow based soaps. One is based on the classic scent of Aqua Di Parma and weighs in at 2.25 an ounce or $9 for 4 oz it's Razorock xXx. The other soap is based on Green Irish Tweed and is a monster of value at 2.24 an ounce or $13 for 5.8 ounces it's Stirling Sharp Dressed Man. I'll be using them back to back through the week to compare them using scent, ease of lather, quality of lather, slickness, post shave feel, and value. I'll be using the same setup all week with the Razorock Bruce Synthetic, a Shark Super chrome in the Gillette Slim adjustable, Gentleman Jon Alum, and rotating Fine Platinum and Stirling Sharp Dressed Man Aftershaves. Both aftershaves are alcohol based with menthol so it shouldn't skew results to have both. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I will save you time and tell you that Stirling will pummel razorock into Oblivion. I do love these faceoffs you are doing, btw.
I would like to see a turtleship vs. groomingdept showdown, however, since they are two of the most hyped newcomers these days.
I'm going to go in like a newbie with no theories on a winner forcing me to pay closely attention to the details during the shave and let the results do the talking. Thank you I figured it was a fun way to narrow down some of my favorite soaps to really dial in what I like and why. Also feel free to do one too! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I need to get some of The Fat and do a Fat vs Tabac showdown. Two classics, head to head. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
Thinking about doing the same have to let something run out first though Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk
Also one round down for Razorock xXx vs Sterling SDC and I have to admit is a tougher call than I would have expected. Tomorrow morning the xXx gets a spin with the slim on 9. Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk
