http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320101860783&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011 Just tried Susie's Handmade Soap (first ebay link in the OP up top). Her Sandalwood soap is simply one word: SLICK. Easily the slickest shaving soap I've ever used. Think about it -- MamaBear's is awesome, SCS rocks, Honeybee Spa's soaps are wonderful... but I don't know if it's the added Shae butter (I requested the shae butter option) or what, but this 4th Sue's soap is the slickest so far. Size-wise, it's rather small -- I think probably a 2oz puck? Maybe a bit less? It's definitely not the size one would come to expect from HBS, SCS or MamaBear... but then again for $1.99, that's not surprising. I'm sure if Handmade Sue increased the size of her pucks to more closely mimic the size of the more established vendors here, the price would fall right into line. Got a GREAT shave. She has an interesting take on the Sandalwood scent. It's very light on scent... and more of a "soapy" kind of Sandalwood than any other soap I've tried. I fully admit I'm horrible at describing scents, but this soap is very understated in scent. I like it. Having only used it once, and having to try two more scents as well (Peppermint and Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin) I'll reserve a complete review until I've worked with them for a few more tries. But initial first impressions -- S.L.I.C.K. Handmade Sue is SICK with the SLICK. (And that's a good thing). :happy088 I crossposted this to TOP in the other thread, but my ongoing reviews of her other two soaps will be posted here.
Duder - thanks for the mini-review, thats very helpful.......that is helpful in getting me to spend more money :happy001 (and here I thought I was done buying stuff ) They're that slick huh? More slick than a TGQ? Anybody have a full ingredient listing on these puppies?
I need to try the bay rum as a reference point. A lot of the other scents are a little too "sweet" for me. I see there is a Bay Rum Soy candle too. The Patchouli is another option. Scents: Apple, Apple Jack & Peel, Bay Rum, Butterscotch, Citronella; Coconut; Cucumber Melon, Fuzzy Navel, Green Tea, Honey Almond; Honeysuckle; Jasmine, Lavender, Lemon, Lemongrass, Lilac, Orange, Orange Rose, Orange Sherbet, Patchouli, Peach, Peaches & Cream, Pearberry, Pearberry Musk, Peppermint, Pina Colada, Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin, Root Beer, Rose, Sage & Citrus, Sandalwood; Spearmint; Spiced Pear, Strawberries & Cream, Strawberry Margarita; Tea Tree
Yep. Before this, TGQ was the slickest soap I had. TGQ is definitely slick it its own right... no doubting that. But this latest Sue (Sue4) soap blew me away. From the back of her soaps (at least the ones I bought): Avacado Cucumber Glycerin Shae Butter Olive Oil Bentonite Clay Sunflower Oil Safflower Oil Palm Kernel Oil Essential Oil/Dye
Wokka wokka wokka Used the Peppermint this morning -- same results on the performance as yesterday. NICE and cooling (didn't even have to "Proraso" it up to make a superlather) and it's slick as all get out.
Sweet! :: Just placed/paid for my order :happy088 : 1x Bay Rum SS 1x Patchouli SS 1x Almond SS 1x ONE POUND "Loaf" of unscented soap :happy001 All with added butters and good stuff :happy088 Can't wait :drool
I received my order for green tea and lavender yesterday. I ordered the soaps without the additional shea butter or goat's milk; I thought I would try the unadulterated version first. I used the green tea last night. Here are my initial impressions. The pucks are indeed small, but so is the price, so in terms of value, it's right in line with our other favorite independent soap makers. The pucks come with a little cardboard band around them telling you the scent and the ingredients (all good stuff). I found it slightly more difficult to generate lather compared with MB or HBS, but I still got plenty, just not the huge volume I normally create. The soap felt great on my skin. I would put the lubrication and protection in the middle of the road. It lubricated well, but not like MB. However, I'm going to do some experimenting because, given the slight difficulty I had generating lather, I'm wondering if I need to tweak the amount of water I used. I also wonder if the addition of shea butter or goat's milk would increase the lubrication, since Baloosh reported great lubrication with his shea butter soaps. The bottom line is the quality of shave, which was excellent. I got as close a shave as ever with less irritation than I've been getting lately. So, this one is definitely worth a try, and I'll be experimenting more with it because I think there's more potential there than I realized last night.
We need the melting instructions in a "How To" section somewhere. It would be very helpful. There are a couple of other soap makers that this would be useful for too.
try the microwave in short burst, like 10 sec. intervals, until you get what you want. Just make sure to stir to insure consistancy in the ingrediants.
Just placed an order for Butterscotch, Cucumber Melon, Lilac, Pearberry Musk, Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin, and Sage & Citrus... Don't know why, other than they're cheap... I just bought three shave sticks and a cologne from Mamabear that I KNOW I love... At least I've suckered several other guys at work into the downward spiral known as wetshaving, so I can always trade some off to them...
Got the Bay Rum and the Honey Almond SSs yesterday, will give one of 'em a try tomorra. Thanks, Susie!
... and I've already used it today for the first time. Like Jason I requested the shea-butter-option but I can't second his findings on the soap being really slick. My experiences were quite different - I got some nice, dense, lubricating lather out of it but the DE tended to skip around on my face due to too less slickness. In the end I got a great shave - near-bbs with nicely moisturized skin. I'll experiment withe the water-soap ratio and report back here
My second try with this soap was similar to my first. It's good, but I get better results, particularly with regard to lubrication, with other soaps.
Wow. If there was ever an example of YMMV, it's this thread. I've used each of the 3 soaps now (Sandalwood, Peppermint and Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin) and every time the lather was wondrously slick, and my face felt great afterwards. Very moisturized. But I guess that's why they have horse races, as they say...