The one I have these problems with is barrister & mann. I love their quality. I love their scents, but you had better buy it when you see it because they change/drop/reformulate/discontinue et all just about everything.
I lather it, and all soaps except shaving sticks, in the mug and then apply the lather to my face. Insitut Karite was always easy to lather, even with a floppy badger brush.
INPO…. Martin de Candre; regular lavender scent & fougére Mitchell's Wool Fat L'Occitane Cade Route 66 (variety of fine scents) Valobra Le Pere Lucien Recently tried Stirling again after giving up on it several years ago. New Orange Chill is a very nice soap. Looking forward to trying Soap Commander….
I found that lathering it was difficult with respect to water ratio. May need to revisit with a bowl and synthetic brush. My normal method is either shave stick or loaded brush, lathered on my face.
If a great soap is reformulated and becomes even better, then I think that is a good thing. Many, if not all, of the artisan soapmakers on the forums reformulate to improve their soaps as necessary. If a soap is reformulated and becomes less good, then that is a bummer.
I have never tried the cream, but that is on my to do list for the future. Water ratio seems to be important for many soaps. I never had much trouble with Institut Karite, but maybe that was just luck. I used a Dovo pure badger and Omega boar brush.
This thread clearly demonstrates that we live in a golden age for shaving soaps. Consumer wins! I was given a Lime/Bay-Rum made by First Canadian last Christmas. That's all five of my best shaving soaps. But please take it with a grain of salt. I find it difficult to pay more than $4/oz given the wonderful variety of soaps that are out there....
Normal Rotation MLS Colonia di Agrumi MLS Grand Havana MLS Kracken TOBS Jermyn St. Tabac On Occasion or Just Because Cella TOBS Avocado Maggard London Barbershop Proraso Sandalwood Proraso Blue (Aloe and Vitamin E)
Top 5 In No Particular Order: 1) Tabac 2) Haslinger Schafmilch 3) Fine (Platinum & Santal) 4) Stirling 5) Arko
Soaps only? 1. Nuavia 2. Tabac 3. MdC 4. B&M Glissant 5. CRSW Select v2 Creams: 1. Wm Neumann 2. Baume.be 3. Meissner Tremonia paste 4. Castle Forbes 5. Esbjerg
For me: my #1 is EASILY in first place for so many reason 1)Saponificio Varesino (have all but cosmo and I would list all here) 2)D.R. Harris 3)Stirling 4)Cella
My top soap is my three old Yardley soaps, performance wise. Pleasure to use its Oxford & Cambridge due to the fragrance. After that all my soaps are equal or I wouldn't have them.
A list like that is a work in progress of course Just recently I received a few Mystic Water samples - and this soap made it right to the top of my list. Waiting for some Reef Point samples now, I heard they are really good as well ... My personal top 5: 1 - Vintage Chicman Stick. Nothing comes close to that stuff. Has been discontinued 40 years ago - a real pity. 2 - a tie between Barrister & Mann and Mystic Water 3 - Phoenix & Beau 4 - PannaCrema 5 - RazoRock Mudder Focker (ironically I didn't care that much for other RR soaps I tried) honorable mentions: MWF, Tabac, Route 66, Chiseled Face, Jeeves of Hudson Street, CRSW - can't go wrong with any of those. My price vs. performance winner is the LaToja stick btw.
I am going to resurrect an old thread, as I need to modify my top five: Stirling Route 66 Chiseled Face Stubble Trubble MDC I just recently tried Stubble Trubble, and I like it enough to bump Palmolive Classic out of this list.
My list would largely be the same as before: Stirling Soaps Catie's Bubbles Mickel Lee soapworks Barrister & Mann Taylor of Old Bond Street Truefitt and Hill I would say that penhaligons is still teetering on the edge, along with saponificio varesino and pannacrema nuavia. Honorable mention go to Tabac, Klar, Martin de candre, cold river soap works, and Dr. Jon's vol. 2, and xpec Here are my top want-to-trys: L & L grooming, chattilon lux, tallow + steel, k shave worx, more saponificio varesino, more cold river soap works, more Dr. Jon's v2, pannacrema Verde and blu, Meissner tremonia, more sudsy soapery, tcheon fung, more Mike's natural soaps, ballenclaugh, and wholly kaw.
