In my many years as a DE wet shaver, I've been very impressed with the latest blossoming of artisan shaving products over the last few years. One of the problems I'm having is deciding on new soaps and aftershaves to buy, mainly because certain companies use "stories" to describe their products, which makes it difficult to tell what the product smells like. I've bought a couple of items based on those story descriptions and really regretted it once I smelled the product. So far these are the soaps I've happily settled on and I'd like your recommendations for soaps of similar scent or genre. I love a good barbershop scent so anything interesting you guys can recommend like these two: PAA Club Guy and CAD, whatever it is that's in these two, I love the scent and performance. I've also purchased Al Fin, but that hasn't hooked me yet. Not sure if I'm going to stick with that one. Also, I love the scent and performance of Caties Bubbles - La Piment de la Vie. That one blows me away, so anything else you guys think would be like that in scent and performance. I've tried RazoRock XXX and Don Marco, but I gave these away, they just didn't hook me either. Now if you also have anything else you think is worth a shot I'd like to hear about it. But I'm not really big on heavy citrus or Bay Rum. So it's difficult for me to figure out what to try out. Also, if any of the recommendations also have a matching aftershave, that would be totally awesome because I tend to like to match soap and aftershave, but it's not critical, it would just be cool to have that option. Thanks to all in advance.
WSP Barbershop Stirling Barbershop Stirling Clubman All have matching AS...Stirling also has matching ASB.
Route 66 Barbershop Hop is fantastic. The scent alone is worth it, it's just a bonus it performs great
TSD Soaps http://www.theshavedenshop.com/ And your purchase helps support our wonderful forum! http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/what-you-might-not-know-about-the-shave-den.17844/
These are all good recommendations based on your likes. I would throw TOBS Jermyn Street in there as well. It smells similar to WSP Barbershop, which I've heard is very close to CAD.
in addition to all those listed above: shaving shop online has a floid blue scented soap similar to paa cad; they also had an acqua di florida that might be like the catie's bubbles (?). mama bears soaps has a clubman scented soap. mikes' natural, shaver heaven and mystic water make a barbershop scented soap.
Sounds like we have similar tastes with LPV, CAD and CG. I also wasn't wild abut RazoRock XXX. However, I really do like RazoRock X and RazoRock Mudder Focker. Both are good clean scents. I'll add another vote for Route 66 Barbershop Hop, TOBS Jermyn Street as well as Stirling Barbershop. I haven't tried the others that have been recommended but I imagine it'd be hard to go wrong with any of them. I'm fairly new to wet shaving but in my opinion Rte 66 and Stirling give the best all around performance (lather/slickness). PAA isn't far behind them. For me, RazoRock doesn't quite provide the same slickness but still very good.
If you liked LPV you may want to check out I Colonaili. It can be had as a refill puck, or in a terra cotta bowl. The scent is spicy, reminiscent of LPV, and the performance is one of my top 5 soaps. Really good stuff.
Wow, some really good recommendations and lots of things to buy. The I Colonaili sounds very interesting, and I'm thinking of trying the Stirling and Route 66 soaps. It's a good place to start. I know I'll be collecting this stuff, can't get enough of it. Thanks to everyone. LPV just kind of trips me out. I can't figure out what it is, but that scent gets to me. How would you guys classify it. Spicy? It's tastefully done. I wish I could pick them apart like some folks who can tell the various component scents in a soap. I do get the powdery notes in the various barbershop scents, and that always reminds me of grandpas talc when he shaved. I always remember how the barber would talc me up with the brush when I was a kid. It's actually hard to find barbers that do that stuff anymore in my town. OK, thanks guys. I'll keep watching the posts. JG
PAA - Al Fin CRSW - Bergamot & Bay or Puro Fresco Stirling - Sharp Dressed Man Saponificio Varesino - 70th Anniversary I just got the Al Fin set and it's honestly one of the best smelling Soap/Aftershave combos I have. If you dont have a set of CRSW in your den yet your really missing out, top notch performance and absolutely wonderful scents. Stirlings Sharp Dressed man is another winner from Rod. Great prices and exceptional performance from a very reasonably priced Soap/Aftershave. Another nice thing about Stirling is you can have Menthol added to the aftershave if you want. Saponificio Varesino is one of the best soaps available anywhere IMHO. It might cost you a tad more than the others I have listed but it's really great stuff and a very hard puck that will last a good long time. The scent on 70th Anniversary is very nice.
I'm still new to this whole shave soap scene. In my internet searches, I came across Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements. Is that what the PAA acronym if for? Can anyone give me a review on the soap "Cold Spices"? Can anyone tell me if it's vegan?
You are correct about Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements = PAA. As far as I know, all the soaps are vegan. Never tried the one you are asking about, but it sounds like it would be a good one. Sounds like rendition of an older Old Spice formulation perhaps, with some menthol added for a cool kick. I bet it's pretty good. I've tried 4 PAA soaps and like them all and I always try to also get the matching after shave. So far Club guy is my favorite of the PAA soaps. You can go to the PAA website and get the contact info to email them. I've had quick response from PAA.
Hmm. Seems like I might be trying this at some later time. Does anyone know if this soap is a hard puck or a creamy paste in the tub? I'm torn whether to use the actual container they sell or move the soap into the Shulton cup. A hard soap would make this much easier to move, but the container they produced looks pretty darn good! http://phoenixartisanaccoutrements....es-3-0-artisan-shave-soap-lightly-mentholated Feed back would be optimal as I have not been able to find any reviews on this soap.
I would classify PAA soaps as a soft soap. Not a hard puck; not a soft creamy texture like warm butter. It's easy to lather in the container, but I suppose you could move it into another cup or container. I usually lather up in the container, then once the brush is loaded, I use my scuttle to continue the 3 pass shaves. I don't take them out of their containers since the it protects the soap nicely as I rotate to other soaps, and it makes them easier to store and move around. I'm probably going to try this one, but I've already pulled the trigger on some Stirling soaps and aftershaves. This one will probably make it's way into my stash. If you buy it, I hope you post a review, especially detailing the scent and what you think it might compare to. At lest for me, the scent is a big reason I chose a soap as well as it's performance. These days, I've hardly found any really bad soaps since most of the folks on here recommend the good stuff.
I will eventually buy and try this. The container this manufacturer made has what looks like a really nice attempt at a tribute to Old Spice in the art. I can't decide if I'll try to transport the soap to the Shulton cup or actually keep the container they put it in. I'm currently using Mama Bear's "Aged Spice" and it's got the "base notes" of the Old Spice smell, but not the top notes (such as the citrus and flower notes that are detected immediately upon spraying it). Mama Bear's soap smells like Old Spice after several hours of mellowing down to the base scents. It's a perfect match for Old Spice and blends directly to it because of the shared scent elements. I'm about to try the Obsession for Men Soap I bought, hopefully, this weekend. The smell from the package is pretty much dead on accurate from what my nose is telling me, but the real test is in the shave.
Stirling, try executive man, sharp dressed man, Clubman, and barbershop Chiseled Face, the ghost town barber scent Cold River Soap Works, try American Barbershop, Bergamot and Bay, Spiced Amber, and Mediterranea Colonia (Oliva type soap) Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
