Has anyone purchased any of the handmade soaps on E-Bay? Price is certainly right and the feedback that is posted from those who have purchased is very positive. I have very few choices in my local stores and I'm always looking for the most bang for the buck.
I have bought Honeybee Spa and Susies Bubbles and Nana June's. All are good soaps. Nana June is not around anymore though. However, look no farther than own own TSD store for great soaps made by JoAnna and other products which in addition to being great, help support TSD!
I tried the ones below and they were not good at all, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't make a stable lather, they didn't work very well as hand soap either. :mad: So I PIF'ed them off to someone who would appreciate them.
Buying from artisan soap makers will be hit or miss. Many of them don't research enough to know what makes a good shave soap. The generic shave soap involves adding clay to a typical soap base. This does not make for a great shave soap. Many have tried and few have succeeded in making a good shave soap. Those who have succeeded have spent countless hours perfecting their recipe. In the end, it would be really hard to tell if a soap is going to be good or not until you try it. Many successful ones are reviewed on this site. But there is a lot out there that you could be wasting your money on. I'd stick with what is known to be good, rather than chanicing it.
Thanks! for all the responses. I guess I'll stick with Van Der Hagen snce I can find this locally. Spending $15 on soap is not want I want to do.
Ebay Soap Sellers I have enjoyed a couple of pucks of bay rum soap from Papa's Log Cabin and Barn Full in Ava, Mo. I expect to reorder from that seller.
You are 1,000% right. Artisan soaps can be so risky at times. Once, I bought a couple of soaps here in Montreal, which were made by a guy in northern Quebec. One of the soaps had a very nice lemony scent, and lathered very well, but did not give good skincare. The other soap had a very plain soapy scent, but it was very hard to get a good lather from it, but the skincare was quite good. I forgot the name of these soaps, although they were not so expensive, and the guy is no longer in business.
I'll add that while artisan shave soaps are risky and the majority not so good. Artisan bath soaps are pretty good most of the time, at least the ones that aren't melt and pour. They tend to have great skin care and scents. The only downside is they don't tend to last very long.
You should find that artisan soaper’s that have participated and grown within the shaving forums offer extremely good products. This is mainly due to the soaps being tested, reformulated, tested again and receiving the seal of approval from a fair spread of forum members. I for one wouldn’t purchase artisan soap from somebody i didn’t know outside of the shaving forum circles.
Since the thread has deviated from Ebay stuff.. lemme just say that I have been eating huge amounts of crow pie ever since I stopped complaining about the shipping costs from Queen Charlotte Soaps and started using them.
Not to sure about crow pie, but have taken the same train of thought regards to shipping (participant of a small group buy) and am now awaiting my package from MdC to land on my doorstep.
Ahhhhhhhh, I just remember the name of the artisan soap that I bought here in Montreal. It's called Pierre Le Maitre Barbier. The guy who was making it lives in a town in northern Quebec called Dolbeau. The soaps were as I said, were not expensive at all--perhaps 5,00$ CDN for a 100 ml puck. One type smelled nice, lathered great, but had no skincare, the other was hard to lather, but gave good skincare, although the scent was nothing special.
The only soap I get from eBay now is Palmolive Shave Stick and Palmolive Shave Cream tubes. The other ones I use come from Nancy Boy and right here from TSD. If you haven't tried TSD's new Yin Yang, you must. It's full of lavender and lime goodness and 9 out of 10 Jodys recommend it.
I agree that artisan soaps can be risky, and have tried a couple that were only good for bath soap. On the other hand, there are some artisan soaps that are excellent. Kell's Original Hemp Blend is one, being easy to lather, very slick, cushioning and leaving my face feeling so good. Prairie Creations soap is fantastic, and every bit as good as Kell's but with an even better scent. Krissy definitely has soapmaking nailed. Both are reasonably priced given the size of the pucks and quality of the soap.
I've bought soaps from ebay seller evanest . I've been happy with her shave soaps, at a very affordable price. Her soaps smell nice and lather easily. I don't know how her soaps would compare to the higher end soaps. From my limited experience her soaps lather easier than Williams and Wilkinson sword, not as slick as VDH, and doesn't leave my skin as soft as Arko. But all in all a good soap for 2-3 dollars a puck.
General there are two different types of handmade soaps at ebay. The first are melt and pour soaps on a glycerin base. If you like "clean" soaps it's probably better to avoid them. Mosts soap bases contain SLS or SLES to lather. You can ask the artisan about the INCIs. The second are artisan made soaps. Most of them are on a olive oil base. You can pretty good estimate if these will lather. If the INCIs consist of Olive Oil, coconut oil (for a little lather ), shea, and some other moisturizers you can be pretty sure that the soap will be good for your skin but it will not lather well. In my oipinion the best way is to search at shave related boards for opinions about soaps. Then you can be pretty sure that the soap will fulfil your needs.
I was unlucky enough to buy a lime soft shaving soap from Nanny`s silly soap company mad: Excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me, but the scent was the second most horrible and cheap one after Williams janitor smell.No protection, no slickness, no nothing! One of the worst soaps ever, hands down !
