Overall: (6/10) Herban Cowboy Dusk shaving soap is not good, but also not the utterly worthless 0/10 abomination some people make it out to be. Ease of lathering: (7/10) Swirling the brush on this soap instantly creates mountains of lather, perhaps too much. The lather not only infuses the brush, but also gets all over the brush handle and my hands. That makes the brush and razor hard to hold unless I rinse the lather off my hands and brush handle. It is a lather explosion, which turns out to be annoying. The later is rather light and airy unless there is a lot of water in the brush. The lather is thick and rich given sufficient water. I would say this soap is too easy to lather, if there is such a thing. Life span of lather: (2/10) This is the soap's great failing. Even when created with enough water, the lather very quickly disappears once applied to the face. It is quite surprising to see such a thick, rich lather vanish so rapidly. It leaves behind a clear, lubricating film. The film provides some lubrication, but dries very, very quickly. After that, it is completely useless and lather must be reapplied. If insufficient water was used creating the lather, the lather goes on thin and dries almost immediately. General skincare: (8/10) Herban Cowboy definitely does not fall short here. It has good skincare qualities, better than most shave soaps. Lubrication: (8/10) The lather from this soap is super slick for as long as it lasts. The film left behind after the lather disappears is still somewhat lubricating, but not nearly as much as the lather. How protective: (7/10) The lather is not all that protective, but also not horrible. The transparent film left behind after the lather vanishes is less protective, but not to a large degree. Scent: (8/10) The soap has a very nice scent, which is one of its strong points. "Dusky" describes it very well in my opinion. And it is just my opinion, as scent quality is very subjective. The scent is fairly strong and lasts for quite some time. I still notice it a little 45 minutes to an hour after shaving. Price: (5/10) I think it was something like $4 from the local Whole Foods market. The puck is 2.9 oz./82 grams, so taken by itself is reasonably priced. Value depends on performance, however, and Herban Cowboy underperforms as a shave soap. Would you buy again: (2/10) No. Well, maybe if nothing else were handy or perhaps as a bath soap if it were on sale for $1-2. It is not any worse than shaving gel in a can. Miscellaneous: Herban Cowboy Dusk shaving soap smells great, has a very slick lather and pretty good skincare. It has a lot of potential, and could be a fine shaving soap with a little reformulation. As it stands, this soap just does not cut it. If each shaving pass is done quickly, before the lather has a chance to evaporate, it works pretty well. Having to race against the lather to get a shave done is quite annoying. That turns shaving back into a chore, which is in direct opposition to the aims of traditional wetshaving. The Herban Cowboy website does not list shave soap as one of their products. Perhaps it has been discontinued? If so, that was a waste because it should have been reformulated instead. Looking at the Herban Cowboy website on archive.org, the shaving soap, mug and brush were last shown on November 13, 2007. Ironically, the shaving soap has this description "Made with Organic Oils Long Lasting, Rich Lather Vegan" (emphasis mine). Had Herban Cowboy bothered to talk to people on the forums, they could have received valuable feedback. It has worked for many artisan vendors in the past, and could also work for Herban Cowboy. Note: The brush used was a Dovo pure badger.
The edit function won't allow me to edit the original post, so here is a photo for those that are interested.
A dollop or two of unscented KMF by help boost the lifespan of the lather without interfering with the scent. Well writen review, by the way
You would actually encourage him to use that stuff just so we could get a review? You're a mean one, you are, Mr. Foster.
Why? What is so bad about Burt's Bees shaving cream? I see a lot of products slammed or idolized on the forums, and am starting to wonder how much of it is really true. So many things are 0/10 or 10/10? I find that a little hard to believe. Bear in mind that my overall rating is simply the average of the individual ratings, rounded to the nearest whole number. It might make more sense to use weighted averages instead. Are 'scent' and 'would you buy again' as important as 'lubrication' and 'how protective'? The benchmark for the overwhelming majority of the shaving public is canned gel, so a cream or soap does not need to be fantastic to succeed commercially. I got the Herban Cowboy soap at Whole Foods. I think they also carry Burt's Bees shaving cream and a number of other wetshaving products. It was a recommendation for Kiss My Face by one of their employees that got me started in traditional wetshaving. "It gives the slickest shaves ever" were his exact words. They do have a forum of their own, where product feedback can be left and product requests made. It might be a good idea to leave feedback there, too. They probably don't know that wetshaving forums even exist. Hmmm... here is a product request: The Shave Den shaving soap. Just remember that is not a wetshaving forum, so forum slang and abbreviations like "DE", "KMF" and "BBS" would be puzzling and unintelligible.
I will grab a tube this week and try it out. Herban Cowboy soap is virtually the same unless a LOT of water is used while lathering. BTW - Somebody left a review of Herban Cowboy shave soap on the Whole Foods forum. Dang, there is more than one person using this soap.
Yup. I took two swipes with my razor and promptly washed the remaining film. Lathered up with some real soap and finished my shave. The tube of Burt's Bees went into the trash. I would just not feel good about myself asking somebody else to subject themselves to Burt's Bees. But that's me.
Granted, Burt's Bees shave cream is a non-lathering shave cream. Some have found it slick, others, not so much. Their shave soap on the other hand, was a disaster.
I can't believe you got a good shave using Herban Cowboy. Once upon a time I had two pucks, and I couldn't get them to work so I used them for bath soap. They're the only pucks I've ever given up on.
My hat is off to you! Didn't know it was possible to lather Herban Cowboy! Made an ok bath soap though... I gave it a 9/10 for scent and a 1/10 for performance on the face. Only thing I've never been able to get a decent lather out of.
It depends what you mean by "work". Sixty percent overall is not a zero, but it is just barely a D. Given that, I would not really say I got it to work, at least not in a satisfactory manner. I added the brush type to the review. Maybe that makes a difference? What I find surprising is that Herban Cowboy released this product in the first place. Didn't they test it? If they did, then why did they sell a shaving soap that is so obviously deficient? Oh well, live and learn. The L'Occitane Cade that replaced the Herban Cowboy is turning out to be a very good shave soap. The Herban Cowboy turned out to be a good bath soap, albeit a pricey one at $4 for a 3 oz. cake.
I just bought a puck of this AND Burt's Bees shaving cream at Whole Foods today. I tried lathering both, just to see how they'd do. For me, the puck of Herban Cowboy Dusk lathered ok, but was very thin layer, overall. I added a dollop of glycerin to the brush, and it seemed quite nice. Still thin, but very lubricating. Next time, I will try adding more water and see how it turns out. The Burt's Bees was very weird. I tried a bit on the brush, and it just disappeared... there was zero lather, I couldn't even tell there was any in the brush. I tried working it in a mug and nothing. I then tried a bit in my hands and working it into my beard; again, it became clear, but I could tell there was a thin layer of lubricant on my face. It was pretty silky, so I still need to try shaving with it, but overall I like the feeling of having a nice lather on my beard. Will probably shave with the Herban Cowboy stuff tomorrow, cuz for now, it seems like the best shaving soap I have. I looked at the KMF stuff on the shelf at Whole Foods, but it was loaded with nasty chemicals and things so I figured it probably didn't need to be going on my skin.
So, I've been using the Herban Cowboy Dusk the last few days; sadly, it's probably the best shave soap I have at the moment. I have found that I still can't get a nice, thick lather. Also, it dries on one side of my face so quickly that I can't even get a full pass in. I find I'm re-lathering the other half of my face for each pass. All-in-all, definitely not recommended.
The Kiss my Face is one of the best low cost shave creams out there. The other two you picked up are generally considered the worst two shaving creams out there.
