Sego Lily Hinoki Wood Shaving Soap Review

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by Shaver X, Jul 17, 2016.

  1. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    Sego Lily Hinoki Wood Shaving Soap Review

    Edit 26 April 2019: It looks like this soapmaker is no longer in operation. As per her Facebootk page, https://www.facebook.com/SegoLilySoap/, the brick and mortar store was closed. The website is now offline, as well.

    Website: www.segolilysoap.com

    I recently did a review for another shaving soap containing tallow and lanolin. For no particular reason, I googled on 'shaving soap tallow lanolin'. One of the results that came back was the Sego Lily shaving soap web page. Searching for reviews of this soap, or even mention, I could find no information outside the soapmaker's website. Curiosity got the better of me, so I ordered a cake of the soap. I was expecting it to be good, but what I found was remarkable: It is the very best shaving soap I have ever used. Wow, double wow and triple wow! Sego Lily soap excels in all categories, and I have found very few soaps that can even approach this one for shaving efficacy.

    The soap cake is 3-inches in diameter by 1-inch thick. The soap is rather soft, although not as soft as the putty-consitency Italian soaps such as Vitos or Valobra. It was easily trimmed with a paring knife to fit in my 2.5 inch diameter mug.

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    Ingredients

    From label on the soap:

    Tallow, Stearic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Kokum Butter, Shea Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Lanolin, Fragrance Oil.

    Lather

    Sego Lily shaving soap does not create a foamy, fluffy lather. Rather, it creates a thick, rich lather-paste on the brush, and foams very little. Not to worry, though, because this super-slick lather works wonders. Whipping it up takes an average amount of effort, although it might take a little extra effor the first time to get the amount of water in the brush dialed in. The soap is very thirsty indeed, and I used a lot of water in the brush when lathering. I lathered the soap directly in the mug, and did not use a shaving bowl or any other intermediate steps before applying the lather to my face.

    Once applied to my face, the lather lasted like what seemed forever. It is really more like a cross between a lather and a non-lathering cream when applied. After my standing there and doing nothing for three minutes, the lather still showed no signs of deterioration and no signs of drying.

    Although it might not look like it, there is plenty of lather in both brushes below for three shaving passes with plenty left over.

    - Ease of lathering: (8/10)
    - Life span of lather: (10/10)

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    Brushes used:

    Left: Vie Long Epsilon Model GC13900/3 horse hair brush
    Right: Omega 50014 boar travel brush
    Both of these brushes have a good measure of backbone

    Performance

    This is the slickest shaving soap I have ever used. The razor glides across my face so easily that it really is something of a surprise at first. Amazing! It makes an already pleasurable task that much easier and more enjoyable. The soap is very protective, and I get zero nicks, cuts or irritation even when using aggressive blades. The skincare is exceptionally good, and my face feels very soft, moisturized and just plain fantastic even hours later. The sum of lubrication, protectiveness and skincare is synergy in action. With a favored blade in the razor, I get baby bottom smooth shaves nearly every time. Sego Lily shaving soap easily earns a perfect score for performance.

    - Lubrication: (10/10)
    - How protective: (10/10)
    - General skincare: (10/10)

    Scent

    The scent is Hinoki wood, which smells rather woody with a hint of citrus. It smells vaguely reminiscent of an Arko shaving stick to my nose, but is really like nothing I have encoutered before. The scent is high quality, and I love the Hinoki fragrance in this soap! The fragrance is noticable, but not overly strong. The soapmaker got the scent strength just right in my opinion. Fragrance is very subjective, however. For those who are not fans of Hinoki wood, Sego Lily shaving soaps also come in other scents.

    - Scent: (10/10)

    Value for the money

    A 4.5 oz./ 128 gram puck cost me $10. That is a fine bargain indeed, especially considering the quality of the soap. Shipping was very prompt, too. I will definitely be buying this soap again.

    - Price: (9/10)
    - Would you buy again: (10/10)

    Conclusion

    Sego Lily shaving soap is a very pleasant and welcome surprise. Not merely good, it is outstanding and delivers the goods in every category. Of the soaps I have used, precious few are even in the same category as this one. Products like this are why traditional wetshaving totally rocks! Did I mention that I like this soap? ;)

    - Overall: (9.6/10)

    My water hardness

    42 mg/l as CaCO3 (soft)

    The water hardness was taken from my utility's latest water quality update. The scale below was used to correlate water mg/l to the soft/hard rating, and is from the US Geological Survey website.

    Water hardness scale (as CaCO3):

    0-60 mg/l: Soft
    61-120 mg/l: Moderately hard
    121-180 mg/l: Hard
    Over 180 mg/l: Very hard

    mg/l is milligrams per liter
    Some utilities give water hardness in parts per million (ppm)
    1 mg/l = 1 ppm (not exactly, but very, very close)

    Disclaimer

    I have no connection with the soapmaker or Sego Lily other than as a retail customer. Nobody asked me or compensated me to do this review. In fact, nobody knew this review would be done, or its contents, until it was posted here on The Shave Den.
     
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2019
  2. MechanicMarley

    MechanicMarley New Member

    Have you tried any other of there scents like southern Getleman? How would you describe there scents if you've tried them?

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  3. Straight razor dandy

    Straight razor dandy Stuck cleaning the house himself PERMANENTLY

    Great review. The only problem is....now there is another soap i have to look out for:(
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  4. SHAVEWIZARD420

    SHAVEWIZARD420 Well-Known Member

    Very nice review! And thanks for bringing this soap maker to our attention.:happy088:
     
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  5. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    This is the first Sego Lily soap I have tried, so I have not tried any of their other scents yet.
     
  6. Demidog

    Demidog Well-Known Member

    Very well written review. Given how highly you praised this soap, I'm surprised that it isn't more popular. I guess that it has just somehow flown under the radar and I wonder how often this happens for different artisans. Maybe these guys should get some kind of presence on the forums in order to spread the word about their soaps.
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  7. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    There are a lot of great shaving soaps that are virtually unknown on the forums. I will post reviews of some more when I get the time. That's not to say all artisan soaps are great. A lot are, but a lot aren't.
     
  8. Yehuda D

    Yehuda D Israeli Ambassador to TSD

    I never even knew these soaps existed. Nice review!
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  9. Norseman

    Norseman misunderstood Dark Lord of the Sith

    Too bad, no international shipping
     
    Yehuda D likes this.
  10. Yehuda D

    Yehuda D Israeli Ambassador to TSD

    Hey Frode, haven't seen you in so long!
     
  11. Norseman

    Norseman misunderstood Dark Lord of the Sith

    Hey Jeff. I didn't recognize you. There is something different. I had to read your signature and CT before I realized it was you.
    Perhaps it is the menthol, have you stopped using? :)

    Bad jokes aside, what happened to Crackstar?
     
    Yehuda D likes this.
  12. Yehuda D

    Yehuda D Israeli Ambassador to TSD

    Frode, I lost my account here (Crackstar) because of some hackers so I had to re-do everything from A-Z. Oh, I'm still as much of a menthol freak as before and I'm also enjoying a Brutalt Bra soap which I bought a year and a half ago. Is it ever nice stuff!
     
  13. Norseman

    Norseman misunderstood Dark Lord of the Sith

    Sorry to read about the hacker attack, but I am glad you are still into the cool stuff. With global warming and the ice caps melting, I believe your stash of mentholated soaps is our last hope. Our last line of defense, if you will. :)

    I haven't tried the Brutalt Bra soap in ages. Probably early 2015 or so. I find it has a tendency to burn my face. But I may be tempted to give it another try. It has been left in my den without a lid on these last two-three years, and hopefully that has helped somewhat.
     
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  14. SterFry

    SterFry Well-Known Member

    Sego Lily soaps is owned and operated by my aunt. I am glad you liked her soaps, too. I'm a wet shaver myself and have a few of her soaps on the way. Very exciting. I love tallow soaps. Especially ones I get for free that my aunt made :)
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2020
  15. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    That's what I say in this situation-"aaaaand...aNOTHER artisaan shave copmany to review".
     
  16. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    Does she still have an online store somewhere? I tried to go to www.segolilysoap.com but all I got was a blank page with a "404 Not Found" message. Her shaving soap was hella good, and it would be great if it was available again.
     
    SterFry likes this.
  17. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    I hope you're doing OK, @Norseman
     
  18. SterFry

    SterFry Well-Known Member

    She will be getting her website and shop (albeit at a different location) in the near future. I don't precisely know when. When I showed her your review (hope you don't mind) she was very flattered and stated that it encouraged her to get the ball rolling again.

    To answer your question, I don't think she's actively producing soaps again yet, but she does have several batches left over that she has been selling/giving to me...but again, I'm her nephew and we're a close family. I'll text her and see if she'll be willing to sell you some, if you like? I bet she would.
     
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  19. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    @SterFry, you just made my day! No, I don't mind at all. The whole reason I posted that review was to inform people of my experience with the soap, including the soapmaker. After using it, I was very surprised to see no other reviews. It just goes to show that there are diamonds waiting to be discovered if only we will dig around a little for them. Sego Lily shaving soap really is really good, and deserves every bit of recognition it gets.
     
    SterFry likes this.
  20. SterFry

    SterFry Well-Known Member

    It's absolutely superb. People can call me biased all they want. It's the best performing soap I've ever personally used. Although A&E Kaizen is a close second.

    Anyhow, I got ahold of her, and she would be happy to sell you some soaps. Here is her e-mail: ochsenbeinkatrina@gmail.com for you or anybody else who would like to try her soaps.
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2020
    Droo78 and Shaver X like this.

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