Dr. Jon's Soaps: My Take

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by drjenkins, Jan 30, 2015.

  1. drjenkins

    drjenkins Well-Known Member

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    So here's my take on the Dr. Jon’s soaps now that I’ve tried my whole sample pack out. I got all of the available soaps except for the Savannah Sunrise. The scent list, other than the Orange and Peach, really didn’t sound very appealing to me. Not a big fan of floral scents myself. However, after my experience with the soaps I still may have to at least snag a sample to try.

    As everyone that has gotten these soaps so far has stated, the packaging is very cool. I’m a Graphic Designer so I’m always mindful of aesthetics, and that was the first thing that stood out to me about the tins. Great all around attention to detail, down to the color coordinated tape to seal the tins.

    Performance was awesome for me after a bit of newbie fumbling during my initial shaves. These were the first artisan soaps I got in after I started DE shaving way back a whole month ago, and I’m still loving them. Even with hard water I can get a great lather out of them with just a little bit of extra hydration and a couple more turns of the brush. No issues there at all. They don’t lather the same as a tallow based soap right off the bat of course just due to the inherent differences between the ingredients. With a little more effort, I was getting the same lather results as my Stirling samples that I have in rotation with the Dr Jon’s.

    Honestly for me at this point, it boils down to scents. And out of five scents I ordered, four are definite keepers for me. Each has its own thing going on, but they all are well rounded scents to my nose. They all share a common airiness. Don’t get me wrong, they’re bold scents, but not overbearing. I honestly could do with a double strength version of some of them because I like the smells so much.

    Anne Bonny- West Indies Bay leaf essential oil, dark rum, lime, and black tea. Bay Rum, but not like any others I’ve smelled. The lime gives it a nice punch while not taking anything over. Nice full fragrance. Got some on my t-shirt on my last shave, and caught myself sniffing at my sleeve to revisit the smell.

    Big Green Monster- Lime, Sweet Basil, and Peppermint. Nothing hides in this one, all those mix to form an exceptionally clean and invigorating scent. Simple as that, it’s just a great one for me.

    Classic- Never thought I’d be one to enjoy the “Barbershop” scents. Why do I want to smell like an old man? Well, I guess you can call me Pops now, because I can’t get enough of this. I’m not experienced enough with this type of scent to give an informed opinion, so I won’t even try. Complex scent with lavender, cedar, lime, bergamot, vetiver, and rosemary. The lavender, lime, and cedar stand out the most to me.

    Hydra- This was the sleeper of the group. I wasn’t expecting to like this at all, but it came in the sampler, so I figured, it’s here so I’ll give it a try. The smell of burying your face in the citrus aisle of the fresh produce section. Just awesome.

    Hex- The only one that I didn’t just fall in love with, and I was expecting it to be one of the favorites. Black pepper, cedar, orange, and cinnamon. I really only pick up the orange and a little bit of cedar. Not a bad scent by any stretch, just not for me. I think the others just made such strong impressions for me, that it just couldn’t hold up that.

    All in all a great first Artisan soap purchase. 4 out of 5 keepers that will return as full pucks when my samples run out. Also, the owners seem like very cool people and don’t seem content being stagnant. They have two new scents coming out soon, one of which I am anxiously looking forward to trying. And hopefully they’ll be doing aftershaves of the scents in the future.

    Take all of this with the proverbial grain of salt. I am very new to the world of DE shaving and Artisan soaps. But I thought I'd share my relatively uninformed opinion for anyone that's thinking about picking some of this soap up. And if you made it this far, thanks for your time!


    tl:dr Dr Jon’s soap good.
     
    Tdmsu and clint64 like this.
  2. Steinbeckian

    Steinbeckian Active Member

    Great write-up. As a newbie myself, the artwork and the scent descriptions were immediately appealing to me. May have to give them a shot soon.
     
    drjenkins likes this.
  3. droberts0503

    droberts0503 Well-Known Member

    Those scents sound very nice. Except the hex, that sounds awful. They seem kind of pricey though. Not sure I can justify giving them a try, even if the big green monster sound pretty awesome.
     
  4. clint64

    clint64 Blind Squirrel

    Thank you for such a great write up. Very well done.
     
    drjenkins likes this.
  5. drjenkins

    drjenkins Well-Known Member

    Thanks! The art is definitely what caught my attention, so I just took a shot in the dark with the samples. Haven't regretted it.

    Yeah it's not the cheapest out there by any stretch, but after using them I haven't even really thought about what I spent on them. And for me that's a pretty big thing.:D

    Appreciate it!
     
  6. JR Reyes

    JR Reyes I scream for....chicken wings??

    Very nice write up. Although I'm a fan of lather shot if possible...

    I found their new soap labels on their FB page...

    Revolution and Aphrodite...I'm keeping my eye on this one....

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    WEBPAGE_20150130_154105.jpg
     
  7. drjenkins

    drjenkins Well-Known Member

    Yep, that Propaganda has my name written all over it.
     
  8. celestino

    celestino Friendly Neighborhood Wetshaver

    Congratulations on finding some great scents and they do, indeed, have some colourful tins! :)
     
  9. jmsodpc

    jmsodpc Well-Known Member

    i just got a tin of hydra today and used it a half hour ago.

    scent was a nice blend of citrus with possibly orange as the prominent scent. soap worked nicely and i kept finding myself smelling it.


    super nice scent since i'm a citrus fan.
     
  10. Tdmsu

    Tdmsu Well-Known Member

    Great review! You are off to a good start!
     
  11. Straight razor dandy

    Straight razor dandy Stuck cleaning the house himself PERMANENTLY

    Dr. Jon's are incredibly good soaps. My absolute favorites are the classic and krampus (limited edition scent)
     
    Tdmsu likes this.
  12. MR41

    MR41 Well-Known Member

    Great review!
     
  13. Badgerstate

    Badgerstate Well-Known Member

    I picked up a puck of their Krampus during Xmas and it was a good soap. Good cushion, good slickness and it had a mixture of cherries and evergreen. Its also cool too that Dr Jons is literally about 20 minutes away from where I live.
    I may have to try the Annie Bonnie if its got a black tea scent. I love tea.
     
    Tdmsu likes this.
  14. Rhody

    Rhody Well-Known Member

    excellent review and comments. I have propaganda and recently got the 13 version soap and as. I am not sure that this is what Steve McQueen would have used ... but its pretty nice scent. not sure I love the scent but its growing on me.
     

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