Okay, so, I'm sure most if not all of us know about Van Der Hagen's luxury shave soap. I was fortunate enough to locate it being sold in a local big box grocery supermarket. Retailing for between $3.49 and $3.99, it's still a great buy and an even greater product. I also got the Van Der Hagen pre-shave oil and post-shave balm for my Friday shaves. Now, those of us who have used the deluxe puck know it has a powdery scent and a decent bit of slickness. But the luxury just goes way beyond that to deliver something awesome. I think it competes with some of the artisan brands out there for slickness, volume, and cushion. What are your thoughts and experiences?
It's been at least a couple of years since I had some VDH, but I really liked both the Deluxe and the Luxury versions. Easy lather, pretty slick; definitely a bang for your buck.
VDH Luxury is arguably one of the best soap values (quality/cost) on the market (artisan or otherwise). It performs as well or better than many soaps that cost much more. One might lament the lack of scent choices but I’ve added favorite scents to the unscented version with great success. Just a few drops of a favorite aftershave on the top of the puck before lathering.
It is a great "cheap soap" for being a luxury soap. I really like it and have replaced it when used up.
The luxury was my first soap when I started wet shaving about five years ago. I still keep some around and use it from time to time. Brings me back to when I first started thus journey. It is good soap and a great value.
Having experienced the higher end soaps as a result of a friend passing the ones he no longer used along to me, I can say without reservation that VDH is a most excellent soap for shaving. It contains glycerin making it the proper slickness for any straight razor use.
I like the VdH stuff when it comes to their Soaps. Their shave butter is great for an ASB and moisturizer. Not so much for actually shaving.
I just bought 2 VDH Luxury shave soaps at 2 for $5 at my local Shop Rite. It was my first ever shave soap when I began wet shaving almost 3 & 1/2 years ago. I remember enjoying it very much.
I think that Van Der Hagen Deluxe shave soap delivers the best value for money of any shaving soap. They used to sell it at both the Walgreen's and CVS drugstores near me. Both discontinued it years ago, and I have not seen it for sale since. The CVS store started selling the Van Der Hagen Scented Luxury shaving soap before discontinuing nearly all traditional wetshaving products. I think that the Scented Luxury soap smells nicer than the Deluxe soap, but the Deluxe costs less and gives even better shaves. It looks like Van Der Hagen Enterprises was simply a renamed Surrey Inc. The old packaging for Van Der Hagen Deluxe shaving soap and Surrey Deluxe shaving soap was nearly identical. The Surrey company officers were all members of the Van Der Hagen family. http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~anhai/wis...tances/http:^^biz.yahoo.com^p^s^soape.ob.html The packaging may have changed, but Van Der Hagen Deluxe is still $2.99, and can be purchased online. https://www.vanderhagen.com/products/shaving/shave-prep
Thanks for the VDH information. It appears that VDH Deluxe has a quasi-cult status like Arko amongst wet shavers. The Luxury, not so much.
