As I posted in the 30day thread, tried this one today for the first time and was very impressed. I generally prefer harder soaps but it works great and was a very reasonable price (on sale).
I have been using Coastal Fair from The Copper Hat daily for the past 3 months. Great smell, good performance. I was a stalwart MWF user before I decided to support local. I find Coastal Fair slightly less slick but not enough to miss it. https://thecopperhat.ca/shop/the-copper-hat-all-natural-shave-soap-coastal-fair/
This one is in fact made by Through the Fire Fine Craft - same company that manufactures Maggard brand shave soap. So, should be good soap, but not Canadian edit: I bought some, works great and smells incredible
Today I received a soap from The Handsome Grouse, a veteran-owned artisan from Ontario. https://thehandsomegrouse.com/ and also available through https://stonefieldshave.com/ (fantastic vendor btw) 2.5 Oz hard tallow puck. Free mug for first time buyers! Nice packaging. I got the unscented since it was half the price (!), but am interested in Cedar & Sage for my next puck if I like the stuff. I will cut into my Purely Skinful testing to try this one out tomorrow.
Received a parcel from Patrick Jilek today... pics coming this evening Recently I also tried Midnight & Two (Provence scent) and found it excellent, if slightly overpriced - 4oz firm soap in a small metal tin filled to the brim. Extremely easy to load, great quality lather. Mild essential oil scent. I bought it on sale because the regular price always made me balk
Star Anise vegan shave soap (his latest formula) ~200g Witch Hazel aftershave Green Fern tallow shave soap (2018 leftovers) 100g Both soaps are quite firm, lightly scented. Jileks.com is defunct but you can buy soaps through his email address... he told me he currently has lavender, anise and neroli, and the next release will be peppermint/menthol
Another vote for JM Fraser's cream. It has a vaguely industrial but not at all offensive citrus scent, but apart from that it is the equal of any posh British cream from Jermyn St. Outstanding value and performance. A shiny, slick, and nourishing lather every time. Made by the same folks who bring us the Booster line of aftershaves, at one time the cream was offered in many of the AS scents like Polar Ice and Mosswood (my favourite). But today only the "original" is sold, still made in small batches.
Several years ago I purchased a couple of pucks from a guy in Quebec I think. Maybe it was “MJ’s Soaps” or something like that. They were as good as any I have tried. I probably need to look him up to see if he is still in the business. Great loft and slickness.
Figured I'd give a quick rundown of all my Canadian products so far. Lots of great value to be found in the Canadian artisans, as well as some of the best scents I've experienced in wetshaving. My biggest gripe is the lack of alcohol-based aftershaves - Maol Grooming is really the only one. Almost everybody else only makes balms or witch hazel splashes. I have pretty hard water and find the most slickness with a fairly dense, shiny, stable lather. This might get repetitive because all these soaps are top notch. Group shot. Back row: Maol Marlogue Woods, Maol Heliopteris, Purely Skinful Fougere Mysterieuse, Highland Springs Kootenay Blue Middle row: Paragon Sunlit Forest, First Canadian Vetiver, First Canadian Loretto Lime & Rosemary, Jilek's Star Anise, Jilek's Green Fern Front row: Highland Springs Citrus, The Handsome Grouse Unscented, Midnight & Two Provence, and a couple Purely Skinful sample pucks First Canadian Shave - extremely soft, superfatted tallow croap. Softest soap I own by far. Loads fast. Lathers fast. Comfortable, slick, easy shaves. My favourite soap right now, and both of these scents are simple but nice. Paragon Shaving - this soap is technically American as it is made by Through The Fire Fine Craft. Tallow. Mid-firm. Makes volumes of slick lather pretty easily. Absolutely gorgeous scent considering it's essential oil only - orange, lavender and wood Highland Spring - this is their "premium" base. I haven't tried the other base yet. Vegan. Mid-firm even though they label it as soft. Dark and warm smell with orange and lemon topnotes. Nice and slick. Lots of skin conditioning ingredients. Jilek's - huge, fancy containers of firm soap, should last forever. Found it pretty easy to dial in. The Anise is is latest vegan formula - mild single-note scent - and the Fern is last year's batch of tallow soap - mild but complex scent. The Handsome Grouse - simple mid-hard tallow puck at a great price. Lathers so fast I can't believe it. Haven't tried any of their scented products but they are all essential oil only. Midnight & Two - firm vegan soap. Small container filled the the brim. Loads nice and treats your skin well. This isn't a scent I was really looking at, but I found it on sale - it's a very pleasant lavender. Pretty expensive soap that I maybe wouldn't buy at the regular price, but it's great quality. Copper Hat - I missed this one in the group shot because I had just done a test lather with it (which seemed promising). Hard puck with a nice container. Would be vegan if it didn't have goat's milk. Haven't actually shaved with it yet, but it was so cheap I couldn't resist buying it. Purely Skinful - Reasonably priced hard tallow pucks with some pretty nice scents. These ones are the sample size and are good for 30+ shaves easily. I've tried the beef tallow base so far, and it's a bit hard to load, and finicky to dial in with my hard water, but rewards you with nice lather. They call it thirsty, but I found the opposite - too much water easily collapses your lather. Might fare better with softer water. Maol Grooming - Canada's answer to Chatillon Lux. Gorgeous scents in a soothing & moisturizing alcohol-based splash, available with or without menthol. Scent performance varies by flavour. Purely Skinful - thick balm that rubs in nicely, not greasy. Scent performance is not bad. Highland Springs - milky alcohol-free splash. Treats the skin well. This is one of the best fragrances I've found in wetshaving so far, but I wish it was stronger and lasted way longer. (I also wish it came in glass instead of plastic, and had alcohol) All of these except for Jilek's and Handsome Grouse were purchased through either stonefieldshave.com or topofthechain.ca
Another +1 for Copper Hat Coastal Fair. https://thecopperhat.ca/shop/the-copper-hat-all-natural-shave-soap-coastal-fair/ I am one that doesn't like inventory, so I have been spending the last while working through a tub of Proraso white. Finally done that and spent the last week finishing off the remnants of some MWF. Returned this morning to the Copper Hat. Lovely shave and a welcome return after slogging through the Proraso. Creamy, slick, and a wonderful scent. Plus the best shave I have had for quite some time.
So many recently. Soapy Bathman, Elvado in Canada...Jeeves and others south of the border. Vendors aren’t far behind- My first go to Canadian vendors from a few years ago are gone as well.
You are absolutely right about this. The only others I can think of are Booster and Henri et Victoria. I think even H et V has now discontinued their alcohol-based splashes. The reason must be because of cross border shipping. Even the biggest names here- Tallow and Steel, First Canadian etc, don't offer alcohol in their products. I would suspect that the inability to ship abroad directly from their own location, or the hassle/cost of exporting in bulk to an American or Euro distributor isn't worth it.
I finally got around to trying the Purely Skinful deer tallow base and found it more manageable with my hard water than the beef tallow
bumping to say that Les Industries Groom has a very nice alcohol based aftershave, in 1 scent only (juniper/vetiver/patchouli/lime, most heavy on the juniper)
