Has anyone tried Dalvey Soap?

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by Sabre, Aug 29, 2009.

  1. Sabre

    Sabre Well-Known Member

    :signs107 Alex, and I agree with Freddy. I have been looking at Arran and Bath House soaps. I was also considering Highland but that had a poor review.
     
  2. Spirit_of_76

    Spirit_of_76 Yardley Ninja

    The Highland Soap Co. Shaving Soap is terrible. It's typical of many artisanal soaps in that it includes plenty of beneficial skin care ingredients, but unlike the better artisanal soaps there's nothing in it to make it lather, consequently said lather has the lifespan of a Mayfly. Another Scots Shaving Soap is the Peppermint Shaving Soap from the Shetland Soap Co. Very nice lather, although it has little cooling effect in spite of the Peppermint, that is rich, easy to produce and protective. However, if you prefer your soaps to contain all- natural ingredients it's one to avoid. The ingredients include pretty much all of the red-flag ingredients like Parabens and SLS, and reads like the grocery-list of a crystal meth lab.

    Regards,
    Alex
     
  3. Hi there,

    Sorry to bear bad news for you and Sabre, but I believe there's a problem with that soap. Sadly, I can't post the link, but there was some recent discussion about the 89 version over at SMF. Seems like that particular soap ain't so hot at the moment and may well be flawed.

    The SMF post was dated Aug 25th, if that helps. You can see what's up for yourself, but it doesn't sound good.

    Maybe this will help somehow,

    Martin
     
  4. freddy88

    freddy88 Member

    Thanks Martin,

    I'll look for the post. That is extremely discouraging because it was not inexpensive. I purchased it in a department store in Edinburgh but if I cannot get it to lather, I might write the company that produces the soap and let them know I'm not happy. It probably won't do any good but it couldn't hurt to let them know that they are upsetting people with an inferior product.
     
  5. No problem with the info.....glad to maybe clear things up for you and others. Maybe it's something you can resolve with the company......worth a shot. Oh........my apologies but that post was dated Aug 25th.

    Yeah, I know it's one of the more expensive soaps around, and can imagine what a pain it would be if bad. I've used it myself in the past(JF Floris scent), although the price was on the low side back then.

    About two years ago or a little longer, a website was selling two different Floris shaving soaps for $10 a puck. Yeah.........not bad eh? I think it was $5 more for the bowl, maybe $10 at the most. I bought a few myself, but later sold em because the scent didn't grab me. I often kick myself for not hanging onto those, because I think I'd appreciate em more now.

    Turns out these were NOS from old Nieman Marcus stock....even had the store sticker on the box. Yeah, that was one hell of a deal.

    I have to say the soap probably performed better than any other one I've tried when it comes to after shave skin care. I was seriously surprised at how wonderful my face felt after running a sharp object over it. To this day, only MWF, DR Harris, and IK about equal the Floris in that department. Oh, I guess I should include Irisch Moos also in that group. Truth be told, I think the Floris was best of em all by a small margin.

    Anyway, it's worth trying to track down a good puck of that stuff, and you'll know when you get the right one.

    Martin

    Oh, apologies for slightly derailing this thread.
     
  6. Sabre

    Sabre Well-Known Member

    :signs108

    Just kidding, it hasn't arrived yet but thanks for the warning and I will check out the thread on SMF. It always interesting for feedback on other soaps especially items that are either expensive or not mass item products that you think you might give them a try.
     
  7. artisanal

    artisanal New Member

    I am sorry “Spirit_of_76” ... in your shaving reviews you write beautifully and with authority but I feel you lack true ‘hands on’ knowledge and experience in manufacturing.

    I have been wet shaving all my life (many many years!) and personally I look for a soap rich in moisturizing oils. In fact I use natural shaving oils regularly and don’t highly regard soaps that have amazing lathers. You focus on lather, but I feel that the “better” (or add all your wonderful lathering adjectives here) the lather the more synthetic, and possibly more drying, skin irritating etc. the ingredients.

    I only use olive oil blended hard soaps for shaving, as the oils not only moisturize but lift the beard growth for a smooth shave that leaves my skin feeling and looking great, not dry. I don’t really think of the lather, but more of the smooth shave provided by natural plant oils.

    Where do you think ‘glycerin’ comes from when you see it on labels, especially your highly reviewed products? Why do you think it’s there? Maybe because the base ingredients would be drying and irritating to skin without it? This is all cheap mass-produced soap, I don’t care how nice the packaging or brand marketing looks.

    You mention ‘artisan soap’, well you won’t see ‘glycerin’ on their labels because most of the good products are naturally full of glycerin during saponification of the oils so it’s not added as a ‘by product’.

    Let’s keep it simple, where do you think your local ‘chip n’ fish’ shop in the UK, Chinese restaurant ect. get rid of their waste oils? Well we all know regulations are very strict and you can’t just send them down the drain into the river or ocean, compost or bin. So legislation controls their disposal. Where do you think the waste oils go?

    Well I’ll tell you, the same oil merchants that deliver to restaurants collect waste oils...and they’re sent to places that convert them to glycerin with sodium hydroxide etc. and then sell to cosmetic companies to use in their products, soap, creams, lotions etc.

    I challenge anyone that thinks ‘triple milled’ soap is superior to natural cold-processed ‘artisan’ soap to go to one of these places to see how the glycerin is produced. The smell will haunt you, it is disgusting.

    Triple milled, a great marketing thing – but basically you shove ‘soap noodles’ another mass-produced cheap by product from the above process through a machine a few times, and as it is a total detergent – you then add the glycerine as above as the ‘wonderful moisturizer’. It’s cheap, nasty stuff.

    I am not going to bother going into ‘tallowate’, look, I hunt animals, eat meat. But I don’t use tallow based soaps, why? Again, visit the places that manufacture the stuff and I think you’ll think twice before purchasing – they’re very cheap oil ingredients. They use it because of cost not skin or lather benefits. You’ll always see ‘parfum’ (fragrance) and not essential oils as the base ingredients stink something awful.

    Fragrance may smell nice but again why use for shaving when ‘parfum’ can cause so many problems for sensitive skin. Anyway, again personally I prefer natural soaps lightly scented with essential oils (especially antiseptic blends) rich in natural oils, even if the lather disappears very quickly as the shave is still smooth and my skin feels great afterwards without needing to use aftershave lotions etc.

    But, as everything - a personal opinion and view point on products labeled as 'terrible'.
     
  8. Sabre

    Sabre Well-Known Member

    Well I do use a handmade shaving oil even with French vegetal shaving soaps that include Shea butter, but I am sure that I get a better shave with a great lather rather than a badly non existing lather that some homemade products produce...........:ashamed001
     

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