Even though my name is newb, I've been wet shaving for a while. My favorite soaps so far are Arko, MWF, Tabac and vintage Burma Shave soap. I'm not that fond of VDH, and Glycerin based soaps in general. I'm on the fence when it comes to Williams. (some days I like it, some days I don't) I've just acquired another OS mug. ( yippie kiayyyy) and I need a puck to honor it properly. What do you guys think I should add. I'm considering TDS soaps but I think they are glycering, so I'm not too sure. Cade? Mama Bear? Tobs, etc? I feel it is an honor for soaps to get a vintage Old Spice mug in my shave den. I cherish OS mug and only the best of the best deserves it. So boys, what would you add? I'll buy the soap that gets the most attention. Thanks for your help in filling my mugs. Peace.
How anti-glycerin are you? I really enjoy Mama Bear's Soaps a lot. Man, their mentholated soaps are excellent, yet they are glycerin based.
They are OK, but what I've had experience with I haven't been overly impressed. I've actually only tried a few, but tallow blew me away. I'm not anti glycerin, and I haven't tried many to be honest. I'll consider any soap, I've been eyeballing TSD for a while. This is my favorite forum so the soaps got to be good. ( I do though have a major desire to try the TSD wheat cream. Big time!). I'm not anti glycerin , I'm willing to give all a chance. But so far I prefer Tallow.
Understood. I have Mama Bears and TSD soaps, and I am impressed with both. I have TSD Iced Subzero (mentholated) and Sandalwood, great scent and decent lather. Mama Bears Soap I have Iceberg Ice, which is mentholated, excellent lather and decent scent. This lather from MB exploded on me. If you stare at it for a couple of seconds, the lather just explodes. TSD's lather took a bit of time for me, but I got lots of nice lather to give myself a thick and slick shave. I would give both a 4/5 rating, each balancing themselves out. Of course...I have to add this...YMMV.
One soap I forgot, is Truefitt and Hill. It isn't glyrcerin, I believe it is tallow. Almost a luxury kind of soap.
I probably ought to stay away from these posts. People claim different things for the kinds of lather they get with a particular soap, and how easy it is to get it. The aromas that are wonderful for one person may be at best tolerable for another. So all I'm doing is mentioning some that work very well for me, and which I'm glad I tried, not counting ones that you mentioned in your original post. I don't know if you "should" try them. Depends on how much you want to try different things, as what you've got is plenty good enough. I've tried enough things now that I don't really care what I might be missing with the rest, but some people reach that point later than others, and some may never reach it. Speick shave stick Cyril Salter soap (just get the refill puck, I wouldn't spend all the extra money on the wood bowl). I believe it does not have tallow, but it's not melt and pour like some of the soaps you mention not liking. D.R. Harris Arlington Vintage Williams Vintage Old Spice I wouldn't pay an arm and a leg for vintage soaps, just evaluate the deals that may come up as you would any other soap.
You gotta take the TSD plunge at some point. I recommend the ISZ, t'is breathtaking both literally and figuratively.
I always try to keep one of my 4 mugs available for variety plays. I find TSD's soap samples are great for that. They last about 2-3 months in the rotation, then I get to try another TSD scent. So far I have tried at least 10 and all have been very good scents and performers relative to my tallow types.
Keep in mind that different "glycerin" soaps have wildly varying ingredients. VDH is detergent (SLS) based, not actual soap, Mamma Bear's soaps do not contain detergents, all the lathering ingredients are soap, although they are still a melt & pour base... Meaning plenty of extra glycerin and other stuff that allows it to become liquid and poured when heated. I have no idea about TSD or any of the other artisan soaps that are popular around the shave forums, as to whether or not they have detergent additives in them. I'm with you, about not particularly liking glycerin soaps, and the detergent ones like VDH, proraso & such irritate my face. If you want a soap that gives great lather, is very slick, and nice mild scent to put in the shave mug check out the Edwin Jagger / Muhle soaps. I really like the Sea Buckthorn scent. It's far from overpowering, and the scent goes when you rinse, but it's nice while doing your actual shave. You might also look into some of the top French triple-milled soaps, performance wise they are the equal of any tallow soap. They are all vegetable (no tallow), but NOT "glycerin". (You won't be able to melt these, and they are hard, unlike Arko, you won't be able to easily press them into a different shape. Provence Sante, & Pre de Provence both contain shea butter and are nicely moisturizing. L'Occitane Cade has a wonderful fragrance, is gentle, but doesn't contain shea butter. The Provence Sante soap puck is taller and narrower, a bit like the EJ/Muhle pucks, and should fit into any mug without a problem.
I can't say, as the Salter version is supposedly the same, whether the others are going to be reformulated is beyond me. *edit* Apparently Jim is still selling the old formulation as well.
I do like menthol. I heard Eucris was bad. TSD is on the Radar I've enjoy Arko in a mug. Funny thing. I have a stick of Palmolive, and a stick of Speick in the drawer. I never even thought about placing them in a mug. And I haven't got around to trying them as I haven't been in the mood for a stick The EJ Sea Buckhorn is the only soap I've ever thrown away. It didn't work for me and I hated the scent. A true YMMV I do like pre de Provence bath soaps. and Cade is definitely on my must try list.
Although I was an early basher of Queen Charlotte, once their shipping issues were sorted out I proudly and publically apologized and enjoyed eating crow immensely once I found out how nice the croap is. They have soap in addition to the croap (cream soap) but I have not tried the pucks. It has tallow in addition to other ingredients, and there are some very nice scents like celestial woods if you like pine.
