This thread is for the discussion for the Institut Karite Shave Soap..... found in this review: http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5130 If your enjoying the soap, please share your thoughts
Oh, After 6+ months of pretty steady use of this soap....I still find this to be one of my favorites. I think this one is my favorite.......It seems to be a pretty long lasting soap and always provides a great lather
Where do you purchase this soap? I only found it on ebay and I'd rather not buy it there. Regards, John
Hi All, I'd been reading many positive reviews about this soap recently, and today I found some in a store I'd never been in before. This was in a small town not far from Chicago, and the store sold both new and vintage items. I found a nice selection of the IK products, and was able to sniff before I bought (always a plus). To me, the scent was somewhat similar to the C&E SAO SC.........sort of a mild lilac. I enjoy that fragrance on occasion, and was glad it wasn't something I couldn't stand to smell. I'll try it for a while and see what happens. I've only used a few triple mills before, so this may take a bit of experimenting. I DID whip up a few 'practice' lathers in anticipation of tomorrow's shave. The first attempt wasn't all that great......second looked and felt better. I'm curious to see how this stuff works when actually shaving, and also how my face feels afterwards. I found that Floris was the very best in leaving my face actually feeling better than before I shaved. That was an amazing revelation. I just didn't care for the scent enough to use it. Oh, I guess I should thank Neale for his recent posts, and helping to finally push me off the fence......heh. The soap ran me $12, and I'll include the store info in case anyone cares to order. Hehe, I'm sure they'd be shocked if anyone, let alone two people called to order it. Nice surprise running into that stuff. The store's called 'The uptown Shop', located in Elmhurst Ill. Their phone # is 630-832-9200. Nice people to deal with, at least the ones I met in the store were. Hope that helps, Martin
Hi Jordan, I have the PdP soap, and while I really do enjoy the PdP....I find the IK to be way better at moisturizing and it seems to have better glide for the blade as well. The IK seems to have a much higher Shea Butter content than the PdP that my skin notices..IK always gives me a great shave Not that the PdP doesn't, the IK just works much better for me Neale
I'm going to agree with Neale. I have both the Institut Karite and Pre de Provence Soaps and I find the IK Soap to be superior especially in the skin care area. I use the IK soap in my regular soap rotation more than I use the PdP.
The IK is still fairly new to my rotation. I have used the PdP and I do enjoy it. Sounds like I may have to use them alternately. IK on. PdP off. IK off. PdP on. Jeesh, I sound like Mr. Miyagi.
Good afternoon chaps. I am not a big poster here but do stop by on occasion. I am glad to see this soap getting its due. I started using this over two years ago and find I get better results each time I use it. I was led to examine the French soaps by Ron over at B&B and this started a sort of avalanche of testing. This one stands on the same rungs of the ladder as Provence Sante(well almost) and a few others like Penhaligon's and Harris. Pretty tall company. My main suggestion would be to use one of the "super" brushes like QED's silvertip line or a brush that has a dense knot and soft tips. It will make a lather that is not quite what you expect from a triple milled soap nor a traditional soft British cream. It has qualities of both but is superior to the creams in my opinion. It is so skin friendly that I rarely need a/s product of any sort after using it. It may take you a time or three to get the hang of the lather but it is quite worth it. Regards, Todd
It's an excellent soap at a great price. I think it compares favorably to most soaps including PDP. It's worth the few dollars you spend.
Hi All, I wrote a review for viewing in that link Neale provided. Basically, I found the IK to be excellent, and have used it for my last eight shaves (unheard of!). Hehe, that info I posted previously in this thread about the store in Elmhurst? May have to revise that, since they are sold out of the soap at the moment. Yeah, I stopped in to grab a few more pucks and.......nada. I'm smiling when typing this, because those ladies who run that place were probably wondering what the rush on that was all about. They probably had those pucks for a while, and then bingo! One of the ladies mentioned someone from Pennsylvania being the culprit who recently cleaned em out....hehe. I ended up grabbing the loose puck in the bowl on display in their shaving set. Pretty funny actually. They're gonna try and re order, according to the people I spoke with there. Did I mention they also stock the Valobra shaving sticks? Martin
Pardon the Pennsylvania Purchaser... Martin, Yep--that would be ME! I have been wanting to try the I.K. soap, and found no retailer with it in stock. Fortunately, I have been following the thread here and have been reading the reviews! Based on your post, I called The Uptown Shop and found out they had 3 left. At $12 each, plus First Class Mail (="cheap") Shipping, I figured I would grab all 3!!! :happy102 Glad you found one more there, Martin! The ladies were very nice, and they told me they are not presently set up for telephone/online/mail order business (I had to pay Illinois State Tax even though it was mail order out-of-state). They also said their website will soon be revised to allow purchases for those folks who don't live in the immediate area! The present website is: http://www.uptownshop.com/ They also carry Valobra and Lightfoot's as well as some Omega brushes and shaving sets! It was a pleasure dealing with them, the soaps arrived today, and I can't wait to give the I.K. a try and post my results. I will have to get a picture and put it in "The Haul" also. Thanks for the lead, and I hope they get more in stock soon. --Morrie
Hiya Morrie, It was my pleasure to be of some help in locating the IK. I really had no clue it was that tough to find, having never looked for it until recently. Even then, I may not have bought this soon unless I was in a place where it was right in front of me. So, it was a lucky day for both of us.....heh. I DID get to sniff both the Valobra and The Lightfoot Pine soaps, and I kinda liked em. I was tempted to buy em, but man........I've bought a LOT of shaving soaps in the last few months. Hehe, good thing I don't live closer to that store so those two aren't able to call loudly to me......heh. There was another possible IK source I checked on today, located in Boulder Co. I was in a store (Peppercorn, on the Pearl St. mall) last Christmas and saw a surprising selection of shaving items, including a few brushes even! There were the various Omega items and Musgo Real products, and I remember seeing some IK things there also. I called the store and it turns out they only have the 75g shaving cream tubes...no pucks. The salesperson I spoke with (very helpful) took the time to actually make a call or two in hopes of being able to order it. Nada.........and she mentioned there was a possibility of it being a discontinued item. Of course, the info she got may or may not be reliable, but it seems to be an iffy thing for some reason. Anyway Morrie, I'll be curious how you find the IK. To me, it leaves my face feeling unlike the glycerin based soaps I'm used to. There IS something to this triple mill thing. Martin Oh......I just wanted to respond to Todd's earlier post. I agree with what he said regarding the type of brush that may work the best for this soap. I'd guess that a floppy brush with long loft would also work, but it might take a while longer to say.......load the brush up properly. I use a dense 22mm Shavemac silvertip, and it takes me an extra 20-30 seconds to get all the soap I want in it.
It looks like the product is still made... Hello Martin and Everyone! At the home page for Institut Karite: www.institutdukarite.com, it shows the soap !!! I am hoping the difficulty in finding this is due to the distributors, and not the manufacturer having discontinued production. If anyone finds out where it can be purchased, it would be very helpful if they were to share the information through a post here at TSD! I will post my results after using the soap a few times...I'm really looking forward to trying it soon! Just thought I would let "the family" know of my findings. Hope this helps... --Morrie
Hi All, Here's what I've found so far........see what you think. There's a place selling a combination of the IK shaving soap and after shave balm. This runs $40, and seems like a reasonable price. The 75g shaving cream tube can be subbed for the soap as well. As of yesterday, they had two sets with the soap, and some with the cream. No, unfortunately they don't have any extra pucks for purchase by themselves. I'd called and found they may or may not be able to order more shaving soap in the future. The extremely helpful person I spoke with by phone is looking into that, and I'll maybe find out more soon. Yeah, it's kinda iffy, but it IS still being made I believe. I've ordered from them in the past and the customer service was excellent. Very quick shipping and nicely packed.....even a little ribbon around the inner box......heh. The place is called www.elderluxe.com, and actually has a store in Chicago. Here's a little help navigating to the right section: Start by clicking on 'ElderTools' and then go to 'personal care'. You'll see the info there. Hope that helps, Martin
Hiya, Well, I found out a bit more info about what's going on with this soap. After speaking again with someone who buys that product for his store, it turns out there's none to be had. The gentleman was telling me the US distributor for IK has discontinued that line from his selections. Not good eh? The distributor doesn't even have any of the soap left in stock, but there's a twist to the story. Turns out, someone bought out the entire supply. I have no idea of the amount, but I'd guess it's more than 5-10 pucks....heh. According to the person I'd been speaking with these last few weeks, he thinks there's a good chance these will surface at some point. He didn't know who purchased em, but seems to think they'll be up for sale somewhere. So, that's the latest poop............sorry it's not better news. Martin
Well, I've finally gotten ahold of three pucks and I really like this soap. It's very hard to come by this product, even here in europe, but it's well worth the effort
Quite possibly the best shave soap known to man :rofl This place has it in stock at good prices too: http://www.flourisheveryday.com/Shop/gifts_for_him/mens_skin_care/index.asp
IK soap I purchased a puck of this soap about three weeks ago from Shaving Essentials. It is the best soap I have ever used. I have always used creams, however am now converted to this soap. In over thirty years of shaving - this was one of the best discoveries I have made. Hope a reliable supply shows up. rr detective
