Greetings Denizens! We are back with another round of 4 guys - 2 soaps. I am Chris, I have been traditional shaving for about a year. This quarter was my turn to select the review candidates. I am often on the road, and decided to have the guys test "travel" soap options. For my reviews, I face lathered in cold water and used a Plisson Synthetic. The soaps selected this round are the Institut Karité Shave Cream in the travel size, and the La Toja Shave Stick. Institut Karité I found Institut Karite' to be an easy to work cream for face lathering. A marble sized spot on the tip of the Plisson easily yields enough lather for three passes. This soap carries a different skin feel than I would normally prefer, and I attribute that to the high Shea butter content of the recipe. The soap has a slight Fougere type scent, and to be honest, I didn't really care for it too much. It's not that the soap smells bad, but to me it smells off or something, this could be my unfamiliarity with Shea products. On the positive side, the cream did not dry or irritate my skin in any way. The lather lasted on my face, and the cushion and glide were normal for a premium soap. This was actually one of the harder reviews I have attempted. There is nothing about this soap to love or hate in my mind. I don't really like creams, so this soap is probably a pass for me. For those into Shea products, this is a reasonably priced soap that is a solid performer, I just find the smell off-putting just enough to leave this soap on the sideline. I really wish I had more intelligent things to write about this soap, but it is what it is. Buy it if you're curious, but it won't ever be one of my faves. La Toja Shave Stick I already knew I love using sticks, and could not wait to try. I tested this soap initially for two days, then loved it so much that I incorporated it into a 30 Day rule for August. La Toja is a ubiquitous mass market soap in Spain, much like Arko in Turkey. And now that I mentioned Arko, I will just go ahead and say that I love La Toja. Each day is an absolute pleasure. La Toja is also one of the slickest non-tallow soaps I have tried. 15 seconds of application over the entire beard will yield enough lather via Plisson to do an easy three pass, and maybe more. The soap's selling point is that it contains sea salt in the formula. La Toja leaves my skin smooth and soft with no drying effects, and rinses clean. I find it to be an absolute joy to use, devoid of any strong smell, and a lather powerhouse. La Toja has performed almost perfectly each time I use it. I recommend this soap to anyone, and not just for travel! As a bonus shave sticks are USA TSA compliant for carry on. I obtained both of these soaps through Italian Barber. I received prompt delivery and even exchanged some email with the site owner about these soaps. My experience with them was quick and easy, and they actually salvaged this review after an different vendor failed to deliver the goods... Institut Karité - only if you love Shea! La Toja - Buy! buy! Buy! The others will be sharing their impressions soon, thanks for reading, and we'll probably do this again in the fall!
Travel Buddies? It Depends on your Technique. I’m not much for shave sticks or for shave cream in a tube, but I recently got the opportunity to try out two that I haven’t seen before. Thanks to a generous fellow wet shaver, I was given a couple of sample (read full size) products that came with a learning curve. The products I received were a La Toja Jabón de Afeitar from Barcelona, Spain and a 1oz travel sized Institut Karite Moisturizing Shaving Cream from Paris, France. I felt very Continental the mornings I tried these lathering lovelies. The first one I tried was the Institut Karite Moisturizing Shaving Cream. People have raved about their shaving soap, but this was not the same… it is in a tube and a cream instead. I thought I’d try an almond size amount and put it in my trusty shaving scuttle that never fails to deliver and work myself a lather. It made a nice looking lather, but when I put it on my face, I noticed it was mostly air and water. It felt thin and not very slick. I was severely disappointed with the feel of the blade across my cheek and by the time I finished one side of my face, the lather that was on the other side of my face had lost its bubbles and was just a white smear on my face. I finished my shave, but it left me with sort of a rash because I was insistent on making it work for me. The next time I tried a different brush and more cream in the mix. It was not much better, but was a little more slick this time. The last time I used it was yesterday. I was out of town and realized I had forgotten to pack any shaving brushes. I thought, what the heck, maybe I’ll just try to smear some cream on my face and see if I can get a decent shave that way. Well, I have to say, I am sort of glad I forgot my brush because it forced me to rethink this cream. I had to use an almond size schmear on each side of my face (twice as much as my normal amount) but what I got wasn’t lather, per se, but a thick cushion that was easy to shave with. The glide was great! It had a great feel under my FatBoy set on 6 with a new Ladas blade. I finished my first pass and felt my face. It still needed that second pass, but the slickness was still very present on my face. I added just a tiny bit more cream on each side to get my second pass and came away with a BBS shave and no irritation! Serendipity! The only downsides were that it used more cream than I was expecting to use and it was hard to rinse all that slickness off my face. I can live with that if what I get out of it is a great shave not at home with all my equipment. This would be a perfect travel shave cream! I had a similar learning curve on the La Toja Jabón de Afeitar in that I had to change the way I was used to working with soap to get good results. The first time I tried it out, I rubbed the handy travel sized stick onto the sharp ridges of my shaving scuttle to get some hard soap to sort of end up like grated cheese in my bowl. I made a decent lather with it and enjoyed the aroma , which was clean but subdued, sort of like Arko. It wasn’t as easy to lather as Arko, while we’re comparing the two. I had a similarly disappointing first few shaves with the La Toja until I changed the way I used it. I never was into face lathering that much, so I didn’t have much experience in it. I thought it was time I started to develop that skill, so I rubbed the crap out of that stick all over my ample stubble and got a layer of dry but visibly white soap all over my cheeks and throat. I took my soaked brush and started making circular motions on my right cheek and throat. Pow! Instant thick lather! It just kept getting better with every additional square inch I added to the swirls I was putting on my face. The soap WANTED to be face lathered! How could I know? I don’t speak much Spanish!? It worked like a champ once I figured out what it wanted me to do! I got a great shave with the new method and my brush was still loaded enough for a second pass and could have given me enough for a third pass, but I didn’t need it. This soap also performs much better on slickness and cushion if used properly… so there was definitely a learning curve for this one too. I know I haven’t gone into a lot of details on scent or quantified the amount of slickness or glide with these soaps, but my intent on this review is to provide encouragement to those who haven’t perfected their technique. Don’t throw away a soap or cream if you don’t get results the first time. Try a different method of achieving a lather. I left these two guys in a drawer for over a month before I revisited them and figured out what they were trying to tell me to get them to work. Diligence is something you also have to develop when working with wet shaving supplies. Sometimes you don’t get it right the first time, but if you try changing your technique, you might be surprised by the outcome… in this case, it was a positive outcome for me! Happy shaving!
I am so happy that "Five Guys - Two Soaps" are back at it and sharing our thoughts on a few more soaps. I would like to add that I am honored by the fact that anyone would take the time to read our reviews. We are just a small group of guys from all parts of this great country who have become friends through this hobby that we all share. I think I speak for all of us when I say that it's awesome hearing from other Shave Den members after we post our reviews; your thoughts and experiences with the soaps we review add insight and depth for everyone. My first thoughts after opening the soaps from Bama (Chris) was that he spoiled us and raised the bar of generosity for our group to a new level. I understand that his idea was to have us evaluate a few "travel type" soaps, but sending each of us so much soap was really going above and beyond (my way of saying, one more time, thank you Bama!). I feel it worth noting that I used the same equipment throughout my trials: a 24 mm high mountain badger from Whipped Dog (also worth noting, I sincerely think Larry from WD has the greatest customer service in the world!) and a Feather SS folding straight razor. Because I had never used a shave stick, I went right to it and tried the LaToja stick. The first thing you notice when you open the stick is a simple scent that increases in complexity as you begin to build a lather. That being said, I think the smell resembles a spicy powder with a hint of sandlewood that grabbed me and came across as a very clean scent. As for the lather, I had no problems whipping up a great lather with my badger after rubbing the LaToja all over my face. After a few uses, I did find that two days growth resulted in a better lather than only one day due to the simple fact that the extra growth grabbed more soap. Nonetheless, the soap was slick and very protective. A few passes of the straight razor with no nicks left me very impressed with the quality of this soap. I didn't experience a huge lather but the lather that was produced was dense and there was enough for three passes. Ultimately what really impressed me was how well this soap moisturized my face; after a few days of use, my skin was softer and smoother. In the end, I have become very fond of this soap and can see myself using LaToja as my go-to travel soap. The second soap, Institut Karite, also took a few trials to perfect. My initial use resulted in a thin lather but, when I added more product, the lather was able to be built into a thick mountain of foam. It took a few attempts for me to find the correct amount of product needed to get three passes, but in the end, it was a bit more than one would expect. No matter, the lather is thick and dense. It settles on the face and thins a bit, but it wasn't a concern for me. The lather provided a slick, protective layer on my skin. Each pass of my Feather felt good; I would find it hard to believe that anyone would develop razor burn when using Institut Karite. Another nice feature of this soap, just as the last, was it's moisturizing abilities. This soap will leave your face feeling clean and smooth. My only gripe with the soap was the scent...to my nose it smelt like baby powder. It has a sanitary smell to it but it just didn't appeal to me. As with all scents, YMMV. Is the scent so off putting that I would never use it?...heck no, Institut Karite would also make a great travel or everyday soap. If I had to choose between the two soaps, LaToja would be my first choice but Institut Karite would please me all the same. I hope you have enjoyed this little review. As I stated above, nothing pleases me more than to hear my fellow Shave Den brethren's thoughts and feedback. Thanks for your time and I can't wait for the next batch of soaps and another Five Guys review.
Great review guys!, especially since it reinforces my choice of travel soap specifically the LaToja. A must have, traveling or not.
Note: Pics are notoriously absent from this posting! I am current photographically impaired. I will say that my lather did not look any different than most other soaps La Toja While I've owned and Arko stick, I never actually used it like a stick. When I received a fresh stick of La Toja to review, I decided that the first thing I'd do, I'd use it like a stick. So, standing at the sink, fresh stick in hand, I began smearing it all over my face in the beardy areas. It really didn't look like much was getting applied so I was dubious. But, once I had the wet boar brush in hand, with swirly motions being made, the lather popped right up! The first shave went marvelously well. The lather was fantastic and appeared to bloom out of nowhere. A little really went a long way. The more I lathered the more it bloomed and I had no problems getting 3 passes out of one meager application of the stick. The shave itself was nice. This is a good soap. Cushiony and slick, the way a soap should be. I got a 3 pass DFS out of it using a Gillette Fat Handle Tech with a new Voskhod blade. I had planned on bowl lathering for shave #2, but instead decided to face lather with a Whipped Dog Synthetic brush to see how that would do. It did well. Again a nice frothy, foamy lather with extra left over. I've used the La Toja a number of times and I've never gotten around to bowl lathering. Using it like a stick has been fun and proved to be a great way to lather. I have no doubt it would effectively bowl lather, so what would be the point? The scent of La Toja reminds me a lot of Tabac. I would describe it as Tabac, but without that part that makes people hate Tabac. It's an old man smell, but subtler and it goes away. I would also compare the ease of lathering to Tabac. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was equal, but they probably live in the same part of town. I don't want to call La Toja the Poor Man's Tabac, but I also can't say that it's not. If you haven't tried this soap, I suggest you do. Institut Karite Paris Whenever a product has misspelled or foreign words on the label, I know I'm in for something fancy. With Institut Karite Paris, I possibly had both on my hands. My sample tube (classy, in a tin tube) had small print, so I wasn't sure if this was a lathering cream or not and I had to look it up on the internet. When I saw that you could lather it or use it straight from the tube I was dubious. I've fallen for that before. Usually what that means is that it's a latherless cream, but by all means gunk up your brush with it if you prefer to. But no, not in this case at all. For my first shave I chose to bowl lather it. I put the standard almond sized dollop in a bowl. I noticed two things immediately: 1. For a cream, it was a bit runny. 2. It smelled like babies. I was able to work up a decent lather with the cream, but I did have to work at it. Also, this seems to be a really thirsty cream. I put in quite a bit of water, more than I would for TOBS or Proraso. I put in so much I began to wonder if I didn't put too much in. I began spreading it on my face and it began thinning and drying out, really quickly. The lather hadn't been broken by too much water, it was too dry and still didn't have enough! I added more, lathered more and tried again. A bit better on the face, but still not what I wanted or was used to. Realizing that not all creams are the same, I decided good enough and moved on to shaving. Bleakness of the cream aside, it did work well. I generally do a 3 pass with a little clean up, but with the auditory feedback I was getting I just did 2 passes and called it good. Still dubious, I rinsed, air dryed and faceturbated. It was a DFS. Whether I liked the cream or not, it worked. I can't deny that. For my second shave, I decided to follow the suggestion of using it like a latherless cream and applying it straight to my face. I still had a decent shave, but it wasn't as good and it felt weird. I don't like latherless creams and I didn't like using this as one. Never again. If you like latherless creams, you may like using it this way. Now, regardless of how I liked the cream, and how well it actually worked, there is one thing that I didn't like about IKP that will make me never use it again: It smells like babies. It's got that sweet, soapy smell that every baby product in the world seems to have. You know what? I'm not a fan of babies and I sure as heck don't want to smell like one. What makes it worse is, it doesn't go away easily! I expected it to fade, it didn't. Being naive, with the first use I just used some Osage Rub as an after, and it didn't mask anything. For my second shave I needed to kill the baby stink like a sack of plague rats. I went hard, I went with The Veg. NOPE. It beat The Veg. I think the stink of babies can only be killed by fire and I'm not ready to go that far. I'd rather smell like an old man than a baby, so right there this cream is not for me. Now, if you like thirsty creams (and I know some of you do), this is likely your cream. It works well so I have no problems recommending this to you. I'm a cream guy myself, this just isn't the cream for me. But if you use this, you're going to smell like a baby.
Wonderful thread and a great idea. I will have to search out the previous two episodes. That being said, I agree with everything positive written about La Toja and I will have to go sniff it and try to detect the Tabac smell in it. That was an interesting comparison, that might have some merit
Thanks! Here are the links. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/5-guys-3-soaps.44773/ http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/4-guys-2-soaps.42414/
Wow, what a great idea. Love the reviews, but you guys are going to spark a new AD for me. I already have Arko and Palmolive sticks and really enjoy them. Now I want to try La Toja. Thanks again
We did this to indulge SAD. Each guy buys one round, guaranteeing eight new soap samples per year. We normally split up a new puck or tub four ways. It takes a bit of work to complete the round, and there is shipping and whatnot, but then the other three quarters Of the calendar are just random fun. If I like something, I know to buy it. If I don't, I am only stuck with a small amount. We did whole sticks and travel tubes this time only because that I caught a killer online special on these travel sizes. It's a do it yourself SAD indulgence group.
I have an Arko shave stick, and I just picked up a TOBS Sandalwood shave stick. It's really nice! I LOVE the manly smell of Sandalwood!
What's going on Wetshavers! I have a couple days before my next term of classes starts, so I figured I would take the time to post my review and thoughts on these two products. Chris was kind enough to send me these travel themed soaps, even though I have put the forums on the backburner while I focus on my studies. I agree with most of the comments from my fellow comrades, but would like to add some photos from my lather tests. Like I've always said, no soap review is complete without Lather Shots! Thanks again for including me gents, and I look forward to continuing in our future reviews. First up was Institut Karite... Here is a list of the ingredients from their website: AQUA(WATER), GLYCERIN, SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE, SODIUM MYRISTYL SULFATE, PEG-7 GLYCERYL COCOATE, SODIUM CETYL SULFATE, LAURETH-10, SODIUM STEARYL SULFATE, HYDROXYETHYLCELLULOSE, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA BUTTER), PHENOXYETHANOL, PARFUM (FRAGRANCE), METHYLPARABEN, SODIUM NITRATE, HEXYL CINNAMAL, ALPHA-ISOMETHYL IONONE, CETEARYL GLUCOSIDE, PRUNUS AMYGDALUS DULCIS (SWEET ALMOND) OIL, BUTYLPARABEN, ETHYLPARABEN, CITRONELLOL, DISODIUM EDTA, ISOBUTYLPARABEN, PROPYLPARABEN, HYDROXYCITRONELLAL, BENZOIC ACID, GLYCERYL STEARATE SE, XANTHAN GUM, DEHYDROACETIC ACID, POLYAMINOPROPYL BIGUANIDE, SODIUM HYDROXIDE The 1 oz. tube is convenient for travel, and I felt the packaging was very nice. I have to the agree with the fact that this stuff smells like baby care products. To be more specific it reminds me of a combination of pampers baby wipes and baby magic lotion. For my lather test, I used a marble sized portion, and incorporated water slowly. For equipment, I used a 24mm silvertip badger brush and lather bowl. I swirled around for a good 2-3 minutes and focused on getting rid of the bubbles. Unfortunately, the lather was a bit thin and didn't yield the thick and protective properties that I prefer. The lather cloud was fluffy but not very dense at all. After a couple of minutes on the face, the lather dissipated and left me with a negative first impression. Here are some pictures to show my experience with a bowl lather. The only thing I can say is that this cream requires that you use a good amount of product if you want to generate a thick lather cloud that won't dissipate over a 3 pass shave. Onto the next! La Toja - Shave Stick Ingredients: Potassium Stearate, Potassium Cocoate, Potassium Palmitate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, Glycerin, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Palmitate, Coconut Acid, Parfum, Mineral Salts, Coumarin, Limonene, Linalool, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Cl77891 My facial hair doesn't grow thick enough to use this product as intended, so I had to cheat a bit. I grated it down and pressed it into an empty tub. Once again, I used a silvertip badger hair brush and lather bowl. This soap has a good scent, but it is a challenge to describe. I get a clean and fresh scent with some herby or slightly woody notes. I have read other reviews that say it smells like the ocean..(Mehhh, not really), and I tried to compare it to Speik, but it's not as intense. The scent is subtle, but certainly intensifies once you bloom it and apply the lather to your face. I loaded my brush for a good 30 seconds and proceeded to bowl lather. This stuff performed night and day compared to the other cream. The lather was much more dense, creamy, and had that nice sheen appearance. On the face, it was much smoother and thankfully didn't dissipate. The soap rinsed clean and didn't leave my face feeling tight nor looking glossy. If it were a bit more nourishing it would receive my highest marks, but overall the finish was nice and smooth especially for the summer weather. Here are some pictures from the process. Hope you enjoy.
Yes it is one of Steve's (Oscar11) creations. It has a huge 28mm knot that generates lather pillows for my face...lol. I appreciate the compliment.
