Got a 2 oz small size of this one for Christmas (got to open it on Christmas Eve - a strange little tradition we have). So I've used it twice now and I think I can at least give an initial impression of it. It's a fairly soft soap and the 2 oz container is a bit small so I've been loading with a damp but not wet brush. After getting a pasty coating on the brush, face lathering works well. The one knock I have for this soap so far is even after loading a lot of it and getting a great first lather, what's left in the brush seems to dissipate a bit. The second lather is noticeably thinner than the first and by the time I get to the third pass, a very thin but still slick layer of lather is all I can get. Even given that, this soap works well. Scent - You can see on the package what elements make up the scent. I don't really detect the lime but the other notes come across well. If you like bay rum, this is a nice take on it. A little different, complex and interesting. Performance - Slickness is excellent with this soap and on the first lather the cushion is excellent too. The lather in the brush does dissipate a bit though and by the third pass, I can only get a thin layer that's still slick but not very cushiony. The residual slickness is really good with this soap too if you're a fan of that (and I am). Overall I'm getting very good shaves with it. Post-shave face feel - So far it's pretty good. My face doesn't feel really dry but I do need a moisturizing splash or balm after using this. That's entirely normal, especially for this time of year so definitely not a knock. I'd put this a step below some of my favorites though and most of those contain lanolin. Overall a very good soap with an interesting scent. Worth a try but so far I wouldn't quite put it in my highest tier of great soaps. If you're curious, that upper tier right now contains Barrister &Mann, TSD w/Lanolin, AOS, and Wilkinson Sword stick.
Nice review, I've thought about getting all of Dr Jon's soaps at some point, you know, just to have lol
I could definitely see myself buying their sampler. On the 3rd shave with it today I left just a little more water in the brush and loaded a little longer. That seemed to help with the dissipating lather a bit. I still had to squeeze out the brush to have enough for a 3rd pass but the shave went great. This is a very protective soap that leaves lots of slickness on your skin after a pass. Nice stuff! Tomorrow I'll probably try loading with an even wetter brush to see what that does. It's tough to use a really wet brush because the container is so small though. Might have to use a bowl to catch what flies out or something. Like the Cella red tub, I'd like to move this one to a bigger container but I won't do that for now. As heavy as I'm loading this soap, I'm not sure it's going to last that long. Maybe a couple weeks?
Super review! I have a tin of Dr. Jon's Aphrodite, definitely worth giving Dr. Jon's a try. Again, thanks for writing this review. Kerry
Thanks Kerry. Glad to do it and I think Dr Jon's is definitely worth a try too. It's not difficult to use by any means. I got really good results from it from the very first try. But I think another day or two of experimenting and getting it dialed in might just push it into that top tier of mine. There are some really exceptional artisan soaps out there these days so that's saying something.
Good review, I love my hydra but I usually bowl lather and you do need to freshen it up between passes. I'm a uber fan so I add a pinch of irish moos and it just explodes into that creamy goodnes and holds longer as well. Just dropped a half full bottle of hydra after shave yesterday His after shave is one of my absolute favorites. Time to go shopping I guess.
A little update for today's lather. I gave my brush a lighter squeeze and gentler shake to leave a bit more water in it than the past few days and was able to load enough soap for 3 good passes. It appears dissipation isn't really the problem. It's just loading enough product. Today I think I got that dialed in. I'm going to try to keep going with this 2 oz puck until it's gone which I think won't take all that long. Looking forward to really nice shaves.
Another update after a week or so of use. Like I've found with most soaps, this one gets better with frequent use. It's loading easy now and I'm having no trouble getting plenty of lather for 3 passes from it. Getting great shaves!
