In praise of Stirling Soaps...

Can't find it on the home page. Unless..it's already sold out maybe

 

Last night I ordered some SDM and Ozarks mountain. ...Can't wait

 

Did I ever give a review of the Rosemary Mint soap? If not, here it is:

Ease of lathering: 10/10--A cinch to lather up with it.

Longevity of lather: 10/10--Rich, thick, stable lather for multi-passes.

General skincare: 7/10--Quite cooling. This is the only Stirling soap which is a bit less moisturizing, but it's not too bad at all.

Scent: 8/10--Nice. The only rosemary mint scent which I can say I like.

Price: 10/10--Rod's soaps are so reasonably-priced, so you win all the time.

Would I buy again: N/A--It was discontinued as a shaving soap, but available as a bath soap.

Many, many times I've said that Rod is a soap genius. This young fellow works like a slave to produce some of the best soaps a wetshaver can find.

 

It was a test batch. He's already awaiting feedback. If it comes back positive, it'll go into regular production.

 

Croap?!?! I love croaps! This may seal the deal of being a "hardcore" Stirling buyer. My dad, who is more of a cream/croap guy, find himself coming back to some Stirling I gave him because of how great it leaves the skin feeling.

 

Okay. After 2 uses... I can say Mogadishu Hope is the best performing Stirling soap... by a landslide! Beg and email Rod to get it in stock. It's a masterpiece! Sweet - Spicy - Deep Woodsy (the vanilla is a backnote). It's excellent. You may have missed the test batch but Stirling currently is testing another croap in limited run so check it out! Word of note... he sent me a sample of South Padre... phenominal scent and classic Stirling performance!

 

He posted on Facebook tonight that a full run of Mogadishu Hope, along with matching aftershave, is likely coming soon. Also he has another croap test run for sale in a different scent: Return from Elba.

 

I definitely want to try some of theses soaps. Was looking at the Clubman scent since I love that aftershave.

 

Return from Elba, a review.

Stirling is well known for making shaving soaps that are excellent at lathering but take a bit of care to reach their full potential. They have moderated this with their new #1 “Elba” test batch in that it’s a croap or a semi hard soap. I would say it is a firm soap that has been pre “softened” just a touch to help load the brush. In the past I have had to add water to the puck, let it sit a minute and scrub the puck with a pre-moistened brush for 20-30 seconds or so to load the brush then transfer it to a bowl to build my lather. With this offering I simply scrub my pre-moistened brush on the puck for a few seconds without adding water to the soap. It will quickly load a brush without much effort. Then it will easily lather in a bowl, hand or on the face.

In short Elba is less sweet and more mature scent. This is the result of replacing the super sweet Ylang Ylang with the spicy and fuller scent of Jasmine and I think it’s a good step in the right direction for those looking for something more sophisticated. There is really nothing wrong with Bonaparte as it’s fine masculine scent and they are both very complex but Bonaparte is light and fun like a charming young girl, Elba by contrast is her sultry older step sister. They will both have a place in rotation and can be substituted for one another without reservation. I could very well see myself shaving with Bonaparte soap and aftershave in the morning and splashing on some Elba aftershave in the evening to go out on the town. But then again Elba would be an awesome scent to wake up too. I really can’t think of anything negative to say about Elba. I could suggest changes but honestly it is very nice as presented.

I would like to thank Rod and Mandy for letting me purchase a sample of Elba. It really compliments his line of great soaps and is a wonderful product at an outstanding price point.

 

That soap sounds like a winner. Thanks for the review.

 

Stirling COOL

From the website: "Exactly what it says. Cool. Made with Mentha Piperita essential oil and Eucalyptus essential oil, this is a great smelling unisex soap that feels absolutely amazing without going overboard with the cold."

Ease of lathering: 7/10— Actually easier to lather (for me) than most Stirling soaps in the past.
Longevity of lather: 8/10—Fairly thick and stable lather for the first 2 passes, diminished slightly by the third.
General skincare: 6/10—Cool & invigorating on the face. The majority of shave soaps out there tend to dry my skin; Cool was no exception.
Scent: 5/10 — Medicinal. Think 'post-game locker room rubdown'
Price: 10/10— All are reasonably-priced.
Would I buy again? I enjoyed the menthol chill and good lather, but the scent wasn't my favorite.

 

I was thinking about getting the Cool - it sounds very nice.

 

Jeff, it certainly has the CHILL factor—although not as pronounced as the Glacial Obsidian.
The scent takes some getting accustomed to, due to the eucalyptus oil, I suppose.

 

Lemongrass and Cajeput is back in stock for whoever wants it ď

 

It is already on its way to me.
To me it has THE best scent of any Stirling shaving soap I have ever tried (which is about 1o or so) - and was thrilled when I saw it making a return.

 

Kevin, I don't think any soap has the kind of chill factor as a Glacial soap - these seem to be the COLDEST soaps ever created. Not even the Yeti Snot, which is also bitterly-cold is a match!

 

You should try Eskimo Tuxedo. I did a test lather and had to check for frostbite.

 

How is the lather?

 

Thursday night I found myself in the same town as Stirling Soaps so I called Rod and asked if he would mind me stopping by to smell the soaps and purchase some samples face to face. I got to meet Rod, Mandy and Brad and talk to them about the business and other aspects of life while smelling every one of the shave soaps they have to offer.

I went with the intention of buying a couple pucks of soap and seeing the operation but after smelling everything I ended up coming home with 10 shave soap samples (Orange Chill, DGO, Iced Coffee, Barbershop, Bay Rum, Sharp Dressed Man, Eskimo Tuxedo, Vanilla Sandalwood, Black Cherry, and Hot Apple Cider), 2 full sized soaps (Return from Elba and Mogadishu Hope), a boar brush, a badger brush, a sample of SDM A/S, and 4 small tins for storing soap.

Although it will be a while before I can review all of these products I can tell you a few things about Stirling Soaps and the dedication they show to us as a community.

1) Rod and Mandy take what their customers say to heart and want nothing more than to give us exactly what we want. They really are reading the reviews on TSD and other sites and tweaking the soaps to fit our needs.

2) They only wish to sell the best products they can and when something isn't up to the standard they wish to deliver they will sacrifice profit rather than selling subpar product. Recent posts on their FB page will show that they quit selling one of their new soaps and are giving it away with orders for no other reason than Rod felt it could be better, regardless of the near perfect reviews listed in this thread. I was also the lucky recipient of a Stirling badger brush that Rod wouldnt sell because of a tiny cosmetic flaw that doesn't affect its performance at all.

3) The small crew at Stirling Soaps doesn't rest until everything is caught up. I had a great time hanging out and talking with all three of them but that didn't slow them down one bit, the entire time we were chatting they were filling orders and slapping on labels to get them out as soon as possible.

It seems like everyone on this board has nothing bad to say about Stirling but if you are a fan of the products and customer service they provide make sure and let them know how much they are appreciated I for one am looking forward to seeing them again once I've had a chance to sample all of the products

And just for fun here is a picture of the evenings haul:

 

This is what I call utter dopeness! You missed two scents. Port-Au-Prince sample and Vetiver aftershave splash sample.