Kell's Original Hemp/Aloe Shaving Soap Review I first used Kell’s Original Shaving Soap about three years ago. Wow, what an eye opener! The soap was amazingly slick and protective, which resulted in some wonderful shaves. Even razor and blade combinations that normally did not work terribly well gave markedly improved shaves. My first foray into artisan soaps, Kell's exceeded in quality even the best shaving soaps I had used up until that time. Those were not all that many compared to now, but did include some star performers such as Institut Karité and Tabac. Given that the soap was so good, I ordered four pucks recently, two in the Sedona Nights scent and two in the Dragon's Blood scent. It had been far too long since I shaved with Kell's, and it would not hurt to also do a review. Except where specifically noted, all comments and ratings in this review pertain only to the Sedona Nights scented soap. Website: www.kellsoriginal.com Overall: (7.4/10) This soap is now a mixed bag, and no longer the near perfection experienced when I used it before. As is the case with some other soaps, it turned out to now have an Achilles heel. Unlike the other soaps, the fault lies not in the lather longevity, but in the burning sensation it produces on my face. Were it not for that unfortunate characteristic, Kell’s would easily garner a 9+ rating. Kell's does come in an unscented variety, which might well provide the outstanding Kell's shave without any negative side effects. Ease of lathering: (9/10) Kell's is about average in this category using a somewhat floppy badger brush, and is an easy to lather soap. It is also a thirsty soap. It takes much more water in the brush to get a good lather than with most other shaving soaps I have used. Using the badger brush, Kell's does not produce huge mounds of thick creamy lather. Instead, it yields a somewhat more moderate amount of very slightly airy and quite fragrant lather. The lather amount is more than enough for a five pass shave, with plenty left over. Although the minor airiness might seem to be drawback, this turns out not to be the case. The lather lasts for a reasonably long time and makes for a smooth shave. I tried varying the amount of water in the brush to see how it affected the lather quality, but it was either slightly airy (with more water) or rather dry and pasty (with less water). The former works best when lathering in a mug, as I typically do. The latter works best when face lathering. This soap lathers much better in the mug with the boar brush than with the badger brush. With the boar brush, the soap lathers almost instantly, in mere seconds. The lather produced is rich, thick, creamy and very plentiful. Kell's definitely rewards a brush with backbone! I did not soak the boar brush before using it, and have never found it to be necessary regardless of the soap or cream used. The badger brush works a little better than the boar brush for face lathering, but both do the job quite well. Regardless of the method (face or mug lathering) or the brush used, enough lather is generated to last for five passes. The badger brush is on the left, the boar travel brush is on the right. Life span of lather: (9/10) The lather easily lasts long enough for me to complete each pass, even when shaving at a very leisurely pace. There is no need to worry about this lather doing a vanishing act. I started each pass within about 30 seconds of lathering my face. At one point, I waited about two minutes just to see what would happen. Miracle of miracles, the lather was still there! Alright, maybe it is not a miracle, but after using a number of soaps with short-lived lathers, one that lasts is much appreciated. General skincare: (4/10) The skincare of Kell's Original soap is very good for the most part. After each morning's shave, it left my face feeling great for the rest of the day. I do not have particularly dry skin, but still could feel the moisturizing effect of the soap. It does not leave my face oily, greasy or sticky at all, only smooth and supple. So why such a low rating for skincare? I get a burning sensation when I apply the lather to my face. This problem is much worse with the greatly over-scented Dragon's Blood soap than with the far more moderately scented Sedona Nights. There is no redness or rash, however. My take is that the scent strength and the burning sensation are linked, but that is just a hypothesis. If it is correct, reducing the scent level should address the issue. The burning disappears within a minute or two after I rinse my face. This was not an issue at all when I used the Sedona Nights and Arabian Spice soaps a couple of years ago. As I remember it, their scent levels were lower. It is all rather surprising, as I am not prone to irritation from soaps of any sort, and do not have particularly sensitive skin. Bear in mind that you might not experience the issue I encountered. I have read numerous times where one person would experience irritation from a soap, only to see numerous others chime in that they had no such problem. If there was no burning sensation caused by the soap, the skincare rating would be 9/10. Lubrication: (10/10) This soap is marvelously slick. I would say the razor glides across my face with absolutely no tugging or pulling, but it is even better than that. Even in spots where there might typically be minimal resistance or a little tugging, there is none. The razor glides with absolutely zero resistance, which makes for a very easy, no-fuss shave indeed. That holds true even against the grain. This slickness makes it very easy to get a nearly baby bottom smooth four pass shave. With a final, fifth finishing/touchup pass, the shave is baby bottom smooth. The lubrication is every bit as good as with Herban Cowboy shave soap, but without Herban Cowboy's quickly disappearing lather. How protective: (10/10) Kell's Original is one of the most protective shaving soaps I have used to date. There is not one hint of razor burn after shaving, zero nicks, and no cuts at all. This holds true even when I am rushing and shaving quickly. Such rapid shaves typically produce at least one weeper for me, if not something worse. Not when using Kell's, though, as it does a great job in this regard. Scent: (9/10) Now we come to the highly subjective Scent category. The scent in Sedona Nights smells "green" to me, like vegetation of some sort. There is also a vanilla note and a little spiciness. It is quite pleasant to my nose. The scent is on the strong end of moderate, and I can smell it up to about 20 minutes after shaving. Given the nice scent, that is a welcome outcome, and is said by one who dislikes overly strong scents. It might be less welcome for folks who apply an aftershave or cologne, unless the scents work well together. The rating in this category is for the Sedona Nights scent. The Dragon's Blood scented soaps are quite simply overpowering, and contain far too much fragrance. Good freakin' grief, did they marinate this soap in perfume? It was so bad that I only shaved with it twice, and then threw both pucks directly into the trash. In the trash, the scent was still so strong it was stinking up the place. I had to take the trash out to the dumpster to get rid of the smell. There are some wetshavers on the forums who profess a distinct preference for very strongly scented soaps. Perhaps this is why Kell's Dragon Blood is so strongly scented, and why even the Sedona Nights is more strongly scented than many shaving soaps. My take is that Kell's seriously needs to dial down the scent strength in some of their soaps. If a little is good, more is not always better. Price: (8/10) At $5.95 per cake, the soap is a good deal in terms of quantity for the money. The cake is 2.5 inches in diameter, 1 inch high, and weighs 2.7 ounces. This price noted is for the soap alone, which comes in plastic shrink wrap. Kell’s soaps are also available in a metal tin for a couple of dollars more. Would you buy again: (0/10) No, much to my great surprise, at least not any of the scented soaps. What used to be one of the very best shaving soaps I had ever used is no longer so. The burning on my face is an automatic, forget it, no way Jose, it ain't happening deal killer. That being said, I will almost certainly purchase the unscented Kell's in the future. The soap is fantastic in most respects, and an unscented soap should be a pretty safe bet. Shaving soap ingredients: From the Kell's website: Hemp/Aloe ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Olive Oil (Grade A extra virgin), Safflower Oil, Glycerine (vegetable origin), Hemp Seed Oil (unrefined), Aloe Vera Gel, Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifer), Soy bean protein (conditioner), Wheat Protein (conditioner) Kell's does not contain tallow or lanolin, and is proof that those ingredients are not essential to make a great shaving soap. Also absent is clay, another ingredient commonly used in shaving soaps. Brushes used: Dovo 918 052 pure badger Omega 50014 boar travel brush Note that although the Dovo brush is sold as a pure badger, the brush characteristics and cost indicate that it is actually a better grade than pure. My water hardness: 53 ppm as CaCO3 (soft) The water hardness was taken from my utility's latest water quality annual report. The scale below was used to correlate water ppm to the soft/hard rating, and is from the US Geological Survey website. Water hardness scale (as CaCO3): 0-60 mg/l: Soft 61-120 mg/l: Moderately hard 121-180 mg/l: Hard Over 180 mg/l: Very hard mg/l is milligrams per liter Some utilities give water hardness in parts per million (ppm) 1 mg/l = 1 ppm (not exactly, but very, very close)
Very nice review. Just curious, how long does the puck last? I am working my way through a puck of IK soap and still have more than half of it left after 2 months of daily use.
I just started with the current puck, but if I recall correctly the previous Kell's pucks lasted about four months each. Institut Karité lasted me around five or six months. IK will always be a favored soap of mine, as it was the third shave soap I used (the first two being Col. Conks) and the first top-notch shaving soap.
You gave a lot of praise to Maggard Razors, so I checked it out and ordered the Kell's from them. You're totally right, Maggard has outstanding customer service and a great selection of products. Thanks for the tip!
I love the Kell's Original. Fragrance of the Vanilla Bean is great. Hemp / Aloe formula is very good. At a price It was a deal. https://theshaveden.com/forums/posts/1900184/ | https://theshaveden.com/forums/posts/1901072/
