Melt and pour soaps offer some advantages over traditional tallow-based soaps, especially for newbies. They tend to lather very easily and quickly, which provides a lot of quick positive feedback. If they have a lot of glycerin in them, they tend to make a stable lather, which is also a plus. I've been making my own lather from shave soaps almost every single day since about April of 2009 and have tried a lot of products during that time period. I no longer use melt-and-pour soaps. I went through a phase where I thought that tallow soaps were definitely better than non-tallow, but I have come out of that phase now. I don't think there is a substantial difference between a quality tallow soap and a quality non-tallow soap. Making shaving soaps IS hard, to an extent. Unless you greatly simplify the process, a la MdC. I think that the available MdC clone soaps are pretty darned great. (I don't use actual MdC because I hate the scent and I don't want to spend that much money on a shave soap.) To the OP: Enjoy the soap. If it works for you, it works for you. If you want to try an outstanding non-tallow soap, buy yourself a puck of the Beer Soap Brewing Company non-tallow soap or try a puck of Barrister and Mann's Tre Citta soap. Then you can compare it with your melt-and-pour and see which you prefer. It's a great journey.
I prefer tallow soaps. Nothing comes close in slickness, cushion, and post shave care. For reference look at Mike's, Palmolive, Arko, certain Razorock soaps, Tabac, Irisch Moos, and Cella. I could never get a good lather with glycerine soaps like VDH and Ginger's Garden. The lather was poofy and airy and I just couldn't make it work.
Thanks for the support and input from all. Many Artisan soaps can definitely hold their own and provide a great shave experience. The Artisan creators work diligently to produce a quality product as our testimonials declare. We can certainly thank then for such a wide variety of scents as well, which seems to be a major reason for trying new soaps and creams, as scents affect our moods so much yet so subtly. BTW, here are some pics of my Martinsville Emporium Bay Rum... Well whenever I figure out how to post pics, stay tuned...
