This is part 2.1 of my review of Moon Soaps: Havana. I have decided to sub-divide these next parts into 2 sections: 2.1 DE Shave 2.2 Straight Razor Shave Today's tools: 2011 Mühle R41 Aesop Stainless Steel Bowl Rubberset 400/3 (Omega Pro knot) Personna 74 Tungsten Blade (New) Lathering method: Wetted Puck and soaked brush for 10 minutes. Heavy lather load, followed by a thorough bowl-lathering; stopping twice to clear the breach and add H2O. Results: You'll notice right away that the lather lacks the sheen that was achieved with yesterday's palm-lathering. Here's a picture from yesterday: Can this be solely attributed to bowl-lathering vs. palm-lathering? Not sure...as of now. There are still, if not more air bubbles in the bowl lather. This I can safely say is caused by the method. Whipping lather in a bowl will definitely add more O2 to the mix. It was my express intention to add more H2O than I did yesterday. This only served to thin out the lather, rather than create more sheen or slickness. I applied the lather to my face and waited 2 minutes. Results: Signs of dissipating are clearly evident. Not as bad as some notorious soaps, but dense it is not. First conclusion: This soap may be better suited for face lathering and judicious addition of water. I rinsed and re-lathered. Deciding what razor and blade to use was a challenge. I didn't want to lob a softball and use a notoriously mild razor, such as my '41 Ranger Tech, so I through up the gauntlet and reached for the 2011 R41. To compensate for the aggressive razor, I thought it only fair to choose a quality blade. Hence the Personna 74. Aggressive razor/smooth and sharp blade. Results: WTG Pass was very slick. No tugging and with only 24 hours of growth, the lather seemed to protect and facilitate a smooth pass. Rinse. XTG Pass was similar, no issues, even on my jaw-line, which can be tricky if the slickness is lacking. Rinse. ATG Pass is the real test of a lather's ability to protect and allow for glide. The Havana did very well; even allowing for buffing---the ultimate slickness challenge. Second conclusion: The slickness and cushion of this soap is very good and indeed well-above average. Final cold water rinse and as I feared, this is where this soap stumbles. Post-Shave feel. I have been purposely avoiding comparing this soap to other soaps. My intention being to judge this soap on its own merits, however, I cannot help but reference soaps that are known for their post-shave excellence. Two soaps come immediately to mind that are better in this category: Mystic Water and Mitchell's Wool Fat. It should come as no surprise that both of these soaps do not use Coconut Oil. In my 5 years of using shave soaps, I have learned to avoid products which contain Coconut Oil. Disclaimer: Your skin is not my skin. You may not experience the same results as I. The scent needs more elaborating. Once again from the website: "Tobacco and Bergamot, with middle notes of Vetiver, Spice, Musk, Warm Vanilla, and Aged Teakwood" I am admittedly not a strong reviewer of scents. With that in mind, let me say that the tobacco has a green, citrusy scent (Bergamot). If you are thinking Tabac, you would be wrong. Not similar at all. Definitely not a pipe-tobacco scent either. No hints of cavendish. I would call the scent "bright". If there is musk and vetiver, they are subtile. Scent strength was less strong than yesterday. Scent conclusion: Appealing and masculine. Savory, not sweet. Bright not earthy/damp. Not floral. Overall rating thus far: (out of 5 thumbs up) Packaging Price Point Scent Slickness Cushion Post-Shave End of part 2.1 Thank you for reading.
Thank for your time and effort putting this review together. I think I'll try some of her soap. Not sure which one yet, but I will let you know. Thanks again Joseph.
I thought that was pretty amazing lather considering your location. I checked out her website and thought Old School Tallow looked interesting. Thanks for this review.
Thanks for the detailed review Primo! Have seen this soap mentioned a few times and almost picked up a used tub of this scent a while back but decided on something else instead. Their formula and ingredients lead one to believe it has potential. Scent is always a YMmV thing but others opinions help out greatly when deciding upon a new soap.
