Dominic (burningdarkness) recent PIF'd a puck of St. Charles Shave Green Tea Soap to me. As a thanks, I wanted to post a review of the soap now that I've had a chance to use it for about a week. Ease of lathering The SCS soap is a little softer than most soap, so it loads very easily. However, it seems very picky about the soap/water ratio. The main issue being at the correct ratio the slickness is superb, but just a little bit to much or not enough water and that slickness disappears. Not something that would be good for a first soap, but not an issue for most wetshavers. Stays kind of airy if bowl lathered until worked on the face - strange behavior but doesn't affect shave quality. Life span of lather If you're looking to keep nice Santa Clause lather, this isn't the soap. I seems to lose its volume fairly quick, but doesn't totally disappear. Doesn't change how it shaves, so it really doesn't bother me. Moisturizing Average. Not drying but not quite MWF level. Lubrication This is the only soap I've use that is slicker than MWF! Of course, it has have just the right soap/water ratio or all that slickness doesn't happen, but when it's right - it's unreal. How protective? Average. Not the "super protect" soap you want when trying a new blade, but if using a good razor/blade combination it's perfectly good. Scent Considering I would never have picked Green Tea if I were buying it myself, I really like it. Overall it is a pleasant tea scent that smells better once lathered. It would never be a favorite, but better than I expected. Price While I didn't pay for it, it sells for $6/3 oz. puck at the SCS store. For the quality (comparable to TSD soap) it's appropriately priced. Not quite the bargain of TSD soaps, but close. Would you buy again I didn't pay, but I'd buy SCS soap in the future, just in a different scent. Given a scent I wouldn't have selected was rather pleasant, I'm interested in the other scents. I placed this under the forum instead of the review section so you can discuss both the soap, and how nice of a guy Dominic happens to be. Have at it.
I know nothing of that soap... But Dom is a great person... real quality. not bad at all.. handy as a button on a shirt pocket... more fun then a bucket of rubber toad frogs... etc..... Fuzzy
Your experience of the lather is the same as mine was. I find SCS lather dissipates and goes bubbly rather quickly. Oddly enough it did shave fairly well though. I didn't like the "look" of it however and don't keep any in rotation currently.
Hey Erik, thanks for the fine review of this great product. I have been using SCS products for almost a year now and find that St Sue makes great products. Another thanks for such a public thank you for the PIF you got. What a great way to honor Dominic (burningdarkness) who is someone helping advance traditional wetshaving. Now as a permanent tribute I suggest that you take your review to the "Review" section of the forum so that others can see what you said about this product without searching like mad to find your review thread. Thanks Dominic and ChemErik.
