I've had this tub of Soap Commander Inspiration for a long time - at least several years. Used it occasionally over that time but the past few weeks I've decided to give it a more long-term test. It's advertised as a Japanese grapefruit scent and I really like grapefruit so I figured this was worth a try as my first SC Soap. It doesn't have the citrus bite you might expect but it's a pleasing scent and strong enough to be present throughout the shave. Performance is solid. Not quite top tier but it's one of those soaps that's certainly good enough for me. It makes a nice slick lather. Has good residual slickness. Pretty good protection. I can get a close, irritation free shave from it with the right razor/blade combo. The post-shave isn't bad either. I don't feel any dryness afterward but I have been using my normal, fairly moisturizing after shaves. I think a good comparison to SC in performance is L'Occitane's old Cade soap formula (I haven't tried their newer one). SC performs very much like a French hard soap IMO. To me it's a little better than PDP though. SC loads easily and makes a nice creamy lather that is very stable just like those French hard soaps. I did a quick check of the SC website and it looks like Inspiration is a limited availability scent. Not sure if they'll make it again but the soap itself is pretty good. I'd buy it again in a different scent with no hesitation if Inspiration wasn't available. Their soaps are a good value. You get a large 6oz tub and it lasts a long time. Even after a few weeks of daily use, keeping the container closed, the soap is still hard and shows no signs of getting mushy at all. I definitely recommend trying SC soaps, especially if you're looking for good value. You get a lot of soap for less money. If you want the absolute best performance money can buy, this isn't it. In short it's the Toyota Camry of shaving soaps. Not flashy, fast, or able to haul lumber, but it does almost everything you need it to do every day for a long time.
I don't necessarily mind it. Some soaps work better once they hit that mushy stage. Those soaps load up so easy that I tend to use them up a lot faster though. This one is staying nice and firm so the loading is really consistent and easy to figure out. Seems to be lasting a good long time too.
