You hit on the exact reason I passed this tub along. While I think Catie's Bubbles makes a top tier soap I didn't think I would use this soap very often. The scent just didn't do it for me.
April 13 - Saponificio Varesino Dolomiti and the return of Dark Chocolate!! Note: Much of this is copied form the Rules/Focus thread with some additions on the soap This is my second to last Pass Around box sample that was sent ahead. I have heard very good things about this soap so I was anxious to try it. I have to question which version this is for a few reasons. First, SVD is a triple milled soap and the latest has a grey color due to the clay being now used. The sample was in a printed stickered zip lock bag. The sample was rather soft and amber in color. Believing this to be a triple milled soap, I expect to need to use less than a softer soap so I only grabbed half of what was in the bag. There wasn't much to begin with but I feel confident about a gram or just less should be fine. The bag had a nice clean orange scent to it but it was faint. Dark Chocolate's knot (JE #148) had been set about 5 days ago using the DAP aquarium silicone recommended here. I felt confident it was well dried and I wanted my best brush involved with this soap. Upon lathering, I smelled nothing at all. This adds to my belief this is an older soap. This is what SV says about this soap, From the way the bag smells, I can smell an orange/citrus scent which was nice. My uneducated nose could not discern the rest. I started with less than a 1/2 tsp of water and decided to walk it in slowly. It melted away quickly and made a nice paste like lather. a few drops later, I had a nice thick and creamy lather. Finger testing indicated I was pretty good so I proceeded to shave. Upon application and my 3 passes (WTG, XTG and ATG) I noticed this soap was truly silky. I maintained a very light touch hoping to improve on yesterday's shave. My face, the sound of the Treet blade in action and what remained after a stroke all were showed a far superior silkiness over any other soap. Blade drag was lower, sound was more muted and I believe I felt the razor less. Shaving was like gliding over fine silk. I rinsed my face a little to reveal a little stubble in a spot or two. I ended up doing a 4th pass just because I was concerned the soap was hiding stubble and in fact it was. Yes, that is how smooth and excellent glide this soap has. Other soaps leave a slickness that feels more like a coating of oil or grease thinly applied. This soap feels like a fine layer of silk has bee applied to your face. I did not perceive any oily or greasy feel. I suspect this sensation is tied to the use of the dolomite clay. Alum was stinging lightly but subsided quickly. BBS was chased and caught. Face had an almost smoothness like it was pumiced smooth. Only way I can describe it. The soap left a smooth slickness after the razor passed that I desire but whatever residual rinsed cleanly. I really like this soap. It rinsed cleanly without any residue. In all, this was a pleasurable shave. Wishing everyone a wonderful Holy Thursday. I normally will never desire to order a soap without having smelled it first, this might be an exception. I very much liked this soap. I feel this is definitely a top tier luxury soap.
14 April Finally have a few spare moments to post before work so here we go Razor-Gem push button Blade-Gem stainless Brush-Jayaruh 118 Soap- Palmolive classic A/S- Fine American blend So I'm on the hunt for a good soap in stick form that can lather quick and get me on the road. So far have only tried LA toja so this will be compared to that. When I lathered with this soap I found it lathered better if my brush was almost dripping wet, face lathered and achieved a decent lather, pretty well the same as LA toja. Fairly slick but nothing to yell about. I did love the simple clean scent that pretty well seems to be covered with any a/s. Post shave was rinse and witch hazel and another rinse followed by healthy dose of fine American blend. No irritation, no weeps, no burn so I'm happy with the soap but really doubt I'll ever but it unless the price is too good to pass up. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
There are some Arko enablers on TSD! Let us know, @hvacguy85, if you'd like to try Arko and I'm sure someone will send you a stick.
If someone has a sample of one, I'd love to give it a go, my next few jobs are going to be hotel stays for a week at a time so gonna be focusing on getting a good travel bag together. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Check out the Dopp bag thread I started. Some really nice and some inexpensive ones were shown http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/show-us-your-dopp-bag.54806/
April 14 - Mama Bear Christmas Forest Today was my second soap from Mama Bear, Christmas Forest(MBCF). I wasn't very happy with the performance of Ice Citrus especially since I liked the scent although it was weak and la led any menthol. This soap looks like a piece of amber - yellow brown in color and clear and it was rather hard. Not sure if this too suggests age. The scent was there but was lighter than Stirling's Scots Pine Sheep and just seemed not as accurate as Stirling. It was ok to good but once you try Stirling's scent, you would skip Mama Bear. The scent could be weak also due to age. In an effort to get a good lather, I pressed some of the sample in the bowl thinly and added hot water to just barely cover it. I wanted to soften it before lathering. When done with my prep, I went to work. It took a good minute or so and a little more water but I finally got it all dissolved. Now to work on the lather. I was working for shiny thick lather. With each addition of water I would work the water in well and check a sample with my fingers for slickness, gloss and whether more water was needed. I do not feel it ever went glossy and even though the additions were small I think I over shot and got foamy. I never got a real slick soap. I believe when I got a lather that had lots of resistance( but no shine) , I should have stopped. I do not believe this soap can take as much water as Stirling and will never shine like it either. I used what I had. I failed to apply hot water and allow my face to steam and I had not taken a shower so the beard was tougher too. I tried a Gillette Super Platinum Black but it sounded like a higher pitch weedwacker while shaving. Sing dissatisfied, I put back the Treet Platinum and it was a little better but not like the day before. I ended up putting the Black aside and put a BIC Chrome Platinum in . In all I performed 5 passes (WTG, XTG, ATG,WTG, ATG) to get a CCS. This was rather disappointing. As I shaved, I did add water thinking more might help but all it did was help it to dissipate once applied. The lather was to light and lacked in glide, gloss,cushion and just about everything. Sorry but I made another lousy lather. Alum was remarkably quiet with all the shaving. I guess the soap helped or I just kept the blade light that it didn't irritate. The blades were not cutting close or enough so I think the uncut hair is what really did the protection. No blood and no weepers but unfortunate a disappointing result. I again will not believe this soap is just ok. The next time I use this soap I will stop when the resistance is at its highest and see from there. I could be spoiled with Stirling and just use to that much water to add. At this point I doubt I will buy any Mama's Bear in the future.
That's what the Pass Arounds are all about. You've identified a product that works well for you, and found others that don't satisfy your needs or wants. Cost you shipping to sample, but you won't have a bunch of unused sample pucks or even more investment - whole pucks of soap you don't like.
Am I the only one who either finds Mama Bear lacking a little or have a hard time getting it thick and slick? I could imagine it being either slick or thick but not both. Would love to hear feedback and suggestions to get success with Mama Bear. I just cannot believe it is just a slightly above average soap. I must be doing something wrong. Thanks
The Box Has Arrived!!!! I am soooo in heaven. The box arrived before lunch and the whole family had fun smelling ALL the soaps. Yes, by lunchtime, we already had selected 54 soaps to sample!!! Some photos: Wow was this a heavy box!! Man was it tightly packed These are the soaps I will be taking a sample of These are the ones, for now, that I will not be sampling
Dude, it's going to take a week just to get my samples ready!!! I'll do my best but I suspect it will go out on Saturday if I had to venture a guess. Oh that is next Saturday. Of course I will get it out sooner as soon as I am ready.
@Fly2High - FINALLY! You get the box!! Hope you enjoy. You made some quick decisions on what to try and what not to.
I've had some Mama Bear's samples and got really good lather from them. I pressed them down into a bowl and loaded and then face lathered as normal. Got good lather and results if I remember correctly.
