Soap Review Crew - November 2015 Gobble Gobble Gobble Edition

Good day, and welcome to the latest installment of TSD's own Soap Review Crew! aka 5 Guys - 2 Soaps

It was finally my turn to pick the soaps. I decided to have some fun and sent the samples out to these guys without telling them anything about the soaps. I merely labeled them A and B and told them to have at it! Later on, after we'd used them all and formed our opinions I let them know what was what.

I did this for a couple of reasons:

1. It sounded like fun (and it was).
2. I wanted any preconception about brand, quality, scent, etc. off the table. I think sometimes we all tend to like or dislike something based on brand alone and I wanted to remove that from the equation.
3. And did I mention it was fun to read these guys guessing and commenting on the soaps? It was.

I'm photographically challenged so I'm not posting lather shots. I'm sure these guys will post some pics, and I'm sure they'll be representative.

I am a big fan of sandalwood. I always have been. I absolutely love TOBS, AOS and of course Proraso Red. With this in mind, I picked two different sandalwood soaps for us to try out. A big part of this test for me was to see if these were competent sandalwoods. Were they? Read on.

Soap #1 Muhle Sandalwood



I'd never used any Muhle soap. This was a really hard and waxy soap that softened up once it has been lathered a couple of times. The texture of the puck threw me off a bit, I was thinking it would be hard like Tabac or Williams' soap. It reminded me more of like a candle which I thought was odd, but whatever.

Lathering it was easy. During my testing I both face and bowl lathered, and I was pleased with the results either way. It was cushiony and slick. It went on well. At first it seemed a little thin, and I was worried about that, but I think that turned out to be a quirk of the soap. It wasn't thin, that's just how it lathered. It worked well! I can't complain about the performance of this soap at all. I had few nice shaves with it and I'd call it competent. It wasn't the best soap ever, but you wouldn't kick it out of the shave den, if you know what I mean.

Scent-wise... I wouldn't have known this was supposed to be sandalwood if I hadn't ordered it myself. It had a nice, pleasant smell. It was kind of earthy, but if there was any sandalwood here it was too subtle for me.

In my opinion, this one had good performance but disappointed with the scent.
Soap #2 Italian Barber Shaving Soap for Sensitive Skin - Sandalwood



I've used Razorock before, and was expecting this to be similar. It wasn't. While Razorock reminds me of a traditional croap, this was gooey. I can't explain it better. It wasn't so much like a soap or cream as it was like a frozen liquid soap. If you've ever used frozen shampoo, it was very similar. I know that's not a very satisfactory explanation, but that's the best description of the consitency that I can think of! Maybe salt water taffy that sat in a hot car too long. I mention the comparison to Razorock because its Italian Barber, and I think some people may go into this thinking it's going to be similar to Razorock. It's not.

Like the Muhle, I both bowl and face lathered this. It lathered readily and was nice and slick. It wasn't as cushiony as I like, but it worked out okay. Out of the two soaps, this came in second as far as performance went. While it worked and I'm sure it has its' fans, it just wasn't my cup of tea. I'm not sure what role (if any) the aforemetioned consistency played in the performance, but I won't be going after a soap like this again. I should say that this soap is only $4.99, and in my mind, while it's not the best soap out there, I think it probably is a top soap for its' price point. It's also at a nice price where you can feel free to toss it onto your existing order if you're curious, and I suggest you do that to try it for yourself.

Scent-wise... Another dud. Again, I wouldn't have known this was supposed to be sandalwood if I hadn't ordered it myself. Like the Muhle it was a pleasant scent, but nothing about it screamed sandalwood to me or stood out in any way.

All in all, both soaps had things going for them performance wise, but the Muhle won the day. As far as scent went, they were both losers for me, and based on that alone I'll never revisit these.

 

I love these group reviews

 

Sounded like fun! Nice reviews.

 

Nice review.

 

Great review! Thanks!

 

Soap Review Crew - Gobble Gobble Gobble Edition!!

Greetings! I am Chris, and I am back for another round of reviews! This time it was a true mystery test, as I received two soaps and no other info.



The first soap I tried was a croap, and it was in my SOTD for 15-17 September 2015. The soap was soft, Italian style, and cream in color. I am proud to say that I was completely unable to identify it.

Italian Barber Sensitive Sandalwood



I used this soap on three consecutive days. The soap was face lathered on a loaded brush, cold water. I used a Schick G for all three days of this test. The scent on this soap was not very strong, and was completely unable to guess Sandalwood. The soap smelled kind of Barber Shop/Fougere, and though I found it pleasant, I didn't really have a strong opinion on it. Being a croap, it was extremely easy to load a damp Plisson for face lathering. Again, no lather shots, as my shave method doesn't yield the opportunity since I don't use a bowl to build lather. I had absolutely no issues with the performance of the soap, and a good load easily yielded enough lather for my usual two pass plus routine. The soap provided adequate cushion and glide. I did find that my skin felt a bit dry after the first two days, but didn't seem to notice that as much on the third day. This was my first experience with an Italian Barber branded product. While I didn't love it enough to run out and buy a supply, it was an adequate performer and the scent was pleasant. If the scent were stronger and more clearly sandalwood, this soap would definitely hold more appeal to me.

The verdict: I will pass on this soap in the future. Simply too many other options, and this soap lacks any attributes to make it noteworthy or memorable other than performance.

Mühle Sandalwood

This soap arrived grated in to a plastic bag, so I grabbed a small bowl and wet it and pressed it overnight into a small puck. I then loaded the damp Plisson per usual and used a Schick G - SOTD 19-21 September 2015.




This was absolutely the most confusing soap I have ever reviewed. At one point I thought it was Speick, then VDH luxury, and then finally decided I was clueless. The scent of the soap is kinda sandalwood, but I catch major notes of oak moss too, and I think it mostly just has that nondescript "barber shop" smell like VDH. I actually really believed it was VDH at one point...

I was able to get great lather from this soap. A good load on the damp Plisson made for good face lathering. The lather provided good cushion, but it took two days to get the water ratio correct for face lathering. I do remember the shaves being really nice though...and now my complaint. Sandalwood scent was way too soft. In fact had Mühle had named this soap "Mühle Barber Shop" I would have loved it. But, as sandalwood...very average. Once again a great performing that lacks any distinguishing features that would make me buy.

The verdict: This soap will also be a pass. Just nothing to like or dislike really. Scent was so soft...performance was good for the price.

Thanks to Ron for setting this up and running down the soaps. It's always fun to try things I would never choose. Let the quest for good Sandalwood continue....

 

Great review.
I think keeping the soaps a mystery was a great idea as it makes them all 'equal' out the gate.

 

Good evening Gents...

Here we go once again with another installment of 5 guys 2 soaps. This round was spearheaded by Mr. Shaverman, and he added the twist of keeping these soaps a complete mystery to us all. I thought I would be able to at least narrow down the soap maker or scent profile, but after weeks of guessing incorrectly....I finally waived the white flag.

This experience was actually great for me, because I "thought" that I was sensitive to sandalwood scented soaps, and purposely avoided them. When I first tried Art of Shaving Sandalwood cream, I experienced redness and slight burning which caused me to steer clear from this scent category. Now with that being said, I can't say that these soaps actually smell like sandalwood. They might be labeled sandalwood, but I don't know which kind of sandalwood oil they used to scent these soaps. Each of them performed great, and provided a good combination of slickness and protection. I would give the slight edge to the Muhle for scent, but Italian barber had a better post shave feel. I'm happy to report that neither one of these soaps caused any type of redness or irritation during my lather testing or use.


Here are a few pictures to help illustrate how well these two soaps performed...



Muhle Sandalwood

INGREDIENTS: Potassium Palmate, Sodium Palmate, Potassium Stearate, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Aqua, Palm Kernel Acid, Capryl/Capramdopropyl Betain, Parfum, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Linalool, Benzyl Benzoate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Benzyl Alcohol, Citronellol, Limonene, Geraniol, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate















This soap reminded me of PdP in terms of appearance and consistency. The scent was a softer and almost sweet "sandalwood". Definitely not an earthy or a cologne type sandalwood like TOBS or AOS. I found the scent strength to be pretty light, but pleasant. It's one of those soaps that performs well, but the lack of scent strength, would hold me back from adding this one to the cart. The sample itself lasted a while longer than the softer Italian barber soap, so you will certainly get your money's worth in terms of longevity.



Italian Barber Sandalwood


Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Aqua (Water), Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Parfum (Fragrance), Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil (Golden Jojoba Oil)













This soap was very soft in consistency, and my initial guess was that it was made by strop shoppe. Of course, I was wrong, and after finding out that this stuff is only $4.99 a tub, I think it provides a lot of bang for your buck. This scent was more of an earthy "sandalwood", but still not very strong. Ease of lathering was a bonus, along with the nice post shave face feel. This is a great bargain soap, and I would recommend it for newer wet shavers because of its low price point and ease of lathering. I personally wouldn't buy this scent, but I would be interested in looking at other scent offerings.

Overall, this was a great round. We racked our brains trying to figure this one out, but we failed miserably. I'm sure Mr. Shaverman was enjoying every minute of it...lol. He gave us hints along the way, but we could never guess that either one of these soaps was Sandalwood. This stuff is always fun, and I look forward to our next round. Take care gents, and Happy Holidays. Thanks for taking the time to read our reviews.

 

No thanks to you guys for taking the time to do them - they are tremendously entertaining to read.

 

I always look forward to these threads. Thank you guys!

 

Hey Guys (and Gals)...

I, too, had a chance to try out Mr. Shaverman's mystery soaps. I thought his idea of supplying us with a couple of soaps without identifying them was an awesome social experiment if nothing else. We all were stumped on what the scent was for either soap. Then he gave us a clue that they were supposed to both be the same scent. That added another curveball to the mystery. They didn't smell the same at all. I also had a definite favorite when it was over.

Soap #1 Muhle Sandalwood
This soap came to us in a ziploc bag in the form of uniform fine shavings. I tried shaving with them by sprinkling a few of the shavings into my scuttle and working up a lather with that. I wasn't happy with that method, so I found an old empty shaving soap tub and pressed the shavings into the bottom, which worked like a dream. No issues after I made that adjustment.

The aroma, before I knew what it was supposed to be, gave me the impression of a "clean" sort of smell... not too different than Arko. I even accused Mr. Shaverman of sending us an unscented soap with this one.... in a nice way, that is. Anyway, the lather was excellent and easy to achieve as shown in the following photos:

I was able to get a great shave time and time again with this soap and was happy with the performance regardless of the brush I used or the razor and blade combination I threw at it. Once Mr. Shaverman identified that it was Sandalwood, it clicked that it really did smell like a faint version of sandalwood. It could have been much more powerful, however, and I would have possibly enjoyed it more. Still, I would use this soap in my rotation and am considering buying some once my sample is used up.

Soap #2 Italian Barber Shaving Soap for Sensitive Skin - Sandalwood

Second on the list, because I don't actually prefer croaps, so I waited to review this one, the Italian Barber soap gave me the instant perception of DIRT and PEPPERCORN when I opened it up for the first time. Lathering it up with a pea size amount in my scuttle gave me a good lather, but not quite as rich as the Muhle soap but still quite nice.

Spreading the lather on my face didn't give me that cushion feel that the Muhl soap did, but it covered the beard and provided enough slickness to make a passable shave after two or three passes.

I had more irritation on my neck area with this soap than the Muhl, however and even though the scent is a little stronger than the Muhl, although pleasant, it isn't enough to make me want to buy this soap for my rotation. When we found out it was also Sandalwood, I could immediately tell it was indeed woodsy smelling, but I also detect a heavy CEDAR note as well. I would enjoy the Muhl soap with this scent, but alas you can't have everything.

I want to thank Mr. Shaverman for the most interesting review opportunity I have yet to receive. I really appreciate the thought he put behind the selection of the soaps and the generosity to provide on the review team TWO soaps to try out. I had been curious to try a Sandalwood soap in the past and I got the chance to try two!

Thanks for reading my review!

 

Great job guys on such well written reviews.

 

Thanks guys for the reviews! I always enjoy reading the different opinions and seeing the pictures y'all include!

 

This is fun. How often do you guys review soaps?

 

Not often enough

 

I like it. I hope I don't miss any future 5 guys posts.

 

I can't help but to think of

​

 

Every 2 or 3 months or so.

 

If only you could photoshop burgers and fries to say soaps and creams...lol

 

The idea was quarterly. But it looks like we'll do five review sessions this year.