I am going to stir the pot a little bit and come out and say it. Tallow is not the magical ingredient in shave products. I have tried close to about everything from basic shaving oil, the super cheap soaps and creams up to the highest $$$ available. Tallow and non tallow. Paraben and non paraben...etc. Manufacturers have seem to be going away from tallow for some reason or the other and going towards veggie based emollients. Some folks put tallow on some magical pedestal I BELIEVE because it isnt easy to obtain. I am not pointing any fingers as much as I can because I dont want to be a mudslinger here:happy102 But I will give credit when credit is due! I have done side by side tests with a popular english shave soap.....1 with tallow and 1 w/o. Same scent in fact. Not a damn difference IMHO. The scent had faded a bit in the tallow maybe b/c of age(the scent was coconut I didnt end my mission there. I find it sometimes comical that people perceive a product including cow fat is superb to others? Anyways.....Tabac which is tallow based is down right one of the best performing soaps at any level and at a great price! Is it the tallow? I would have to say no. Williams.....yes Williams first ingredient is what???? Sodium Tallowate. How do they compare....well we know the answer to that! I am no expert at all in this subject but have come to a conclusion that the other ingredients in a soap or cream help to characteristics of the soap instead of tallow. The glycerine, clay, lanolin, moisturizers, slippery stuff?, seem to be more beneficial than tallow. On another note....I find certain creams out perform alot of soaps! I realize that the cool thing to do with some folks to dump their creams a use that hi end Penhaligons English Fern in the fancy bowl! Well...thats another thread Bottom line here. I realize as Ray would say YMMV. Everyone's face is different and responds to products differently. I just think that tallow based soaps have this stigma to them. It is also quite amusing how the "lower end" tallow based sometimes gets looked down on and only the NOS English soaps gets the true respect? I was at one point brain washed into thinking that tallow was king. Well, I will be the first to say that it isnt. Tabac is very good, MWF is nice, Williams is passable, ??? coconut is no better than PdP. Palm Kernel Oil is a wonderful substitute IMHO. The technology today has allowed companies not to resort to cow fat as a shaving additive. I find great success in tripled milled vegan soap, glycerine, glycerine/clay, etc. Do I care what they use? No! I'm not a veggie freak or and I love me some good steak.....especially the cuts with a lot of fat! Any opinions?
Tabac which is tallow based is down right one of the best performing soaps at any level and at a great price! As noted, I agree
I have tried shaving with another old tallow soap, Sunlight soap, which smells kinda detergent citrusy, and it lathers like crap. A bit better than generic lavender olive oil soap from Greece, but still nowhere near as good as Dr. Harris's Arlington. How do I btw tell if I've got the tallow or semi-tallow stuff?
While of the soaps I've tried, the tallow based soaps are better on average, it doesn't appear to be the magic ingredient. I've tried good and bad tallow based soap and good and bad veggie based soap. My favorite, MWF, is tallow based, but my #2, TSD, is veggie and clay. On the low end, tallow soaps seem better (Arko stick and Williams, ignoring scent, being better than VDH). I guess overall I'd say it appears easier to make a good tallow-based soap, but that veggie soaps, when done right, are just as good.
The DR. Harris does get rave reviews. The only way to tell is the ingredient list on the box or if it moo's:happy102
I have only used Tabac and it my book it is the cats meow. It is by far the best soap I have used. Having said that I can't say too much else about tallow based soaps. I haven't tried anything else but Tabac.
Tallow soaps always have and always will be far superior in performance to any other shaving soaps. There are, however, creams that put even the finest tallow soaps to shame....
I love tallow based soaps, but it seems that there are other variables that affect the quality of my shave more than my choice of soap/cream. I find that the blade and technique play a much larger role in the outcome of a shave. That being said, I still PREFER the tallow based soaps more than anything (except maybe Proraso Red).
The best lather I have ever seen, or can even imagine, comes from an old Yardley soap. Whether it's because of the tallow or not I don't know.
It's the Gentleman's Lavender. Why can't someone buy the rights and recipe and start making this incredible soap again? Yardley if you're watching bring it back... Please, or sell the formula.
I agree with Mike about the blade and technique 100%. I have written off the best of the best soaps before only b/c my blade choice was bad or technique was not right.
I am not sure if the tallow-based soaps that people seem to love are as good as they are because they have tallow, or if they were made by people who really know how to make a good shave soap. I tend to favor the latter. Are the Harris and AOS soaps superior because they include tallow, or because they are a much better soap? I have read from people who have used both the older tallow-based GFT soaps and the new tallow free GFT soaps, and they have commented that both seem to work just as well - evidence that it is the skill of the soapmaker, not any one particular ingredient. I suspect that, back when soaps were first made, had suitable fats other than tallow been available, we would have seen them around much earlier - as is the case with Castille and Marseilles soaps, made using olive oil. I do agree about creams, as well. I have certain creams that give me outstanding shaves - TOBS, Proraso Red, Palmolive Classic, Musgo Real. There is more than one way to skin a cat - or shave a beard. If you like tallow, you are in luck - there are still several very good/excellent tallow-based soaps out there. Tabac (although I don't care for it), MWF, DR Harris, Speick, AOS, Palmolive all come to mind. But if not, you will not be sacrificing any kind of quality by going with non-tallow soaps - GFT, L'Occitane, QED, TSD, etc.
I think a Tallow base gives a soap a leg up. From there it's as mentioned previously. What other goodies are added and how skilled is the manufacturer? Frankly I only have one Tallow soap (Tabac), and it exceeds any other soap I have. But I do get perfectly fine shaves from all the other non-tallow products as well. So I think there is something to your thesis. I've never had the gumption to try Williams so I don't know how it would compare.
I have tried some outstanding soaps in both catagories and can make no clear distinction as to which is better. One thing I have noted is that some of the better veggie soaps list Steric Acid on the ingredients; this is derived from tallow so it may have something to do with it. I am still trying to learn the magic behind great soap so I have no idea....
My top four soaps (no particular order) are Tabac, Speick, Mama Bear: Awakenings, and GFT: Rose. The first two are tallow based, the second two are not. After my top 4 soaps, the next few spots are non-tallow before I would rank MWF.
Good answers guys! I was really planning on getting more criticism but we are a friendly bunch so I guess not I guess the thing is that tallow doesnt guarantee a superb product. I believe that the manufacturers that do use it tends to produce a superior product. But there are other products out there that are incredible as well. I guess in my past there have been people that suddenly sold off all their glycerine soaps because they believed a certain soap was the ultimate. I honestly thought it was crazy but who am I? Dont get me wrong....I love tallow and no way bashing it. Actually I love any product that works for me I think I want to go pick on some creams now!
