I thought I would give this thread a bump. For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of trying Sir Irisch Moos shave soap, and you get the opportunity - take it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is great soap. It is one of the easiest lathering soaps I have ever tried. The smell is great and refreshing. The lather is rich and slick. I know I am one of those who finds out that hard to find items often get hyped too much - e.g. Coates Lime - but this is an exception to that rule. I shaved with it this morning, and got a great, smooth, irritation free shave. Thanks again to everybody who helped get these to us - ZenMaster Kool-Aid and Mark at Superlather!happy096:happy096 Incidentally, I have found that the Aqua Velva Original Sport (the green stuff from Canada) pairs well with this soap. It is an acquired taste as far as scents go, but I like it with this soap. It even has some cooling to it - but not as much as the Classic Ice blue.
I still like it. Smells good. Performs at a high standard. A welcome addition to the rotation. The AS is nothing to write home about, but not terrible either.
That's my take exactly. I've gotten to like the scent Tabac. It's nice to have two equivalent soaps in different scents. I'm still investigating, but I *think* I might be sensitive to tallow. La Toja stick caused irritation. At first i thought it was the blade or razor. Tabac and IM do the same, but luckily it takes 2-3 day of use in a row, so I can use it on a limited basis. I'm going to try the La Toja cream (glycerin, right?) and some other tallow soaps before I declare myself sensitive for sure.
I'm thinking that it may be some of the other additives that you are sensitive to. Tallow is generally rendered beef fat (or other animals, but beef tallow is widely available). Tallow is used in almost every commercial bath soap out there because it's cheap and it makes good soap. Fragrances are the most common thing to cause sensitivities, and a lot of the tallow soaps (particularly the quality stuff) do use a different grade of fragrance, which could be related to your sensitivities. I could be wrong though.
You know, the first time I used my La Toja stick, I noticed some irritation, too. Like the longer it sat on my face (end of 2nd and 3rd pass) the worse it got - although at it's worst it still wasn't bad, just noticeable.... the next day I tried it again with no problems... I did get sunburned on my face earlier that day the first time I used it, so I attributed it to that...but now you've got me wondering... I guess I'll try it out again tomorrow to see if I notice any irritation...
I was not impressed with this stick. I think it was the scent that turned me off. It was too strong. The shave was nice but so is the Palmolive stick at a fraction of the cost and more readily available.
La Toja shave stick is not tallow based.The only tallow based spanish shaving stick is GAL and was discontinued like 5 years ago.I guess that you can be allergic to some of the additives that Tabac and La Toja shares.
Bad news TJ and Teiste.... The La Toja stick irritates my skin. Unbelievable! One of the best lathering soaps for me, great skin care, but as I was reapplying for the second pass, irritation - the skin burning/itching feeling By the end of the 2nd pass, I couldn't stand it anymore - honestly I should have rinsed it off earlier....I am so disappointed. On the up side, aside from MWF, that seems to be the only other item so far to irritate me like that....
I'm going to give La Toja stick one more try. When I first got them, I superlathered the stick and cream. I will also try the cream by itself. I seem to react to almond soaps too. Fitness didn't work, as much as I love the lather, etc. I'll give P160 a spin too. One day I'd like to try MWF too. I hope it works for me, after all the good things I've read. I used my IM this morning and, as always loved it! I'll just have to keep it to every other day...
As much as I love my Speick, the IM is a MUCH better latherer. Incidentally, I broke down and gave Tabac another shot. I'm still not crazy about the scent, but I'm living with it. Mine is kind of cracked on top, like MWF gets. Is that common? I'm not worried, just wondering if that is standard. Also, I don't get nearly as good and long-lasting a lather with Tabac as I do with IM. I don't know if it is a rubbing the stick on the face versus rubbing the brush on the soap issue or what. I'm just not getting as good a lather with Tabac as IM.
The cracked puck is standard. Doesn't effect it as long as you drain any water residue out of there after use. I still really like Tabac a lot, but it doesn't get frequent use in my rotation anymore. That's what happens when you over purchase and have 20 things in rotation! Nothing gets regular use anymore.
MMMM never heard any complain with La Toja but maybe we are tooo patriotic about it heheheheeheh,no seriously,even it was advertised as "skin friendly" because of its mineral salts.Have you had the same reaction with the Lea/Bea stick?they almost have the same formula(without the mineral salts and scent).It might be an ingredient that maybe you are allergic to.Thanks goodness that theres so many options like IM,Speick,Valobra,Arko,Palmolive.....
I agree somewhat, I do think IM has a small edge on Speick for lather, but I wouldn't call it MUCH better....just my opinion I haven't used my Tabac puck in probably 3 months.... No, no trouble with Lea/Bea, or anything thing else except for MWF from what I can remember...
Glad to see the IM sticks and creams are a hit brothers. Believe it or not I still haven't tried the stick yet--they sell out too fast!! Klaus is right about the sticks and creams being hard to find even in Germany. He is not the first that I've heard say that. I have more of both on the way. The sticks and creams seem to be generating a lot more interest than the pre-shave, AS, and EDT and that--sticks and creams--is what I will likely be focussing on.
Well, just yesterday, my Irisch Moos stick arrived---yesssssssssss!!!!!!!! Tomorrow, I'll shave with it!!!!
