If I had to pick a top 5 brands, right now I'd go with (in no particular order): -Stirling -Barrister and Mann (Reserve and Glissant) -Jeeves of Hudson Street -First Canadian Shave Soap (New Formulation) -Palmolive (best bang for buck) Next two in line would be Soap Commander and Fine, fwiw.
I have never tried the Nuavia line but I do have two of the Pure2O -- DFS and Vetiver. Great stuff. If the Nuavia has better shaving performance, it must be truly incredible...
It's an interesting approach to the pine scent profile. At first, it didn't appeal to me. It smelt too much like old, very wet pine needles, like the ones you'd kick out from under a log. However, when lathering, it got closer to a pleasant, more fresh scent, and now I 'pine' for it and use it frequently. Great lather, by the way, characteristic of all the Stirling soaps I've tried. I didn't think I'd like it at first, now I love it.
Its been a while since I have visited this thread and of coarse I have bought a few more soaps along the shaving way of life that are worth mentioning. Part one "Top 5 great soaps you & I use" https://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/top-5-great-soaps-you-i-use.59975/ Part two "Top 5 Brush soaps Below $10US you & I use"https://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/top-5-brush-shave-soaps-below-10-00us-you-i-use.59992/ Razorock "The Dead Sea" soap was purchased a few months back and I have to compliment who ever designed the fragrance and soap properties. I have never smelled a scent quite as unique as this one and to be honest it is one of my favorite scents in a soap. The scent is really worth the purchase by it self if you like to leave it fragrance after using it in your bathroom. This soap has changed the way I like to dispose of my lather after using all my soaps now, I will shave and with the lather that is left over I just leave it in my lathering bowl with it releasing the fragrance about in the bathroom until the next soap change. Scents are sometimes hard to describe and going to Italian barber they seem to get it fairly close IMO, My impression of the soap is it lathers well and protection is very reasonable and post shave is very reasonable as compared to other soaps that I can gauge from. The combination of Lemon ,Rosemary, Saffron, Cannabis oil & Sandal wood scents that are part of the formula give it a refreshing relaxing addictive scent that is wonderful to wake up in the morning for my daily shave. Razorock "Santa Maria del Fiore " Firenze was purchased when they had their moving sale and this is a great soap also(one of my favorite Razorock soaps of all). The lather quality is second to none and the scent is second to none IMO. If you like tobacco, vanilla , amber, with a touch of Eucalyptus with a little Menthol thrown in for the cooling effect(not strong just right) you more than likely will enjoy this soap. I like to leave left over lather from shaving in my lathering bowl to fragrance the bathroom with this tobacco vanilla scent. When this soap comes up for my soap rotation I like it very much that thought, it gives me a smile and the scent is very unique. (It does not over power the room but is very nice to be around is the best way for me to describe my experience.) What ever you do don't flush the lather down the sink if using a lathering bowl because you are just wasting a great fragrance in the bathroom or shaving den.(do it later when changing soaps) Razorock recommends to scoop out some soap to a lathering bowl because the soap will last longer and retain its scent strength for both "The Dead Sea" & "Santa Maria del Fiore" instead of loading from the Glass container puck with a wet shave brush. The packaging of this soap is very interesting and is 1st glass, glass is always best for preserving any products because it is inert. (just don't drop it on your toes because it has some heft.) Have some great shaves!
Everyone knows I’m biased. My favorites are: Sara’s Creations Lavender-Mint Sara’s Creations Lavender. Same for my husband, but reverse the order of preference.
I just enjoy lavender shaving soap also. I use Razorock Lavender but they are not selling it on their site at the moment so when I get through my small inventory I will research Sara's Creations Lavender. Also Mike's natural soap Lavender is very awesome from other reviews.
My top 5 are in order of preference: 1. MWF 2. MDC Vetyver 3. Declaration Grooming Sellout 4. Wholly Kaw King of Oud 5. Soap Commander Honor Although I would be happy with MWF every day!
She made extra stout lavender for me. It was exceptional. The last bit is covered in one my old spice mugs. It was one of them that made me want to use them repeatedly instead of a different setup everyday. I really like that loud Lavender aroma and cushiony suds. The others are Stirling Soap Commander What little shave den stuff i have left. Those are my favorites.
I've tries many soaps over the years, I've always seem to go back to Tallow based soaps, guess I'm just old school. I'm slowly down sizing to one or two soaps. I judge a soap by it's performance, not the scent. That being said my favorites are: Tabac Arko (bowl pressed) Cella (kilo) Dr, Harris Williams/Dove
The new Williams is a good soap but not as good a it once was (refering to what is now called vintage Williams) Dove Bath soap makes a good shave soap with a slick lasting lather, Mix a puck of the new type Williams and half bar of any scent Dove (both shaved, mixed and bowl pressed) I get a great shave soap with a choice of scents and inexpensive.
I don't know when this survey ends, but it certainly appears Seasoned Shavers is walking away with it.
Here are my top 5 shave soaps in no particular order. 1. PAA Black Bot CK6 formula 2. B&M Leviathan 3. MDC Fougère 4. Proraso red 5. Antiga Barbearia De Bairro
Top 5 in no particular order: Stirling Tabac PAA Pre de Provence 63 Razorock Verstuurd vanaf mijn GM1913 met Tapatalk
