Upcoming Mike's vs Tiki comparison

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by Porter, Oct 10, 2014.

  1. Porter

    Porter Well-Known Member

    So I found someone in my area who is selling an unopened puck of Tiki Salty air shave soap on Craigslist, and I jumped on the opportunity to buy it. The seller has been nice enough to reserve the puck for me until I can pick it up. Not having to pay any shipping is great, especially since I'm up in Canada. I've been hearing great things about these soaps, so I'm looking forward to trying it out.
    Once I nail down how to make a good lather from Tiki (from the sounds of it, it shouldn't be too hard), I'll be doing a side-by-side with a bar of Mike's Natural. Mike's natural is one of my favourite soaps, and I've always wondered what Tiki and Mike's were like side by side.
    Just in the interest of full disclosure, I've only been using shave soaps for about 3 months, even though I've been wet shaving for about 3 years. But hey, should be fun to chew the fat over it.
    Could I have posted this when I actually had both soaps? Sure. But now everyone else has an excuse to throw in their 0.02, and that's pretty much the fun of it, right? ;)
     
    RaZorBurn123 likes this.
  2. RaZorBurn123

    RaZorBurn123 waiting hardily...............

    I like a Tiki shave everyonce in a while. Yeah any time you can beat the post office. Win. Win! You can post any which way you choose. :) look forward to your comparison.
     
  3. clint64

    clint64 Blind Squirrel

    Look forward to your comparison. These are two soaps I am interested in trying.
     
    Porter likes this.
  4. theFAT98

    theFAT98 Well-Known Member

    Like to know about tiki.

    I'm a big mikes fan. Hard to beat it.
     
  5. LookingGlass

    LookingGlass Well-Known Member

    I acquired Tiki Set Sail and Land Locked through trades and am happy I did. These soaps give great lather easily. I used the Land Locked today with a Gillette Red Tip and a Voskhod blade. Great shave. I highly recommend the Tiki shave soaps.

    Ed
     
    SRNewb and Porter like this.
  6. Porter

    Porter Well-Known Member

    Sadly the seller's out of town for now, so I won't have the soap until next week. Anyone who feels like doing their own comparison, if they have both soaps, is more than welcome.
     
  7. fram773

    fram773 Well-Known Member

    Ever heard of the "Craigslist Killer?" Just saying.
     
    markjnewcomb likes this.
  8. Porter

    Porter Well-Known Member

    Haha I'll keep my guard up.
     
  9. dfoulk

    dfoulk Active Member

    I've used both Mike's and Tiki soaps. I enjoy both but prefer the Tiki soaps. I believe this to be another one of the Martin de Candre clone type soaps like LASS that share many of the same ingredients. I find these soaps to be very good though none are similar to MdC to me. I think something in the 9 month MdC aging process is what accounts for the difference.

    Performance wise Tiki is very good and I'd consider it to be an above average soap. Most of the scents aren't too strong except for their "The Captain" one which is a Cherry Tobacco scent that I really enjoy. Salty Air is a clean fresh scent that reminds me of a leather cleaner that I used to use on the car seats a while back. Clean, fresh and somewhat tropical. It's an enjoyable scent that I definitely don't mind using but I'll take The Captain over it if I were to choose a scent to order.

    I think you'll really enjoy it and look forward to your review.
     
  10. Porter

    Porter Well-Known Member

    I'll be picking up the soap tomorrow, and hopefully have a good review not too long afterwards. I'm looking forward to seeing what the scent is like for Salty Air, as I prefer lighter scents more than the "heavier" tobacco type scents. I won't be doing much reviewing of the scents, especially in the comparison, considering the Tiki is Salty Air and my Mike's puck is Rose and Cedarwood.
     
  11. dfoulk

    dfoulk Active Member

    If you like lighter scents then I think you'll really enjoy the scent of the Salty Air soap.
     
    Porter likes this.
  12. Porter

    Porter Well-Known Member

    Ok, so I finally picked up the Tiki soap today, so here we go. If you want the short version, just skip to the end where it says "overall" @fram773, the guy turned out to be pretty nice, so no worries there; he's a pastor actually (or so he said ;))

    Scent: I'm not going to compare these two scents, as they're not the same scent at all, but I'll let you know what I think:.
    Tiki Salty Air: A "light" smelling soap; it doesn't really work for me, and honestly reminds me of baby powder, but scent, as we all know, is a preference, so don't let that scare you off.
    Mike's: Rose and Cedarwood: I don't get any cedarwood off this puck, just a straight rose scent; The pure rose is a little too floral for me, so I tend to mix in a drop of either Rosemary and Peppermint or Wintergreen EO, and I find the combination works quite well.
    In general for scents, I'm a minty/light fir/let it snow let it snow let it snow kinda-guy, so there's my preference out in the open.

    Soap: Mike's is the harder soap, although both are malleable enough for me to squish into jars/tins.

    Price: Mike's came in a 5 oz tin for $11.50, whereas a tub/tin of Tiki is 4oz for $14, so Mike's wins out, if that matters to anyone.

    Lather:
    Latherability: I would say Tiki edges Mike's out here; on equal loading times, Tiki lathers easier and more quickly for me using an Omega 10066 boar brush.
    Slickness: Tiki, I would say, is "naturally" a little for slick than Mike's, although not by too much. I would say that Mike's is a thirstier soap, as well.
    Face-feel: This was the tipping point for me. While Tiki felt great, and left my face feeling equally as moisturized, Mike's has something about it that just puts a smile on my face. There's something cushiony, soft, and a little extra buttery that just feels better for me when I use Mike's. But this is just me.

    Cushion:
    As I waxed poetic above, Mike's won for me, although Tiki still provided a great cushion.

    Post shave feel: I would say they are about even, with Mike's being only slightly better right after the shave.

    Overall: For me, Tiki is a great soap, but there's just something special for me about the face feel of Mike's that just works. I emailed Mike about potentially coming out with a mentholated soap, and he said he wanted to, but needed to get his production process worked out before he did. And Amanda over at Tiki said that she's thinking of a Peppermint Bark soap for christmas, which sounds delicious. In the end, if you can try both soaps, do so, because they're both top notch in my book.

    Cheers, and happy shaving,
    Porter
     
    ObiDon and Chuck F like this.
  13. fram773

    fram773 Well-Known Member

    @Porter I'm glad you made it out alive. For all we could have known it could have been a Lutheran deacon: [​IMG]
    :happy102:
     
    ObiDon and Porter like this.
  14. CyanideMetal

    CyanideMetal Wild and crazy guy

    I made a stick out of my Mike's Rose -n- Cedar. Both soaps are great but I agree that Mike's takes the show by small bit.
     
  15. Porter

    Porter Well-Known Member

    I can see myself using Tiki for specific uses in the future. Having a nice slick soap like Tiki will be quite useful.
     
  16. dfoulk

    dfoulk Active Member

    Thanks for the great review. I personally prefer Tiki over Mike's but I have used Mike's soaps quite a bit and do enjoy them as well. I don't think anyone could go wrong with either one.
     

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