I have several and has used them all.. Performance I find is very good on all vintage I have tried.. Some have lost some or much of the scent though.. What I have is: Old Spice (nearly scentless but Good) Shavallor (Super) Imperial Leather (Super) Corvette (Good) Classic Barbershop Herbal (nearly scentless but Good) Classic Barbershop Lemon/Lime (nearly scentless but Good) I might have forgotten some.. But I think that is all..
I haven't used any vintage soaps but vintage creams: I have a coupla tubes of Kaloderma cream from the 80s or so and it still works perfectly. ::
well, I just used a vintage shaving stick from Sweden today called Hega--it's a lovely soap. I also have the Dalli-Werke stick, a wonderful soap from England called Shavallo, and another vintage shaving stick from Sweden called Barnangens Parba, which is also excellent.
I just won a new/sealed bowl of vintage yardley soap (the round wood bowl, not the triangular kind). I haven't received it yet, but I have high hopes based on what I've read about it. I'm sure I overpaid a bit, but the bowl is supposed to be new/sealed and based on the pics appeared to be in perfect condition.
True.. Shame on me - to forget one of my favourites.. Do you have a guess on how old the Dalli stick might be..
I generally find vintage shaving soaps to be superior to what is currently available on the market, and after my first tub of Yardley I built up quite a collection. Yardley English Lavender in a wooden bowl: The oldest Yardley, and the best shaving soap I have ever tried. Yardley Black Label: Very nice scent, seems to be rarer than the other types. Yardley in a bakelite bowl: My first Yardley, not as good as the other two but still better than anything else. Incredibly easy lather, very rich and leaves your skin feeling wonderful. Fields Buckingham Lavender: One of the oldest I own. Has turned an off-yellow colour and is quite crumbly. The scent has gone but the lather is up there with the best. Wrisley's Lavender: Scent's starting to go, but it still lathers very well. Lentheric Lavender: Up there with the Yardley, not quite as good a shave, but it blows every modern soap out of the water. Imperial Leather: Second vintage soap I bought. Not much scent wise, but the lather is amazingly rich and very protective. Morny: Like yardley this brand used to be very high end, and the soap is great. DR Harris Cologne Shaving Soap: Typical Harris quality with a nice citrus scent Floris no.66: Old tallow based Floris soap, better than their current offerings (which are still very good IMO.) Trumper Tallow based soaps Rose, Sandalwood and Lime: I like the current Trumper soaps, but once again these older types are much better Potter and Moore Mitcham Lavender: This is a very old company, which still has links to Creightons i believe. They produced another fine vintage soap. Scent has faded, but it's still quite pleasant. Shavallo: Nearly as old as the Fields soap, this one offers some of the best skin care I have ever had from a soap Hai Karate Shaving Soap: Not nearly as caustic as the aftershave of the same name, this is of a lower quality than the others I own, but it's still pretty nice. Regards, Alex
Thanks, Alex. That's quite a list. I have some 50's vintage Yardley, a wood bowl of Lentheric, and a bakelite bowl of Paislay's (all posted here.) They are all new (the Lentheric has possibly been used) and I'm still trying to decide whether to use them, or put them up for sale to fund some other stuff.
Whilst I am certain that you could get a very good price for these soaps, whether sold individually or in a lot (and I can personally attest to how good the Yardley and Lentheric are) my instinct would be to keep them. These soaps really are exceptional and there availability in the future is uncertain to say the least. Lentheric bowls are few and far between and although there have been quite a few yardley bowls available over the last couple of months before that they were very scarce as well. The lifespan of a good triple milled hard soap is very good so there's no hurry to make a decision either way, but I would say use them and enjoy them.
I was quite happy to be able to acquire these. It was fun chasing them down. I'm inclined to use them if not for the desire to raise some funds for other things I really "need." Are you familiar with the Lentheric in the wood bowl? It doesn't have a Lavender scent as much a cologne scent, so I'm thinking it's different from the Lavande that I've seen in a bakelite container. As for the others, the Paislay's smells simply soapy with a Lavender overtone, and the Yardley is still sealed, so i can't smell it. I would probably use the Yardley except it seems a shame to break the set up without using the talc and AS and I'm not sure I'm interested in doing that.
