What do you look for in a good soap review?

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by JR Reyes, Sep 16, 2016.

  1. JR Reyes

    JR Reyes I scream for....chicken wings??

    Wetshavers,

    I want to get some forum feedback on what you all value most in a shaving soap/cream review.

    I personally want:

    1. Plenty of Pictures (lather shots)

    2. A good scent description that includes references and strength level.

    3. I want to know how performs in terms of slickness, glide, and how easy it generates lather.

    4. I'm a little OCD, so I want to know if it's going to leave any residue on my gear or rinse clean.

    5. I want to know if it might leave my face feeling tight or well nourished.

    These are just some of my ideas, but I want to hear your thoughts on the question...
     
    Kizurra likes this.
  2. Primotenore

    Primotenore missed opera tunity

    Article Team
    In no particular order:

    Manufacturer/Where to Purchase
    Ingredient list
    Package size/container
    Retail Cost
    Detailed Scent Description
    Lather Test with Badger/Boar/Synthetic; Face and Bowl
    Rating of Slickness, Cushion, and Post-Shave
     
    JR Reyes likes this.
  3. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    Looks like a good place to add a poll! Is there a limit to the number of categories/ items folks can vote on? Was that a dangling participle?
     
    Halvor and JR Reyes like this.
  4. Straight razor dandy

    Straight razor dandy Stuck cleaning the house himself PERMANENTLY

    For soap reviews, I want to know about latherability, cushion, glide and face-feel. Scents are also very important. Was it a room filling scent or very light? Do they offer multiple scents, unscented, or even multiple soap bases (tallow, vegetable, etc)? Did the scent dissipate or was it lasting? How moisturizing was it?

    Price and place to buy is also nice

    Pictures are nice, but not necessary for me. Everyone lathers differently. I tend to use minimal amounts to get the job done, thus saving soap. Some people use a ton...enough for 10 passes even, so there lather looks more impressive, but it is also being wasted.
     
    JR Reyes likes this.
  5. crackstar

    crackstar Israeli Ambassador to TSD

    Excellent points.
     
    JR Reyes likes this.
  6. JR Reyes

    JR Reyes I scream for....chicken wings??

    I initially thought about a poll, but I didn't want to limit the possibilities. People might be looking for thing not listed in the poll.

    Great feedback so far gents. Thank you for taking the time to answer.
     
    RyX likes this.
  7. PickledNorthern

    PickledNorthern Fabulous, the unicorn

    Lather pics aren't so important to me, but I do really like to see a picture of the container it comes in.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     
    JR Reyes likes this.
  8. Straight razor dandy

    Straight razor dandy Stuck cleaning the house himself PERMANENTLY

    Screenshot_2016-09-14-18-19-10.png s-l1600.jpg IMG_20160913_152525.jpg
     
    Mike Brown likes this.
  9. Rusty blade

    Rusty blade The Good Humor Man

    Interesting thread. All very good points. I like to see comments about the container....is it stack-able, plastic, glass, screw top lid, metal, etc.. Price per weight (oz./grams). Scent is very important. And of course...cool factor.
     
    JR Reyes likes this.
  10. jimjo1031

    jimjo1031 never bloomed myself

    Scent, size and price, lather production. Container or no container doesn't matter. Ones that don't go into mugs.
     
  11. JR Reyes

    JR Reyes I scream for....chicken wings??

    Interesting concept..."cool factor"

    I plan on investigating "new formulas" and soaps that are trying to "bring something new to the table", as well as scent duplicates.
     
  12. david of central florida

    david of central florida Rhubarb Rubber

    I also find it somewhat important either if it comes with its own aftershave or if it blends nicely with aftershaves i already have.
    While it's not incomprehensable that i use unrelated soap, a/s, cologne. I normally like some theme that runs throughout my daily routine.
    Lets say, maggards chai tea. Nice maggards soap, slick and rich. Nice container, nice aroma, and staying powr. But if i dont buy another aftershave, what blends well with horehound? Same way with several perfume scented soaps or cremes.
    1805, great everything, but who can afford the matching aftershave?
    Tends to be a bummer after a perfect shave to wonder what aftertreatment will enhance and not take away from what youve accomplished.
    So i look for matching scented sets priced nicely, or generic scented soaps like lime, bayrum, rose. Most lime scented items match well with other lime scented items.
     
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  13. JR Reyes

    JR Reyes I scream for....chicken wings??

    Yes sir. And a great, great point. I will be sure to address this concern. I want to find good scent duplicates or pairings that compliment and extend the scent experience. With a little help from some of my friends...of course.
     
  14. Rockclimber

    Rockclimber Well-Known Member

    I wish I had more to add to this discussion but I would basically just be +1 on every Post in here. A soap review should be an in-depth well-thought-out review with plenty of pictures and personal opinion that is NOT stated as fact. I know my face is completely different than many of your faces and my opinion will contradict many of yours so I will always refrain from stating things as a fact and more of as an opinion . I also would love to hear your opinion compared to mine with pictures to support your opinion because that is the only way I can learn and grow in this Hobby.
     
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  15. Straight razor dandy

    Straight razor dandy Stuck cleaning the house himself PERMANENTLY

    1805 is one of my favs, but you're right, the AS is soooo expensive.

    I find the stirling soaps are some if the best matches for price and quality.
     
  16. Shafer Springs

    Shafer Springs New Member

    This is super helpful and interesting to me from the soap maker perspective -- both as far as what to suggest to reviewers and also as far as what to include in product descriptions and photos.

    Several people mentioned the strength of scent as being important. Would a technical spec mean anything to you there -- such as "Our blah blah soap is lightly scented with peppermint oil at about 2% of total soap weight" or are you looking more for a general verbal nod towards whether it's subtle, room-filling, knock you over strong, etc.?

    Would a numeric scent rating like 7 out of 10 be helpful -- even though one person's 7 will always differ from another person's 7?

    Thanks for any input.
     
  17. Straight razor dandy

    Straight razor dandy Stuck cleaning the house himself PERMANENTLY

    There are literally soaps that I think are GREAT, but I don't buy them or suggest them to othets because they have a faint scent. When you get to the upper echelon of soaps, a room-filling scent is very important.

    I would recommend using any and all systems of rating scent strength that you can to get the point across. Since everyone's 7 isnt the same, as you mentioned, add the "room filling" and oil per soap wright percentages. Why not? It will help you sell soaps and aftershaves.
     
  18. Rockclimber

    Rockclimber Well-Known Member

    I have never seen a soap maker add in the description of the percent of essential oil or fragrance oil however I would absolutely love to see that. I'm really big into ingredients and that would really impress me. I am like straight razor dandy, a strong scent is essential to me. There are so many 9/10 and 10/10 soaps out there that the weak scented ones get passed over by me.
     
    Straight razor dandy likes this.
  19. Shafer Springs

    Shafer Springs New Member

    Accounting for scent preference is probably the hardest part about making soap, whether for bath/body soap or shaving soaps.

    Shaving soaps in particular seem to attract people on the extremes, as far as people like yourself firmly on the room-filling side of the spectrum whereas others are just as adamantly in the just-a-whiff-of-something-nice camp.

    The easy solution from the consumer perspective is to say to just make a lot of different soaps with varying levels of scent but that's hard from the vendor perspective, as then you're sitting on a lot of inventory, juggling a lot of different labels, yada yada yada.

    But great feedback and thanks for that!
     
    Straight razor dandy likes this.
  20. Shafer Springs

    Shafer Springs New Member

    Thanks for the feedback!

    It's easy enough to do so I may move in that direction as far as adding a little extra info on scent strength. It can be a little tricky and differ from oil to oil -- peppermint oil at even 5% of weight would be pretty strong so a small percentage can still translate into big scent and some oils are naturally stronger than others -- but it'd be there for people who like more info like that.
     

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