Any thoughts on this soap, its supposedly glycerin based with lanolin, and its cheap enough... I need a good cheap bowl of soap for breaking in brushes!
Never tried it myself but every thread I've read on it seems to have fans and haters. I guess that could be said for any soap though. Are you stocking up on Plisson's from Bullgoose?:happy102
good soap! Nice soap, rich lather, lanolin, aloe vera included. You can see how many people use it in SoS thread. I use it in my rotation for bowl and face-lathering both. Not among the best but very good and comfortable soap to shave with. Slick, rich, long-lasting lather, clear scent. Lacks in skincare comparing to more expensive soaps, but little.
Does it compare to VDH, better or worse? I have used VDH for roughly 2 years, I either use VDH or Proraso to defunk and break in my newly acquired brushes!
The Wilkinson sword shave stick is quite different from the bowl version, and many people suggest it is better than the bowl.But the price is dirt cheap so you might try them both.
I agree with the fact that the stick version of Wilkinson is better than the bowl. It smells so much nicer, in fact it smells like a shaving soap is supposed to smell. The bowl version (to me) is too perfumy and pretty-smelling. The bowl version does not have great skincare, in spite of the glycerine. The stick version is made from tallow like the Palmolive stick, and it is a lot more moisturizing and soothing.
I'm actually going to pass for the moment, I did order an LEA stick though, I can't wait to try it. Its supposed to be an OK glycerin stick, we shall see. As for the brushes, I guess they will just have to be swirled on a puck of Trumpers Almond, rough life for them! :happy102
I liked the smell of it but the lather for me was like dish soap....I stopped halfway through my shave and lathered up with some razorock. I did not care for it.
I like it, but it's not an easy soap to lather when you first start using it. To me it Smells like a fancy urinal puck. I've been working on one bowl for the last year or so and when it's gone I doubt I'd buy another as there are many better soaps that are cheaper.
Yes, the bowl does not contain tallow or lanolin and I didn't like it much (it's available in drugstores all over Canada, wish they would get the stick instead). The bowl contains: Aqua, Stearic Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Cocos Nuciferia, Parfum, Coconut Acid, PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Chloride, Diethylhexyl Sodium Sulfosuccinate, Sodium Benzoate, Ethylparaben, Tetrasodium EDTA, Amyl Cinnamal, Butylphenyl Methypropional, Citronellol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Linalool
Usually when I break in a brush, I start by conditioning it w. warm water, dish soap, then rinsing, then soaking it again in warm water w. glycerine, rinsing, then using a hair softening shower conditioner & lathering the conditioner well in the brush & then rinsing it out. THEN I just use it on a triple milled or tallow soap like williams. A new boar will eat through a cake faster than a broken in one, so a cheap soap is what I like to use when breaking one in. Takes a good month before it finally gets the bristles nice & soft. That conditioning trick also works on getting the "funk" out of new badger brushes instantly.
Shampoo, *insert cheap soap or cream here* a bowl and a couple test lathers is all I need. I've been using TOBS Almond and Mama Bears lately, the Trumpers has been sitting nicely sealed.
WIlkinson Sword Black Bowl was my first shave soap, and I used it exclusively for quite a few years. Then it was discontinued and replaced by the blue bowl version. I find that the only difference between the two was the scent. Blue Bowl is more "perfumey and pretty", as a previous poster noted. I preferred the black bowl scent, but my wife likes the blue scent, so I continue to keep it in my regular rotation of 4 different soaps, and usually always take it with me as a travel soap. It's inexpensive, so if my luggage is lost or delayed, I haven't lost an expensive cake. I'm a bowl latherer, and find that it produces a fine, thick lather quite easily. I do not find that it dries my skin at all, due to the nature of my skin, I suppose.
