50+ soaps reviewed by a new DE shaver.

[dabrock]

I have been DE shaving for only a month and have tried only a few soaps and creams so far. This will be my way of keeping track of all the soaps I have tried. I hope this thread will also help out new DE shavers like me in the future.

So far I have:
Stirling:

Sharp Dressed Man
Barbershop
Ozark Mountain
Executive Man.
Bay Rum.
Margaritas in the Arctic
Sandalwood
Coniferous.
Frozen Tundra.
Orange Chill
Gin & Tonic
Bay Lime Test #1

View attachment 644852


Wet Shaving Products:
All 13 samples they offer.

Soap Commander:
All 9 samples they offer.

Mystic waters:
Have not placed the order yet but my cart is currently at 14 samples.

Tiki:
Have not even looked into what I will sample here but it will likely be another 10 to 15 samples.

There is also a miscellaneous category that will include most of the popular soaps that the forum has suggested and my honest opinions about them such as Tabac, MWF, etc.

My goal is to try each soap for three to five days before moving on to the next one so I can have a good understanding of what I'm reviewing rather than just doing one shave and moving on to the next sample.

Just an FYI, I have to do all of this from my phone because work will not allow and my time is limited when I get home with wife and kids so I hope you understand any grammatical or spelling errors.

That's a great start! No matter what you'll have a ton of great shaves and lots of fun.

 

[Heron]

To cover more ground you might want to consider fewer duplicates from the same manufacturer. For example, I think you will find that for the most part all of the Sterling soaps perform the same with of course scent being the distinguishing factor. Same is true for most manufacturers. Once you find a few high performing soaps you like, you can go back and explore the various scent options that manufacturer provides.

Yep. This is more like a 10 or 12 soap test, but still interesting, nonetheless. I look forward to seeing your results.

 

[dfoulk]

Try a bit more soap and a bit more water as the lather from the Arko was a bit lacking. It'll take a bit more work with the brush as well. You can always add a few drops of water slowly to the lather as you go if need be so start with less water and more soap.

I find Arko to be a much better performer than you did but my lathers with it are a lot better than what was in the pic. I should be thick and creamy, not thin and see through.

I'm Enjoying the thread though so please keep up the good work.

 

[op8glum]

I'll be following this thread. I love how you bought 24 arko sticks lol! Classic AD here at B&B!

 

[rockclimber]

The reason I started with these particular soap manufactures is because they contributed to a soap passaround thread here for free so I wanted to reward their loyalty. I will be branching out to others later but loyalty to B&B comes first.

I love Arko, dont get me wrong friends, I rated them first and gave them the most average rating I could so I can see how other soaps stack up against such a fabulous soap. I would not have bought 24 sticks if I didn't love them! I am hoping the other soaps are able to score in the 8/10 range according to my individual tastes. I rarely give a 10/10 because that means perfect, trying other soaps would be pointless if 1 was already perfect.

 

[rockclimber]

I spent over a year trying 25+ artisan/premium soaps. I tried at least two scents from each. You really need to try a soap multiple times and then come back to it after trying others. The specific technique and variations to bring out the best in a soap is something you need to experiment with. Many soaps suds up too quickly if you add too much water too early. If you find your sweet spot with experimentation, every one of the soaps would be perfectly good. I started this thinking I would find which soaps I wanted to repurchase. I ended up realizing that technique matters more. With so many on my repurchase list (and I bought a lot more than two scents from some of them), I may have my lifetime of soap purchases.


Czech & Speake
Mike's Natural Soaps
Mystic Water
Martin de Candre
Strop Shoppe LLC
Antica Barbieria Colla (one scent only)
Haslinger
Barrister & Mann
XPEC
Cold River Soap Works
Boellis Panama 1924 (one scent only)
PannaCrema
D.R. Harris
Shaver Heaven
Stirling
Tcheon Fung Sing
Phoenix Artisan
Mickey Lee
Cella (one scent only)
RazoRock
Dr Jon's
KnockOut
Chiseled Face
Bufflehead
Creed (one scent only)
Floris
Valobro
Rustic T (the tallow ones)
Long Rifle
Saponificio Varesino
Penhaligons
New York Shaving
Castle Forbes

What are some of your favorites from that list that you would recommend me try?

 

[celestino]

To the OP, you surely are adventurous and have fun!

 

[Shavehappie]

I totally agree, and I have enough soap that I'll have to revisit it several times over the next few years and rate it again. I agree that the lather is horrible, it was pretty good originally on par with what I get from TOBS creme but then fooling around with this camera trying to take a selfie let it dry out for a solid 7 minutes. I'll take a picture of my next one quicker to show you all how I'm lathering and to get your feedback. Thanks!

Don't sweat the selfie. There is a saying I like about people that are perhaps to good at them. "Take a selfie, fake a life."

 

[BigJ]

Don't count out a soap after only shaving for a month. There's plenty of soaps I didn't like then revisited after a couple of years and loved them. The lather on your above pic is need of some work.

+1. It takes me awhile to figure out how to get optimal results with any new soap!

 

[rockclimber]

New samples arriving daily.

 

[rockclimber]

 

[rockclimber]

Tabac

Sickness 7/10
Cushion 8/10
Moisturizing 8/10 my face always feels amazing after Tabac
Smell 4/10. I like the smell, it just doesn't go well with a 35 year old. my wife rates it a 2/10
Total score 7/10 a very good soap, price is high for what you get. Smell is subjective but people either love it or hate it.

 

[rockclimber]

Wish I could go back and edit my Arko post and rate it 5/10 slickness and 5/10 cushion. But that is part of the journey from what I read around here.

I have 2 more established/mainstream soaps to review before going onto my samples. This will serve as a good base from which to review the new soaps (new to me).

 

[rockclimber]

To cover more ground you might want to consider fewer duplicates from the same manufacturer. For example, I think you will find that for the most part all of the Sterling soaps perform the same with of course scent being the distinguishing factor. Same is true for most manufacturers. Once you find a few high performing soaps you like, you can go back and explore the various scent options that manufacturer provides.

I agree, I plan on testing at least 30 brands. By the time I have done that I will know what to buy multiple pucks of. So far my bunker only contains an Arko stash.

 

[rockclimber]

Just ordered my Mystic Water Soap samples:

Frankincense & Myrrh
Barbershop
bay rum
Cedar & Sage
Coconut Lime Verben
Irish Traveller
Jeff's Lavender
Lily of the Valley
Maestrale
Marrakesh
Vanilla Sandalwood
Prospect Creek
Vetiver & Oakmoss
Viola di Bosco
Windjammer

 

[ackvil]

This looks very interesting and I'll be watching closely. Don't discount the "brand name" soaps. To me, it seems we sometimes judge them more harshly than we do the artisan soaps. For my money, D.R. Harris, Martin de Candre, Tabac and Arko are all excellent, and Art of Shaving shave soaps (the now discontinued tallow formulation) outperform everything else I've tried.

Enjoy your journey. If I were to make one suggestion, keep track of your top four or five, and revisit them once you're more experienced. That way, you can get a good idea of how they compare. Like I said, AoS is my favorite, but I'm interested in hearing what your final opinion is.

+1. I agree with Mike. There is a good reason some of these classics have been around so long and sell so many products. To Mike's list I would add Cella.

 

[rockclimber]

Cella is on my list as well, will probably have to put it in the bunker supply with the Arko since it's sold by the kilogram.

Todays shave was:


Sickness 8/10
Cushion 7/10
Moisturizing 8/10
Smell 7/10
Total score 8/10

This may be one of my favorite soaps that I have tried before I purchased the samples. The menthol is great in the early morning and it is always slick no matter how good or bad my lather is. It seems to be a thirsty soap like Arko so my lather should get better over the years.

 

[SteveWY]

Me too! I will be following along.

 

[ackvil]

Just imagine how much you would be spending if you couldn't get samples!

 

[dfoulk]

I'm not seeing you wanting to try every sample as some sound better in the description than they do when you get them in front of you. I've bought several samples that I ended up giving away once I gave them a smell.

The vendors you chose do have some very good scents though.