Ever just have that soap that was awful?

[cmh737]

There are some scents that I just don't care for, but they don't cause me to throw away immediately (Tabac, and Arko for example); and then there are some that are downright repugnant to me (HTGAM Gondolier, B&M Roam, B&M Leviathan, and the WORST ever: Stirling Mogadishu!!!).

BTW, I happen to love B&M Bay Rum (and several other B&M scents).

 

[Senshi]

Muhle Sandalwood. Dry lather and really left my razor full of soap scum.

 

[Eaaqas]

Not a shaving soap, but I HATE Irish spring. I can feel my nose drying up as I smell it. Horrible scent.

 

[Gabeson]

Crabtree & Evelyn Indian Sandalwood - foamy bubbles no matter what, no slickness, dries out almost immediately. The old version, Mysore Sandalwood from them was fantastic. This one... not so much. seems as if their QC has gone WAY down

I have heard this about virtually any Crabtree & Evelyn shaving soaps. Expensive for it to turn into a 'shower soap'.

 

[juergen99]

My best and worst came in the same sampler. I got a 5 sampler from Queen Charlotte:
[FONT=arial, sans-serif] [/FONT]
First scent: Vostok
Second scent: Iced Key Lime
Third scent: Queen Charlotte
Fourth scent: Celestial Woods
Fifth scent: Fougère

The Queen Charlotte is my favorite (including the rest of my collection) and the Celestial Woods is my all time least favorite. To me it smells like dirt from the woods.

 

[Limekiln]

I tried Mike's Simple Soap and just couldn't get a decent lather from it. All others that I've tried performed exactly as described on B&B.
MdC, Proraso Green tub, sticks from Arko, Palmolive, LaToja. All top class.

 

[Tim_McD]

The scents were good-to-great, but the lathers were miserable-to excretable:

1) Truefitt & Hill 1805: The worst performing soap I have ever purchased, wouldnt even lather as a hand/shower soap

2) Geo F Trumpers: I have one semi-decent puck of rose; two pucks that were sent to the shower (a rose and a violet)

 

[PGHChris]

Shaving Yeti, 'Morning Wood' to be precise (I haven't tried any of their other scents, nor will I ever). I generally stay away from melt & pour soaps; some of them are OK, and you can get a serviceable lather from, but Shaving Yeti was pretty much awful for me. First, the scent caused a mild reaction on my skin, and while that's not the manufacturer's fault, the severity of the reaction was exacerbated by the fact that the lather provided no glide or protection. Was a very memorable shave because it was so bad; felt like I shaved with a belt sander, and I actually had to take a few days off from shaving after this experience. I would consider Shaving Yeti, Mama Bear's, or pretty much any other melt & pour soap, to be overpriced hand soap.

 

[timplu]

This has been covered before in other threads and I stand by what I wrote in there but here you go. I've tried way more soaps than most people and along the way I've found some really interesting ones. These are some of the ones that I don't care for at all.
In order of least to most offensive. It's pretty sad when Tabac it the least offensive if that tells you anything.

Tabac - Some love it, some hate it, it's just not for me. It smells like a cigar smoking old man with a distinct baby powder smell in there for added annoyance. It's better than ROAM but I don't want to smell like this stuff. It's likely one of those that grow on you but think about it, if you had to use it ten times before you liked it what do you think you smell like to everyone else.

Barrister & Mann ROAM - this one smells like an ashtray. Specifically like the overstuffed ashtray in my mothers Country Squire station wagon with the fake wood on the sides of it when we were kids. The ashtray that couldn't possibly hold another cigarette butt. When lathered it's a bit better and smells like a half full ashtray. I don't get any of the great smells that are listed for it on the website at all. That awesome definition made me almost want to buy it. I'm so glad I tried a sample first.

Jabonman Orange Patchouli Ylang something: This one smells exactly like an orange air freshener soaked in cat urine. I used it three times trying to like it but there's just no way that's happening. If I didn't totally trust the person I got the sample from I'd swear that he tampered with it in a really bad way.

Saint Charles Shave Bacon - This one is the worst. I don't understand this at all. It has a fake bacon scent that smells worse than my dog's bacon chew toy that I bought at WalMart for $4. I don't know what they were thinking with this one but I wouldn't even put my brush to it in fear that that evil stench wouldn't come off my brush. I'd rather smell like Jabonman's orange scented cat urine soap so maybe that tells you just how bad this one really is.

Do note that all of these manufacturers make other scents that I'm quite fond of. So this is just a case of me finding ones that didn't work for me. These may appeal to others but not to me. As always YMMV.

Those descriptions had me rolling! I got a good laugh out them.

 

[CtrlAltElite]

Shaving Yeti, 'Morning Wood' to be precise (I haven't tried any of their other scents, nor will I ever). I generally stay away from melt & pour soaps; some of them are OK, and you can get a serviceable lather from, but Shaving Yeti was pretty much awful for me. First, the scent caused a mild reaction on my skin, and while that's not the manufacturer's fault, the severity of the reaction was exacerbated by the fact that the lather provided no glide or protection. Was a very memorable shave because it was so bad; felt like I shaved with a belt sander, and I actually had to take a few days off from shaving after this experience. I would consider Shaving Yeti, Mama Bear's, or pretty much any other melt & pour soap, to be overpriced hand soap.

Thats how It was for me with Synergy HTGAM. Smelled good, good lather. But reaction was real bad. Cant say Id try another one, because it stung so bad.

 

[Polarbeard]

...

Jabonman Orange Patchouli Ylang something: This one smells exactly like an orange air freshener soaked in cat urine. I used it three times trying to like it but there's just no way that's happening. If I didn't totally trust the person I got the sample from I'd swear that he tampered with it in a really bad way.
... As always YMMV.

Sir! Thank you for giving me a really long and good laugh. You are really talented[emoji2]

 

[5savages]

Soaps I've thrown away include modern Williams and Mama Bears.

 

[TheChariot]

I'm with you on that one as well. It has a powdery feminine scent to me that I don't care for.

I'm not even sure you could call it feminine... more along the lines of a baby scent. Not offensive, but way off masculine to my nose. I found that did lather up well, and was reasonably slick, but the final nail in the coffin comes with the post shave -- wicked dry... worse than Arko in terms of scent and post shave. YMMV, but I feel like there's way better soaps available for the frugal shaver.

My biggest disappointment in terms of performance was Proraso Green. I'm sure that I'm in the minority on this one, but I sincerely wanted to like that soap. I could not get slickness from it no matter how I lathered it up. Enjoyed the scent, found it easy to use, loved the price/availability, but the shaves were simply not there for me. This is what sent me into the rabbit hole of artisan soaps.

Which leads me to disappointing scents! I've only tried one barbershop scent, and that was Stirling's. Not terrible, but I expected to really enjoy it. Perhaps they don't do a very good rendition of it. However, I have to say the biggest let-down was Electric Sheep. I got caught up in the great descriptions they write for their scents, but I'm just not a fan of natural lemon scents (yet somehow okay with the fake lemon soapiness of Arko). I should've known before ordering it, but it was only a sample puck so I got through it.

Naturally, my least favorite scents are from Stirling, but only because I've tried soooo many of their scents. I love their Bay Rum, Sharp Dressed Man, and Ozark Mountains scents.

 

[dlaroe]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Moondance Soaps shaving soaps.
Tried the Bay Rum and Forest Glen, the scents were pretty good but neither would lather worth a dang.
I do have hard well water but I can get better lather from a Dove detergent bar.
Any slickness was very oily and hard to wash off, the lather immediately started disappearing and sounded like a can of carbonated soda.
After a half an hour of playing with the soaps I noticed how red my face was getting but chalked it up to using multiple brushes trying to face lather the soap. Turns out the soaps gave me contact dermatitis, a Tech and unscented KMF were all my poor face could handle for days after.

It kinda turned me off of artisan soaps, I'll get back on that horse someday.[/FONT]

 

[Pepin]

Stiriling .... unfortunately had six samples.

The postal carrier had questions about the smell one of them was emitting.

All left a sticky residue that was difficult to get rid of.

 

[OccamsBadger]

Caswell-Massey soaps - any of them. Would not lather for me at all.

 

[Jinx18]

It's likely one of those that grow on you but think about it, if you had to use it ten times before you liked it what do you think you smell like to everyone else.

Soooooo true. I generally don't like something that had to grow on me. People who meet you for the first time are getting that initial impression that wasn't so good for you.

 

[ohyousooners]

The fragrance of a soap/cream is a major factor in my enjoyment of a product.

With that, worst ever for me was Stirling's Texas On Fire. It leaves you smelling like you've been sitting in front of a campfire all night long. And, then after the fire died down, you doused the ashes with tons of water. Then you took a bath in the resulting ash soup.

On the other end of the spectrum, my favorite fragrances are: TOBS Eton College, Proraso Green & Red, Cade, Razorock Don Marco, and Palmolive stick.

 

[cryhavoc]

Lightfoot's Pine shaving soap - it absolutely positively will not lather and smells like a car air freshner!

 

[TreadwayJohnA]

If all I had to shave with was Williams Mug Soap, I would never touch a razor to my face again! Not exagerating!