Top 3 soaps

[Jack Bauer]

I saw this for brushes awhile back and since I am just getting started with shaving soaps (1st shave with QED stick today and I love it) I was wondering what are your top 3 favorite soaps? I want to know brand and scent. Is there one soap out there that you clearly like better?


Chris

[marclynn]

Mama Bear Spicey Lime, Mama Bear Sandalwood Vanilla, Mama Bear Rosemary & Lime. Did I mention Mama Bear?

This list may change soon as Mama Bear is sending me some new scents :lol: :lol:

[moses]

Honeybee. Bay Rum. Fantastic soap, and I love the mild warm spicy comfortable scent of her Bay Rum.

QED. You have to try the Sandlewood. Also love the Pine & Cedar, but can burn slightly if your skin is sensitive to the oils in it.

[madmedic]

Anythimg from St Charles Shave, also Kent.....and an old English Cheapie.....Erasmic!

Brian

[Jim]

Honeybee Spa YAZU & Lime & Green tea Are MUST haves!:biggrin:

[russellnyc]

AoS Lavender
Trimper Violet

Those are the only two I can deal with so far!

[TraderJoe]

Not necessarily in this order (too early to say yet)

Arko Shave Stick - only one scent
QED - P/TT/P (but they're all great :drool: )
Olivia - King Kong
Crema Cella Sapone - only one scent
Mama Bear - Rosemary Mint
AOS - sandalwood

[rustyblade]

Kent
Floris
T&H

In that order.

For me, top shelf soaps are better than "cheap" soaps.

When it comes to creams though, I find a lot of "cheap" creams to be just as good as expensive ones. Except for Floris creams.

[Ed13]

Soaps I have used;
Williams
Proraso
Taylor's Lavendar
Kent

My favorite by far is Taylor's Lavendar.

[PottyDoctor]

Honeybee Bay Rum
Honeybee Very Sexy
Tabac

[Nitrox]

T&H Luxury soap
Tabac
Col. Conk

The T&H was my first high end soap, it's still my favourite and I have tried many soaps.

[htownmmm]

St. Charles Shave

Mama Bear

Col. Conk Bay Rum

[joel]

Without question - WAY out in the lead Will G Shea Butter shaving soap.

Tabac

Mamma Bear Rosemary/Mint

[scarface]

SCS Cool Lime
T&H Luxury
Mama Bear Rosemary Mint

[sinekkaydi]

As of now winners are
1.Provence Santé - absolutely incredible
2.C&E Nomad - great soap great smell
3.Pré de Provence - another great soap

[Stauff]

Trumper rose
Tabac
C&E Almond oil

[Jack Bauer]

Is there anywhere to buy the Will G shave soap? I couldn't find it on ebay.

Chris

[rtaylor61]

Chris,

Will was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I have not seen any updates as to his condition or prognosis, but at the time it was announced, it appeared that his time was short. God bless he and his family.

Randy

[gundog]

Is there anywhere to buy the Will G shave soap? I couldn't find it on ebay.

Chris

Not at this time. But if it helps, Will G was a customer of Honeybee- Spa before making his own soaps. I assume he was inspired by the Honeybee Shea Butter shaving soap in the creation of his own. Although I never tried the Will G soap, I bet it was a very good soap.

My vote for the best soaps available would be:

Honeybee-Spa Shae Butter shaving soap in any fragrance.

[tanker]

Any three of the Honeybee soaps. This stuff is great!

[1 st class mail]

So far
Col. Conk - Amber
Tabac
Speick comes only as a stick as for as I know. Not spoken of that I know, but easy for me to get in Chicago. Highly recomened.

[greenerock]

Definitely the honeybee soaps- unscented is my actual favorite-zero irritation and very moisturizing
Col. Conk-Amber

[jnich67]

Hard Soaps:

Tabac - hands down my overall fav
C&E Nomad
Floris JF

Glycerin:
(in no particular order)

Mama Bear Autumn Afternoon
Colleen's Lemon Tea Verbena
QED Sandalwood

Jordan

[superfly]

Tabac
Proraso
ARKO

Nenad (not a soap, but my name)

[TraderJoe]

So far
Col. Conk - Amber
Tabac
Speick comes only as a stick as for as I know. Not spoken of that I know, but easy for me to get in Chicago. Highly recomened.

Speick soap stick is good stuff, unfortunately I haven't used it very much. Thanks for reminding me, I'll be using it tomorrow, with my speick EDC.

[ceebz]

ARKO Stick
Honeybee Spa Oceania
Kent

[soulshine]

in no particular order!

st. charles shave company - i enjoy new spice & savory rose
mama bear - i enjoy spellbound woods & oak leaves/acorns
QED - i enjoy anise/lavender

i don't think anyone could do wrong going with any offerings from these fine soap makers.

s~s

[mikey]

hello chris,

1. tabac - this is my "go to" soap and has never let me down.

2. qed (fresh lime or sandalwood) - this is the ONLY glycerin soap that works for me and it works phenomenally well.

3. truefitt and hill - rounds out the top three.

notes:

proraso would be in the top five although there is a debate as to whether it is really a soap or not.

trumper (west indian limes or sandalwood) would round out the top five although i don't have enough experience with it to put it in the top three.

thanks,
mike

[Sam]

I am going to say that I have three Trumper soaps (Sandalwood, Rose and Limes) that I am using and a Violet that will be started when one of those goes out and to me, Trumper has been the slickest and best lathering of all soaps I have used.

I have used Tabac, QED in the tubs, Kent, Floris, Joris (which by the way I would say is second and equal to Floris), Crabtree and Evelyn, Sues St. Charles, and a few others.

Sam

[Chagidiel]

Hmm.. Tough one this...

Erasmic
Loch Tay Tee Tree & Peppermint (English e-bay soap) :thumbup1:
Mama Bear Dragons Blood

[xChris]

Taylor of Old Bond Street - Sandalwood
Floris JF
QED Juniper Berry EO

The Taylor's was the first shaving soap or cream that I ever tried -- it didn't disappoint, and I didn't know what sandalwood should smell like back then :redface: . The Floris came a couple of months later after one of there semi-annual sales. The QED is up there representing the QED soaps overall, but I've just been enamored with this particular scent since receiving it as a sample in a previous order (when it goes up for sale as regular stock, I'm getting more! :tongue_sm ).

I really have so many more that I love having in rotation though. These would just be the ones that came to my mind for assuring agood shave on me.

[crackstar]

Soap-wise for me, Arko, Gold-Dachs Spezial, and definitely Erasmic.

Jeff

[thestubblefactory]

Tabac
Proraso
Dr. Harris

in no particular order

[Tinzien]

QED Sandalwood
MommaBear Rosemary & Lime
MommaBear Tangarine & Clove

[aldouspfc]

Floris JF
T&H Luxury
Tabac/Trumper's Sandalwood (can't decide)

[finegelernt]

1. T&H is a great soap with a luxury soap smell

2. No one mentioned Pre de Provence a modestly priced French soap that smells a bit like citronella oil and lathers just awesome

3. Prorazo is very good but it is a "soft" soap - sort of like hard paste

[dustind]

Trumpers Violet & Nancy Boy

[vespergo]

i'm somewhat limited on soaps, but so far..

honeybee sandalwood
will g's peppermint
taylors lavendar

[TomH]

For me:

-Taylor's Sandalwood
-OLIVIA's Oakmoss
-Mama Bear's Rosemary/Peppermint
(-Williams Mug Shaving Soap)
(-BURMA Shaving Soap)
(-ARKO)
(-OLIVIA's Wassermann)

Thomas

[ouch]

Tabac
Willi G. #7
QED lime

It's hard not to include T&H and Harris on any list.

[mparker762]

1) T&H Luxury Shaving Soap. There's only the one that I know of, but it smells great and works great.

2) Harris Arlington. Harris Lavender works just as well, but I prefer the Arlington scent.

3) Gold-Dachs Spezial. Available from ClassicShaving (they call it "Rivivage" for some reason). I have no idea what the scent is, but it's good stuff all around.

[EL Alamein]

Joris
Tabac
T&H

Regards,
Chris

[LX_Emergency]

Mamabear Citrus and Basil (the only one I've tried that didn't burn but MAN is it amazing)
Kruidvat own brand shaving soap. (Cheap and a wonderfull shave with a very mild scent.)
The arizona Goat Milk soap company shaving soap. (The scent is amazing and the lather used to be ok but they said they've just changed the formula to improve that and sent me a piece to test so we'll see if it's even better now. This stuff is so good for the skin that your skin will literally soak it up. It'll sink into your skin. You could use it as an aftershave or just toner by simply putting lather on your face!!)

[crackstar]

Alex, I'm surprised you don't like De Vergulde Hand soap. It's soooooo nice--a beautiful scent, with a great creamy and slick lather. I'm using it for my shave tomorrow.

Jeff

[LX_Emergency]

I don't know....maybe I should give it another shot. I didn't really like Tabac the first time I smelled it either.

[crackstar]

well, Alex, I shaved today with the De Vergulde Hand soap, and I enjoyed it a lot. The scent is what also gets me, it silently says "a man with class". It goes very well with Givenchy Gentleman edt.

Jeff

[Dinder1]

Pre de Provence
Floris
T&H
I still need to play with the new formula Mama Bear, Honey Bee, oh and I need to break out that Speick shave stick.
Cheers, DJ.

[Jack Bauer]

finally am posting on my own topic having now tried 3 soaps.

1)Hydrolast cube - not sure it qualifies
2) Pre de Provence - as much cushion as a cream yet still slick
3) QED - very close shave but both versions I have tried have stung my skin (B&B, Grapefruit & Peppermint).

Chris

[Ken]

I prefer Trumper, Floris, AOS, and D.R. Harris. I still have some Floris 89, but when this cake is gone, it's gone. Whether I'll like the other Floris fragrances as much is doubtful. The 89 fragrance blends well with soap and gives it a creamy undertone missing in most soaps. The AOS seems a tad richer than the others, but the difference is slight.

Ken

[murchmb]

In no particular order:

Tabac
Will G's Shea Soap
QED Sandlewood

[Dennis]

QED
QED
QED


I have some of MB's new recipe but have not tried it yet but it smells awesome. The QED glycerin soap is superior to any other soap I have tried to date.

Dennis

[murchmb]

In no particular order:

Tabac
Will G's Shea Soap
QED Sandlewood

I guess I should make a particular order, but it turns out I listed it correctly the first time a month and a half ago when I made my first post. Will G's Shea edges out Tabac in performance, but I put the Tabac on top because it's so darned easy to use. A drunk monkey working in the dark with hard water and a drugstore boar brush could get an acceptable lather from Tabac.

[Mottern Man]

Col Conk Amber.

Mama Bear Dragons Blood.

SCS Sandalwood.

[xballer4life818x]

Tabac is the best. If i was stuck on a island for the rest of my life and a choice of only one soap to use I would pick tabac any day.

[Stauff]

At present:

1° Harris almond (love the dry, understated almond scent, awesome lather and shave)
2° Trumper Rose (another century-old classic with a great scent)
3° Trumper Limes (same shave as the rose, wonderful lime scent that goes well with Acqua di Parma cologne)

[xballer4life818x]

1. Tabac
2. Qed lime
3. Taylor St james shave stick

[letterk]

I guess I should finally chime in. In no particular order:

Tabac
L'Occitane
DR Harris Lavender

[Dennis]

I'll have to amend my above answer to add Pre de Provence to the list. Fantastic soap, it is.

Dennis

[tm3]

QED lime, and peppermint.

[PalmettoB]

Mama Bear's Lavender, Tuscan Memories, and Honeybee Sue's Sandalwood.

[javyn]

I don't know if I should be posting to this thread, because I haven't tried that many soaps. I got 5 Will G soaps having no idea they'd last so long. I have 3 left now, a pretty good supply! So yeah, between those and Williams Mug soap...my vote has to go with Will G shea butter soap.

Number two would be the Surrey/van der Hagen melted down with added glycerin.

Then 3 would be um...Williams.

[Limey]

QED Bay Rum
QED Lime
Proraso (in the 'little' green tub)

[JohnP]

Not sure I could honestly pick just 3, and the list changes daily, but currently it would be:
QED limes (mmmmmmm....limes....)
Crabtree&Evelyn sweet almond oil (the discontinued scuttle soap-VERRRY good)
Conk almond (one of my first scented soaps and still one of my favorites)

Others I own/have tried that have passed the test of time(and might make the top 3 list on other days):
Tabac. Wonderful lather, just have to be in the right mood for that scent.
L'Occitane Cade. Wonderful, cedar-smelling stuff.
Joris-not sure what that scent is, but I like it.
Any other QED I own-sandalwood is wonderful, just wasn't in a sandalwood mood today.
Proraso. That little green tub of magic available at any Target is a wonder.
Williams. Dirt cheap, available everywhere.
John P.

[ratcheer]

My top soaps are basically the ones I've tried. So far, I like them all!


QED Essentials Wild Orange
Mama Bear's new recipe Smokin' scent
QED Essentials Fresh Lime
ClassicShaving.com Bay Rum


Well, I thought of Proraso's little soap in a tub thing. I don't really care that much for it. I much prefer their cream.

Tim

[RichGem]

Mama Bear's Dragon's Blood, Smokin', & Turkish Mocha

[Edcculus]

Mama Bear's:
Gioviannis Tuscan Memories
Fleur De Soul
Spiced Apple Cider

[MJS]

anything bay rum or lime is good in my book

[Bargepole]

Tabac (great Tallow soap)
Acca Kappa almond
QED Mocha Java.

Mind you, that leaves out Floris, Czech & Speake 88, Trumper's Violet, Erasmic stick, D R Harris Almond, T&H Rose, Conk Amber... no, damnit, I can't do this.

[crackstar]

In addition to Erasmic, De Vergulde Hand, Golddachs Spezial, and the others I listed, I better add on Handmade For You's Drakkar Noir, and Cool Water scented soaps. They're very nice, not only in scent, but great latherability as well. Also, there's nothing wrong with Boots, which also comes from the UK.

Jeff

[izlat]

I am not sure I have top 3 (I have more soaps, just still looking for the top 3) My most important characteristic is mildness on my skin, but I also need nice foam and scents...

Currently seems like this:
1. Tabac
2. Honeybee Chamomile / Shea
3. L'Occitane CADE (not always mild)

Love the scent of Nomad but it is harsher on my face :mad: