First shave with an English soap: D.R. Harris Marlborough

[OmegaEdge]

When I first lathered this soap up and took in its scent, I was intoxicated, not to strong and not to weak, just right. The lather was thick, rich and cushioning. When I made my first pass, WTG, with my Gillette Slim Adjustable set at 5 I noticed the blade was skipping a bit, so I changed the blade from a Lord Platinum to a Gillette Sharp Edge blade. I continued my first pass and the blade still skipped a little, kinda a downer for me since I had high hopes for this soap. But not all was lost! On the second pass XTG, I dialed up my Slim to 7 and the blade glided over my face, it was smooth and effortless and was a real pleasure. On my last and 3rd pass, I went ATG, usually when I do this I get a little irritation, not much and it doesn't really bother me. Just a little redness that goes away after I apply aftershave or balm. Well no irritation this time! With the third pass done AND some minor j-hooking touch up passes, I had zero, zip, nadda irritation! A first for me. My shave was pretty much BBS, the closest most comfortable shave I had, sans the intial blade skipping on the first pass but adjusting my razor seemed to fix that.

After the shave I felt my face all over and it felt smoothed and silky, not dry at all. I splashed Aqua Velva on my face and it felt amazing, cool and tingly!

This by far is my favorite soap now, it did a really really good job. It performed better than any cream or soap that I own.

Anyone else experience a awesome shave with this soap? If soap what was your razor and blade of choice?

[Steve]

Omega,

I liked it a lot using Merkur blades in a Vision. Since you love the scent, do you smell for sandalwood or cedar?

Steve

[OmegaEdge]

I don't seem to smell ceder, I wear Opus 1870 and its heavy on ceder which I love. I do smell sandalwood and maybe tobacco?

[Tabula rasa]

Just purchased this soap myself. Performance gets a A+, but I´m not sure about the scent. Can´t quite place it, smells kind of leathery, woody and perhaps a bit of tobacco. Scent is rather weak though, so it´s not a big issue.

Have used it with my slant, three shaves with a Feather and now one with a Derby. I mostly use creams, but I´ll probably be moving more heavily into soaps after getting this and my MWF, both excellent performers.

[Evbo]

I love this soap too, both scent- and performance-wise. Big +1.

I also own the cologne. I don't get much tobacco from it but I do get that sandalwood-y, cedar-y, leathery goodness. It's not a complex scent -- doesn't change over time -- but boy does it smell good. And it matches perfectly w/the soap.

[OmegaEdge]

I get to thinking and I wonder what makes this soap perform so well? Is it the tallow? The fact that its tripple milled? I am not sure...any thoughts?

[yomuppet]

I get to thinking and I wonder what makes this soap perform so well? Is it the tallow? The fact that its tripple milled? I am not sure...any thoughts?

All of the above? It's Harris. :wink:

J