What is yout opinion of glycerin base melt and pour soaps?
soap opinions
- Thread starter spanx
- Start date
That's easy, order a puck of Mama Bear's Aged Spice and be a happy person. Nice lather, wonderful scent, close and comfortable shaves. Tallow has its place, but glycerin soaps can hold their own when done right.
Well for one thing, they're easier to make into shave sticks. 
I think it has to depend on the specific soap. I know that I get tremendous results with VDH Deluxe and it would fall into this category, I believe. No doubt it's possible to make a substandard melt and pour soap but I think it's a mistake to write off anything without trying it.
- Chris
I think it has to depend on the specific soap. I know that I get tremendous results with VDH Deluxe and it would fall into this category, I believe. No doubt it's possible to make a substandard melt and pour soap but I think it's a mistake to write off anything without trying it.
- Chris
They are good as long as you get a well made brand like everything else. Well made doesn't mean expensive either.
I've had great shaves with glycerin M&P soaps. Col. Conk in the Bay Rum scent was the first decent one I tried, and have found the VDH soaps to be a solid performers.
Tallow based soaps have a different feel, at least to me. While a good glycerin soap can feel rich and lather like a champ, tallow soaps can have a certain creamy feel that's kind of unique. I'm no soapmaker, but I'm pretty sure that as a small manufacturer, tallow is much harder to work with.
Perhaps the glycerin soaps are like Cool Whip, and the tallow soaps are like whipped cream. Both can produce great results but the tallow is more old-timey and more irksome to work with.
Tallow based soaps have a different feel, at least to me. While a good glycerin soap can feel rich and lather like a champ, tallow soaps can have a certain creamy feel that's kind of unique. I'm no soapmaker, but I'm pretty sure that as a small manufacturer, tallow is much harder to work with.
Perhaps the glycerin soaps are like Cool Whip, and the tallow soaps are like whipped cream. Both can produce great results but the tallow is more old-timey and more irksome to work with.
I have had great luck with Mama Bear's soaps.
Melt-and-pour soaps are good, but are highly overpriced.
In my experience glycerin soaps tend to cost less, though they do not last as long. Soaps by well established artisan brands such as SCS and Mama Bear lubricate better than tallow and the lather is less likely to dry up and disappear while still on my face. The thickness of the lather may not quite reach what I can get with Tabac, but still I am more than satisfied with the results of the lather. I like to keep soaps of both kinds in my rotation.
Like VDH?
I am not so sure I would call VDH a melt, and pour.
In my mind, melt and pour is more a term used to describe soaps made by local soapers, who buy a pre-made soap base in bulk, and then re-batch the resulting soap with various scents, and possibly clays.
VDH from my understanding is a product that is made from scratch in a factory, and thus technically doesn't fit my definition of a "melt and pour".
The melt and pours from the small batch soapers, are certainly expensive if you consider the fact that the soap base can be had in bulk for very little money.
