"Mass" shaving soap comparison (we need YOU!)

Hello all!

Long time watcher, first time caller to starting a new thread on B&B, but there is a discussion that I have been wanting to start for a while. I am curious about a very specific set of soaps and was hoping that people with experience (with some or all of the listed soaps) care to chime in with a compare and contrast:

-DRH
-L'Occitane Cade
-MWF
-Penhaligon's English Fern new formulation (as the old one is hard/expensive to find and would be impossible to replace in time)
-Tabac/Irisch Moos
-T&H luxury shave soap
-La Toja
-Speick
-Arco
-QED
-Proraso Green
-Conk's
-Mama Bear's

I have tried Tabac, Irisch Moos, T&H, Conk's, and Proraso Green and am looking at picking up some more soaps from the above list in the future. I was wondering what the some of the consensus is on the above soaps in comparison to each other (and if you are a DRH or QED user, then what the best fragrance is). The only stipulation that please ask that people adhere to is that this not turn into a "Tabac smells great!" vs "Tabac smells awful!" discussion . Ranking them is completely welcome--actually, it's encouraged! Thanks for your input!

-DRH - A good soap but a little over-rated IMO. Decent lather and lightly scented. Contains tallow.

-L'Occitane Cade No direct experience

-MWF - Top of the heap! Great cushion and very moisturizing. Tallow and a light scent.

-Penhaligon's English Fern new formulation - Nothing special. Not worth what they're charging for it. Save your money or get some Trumpers.

-Tabac/Irisch Moos - Another top-shelf product! I have both and my den will never be without them!!

-T&H luxury shave soap - I have the Vintage Blades repackaged version of this which is identical. Veggie based trip-milled. A good soap! Nice slick lather with a light lavender scent. Save some money and go with the repackaged version.

-La Toja - A good soap. Nice smell. Veggie based. Comes with it's own travel tube.

-Speick - A great soap! Tallow based. Great lather and wonderful scent.

-Arco - A true hidden gem! Those that try it quickly learn why this soap is so highly regarded here. Tallow based + the cheap price makes this one hard to beat! Pick up a whole case to set back for the Shave-pocalypse!

-QED - Have not tried it yet

-Proraso Green - Same as the tube just a different delivery method.

-Conk's - A nice melt-n-pour glycerin soap. I like almond the best. Save some money and go get some Van Der Hagen soap instead.

-Mama Bear's - Good soap and GREAT scents!! Great performers too. My faves: Aged Spice, Ye Olde Barbershoppe & Spellbound Woods.

You left out Prairie Creations. It's as good if not better than any.

The only consensus in soaps is Tabac performs superbly.

Everything else is a dog fight. YMMV

Don't forget Cella and AOS, two big players.

petr said:

The only consensus in soaps is Tabac performs superbly.

Everything else is a dog fight. YMMV

Don't forget Cella and AOS, two big players.

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Couldn't agree more.

As for your list

DR Harris- great performer, lather can be thinner compared to others, but performance is top notch

CADE- I'm slightly biased, this stuff ROCKS!! although veggie based, performance and scent wise this is superb. One of the top soaps out there IMO, can hold it's own with Tabac, MWF, Trumpers and DR Harris

MWF- Fantastic!! Great scent and lather while being extremely moisturizing. I have no problems getting a good lather, but
others do struggle??

Proraso Green- gets plenty of love around here, but my experience with it was very average. I didn't really like the scent,
and performance wise it was average, however I can see why people like menthol, that was enjoyable.

That's it, I haven't tried any others on your list

Here are my ratings on a scale of 1 (poor) to 10 (best) based on my personal experiences:

-Cella - love the lather, the fragrance of bitter almond takes a while to get used to 8
-AOS - (I had Lavender) price is too high/lather is very good/I didn't care for the fragrance 4
-Valobra stick - same "stuff" as AOS/far less expensive/has its own distinct fragrance 6
-DRH - triple milled hard soap/supposedly has tallow/lather is easy to make and gives good shaves 6
-L'Occitane Cade - fragrance wasn't my cup of tea/lather was good/some guys love it 4
-MWF - some guys have a hard time getting it to lather/excellent shaving product when it works/soapy fragrance/tallow and lanolin 8
-Penhaligon's English Fern new formulation - haven't tried it - no opinion
-Tabac/Irisch Moos - produce great lather/give superior shaves/lasts a very long time/tends to dry on face if mixed too thick 8
-T&H luxury shave soap - fragrance too weak for me/some guys love it/hard triple milled soap/supposed to be the same as Vintage Blades Soap, at twice the price of VB 6
-La Toja - excellent performer/very nice fragrance/comes in a large tube/good value 8
-Speick - good lather/tallow/fragrance is unique/inexpensive 7
-Arco - nice lather/tallow/cheap 7
-QED - have not used it, no opinion
-Proraso Green - old standard/menthol/great lather/you almost never see anybody trying to sell or trade it/inexpensive and effective 8
-Conk's - never tried it - no opinion
-Mama Bear's - never tried it - no opinion

-DRH Fantastic soaps
-L'Occitane Cade Decent, nothing to write home about but decent
-MWF Great soap
-Penhaligon's English Fern new formulation (as the old one is hard/expensive to find and would be impossible to replace in time) I only have the Tallow first so I can't comment.
-Tabac/Irisch Moos Easy to lather and offers a great shave. I prefer the scent of Moos
-T&H luxury shave soap Nice soap
-Speick Decent soap
-QED I like the scents of Charles' soaps but the performance is only so so
-Conk's Not a fan I'd compare Conks to VDH
-Mama Bear's Like QED I like MB scents but the performance is only so so

Edit: I noticed a pair of other affordable soaps that you didn't inquire about. SCS and Gentleman's Best. Sue offers great scents at an affordable price and the Gentlemen's Best Signature Series line that Ray offers is one of my absolute favorites.

Mitchell's Wool Fat
The best shaving soap that I have used. Produces a very slick lather that will leave your face feeling great. The dish is very nice.

Speick
A very good tallow soap. I like the warm spicy scent.

Tabac
A very good soap that takes no effort to lather. Very affordable which is one reason that I ranked it so high.

D.R. Harris
Great soaps, though not as good as Tabac. I like Marlborough, but not Arlington.

Irisch Moos
About the same as Tabac, though I ranked it lower because it is more expensive and only comes in stick form.

Arko
A good soap that is very cheap and easy to lather. The scent is not for everyone.

L'Occitane Cade
A good tallow free soap. The lather is great and it smells a bit like D.R. Harris Marlborough, though not as strong and more soapy. Comes in a nice dish.

Mama Bear
Good glycerin soaps that come in many scents.

QED
Every bit as good as Mama Bear, but I ranked them lower because they are more expensive (more EO oils I suppose) and they come in fewer scents.

Proraso Green
Not bad, though I prefer the cream

Truefitt & Hill
A decent soap, and I like the scent, but it's just not as good as most other soaps.

Col. Conk
Decent glycerin soaps, though not as good as Mama Bear, QED, or Honeybee Spa.

Consider Valobra shave stick, Palmolive, and Cella soaps. They are all very good soaps that I would rank between MWF and Tabac. I haven't used Penhaligons or La Toja so I can't comment on those.

I have experience with only three of the ones you list and rank them as follows, first being best:
Ones not in your list are as follows:
There is no way I could compare them all!

It should be noted that I have softened water. Hard water might affect the rankings.

Welcome aboard! Of the soaps you listed, here's what I have tried or used regularly:

-DRH
-L'Occitane Cade
-MWF
-Tabac/Irisch Moos
-T&H luxury shave soap
-Speick
-QED
-Proraso Green

Here's what I reach for first/most:
Trumpers/CADE/MWF/Irisch Moos -- these fit in along with Pen's BB & EF tallow's in my rotation. In summer Speick and Proraso will make more appearances)
I still use QED quite a bit and I think his best scents are the florals. Some people report a bit of skin sensitivity to some of his stuff. Apart from the special run stuff (Wild Rose, Violetta, etc), the Lavender and Special 218 are stand outs.

Stuff from above that is officially out of the rotation:
DRH/Tabac/T&H
Tabac, I dont' care for the scent. DRH and T&H, I just like the others better and just not work having both around for me. Things are getting crowded under my sink.

You'll eventually find a niche of performance and scent that you like. No matter how good Tabac performs, I cannot get past the scent.

All that being said, being from Edmonton, you've got the <sarcasm> pleasure of some gloriously hard water </sarcasm>. Unless you've got a water softener, some of these soaps are going to be a little more work. It took quite awhile to find my way with MWF but you eventually get there.

Scale=Premium (P) Rotation Quality (RQ), Fine (F), Meh (M),
-DRH - RQ
-L'Occitane Cade - N/A
-MWF - RQ
-Penhaligon's English Fern new formulation (as the old one is hard/expensive to find and would be impossible to replace in time) - N/A
-Tabac/Irisch Moos - F
-T&H luxury shave soap - N/A
-La Toja - N/A
-Speick - R/Q
-Arco - F
-QED - F
-Proraso Green - N/A
-Conk's - N/A
-Mama Bear's - M

richmondesi said:

Scale=Premium (P) Rotation Quality (RQ), Fine (F), Meh (M)...

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What, no Ps in the list?

I think that the information you want can be gleaned from the Reviews section.

Robert Paulsen said:

What, no Ps in the list?

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Nope. Reserved for the truly elite

So, if money was no object and you can have only 1 shave soap that you consider a "P", what would it be, if any?

I too am interested in this because I want, 1 brush, 1 razor and 1 soap (without trying everything under the sun)

richmondesi said:

Nope. Reserved for the truly elite

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_JP_ said:

I think that the information you want can be gleaned from the Reviews section.

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Oh I have spent many an hour in the reviews section, but I was more curious about what people thought in comparison to each other; that's when the game really changes .

BrianP said:

All that being said, being from Edmonton, you've got the <sarcasm> pleasure of some gloriously hard water </sarcasm>. Unless you've got a water softener, some of these soaps are going to be a little more work. It took quite awhile to find my way with MWF but you eventually get there.

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Haha, thanks so much for the sympathy, I didn't think that anybody else understood! (seriously though, I don't know anybody else here that shaves with shaving soap and I always thought that it was just me that thought that; it's good to get some validation). The water up here, in terms of hardness, is terrible! It's tasty , but not that good for shaving . I wondered if that is the reason that I am having so much trouble with my T&H soap (which is a shame, because I like the fragrance, but I just can't get good lather from it).

mercury895 said:

Haha, thanks so much for the sympathy, I didn't think that anybody else understood! (seriously though, I don't know anybody else here that shaves with shaving soap and I always thought that it was just me that thought that; it's good to get some validation). The water up here, in terms of hardness, is terrible! It's tasty , but not that good for shaving . I wondered if that is the reason that I am having so much trouble with my T&H soap (which is a shame, because I like the fragrance, but I just can't get good lather from it).

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There's a lot of good posts about building lather on a soap, they're worth a search if you're looking for some direction. It's very doable, the water here, I find, is as hard as it is up there. Definitely tastes better up there. At least that's how I remember it.

Listed in order of my opinion

AOS Sandalwood
Cella/MWF
Valobra
L'Occitane
Tabac/Irish Moos
D R Harris Arlington
Speick

The above are in current rotation although some are used more than others. Even tho it sounds like a contadiction, lather is not that important to me, Just slickness, (don't knoww if I said that right)

"REALLY SLICK NO NICKS"

CEFranklin said:

So, if money was no object and you can have only 1 shave soap that you consider a "P", what would it be, if any?

I too am interested in this because I want, 1 brush, 1 razor and 1 soap (without trying everything under the sun)

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Excellent question. This is really tough because of the reformulation of many of the better soaps combined with personal preference as it relates to scent. Old Formula Pens is my favorite (either Blenheim Bouquet or English Fern) and represents what I would consider a premium soap. Now, I personally don't think that there are any soaps on that level that are in the market now.

To be perfectly honest, there are several soaps that are good enough that if you were only going to have one, you will be fine. Tabac isn't one of them, IMHO. On me, and a couple of other individuals that I've discussed it with, it seems to leave a bit of a residue (in fact, my bro is PIFing it in part because he didn't like having to take a rag to wipe that off). I'd certainly not list PC in that category either. I liked it better than Tabac, and it was a good performer for me, but with the post about the gentleman getting a lye burn, I'd be careful there. Additionally, I didn't care for the scents that were offered there as much as many of the others.

C&S 88 is a really good soap and might represent a (P) if you like that scent or their Oxford & Cambridge (I've not tried that soap, but if it's like their 88 with that O&C scent, it'd definitely be a winner). No joke, Gentlemen's Best is a very good soap that I wouldn't mind using everyday. In fact, that would probably be the one that I picked if I only went with one (and it's a veggie based soap).

This is the problem with this soap market is that the real premium products have "improved" their formulas by taking the tallow out. That's part of the reason that we all have rotations. If English Fern or Blenheim Bouquet were going to be around perpetually, I'd have 1/4 of the soaps that I have

C&S, AoS, Gentlemen's Best, MWF, Harris are all really quite good and I'd say pick the scent that appeals to you.

Another winner is the Castle Forbes creams. They are really quite good. Hope this helps