Lets Talk About Mysore Sandal Soap

[YetiDave]

I bought a bottle of Mysore talc and I love it. So much so that the day it arrived, I ordered another and some of the soap. Looking forward to trying it, I hope the smell's as powerful as the talc!

[Troggie]

Hmmm.. I will have to pick up a bar of this now. I found it at a local Fair Trade store around my area. They also carry a few other brands so I may have to grab those and see how they compare.

[snip3r]

I'm currently using the Mysore Gold with Almond. Didn't get the normalversion as it's more dry ( as per review ) and the sandalwood scent is already quite strong as compared to the normal one. I'm currently rotating with Yardley Lavendar ( night ) with Mysore ( day ).

[David in Boston]

Been using it for the last few months.

Very refreshing to use in the shower on warm or hot days.

However, I don't think it would be a good soap for the colder months of the year.

[heatx]

Everyone keeps saying this soap isn't good for the colder months. My question is, living in the rocky mountains of Colorado it is almost always cold or cool out. Never particularly hot.

What soap would you guys recommend for this type of climate? Thanks!

[luvmysuper]

I think it's a personal preference kind of thing.
I live north of Chicago and have used the Mysore Sandalwood Soap through the entire winter with no issues whatsoever.
Perhaps if you have tremendously sensitive skin, or skin that tends toward dryness anyway, it may not be the best, but I can say that I have never had a problem at all.

[Kevan]

Everyone keeps saying this soap isn't good for the colder months. My question is, living in the rocky mountains of Colorado it is almost always cold or cool out. Never particularly hot.

What soap would you guys recommend for this type of climate? Thanks!

Mysore Sandal "Classic" (or the Gold, noted above). Both have added moisturizers with that awesome sandal scent.

[The Nid Hog]

I've also used the Mysore Sandalwood in both extremely cold and extremely warm weather with nothing but good results. In fact, I think that the fragrance is especially nice in the winter.

[Phog Allen]

Well I did not realise it had been nigh on a year since I last posted to this thread. I am still honoured to have a sticky post at B&B. A bit of a status symbol!

My experience with the regular version of Mysore Sandal soap has been nothing but positive. It lathers easily, rinses clean, is stoutly scented yet not over bearing, and more importantly, does not dry out my skin. I wondered about that issue when I bought it. My legs and cheeks can get quite dry and itchy in the fall and winter but this soap does not aggravate it. All in all this has to be one of the best bargains available in male toiletries.

Cheers, Todd

[jennyhugh]

Hello ..

I have lately used this soap as my friend from India has recently sent this for me.
I like using it.
It has very soothing and aromatic fragrance.

[TBoner]

Very cool to see a sticky thread about this stuff here. I am a Mysore Sandal soap junkie. I stumbled onto it hunting Indian shave creams at local markets and promptly laid in a huge supply. I could easily use it daily if I weren't also fanatical about Whole Foods Organic Cedar Vetiver soap. Between the two, my masculine scent soap needs are very well taken care of.

[Kevan]

Stopped in an Indian grocery this weekend and found new, 2011 packed Mysore Sandal Soap. The scent is the same as it has always been, but they've changed the packaging again. It now says "Superior" in the corner and the lovely flower border looks almost CGI-ish. The ingredients seem identical to the "Classic" glycerin and lanolin version.

[e d o]

Check the ingredients list again. I'm presently working in Bangalore and the last bar I bought saw sandalwood oil replaced by sandalwood fragrance or something to that effect. I don't think they ever put much oil in the soap as they can sell it for so much more elsewhere and the soap is less than a dollar a bar here. I still like it though. On a side note I stopped by the factory last week and bought some oil ($) and some incense. I'm liking both but trying to find a source of cheaper oil with the same quality.

[Kevan]

Okay, just checked....not identical to the "Classic: soap but the ingredients have surely changed from my last bars.

Sodium Palmate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Water, Titanium Dioxide, Tetrasodium EDTA, Lanolin (new), Glycerine, Sandalwood Oil based fragrance (new) & Cosmetic Colors D&C Yellow 11, D&C Red 17.

[Kevan]

You went to the factory? Wow. Do they have a gift shop there or something?

I don't know how much they sell the oil for but here's a common source for real Indian sandal oil: http://www.la-boutique-bio.com/produ...oducts_id=1115

Regarding their incense, I've only tried their charcoal sticks that have been dipped in oil. They're better than most charcoal sticks because of the richness of the oil but I'd still like to try their masala sticks.

[e d o]

Kevan, yes I did go to the factory. Kind of stumbled on it while in the area for something else. They do have a company store there where one can buy all the products. Thier soaps are pretty much available everywhere though. The incense is a little harder to find (i've only tried the charcoal sticks and must get some of the masala sticks next time I go shopping). The only place I've seen their oil is in the company store. As for your link, it doesn't say the oil is from Mysore or even India for that matter. The stuff is controlled here so most of what is on the market worldwide is from Australia, Indonesia or Maylasia.

[Kevan]

I don't own that oil, but it's the stuff that Evan (Evbo, who's more of an authority on oils than I am) espouses here on the forum and it actually from Dabur and ships from India, so I'm pretty sure that's Mysore stuff.

[TheVez2]

The soap I have was packed in 2007, so it is well past the 3 yr point. The only problem with it being that old, is that is has dried out a bit and is brittle. No problem, unless you drop it. The scent is still very strong. If the newer stock is stronger than that, then wow, I can't even imagine.

I use it to make a very cheap and very good shaving soap. I noticed that the lather from it was awesome, so I decided to try an experiment. I took one puck of VDH and mixed it with 1/4 bar of Mysore Sandal. What I did was grate the mysore sandal, and since mine was a bit dry, it actually grated into pretty small pieces. Then I melted the puck of VDH in the microwave and added the grated soap to it. Most of it melted right away, and a quick zap in the microwave finished it. Only a few bits remained unmelted, but that was good enough for me. Careful though, the Mysore will scorch if in the microwave too long. I also did another batch where I added 10-15 squirts of KMF vanilla. Made a nice vanilla sandalwood scent. It is probably the cheapest sandalwood soap you could make or buy (under $2), and is still stronger on the sandalwood scent than most commercial products.

[diphy]

I don't own that oil, but it's the stuff that Evan (Evbo, who's more of an authority on oils than I am) espouses here on the forum and it actually from Dabur and ships from India, so I'm pretty sure that's Mysore stuff.

Dabur is another Indian brand. Mysore is a city in India, the region- is famous for growing Sandalwood. The Mysore Sandal Soap is probably the most popular Sandalwood soap in India. There are quite a few talc- yardley, Mysore Sandal, Gokul Sandal- probably synthetic stuff in the Talc- I have never checked labels.

[engelmann]

Read this thread and made the trek to the Indian grocery to pick some Mysore up. So glad I did. The smell is awesome and leaves my skin feeling great.