Grandpa's Pine Tar Soap

Used this soap for the 1st time tonight. Shaved with the Fatboy on 7, loaded with a Schick Platinum Plus blade, and was impressed with the results. The lather whipper was my trusty Tweezerman badger brush. I just loaded up and face lathered. Had to add more lather to my face a couple of times in the middle of a pass, but this soap provided more cushion and was a lot slicker than I had anticipated. I thought it performed about a step and a half above Williams, and gave a good, comfortable, close shave. For some reason, the scent reminded me of camping in the mountains with my parents when I was a kid. Kind of a campfire meets burning log cabin kind of odor. A pretty good soap, and one everyone should try at least once just because they can.

I have to shout out a huge "Thank You!!" to Mike H for PIFing this soap to me. Guess he didn't like the scent.

I picked up a few bars at a Lehman's a few years back. I didn't shave with it, but loved it all the same. I thought it smelled great.

I like to keep a bar in the bathroom just for the smell.

americanarmsdealer said:

Used this soap for the 1st time tonight. Shaved with the Fatboy on 7, loaded with a Schick Platinum Plus blade, and was impressed with the results. The lather whipper was my trusty Tweezerman badger brush. I just loaded up and face lathered. Had to add more lather to my face a couple of times in the middle of a pass, but this soap provided more cushion and was a lot slicker than I had anticipated. I thought it performed about a step and a half above Williams, and gave a good, comfortable, close shave. For some reason, the scent reminded me of camping in the mountains with my parents when I was a kid. Kind of a campfire meets burning log cabin kind of odor. A pretty good soap, and one everyone should try at least once just because they can.

I have to shout out a huge "Thank You!!" to Mike H for PIFing this soap to me. Guess he didn't like the scent.

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Did you use the original (tallow) formula or the vegetable?

It is the vegetable formula.

americanarmsdealer said:

It is the vegetable formula.

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Thanks. Have one of those lying around, I think. If it is even better than Williams, I must try it

Wil Dorenbos said:

Thanks. Have one of those lying around, I think. If it is even better than Williams, I must try it

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I get the feeling that even dish soap would be better than Williams.

Born2bwire said:

I get the feeling that even dish soap would be better than Williams.

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Oh boy, here we go again....

Wil Dorenbos said:

Thanks. Have one of those lying around, I think. If it is even better than Williams, I must try it

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So it is the original (tallow) I have. Tried the vegetable last summer. Was glad it was summer as I could place the soap in font of an open window. What a smell! The original smells the same, but not as strong (not by far!) as the vegetable. Anyway it lathers quite nicely and I had a good shave with it. As it is quite hard, it was not easy to rub it on my face. Could be this soap, like many others, has a hard top layer. Will see how this develops.

Born2bwire said:

I get the feeling that even dish soap would be better than Williams.

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Canned Goo is better than Williams.

michiganlover said:

Canned Goo is better than Williams.

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I wouldn't go quite that far........






well OK maybe canned goo is in the same boat as williams they both suck

Blue58 said:

I wouldn't go quite that far........

well OK maybe canned goo is in the same boat as williams they both suck

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If I had to make a choice between Barbasol canned shaving cream, or Williams the Barbsol would win by a mile. I can get good shaves from Barbasol, the Williams is useless in my hands.

Hence canned goo is better than Williams.

I came across a bar of this in the store the other day. Haven't smelled it in ages, so I bought it and gave it a try. It's very nice in the shower, but I think it produces a poor lather for shaving. It looks good, but as I worked it up (face lathering), it felt too dry and insubstantial to get the job done. Although I was already less than impressed, I still went ahead and shaved with a Fatboy loaded up with a Feather blade. The shave was OK, but I feel as if it would have turned out the same way if I just shaved with hot water after a hot shower. That's the last time I'll use it for anything other than washing. Personally, I'd much rather use Williams, which I find delivers a perfectly fine shave.

Just adding my review since I got a bar the other day.

Coming out of the box, the smell is quite strong. Somewhere between a lumber yard and a tire that's been sitting out in the sun for awhile. It was so strong I didn't want to wash with it at first, but I managed to get up the gumption and go for it; I didn't have anyone to meet that day (yesterday) anyway.

I was pleased that when I got in the shower the smell was less overwhelming and far more pleasant. More importantly, my skin felt better than it has in a long time; normally I just use a bar of Zest or whatever I happen to pick up at the store. So it was quite a difference using a quality product like Grandpa's. After that shower my back felt itchy, and I realized it was because that's where my shampoo ran down my back as I rinsed it from my hair.

The unusual smell does stay on your skin, but it's not very strong. A little aftershave or cologne will overpower it completely if you have a real problem with the scent.

As for shaving: It was alright, nothing too terrible. But shaving obviously isn't what it was made for. Use it to wash your face in the shower, then shave with a real cream or shaving soap, and you'll have yourself a home run of a shave.

I have seen a Grandpa's Shaving Soap listed a few places. Has anyone tried it out?

Really? I searched around and didn't see that. Grandpa's Pine Tar soap lists shaving as one of it's uses on the box, are you sure you weren't looking at that?

I got a bar last year. My wife vetoed it immediately. I came into the bathroom at one point and she had it in a travel soap container with two rubber bands wrapped around it (it didn't help - the smell permeated all that).

So I put it under her pillow. I only did that ONCE.

Anyway, I bought another bar a couple of months ago and she let me run with it. Now, I'm on my second bar. She's getting used to it, I think; she hated English Fern the first time she smelled it, too, and now she likes it.

I'm now on my second bar this winter and really like it to bathe with (I won't try it for shaving). I even wash my hair with it, after my Granny told me that her mother used to wash her hair with it. I was relieved that it lathered white and that the smell doesn't linger on the skin.

Also, I believe that the company that makes it also makes Kirk's Castile soap, which my wife and I both love. We've even replaced our liquid hand soap with their liquid soap, and it's great.

They make a number of soaps, like Witch Hazel, which are very nice and don't have the Pine funk.