Art of Shaving - Sandalwood Shave Soap - Test Lather

[cvac]

Pics:

1) AOS Sandalwood refill puck in a TOBS bowl

2) Loaded Brush (Omega 49 Pro)

3) Palm lather

4) Palm lather after 1 minute to check lather stability



Thought I would post this test lather for those that might be curious about how AOS shave soaps really lather up.

AFAIK, AOS shave soaps are manufactured by Valobra. This is a tallow-based, triple milled soap that has the same basic composition as the shave stick sold under Valobra's own brand.

The bowl I put the puck in is not an AOS bowl. AOS bowls and TOBS bowls look the same but the opening on the AOS bowl is larger to accommodate the slightly larger puck. However, with a little force, an AOS puck will fit into a TOBS bowl nice and snugly, and the lid still goes on fine.

The scent is not a pure Indian sandalwood scent...if that's what you want, you'll be disappointed in this. AOS uses Australian sandalwood, along with cypress, eucalyptus, and maybe some other things. It's fairly incense-y and the clay/powder smell in the background that some other members have picked up on is definitely there. It's not bad...but I'm still not 100% sold on it.

Lather is just as nice as the Valobra stick, which means it's very good.

[Go West Young Man]

Valobra supplies some raw materials for AoS soaps, but they don't make the final product.

[cvac]

Do you know what Italian company makes the final product? Just curious.

Valobra supplies some raw materials for AoS soaps, but they don't make the final product.

[AFCBradyfan12]

Is this the reformulated soap or the original formula?

[Baloosh]

That's some dry, tight looking lather. A lot of gents prefer that exact type -- not as wet/peaky, and loads of protection.

Nice job!

[Crixus]

Is this the reformulated soap

I'm pretty sure AOS soap has not been reformulated.

[Go West Young Man]

Do you know what Italian company makes the final product? Just curious.

AoS makes the final product.

[Go West Young Man]

Is this the reformulated soap or the original formula?

Both at the same time.

[cvac]

So, AOS has an Italian factory? The soap says Made in Italy right on the box. Just curious.

AoS makes the final product.

[cvac]

To be clear, this is what the lather looks like after *briefly* working it in my palm and adding very little water, but certainly enough water. Note that the loaded brush already has a bit of water in it because I dip the tips of the bristle just barely into warm water after swirling on the puck for a bit. When I do an actual face lather, I might add a teeny bit more water because I typically splash a ton of water on my face before taking the brush to it, even if I just showered. I find my face tends to soak up water like a sponge, so this is pretty necessary for me. The actual lather I shave with won't be dry on my face, but it won't be bubbly, airy foam either. A lot of lather pics I see on here are way too airy and over-whipped for my taste. Also, I spend at least a full minute or two or even a little longer loading my brush...I never skimp on product b/c that's not the way to get a good shave. IMHO.

That's some dry, tight looking lather. A lot of gents prefer that exact type -- not as wet/peaky, and loads of protection.

Nice job!

[eyesofgrey]

Valobra supplies some raw materials for AoS soaps, but they don't make the final product.

I did not know this. I also thought Valorba made the AOS soap. Good to know.
I'm working on a puck of AOS lavender right now and it's phenomenal stuff.
I've never tried Valorba.

[eyesofgrey]

Some nice looking lather there cvac..

[TallyShave]

Also, I spend at least a full minute or two or even a little longer loading my brush...I never skimp on product b/c that's not the way to get a good shave. IMHO.

Amen to this!

[RazoRock]

I like a lather similar to the one you display. My general rule is... if the lather washes off easily, it's useless; it should take a lot of work to rinse the lather away, that means it's really protecting the skin; also not a fan of big airy lather.

Great demo, thank you!

[TAM340R]

I like a lather similar to the one you display. My general rule is... if the lather washes off easily, it's useless; it should take a lot of work to rinse the lather away, that means it's really protecting the skin; also not a fan of big airy lather.

Great demo, thank you!

Fully agree but the thing I do not like is when the foam clings to my face and the blade leaves some on my skin, sorry for my basic English but I can not explain exactly.
i do have sometimes to put some pressure if I want the foam to be shaved completely , and for sure that s bad...
I think that we have to find the exact limit where it is still easy to shave the foam off....


Regards

Tam

[Go West Young Man]

So, AOS has an Italian factory? The soap says Made in Italy right on the box. Just curious.

Good question..... I'll ask my friend who used to work for them about it and report back.....

[cvac]

Pics:

1) Brush after approxiamately 30 seconds of swirling. This is a Semogue 1250 boar. The brush is fairly new and has not been fully broken in yet. I am using this brush today for a couple reasons. First, I want to show that you don't need a $200 Simpsons or Rooney to make high quality lather. Second, I have been really impressed with this brush and just felt like using it today.

First, I do not soak my puck or anything like that. I just run hot water over the top, dump it in the sink, then let the puck sit while I shower and my brush is soaking.

This is only my second proper shave with the brush. The brush was soaked in hot tap water for approximately 20 minutes. After the soak, the water gets dumped into the sink, I fill my water bowl with fresh hot water, and run the brush under hot water for about 1 minute. After that, I give it two big shakes and 1 small shake. Most of the water is gone from the brush, but there is still some in there. If this had been a big, dense badger brush, I would've given the bristles a gentle squeeze before moving to the puck.

You can see that the lather looks foamy and bubbly and is not fully loaded. This is where newbies screw up, because they tend to stop loading here, and then try to build lather in a bowl or on their faces. If you are doing this, STOP and start spending a lot more time loading your brush. Forget about counting time, counting swirls, or "wasting" soap. You will be amazed at how the quality of your lather and shaves improves.


2) Brush after another minute of swirling and loading. The lather looks a lot better but has not fully formed yet, nor is the brush fully loaded. It needs more loading time. I do apply a little bit of pressure while swirling, but I don't over aggressive mash the brush.

3) Brush after approximately another minute of swirling and loading - total time for loading is approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Note that the brush is very full of thick, creamy, yogurt-like lather. This is what you want to shave with. Using this method of brush loading, if your brush isn't full of thick, creamy lather that looks like something you'd want to shave with, you need to spend more time loading. The bubbly stuff in pic 1 is not going to magically turn into high quality lather without more loading time. It can be made into lather, but that lather will be airy foam that is neither stable nor protective.

After the brush is fully loaded as in pic three. I take the brush to my wet face. The water on my face ensures that the lather is well hydrated so that the razor glides well. This time around, I did not have to add any water to the brush while building lather on my face. If the face lathering felt dry, I would have dipped the very tippy tips of my brush in my water bowl, let the water drip, then gone back to my face. The brush held enough lather for my usual 2-pass shave, with just a little left over. No big deal. If you do more than 2 passes, just go back to the puck. If I had used my Rooney 2XL or Tulip 3, I would've had lather left over for more passes.

This is a very good soap. It creates very high quality lather that is nice and slick, while being very protective. I find it very easy to use as far as hard soaps go. The incense-y scent is growing on me, but isn't my favorite Sandalwood scent. Post-shave feel was excellent. Finished the shave with HBG for Men Sandalwood AS Splash. No complaints.

[Sullybob]

Nice write up!

The last picture has some killer lather!

[tkto13]

Amen to this!

Life is too short to skimp on SOAP of all things!!!

[tkto13]

cvac,

great contributions with these reviews. i'm glad that numerous well respected members expressed their opinions on the lather. i thought i was the only one who liked thick protective lather.

keep the posts coming!

Tony