How to Treat Shaving Cream and Shaving Soap Acquisition Disorder (SCAD & SSAD)

[conroygc]

Buy the damn soaps, of course!

Looking to get the most shaving soap/cream bang for your buck? Me too! I've been checking out different vendors and websites recently and found many places offer samples. Below is (I think) the most cost effective way to sample many soaps & creams in the shortest amount of time for the least amount of money.

Geo F. Trumper - Sample Pack includes 7 cologne vials, 6 shaving cream samples and 2 skin food samples. £8.00 (~$12.50) They don't mention which products the pack includes.
D.R. Harris - 10ml samples of each of their shaving creams. £3.00 (~4.75 each). 5 scents available.
Truefitt & Hill - Shave cream and cologne sample pack - 9 of their shaving creams, 6 aftershave balms, 8 cologne samples and their pre-shave oil. $19 (cream/asb/oil pack is only $10)
Taylor of Old Bond Street - Shoeboxshaveshop offers 1/4oz samples of each of their creams for $2.79 each.
Mama Bear Soaps - 8 different kinds of sample packs. You should be able to get whatever you want for a few bucks each.
Ogallala Bay Rum - Sample pack of all 6 of their shaving soaps. $6.25. Get a sample of their bay rum cologne for $1.
Queen Charlotte Soaps - 5 samples of your choice shaving soap. Starts at $10.
Archerfire Decants - Selection changes frequently, but offers small samples of colognes and edts. Find his thread in the vendor section here.
Garry's Sample Shop - Carries B&B favorite shaving cream & soap samples like Cella, MWF, TOBS as well as aftershaves and colognes. Find his thread in the vendor section here.

Not including Archerfire or Garry, that's over 65 different products for less than $100 (not including shipping). That should keep you busy for a while.


So, what companies offer samples that I missed? Know of better places to get samples for these products?

[eyesofgrey]

That's a lot of research and effort.. Nicely done and thank you.
I'll be looking at getting some samples of several things I've been wondering about before dropping cash.

Happy New Year, Conroy.

[Mendel]

Informative.

[The Soph Gent]

Thanks for the work. Am always interested in who sells sample packs. I have the T&H pack that included their Pure Badger Brush. Got 9 samples with the brush for $36. It was worth it just for the brush.

[itaforte]

Thanks for the helpful links!

[conroygc]

I'm bummed that TOBS doesn't offer sample packs on their website, but Gerry usually has at least the Jerymn street.

[smalltank]

I have cream samples from shoeboxshaveshop/Trumpers/T&H..AD solved for awhile

[conroygc]

I have cream samples from shoeboxshaveshop/Trumpers/T&H..AD solved for awhile

They carry samples of TOBS - Nice! I added it to the list above.

[mmack66]

This did it for me.

[conroygc]

I have an Arko stick on the way. I'm excited to try it.

[conroygc]

Gentlemen,

I had some extra money leftover from student loans, so I decided to pull the trigger on some samples. Here's what I have on the way:
Mama Bear's Soaps
-Grapefruit Ice, Awakenings, Mandarin Ice, Lime Ice, Iceberg Ice, Lilac Ice, Indian Tobacco Flower, Almond, Andy's Mint, Aromatic Pipe Tobacco, Bonzai, Creme Brulee, Dragon's Blood, Hinoki Wood, Hydrogen, Magnetism, Masculine Musk, Mysore Sandalwood, Northwoods, Polynesian Red, Sandalwood Vanilla, Spicey Lime, Toasted Coconut, Turkish Mocha and Ye Olde Barbershoppe. $23.05 including shipping.

Queen Charlotte Soaps
-Cedarwood Lemongrass, Celestial Woods, Esquire, Veviter, Vostok. $16.33 including shipping

T&H Sampler Pack of shaving cream & cologne. $19 shipped. I can't believe how good of a deal this one is.

Also working on an order with Garry. What I have so far:
Soaps
Cella soap 1/2oz - $2.50
DR Harris Arlington 1/2oz sample $4.00
DR Harris Marlborough 1/2oz sample $4.00
Irisch Moos Shaving Soap 1/2oz sample $3.00
Tabac soap 1/2oz sample $3.00

Aftershaves
Lucky Tiger Aftershave & Face Tonic 1/4oz sample $1.50
Old Spice 1/4oz sample $1.50
Osage Rub 1/4oz sample $1.50
Pinaud Bay Rum 1/4oz sample $1.50
Pinaud Citrus Musk 1/4oz sample $1.50
Pinaud Eau de Portugal 1/4oz sample - CLEARANCE $1.00
Pinaud Eau de Quinine 1/4oz sample - CLEARANCE $1.00
Pinaud Lilac Vegetal 1/4oz sample $1.50
Pinaud Vanilla 1/4oz sample - CLEARANCE $1.00
Royall Mandarin 1/4oz sample $2.50
TOBS Mr. Sidney's Original 1/4oz sample $2.00

Total so far is about $33. Not too shabby I'd say.

[hsamuels]

I think a lot of these offer discounts to B&B members. Can somebody post the codes? Or better yet, put them in the Shavewiki?

[Klos Shave]

This is an excellent resource! I would love to see a similar aftershave resource for samples. Best I've found so far comes from The Shave Den. Anyone know of others doing good AS samples?

[ajs2294]

This is a great post! Thanks for the heads up on all the samples available, sure to save me some $$$

[BrookR1]

Great post...thanks. I will definitely check some of these out. It will take quite a while to go through all of those samples.

[CSG]

I've bought the samplers from both GFT and T&H. I wrote CF and they are sending samples of their three soaps. Nice way to try things out. I want to try MdC but Garry was out. Maybe next batch.

Samples are smart business IMO.

[conroygc]

I've bought the samplers from both GFT and T&H. I wrote CF and they are sending samples of their three soaps. Nice way to try things out. I want to try MdC but Garry was out. Maybe next batch.

Samples are smart business IMO.

CF....CF.... That sounds familiar but I can't remember. What is CF?

[CSG]

Castle Forbes

[erickson]

I have received samples from Garry and Mama Bear's.

I have also received samples from
Al's Shaving Products - 7 Day Set Sampler Pack includes seven 1/4oz samples for $15
men-u - Mini Shaving Cream Tube at $4.95 is a .5 oz tube good for 20 shaves. They included this with my purchase of their synthetic brush.

[Beatnik]

Great post ...thanks Connor for the list!

I'm in the midst of going through a QCS sample pack ...what fun!