The Handmade Soap Company After Shave Cream

[Marco]

In the end of 2011 a new supporting Vendor did appear on B&B: The Handmade Soap Company, from Ireland. I was really intrigued by this new brand, which was offering only handmade products, 100% natural, with no chemicals, no paraben ingredients and no artificial flavourings. When I contacted Dave Martin of THSC, I also discovered that he is a really kind and friendly person. Hence, I decided to order a bar of his shave soap and a glass pot of his aftershave cream. The shave soap, quite honestly, did not work for me, despite all my efforts and attempts to produce a satisfying lather. The aftershave cream, instead, was a huge surprise. The packaging itself is a “touch of class”. It’s a nice and simple glass jar with a plastic lid, boxed in a cardboard pack. Nothing fancy, but elegant and with a lovely and cool vintage look. The only thing that I would personally change would be the lid, which, in my opinion, would be better looking if made in aluminium rather than plastic (like the one of Martin de Candre). It does contain 50ml of white, creamy product. The scent is sweet and somehow hard to describe, maybe because complex. It’s a mix of Vetiver, Juniper and Wintergreen, with light hints of Orange. For my taste it is good, not too strong and with decent staying power. The price is € 17.95 per piece and, unfortunately, it’s not cheap. Anyhow, it is a reasonable cost for a handmade, quality item. The ingredients list, posted below, is excellent. A ton of natural oils and skin friendly agents that truly make this stuff work. When applied after shaving, you have no real cooling sensation, but a pleasant moisturizing feeling with a great soothing effect. Certainly a solid performer that I do recommend.

P.S. Ingredients list: Aqua, Sweet Almond Oil, Sunflower Oil, Jojoba Oil, Evening Primrose Oil, Vitamin e Oil, Glycerin, Cetyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, Essential Oils of Vetiver, Wintergreen, Juniper & Sweet Orange.

[Deacon Frank]

I've tried this aftershave balm, too. It smells pretty good, but leaves my skin feeling a little too oily. It didn't really seem to do anything for me to treat razor burn. To be fair, though, I rarely use balms.

The shave soap has gone through a reformulation. The old formulation smelled great, but to me was pretty useless as a shave soap. The new formulation (with tallow) is much better. I'll be updating my review once I have some more shaves with the new soap under my belt.

[TheVez2]

I'm waiting for my shave soap & kit to arrive from them, can't wait to try it.

[Blix]

Thanks for the info, sound like a great balm!

Too bad their shave soap isn't usable for shaving (both me and Marco have the new version with tallow), but it's a great face wash, suits me well in these bone dry months.

[Marco]

Thanks for the info, sound like a great balm!

Too bad their shave soap isn't usable for shaving (both me and Marco have the new version with tallow), but it's a great face wash, suits me well in these bone dry months.

Amund, in these cold dry winter months this AS cream seems just perfect for me. It leaves a light oily coating on the skin which is very protective and moisturizing. Also, a little quantity is all you really need.

[Luc]

Sounds like an interesting product, do you have a picture?

[Marco]

Sounds like an interesting product, do you have a picture?

There is a pic with description directly on The Handmade Soap Company web site here http://www.thehandmadesoapcompany.ie...products_id=58

[xraydoc]

Thank you for the review, unfortunate about the soap. The aftershave cream, sounds quite interesting. Rather expensive as you mention. From looking at the ingredients it appears almost identical to RazoRock aftershave wax (consistency of a balm) which I quite enjoy. The packaging looks similar except RazoRock has a plastic tub and aluminum lid. Thanks again Marco.

[brucered]

I'm waiting for my shave soap & kit to arrive from them, can't wait to try it.

Me Too....after reading this review, i'm getting even more excited....turns out i'm in the market for more A/S ASB's, so it can't get here fast enough

[Marco]

This morning my wife told me that the scent is very good. I agree!

[brucered]

well i got my PIF KIT today and must say, the ASB was a treat to smell and the packaging (glass jar) was a bonus.

it was 12hrs after i had shaved, but i couldn't resist putting a dab on and even my kids enjoyed the scent! (lemons is what the 5y old sniff tester said).

i look forward to putting it to use shortly, but see no reason why i won't really enjoy this ASB. the texture and consistancy reminds me a lot of the very nice RazoRock waxes (edit, just noticed someone else mention this, so i'm not alone).