Mike's Natural Soaps - an early review

I received a goody box in the mail today and I'll add my opinion in here, for what it is worth. Mike's soap is awesome! Great lather easily and some awesome fragrances ( I got the Orange, Cedarwood and Black Pepper and Barbershop ). My only comment other than that is that the barbershop smells more soapy than I had expected. The scent is not bad at all, in fact its very good but I guess I was thinking a darker more robust scent.
Either way, fantastic product and I will surely be buying more when I use all this stuff up, which will be quickly, seeing as how it has become my every day super lather maker!

I just placed an order for a tin of Barber Shop, a sample of O/CW/BP and what is essentially a shave stick of Lavandin & Eucalyptus. With shipping, all of this cost less than a refill of MWF for me (locally or on the net, with delivery).
After reading all of the comments, I'm expecting MWF performance, with a better scent, cheaper price tag and best of all, from a member/artisan maker.
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of Mike's Natural Soaps! So far, the B and B members are batting 1000 in their recommendations for me.

D.B. Cooper said:

I just ordered a tin of the peppermint/rosemary shaving soap today. I am very excited to try it, not only because it's received great reviews but also because this will be my first experience with shaving soap.

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Has anyone used this one yet? I'm getting stingy with my barbershop sample in hopes that someone will post something about the peppermint/rosemary. I assume it shaves like the others. Does it smell like rosemary?

Jnyboer said:

Has anyone used this one yet? I'm getting stingy with my barbershop sample in hopes that someone will post something about the peppermint/rosemary. I assume it shaves like the others. Does it smell like rosemary?

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My bar of peppermint & rosemary should be arriving tomorrow, I'll try and post up a scent impression.

This stuff smells amazing! I shaved with the Lime yesterday and put too much lather near my lips. I nearly swallowed some of it until I remembered that it's a soap.

Jnyboer said:

Has anyone used this one yet? I'm getting stingy with my barbershop sample in hopes that someone will post something about the peppermint/rosemary. I assume it shaves like the others. Does it smell like rosemary?

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The peppermint/rosemary is fantastic. Wonderful scent. Cooling but not frigid. I often make an uberlather with QCS lavender- it is a great combo. I have 3 full bars of Mike's- PM/RM, O/CW/BP, and lime. All are wonderful performers, the orange being my favorite scent.

shaverjoe said:

The peppermint/rosemary is fantastic. Wonderful scent. Cooling but not frigid. I often make an uberlather with QCS lavender- it is a great combo. I have 3 full bars of Mike's- PM/RM, O/CW/BP, and lime. All are wonderful performers, the orange being my favorite scent.

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Can you smell the rosemary in it, or does smell mostly like peppermint with some general herby background?

Jnyboer said:

Can you smell the rosemary in it, or does smell mostly like peppermint with some general herby background?

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I just received my bar of Peppermint & Rosemary along with a bar of Pine & Cedarwood, and Lime.

I'm kinda bad at describing scents but I'll give it a go. All of the soaps are nicely balanced.

The Peppermint & Rosemary is pretty much spot on with Mike's description. I can easily smell the rosemary, but the peppermint is the more dominant note to my nose. EDIT: Just sniffed it again and the peppermint is the main player here, but the Rosemary is so slouch, mixing wonderfully with the peppermint to create a real winning combo.

The Pine & Cedarwood is a very even mix of pine and cedar IMO. I was expecting pine to be dominant based on Mike's description but they seem about equal. This soap smells remarkably similar to the Mystic Water Cedar & Sage that I used this morning. A great woodsy earthy scent.

The lime is, well, lime. A dry, slightly sweet lime that smells pretty true to the fruit. Smells almost good enough to eat, can't wait to try the lime tomorrow AM!

I don't know if you've seen his site, but I think he can't make the soap fast enough. Last week I ordered his barber shop and pine/cedar and this week they are both out of stock. It looks like he still has rose/cedar, which I highly recommend. It's right up there with Salters/QCS rose. I really want to try the peppermint/rosemary, but I'm up to my eyes in soaps/creams right now.

Jnyboer said:

Can you smell the rosemary in it, or does smell mostly like peppermint with some general herby background?

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I think Chris nailed it. The peppermint shines through at first but if you really smell the soap, it is wonderfully balanced.

shaverjoe said:

I think Chris nailed it. The peppermint shines through at first but if you really smell the soap, it is wonderfully balanced.

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Thanks for the info guys!

Nancy Boy signature cream has peppermint and rosemary, anybody with both think the scents are similar?

Lando said:

Nancy Boy signature cream has peppermint and rosemary, anybody with both think the scents are similar?

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I haven't tried this scent of Mike's soaps, but the NB cream also has a LOT of lavender in it, so I bet it would be considerably different. One of the earlier posters said he superlathered it with a lavender cream....I bet that would smell a lot like NB signature.

I wish everyone would quit it with the posts, here. I'm waiting for a batch to be finished, and you're making me REALLY want to try this stuff out!

I am wanting to try out some of his soaps but he is out of stock on most. Mike carries trial sizes which is nice and has been a pleasure to communicate with. We have been emailing back and forth and he is quick to respond, cant wait to try out his orange scents.

LeftyT said:

I wish everyone would quit it with the posts, here. I'm waiting for a batch to be finished, and you're making me REALLY want to try this stuff out!

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Oh come on! Surely you won't mind one more post!

I used Mike's Lime for the first time this morning. Typically great, thick & stable Mike's lather with a nice natural lime scent. Not too sweet, which is what I like!

I'm enjoying the rose and cedar A LOT. Didn't care for barbershop because it seemed synthetic smelling, but is is light and fresh enough. The limes is also very true - trumpers like, not Castle Forbes pine sol like. Still in the honeymoon stage - a soap needs at least a couple of weeks to find out what it is really about.

For guys with dry skin like me, it's superb post shave.

LeftyT said:

I wish everyone would quit it with the posts, here. I'm waiting for a batch to be finished, and you're making me REALLY want to try this stuff out!

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So I shouldn't post about how I used my Mike's orange/cedar/black pepper to do a test/palm lather on my Semogue 1305 to help the break-in process along, and my hand feels really nice and softer than usual?

I finished my Pine & Cedarwood sample yesterday and will be ordering a puck. Used the Lavandin & Eucalyptus sample for the 1st time today and had another great shave. I'm not sure about this scent yet but it wasn't bad. I love the O/CW/BP and Lime scents, the Lime is going to be my summer soap.

cxg231 said:

The Pine & Cedarwood is a very even mix of pine and cedar IMO. I was expecting pine to be dominant based on Mike's description but they seem about equal. This soap smells remarkably similar to the Mystic Water Cedar & Sage that I used this morning. A great woodsy earthy scent.

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I tried the Pine & Cedarwood this morning. Upon lathering the pine really shines through and the cedar fades to more of a supporting role IMO. I mentioned that the Mike's and the MW Cedar & Sage smelled remarkably similar on the puck. That similarity goes away when lathered.

Good lather and a nice shave as always from Mike's products, and my face feels really nice!