Another review of Mike's Natural Soaps

I received my bar of orange/cedarwood/black pepper today. In addition to the bar ordered, Mike also included a sample of the lavender and eucalyptus soap. I will discuss the orange soap in this post.
The scent is phenomenal. I wanted to eat the mailer- it smelled that good . The orange is certainly the major player here with the other scents very far in the background. As I described it to another B&B member, it's like you are eating a fresh orange, while the cedarwood and pepper shaker are in a separate room. I made a test lather in my palm with my Duke 2 and the scent stays true to form while lathered. I could detect the scent on my skin for an hour or two after the lathering and I imagine this soap would pair nicely with some Lucky Tiger AS.

The soap seems to like water, but I started with a dryer brush (as is my routine) and slowly added water to the tips of the brush. The lather was rich and slick. I will shave with the soap tonight and post images of the bar and lather later.

Equally impressive was the moisturizing quality of the soap. Again, I haven't applied it to my face, but my palm was left supple and moisturized following the palm lathering. Very anxious to shave with this soap tonight.

The shave was very nice. As with the test lather, the soap likes some water but makes a very creamy, protective lather. Shaved half of my face with a straight and half with a SS with an Astra SP blade. No weepers, cuts, or irritation. Very nice shave and again, the scent is just heavenly


Getting ready to get started.


Ready to shave.


Lather left at the end of the shave.

Looks nice. I have been hearing all good about Mike's soaps. I will have to add some to my NEED to have list!
Johnnie

jbradley said:

Looks nice. I have been hearing all good about Mike's soaps. I will have to add some to my NEED to have list!
Johnnie

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NEED is the correct word

I keep rubbing my face today because it feels so soft.

+1 for NEED.

Looks like another great soap from another great small vendor!! Great, another soap i have to try! i love ADs when they are for a good cause!

Well, I thought I'd jump on this thread seeing as how I just received my shaving tins of Pine & Cedarwood and Bay Rum. All I can say is 'wow'. The first thing that hits you is the quality of the scents. The second thing you notice is the complete lack of any unnatural coloring. This soap looks just like I'd imagine the ingredients would.

After working up a lather in no time, I began to see what all the fuss was about. The lather was creamy, yet frothy, and seemed to want to be applied in copious amounts. I didn't resist the urge to do just that and couldn't wait to begin shaving. Although I've never considered my facial sensitivity to be as refined as some, I definitely noticed that my straight seemed to glide over my face and my safeties over my head. No nicks or cuts, only the wonderful scent advertised on the tin was noticed during my shave.

I couldn't be happier and look forward to trying some of Mike's other scents!

That's a nice looking lathet, and it's good to hear more positive things about this soap. I placed my first order of Mikes yesterday, and just hope it arrive by this weekend for my birthday!

just got my MNS delivery yesterday too! ordered Thursday, arrived Monday (NY to PA)...super fast IMO. got bars of the orange/CW/black pepper, peppermint/rosemary, and he was kind enough to throw in a sample sliver of the pine/cedarwood too. I sliced each bar into strips and mushed them into a screw top rubbermade 2 cup soup container that I stumbled upon while searching for some bowls (while the soap was still in transit). they are a nice shape for both the soap and holding while loading, and the screw top should help preservation and stackability. 3 for $2, so the price was right too! I figured that I could go el cheapo here and give my wife some ideas for stocking stuffers this Christmas

anyway. the aromas coming from these soaps are absolutely wonderful! unfortunately, that was my downfall this morning. I had shaved Sunday night, and I usually give my face/neck a solid 2-3 days between shaves...but I just HAD to finally try out a MNS after hearing so many good things

got a decent lather, but barely enough for a 2 pass. and I mean barely. I spent about 30 seconds swirling my Tweezerman on the soap, and added a few drops of water to the brush as I face lathered. I didn't get the super thick and rich lathers that everyone else gets and loves about this soap. Coming from a Col Conk soap (which has been perfectly adequate), I was a little disappointed in my effort (gotta be user error since this is my 1st tallow soap and nobody else has this issue. well it isn't really an "issue" yet, I'm all of 1 shave deep with this, but I digress). errrr...so yadda yadda I got razor burn all over the place from my not-quite-needed-yet modified 2 pass shave, and my day is going to be rather uncomfortable. ugh. which sadly diminishes the lovely orange smell from the soap!
so lesson learned: don't shave when you don't have to...even if you REALLY want to use that new soap!

Definitely use more water. Sorry to hear that though.

Mike's is a very thirsty soap. I hope you have a more successful 2nd attempt

haha me too...now I have an idea how to make it work better, like I said, it was just a rookie mistake on my part. I'm going to start with a little more water up front, and I am thinking that is going to make all the difference. the only hard part is having to wait until Thursday or Friday...

natural320 said:

haha me too...now I have an idea how to make it work better, like I said, it was just a rookie mistake on my part. I'm going to start with a little more water up front, and I am thinking that is going to make all the difference. the only hard part is having to wait until Thursday or Friday...

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You can always try a test lather for now .

I was having same problems with you. Couldn't shave frequently but a few things have allowed me to start doing so:

- try cold water shaving as it can help dealing with irritation.
- technique is important and I don't know how long you have been at this but you definitely need to be using the right angle and no pressure.

The no pressure thing is still difficult for me but I think I'm getting there...

Just when you think you have enough soaps......

Thanks for the glowing review, enabler!

hey clueless, I've been DE shaving for all of like 3 weeks and have been tweaking my methods since day 1. I've moved away from hot water into lukewarm, and I keep having to think about angle and pressure. still honing that aspect, but I am getting pretty consistent. not perfect, but certainly acceptable. also still beard mapping and trying to figure out which directions and in which order to make my passes. almost there I think!

was too tired last night, so I woke up a few minutes earlier this morning to give my peppermint/rosemary a whirl. soaked the brush, put a few drops of water on the soap, and built up a solid amount of soap load into the brush (as it started to lather in the dish) within 15 seconds. it worked fast today! face lathered from that point, and it seemed ready within 20 seconds...again, FAST! because I didn't trust myself, I let it sit for a moment just to see if it would fade. it didn't, so pass one went nice and easy. re-wet and re-lathered for a pretty nice pass 2. was kinda running out of lather at this point (need to load the brush for another few seconds next time), but squeezed out enough from the bristles to get a solid touch up pass 3. had a DFS that smelled great and was bright and fresh on the skin.

I don't think that I necessarily "have it down" when it comes to lathering MNS, but my "user error" theory was totally confirmed. really easy, really nice feeling...night and day when compared to the Conk bay rum I had been using. now I'm not saying it is light years better, but it is definitely different and IMO leaves my skin in a much better place post-shave.

Congrats on a DFS, with more use you'll dial MNS in and lathering it will be second nature.

I bought 4 tins of Mike's soaps: Barber Shop, Bay Rum, Lime, Hungarian Lavender. All of the soaps work equally well. It is a thirsty soap, but the lather is rich and lubricates really well. The lanolin leaves my face smooth and nice. None of the fragrances are overpowering. I like Barber Shop and Bay Rum best, but I am always a sucker for Bay Rum. Barber Shop is hard to describe, and it took getting used to. It was my least favorite at the start. Now...I like the way my shave den smells after using it, too.

Just ordered some of this after reading all the + reviews. Can't wait to give it a shot. Thanks for the info.