Mike's Natural Soaps Samples

There's a review started here:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/277358-Mike-s-Natural-Soaps-an-early-review

But since these samples were VERY economical to try and my nose is a tad picky despite liking some scents, I am going to try and review some of these so some other people can decide if they want to get a bar or a sample. I tried to get most of the scents (besides ones I knew I wouldn't like I have to look and see which ones I have.
Also, Mike isn't the only soap maker on here and always good to support a local USA business!

As far as the beginning I had computer issues (my stupid mistake) and Mike is VERY responsive, already a big perk over the big businesses who either doesn't have time for you, or just give you manufacturer's info. Kinda neat to be able to speak to the soap MAKER not just a salesman with some info given to them by the manufacturer.


Unfortunately so far I guess since I'm a little picky (and I don't like some of the "older" scents although some I do), but also my girlfriend is very picky and hasn't approved of almost any of my soaps. I think she's only really liked the Menthol scents (and not even all of those!), and I have liked those the best, but she's also disliked some scents that may have been a bit "older" that I like as well.
So I thought one good test other than to lather and make sure no skin falls off my face P) would be to have my girlfriend smell the lather and hear her opinion as to how she likes the scent.
My first try with be Rose/Cedarwood especially since I smell a nice Rose scent and I can't see her not liking this one, but she is pretty picky so we'll find out.


Also the bars come in little rectangles, I guess you could put it at the bottom of the bowl and lather away, but since I only have one empty mug to lather in now, I am going to just take a piece off (probably with my hands or a knife, it's pretty soft I don't think I need to grate it) and I am probably going to use that piece before moving on to the next sample.

You could also just use it like a stick & rub the sample on your wet face, then face lather away. Works great!

Evbo said:

You could also just use it like a stick & rub the sample on your wet face, then face lather away. Works great!

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I was thinking about that but read that people had issues with it. Since I wanted to try just a shave or two of each scent I broke off the corner with my fingers (very soft and easy to do). Tossed the little piece in the mug and it lathered up fine. The little piece obviously moved around a lot so getting it to lather wasn't the easiest just because of that. I also felt like even when I got it good, the lather was good, but it did take a bit to lather compared to the Tallow soaps I've tried, usually there's a little less effort, although I can't tell how much was due to me using a tiny piece.

I felt like the lather felt a little different than the Tallow soaps I've tried like RazorRock, not sure exactly why, but it still seemed to work well. One bonus is although the scent is long gone after the AS is applied, my girlfriend smelled it and was like "yummy, rose" so that's the first time I got a thumbs up on ANY of the wet shaving scents I've used!!!
I'm pretty new to shaving so I haven't smelled many soaps, especially not ones with strong scents, and this one had a not overly strong, but definitely a stronger scent that I'm used to, I actually smelled the scent vs. just soap
I saw someone said it mostly smelled like Rose, I do agree, although I got hints of the Cedarwood so the Rose smell was "stronger" but I still could smell the Cedar, don't know if it's just me.

Can't wait to try more of these, I took off a tiny square and I still think I might have enough for another full lather, that or I'll throw some Proraso in there and finally try the "uberlather"


Either way great scent, and the lather may not hold up to the top tier soaps as far as lather (and this is barely, I'm just trying to be honest, compared to expensive ones like RazorRock it probably is a bit noticeable, compared to cheaper soaps not really at all to me), but they definitely are world's better than the VDH/Col. Conk I started with and the scent is on par with all of the fancy ones I've tried.

You can just push the whole piece of soap into the bottom of a container. Get it wet on the bottom, stick it in there, and by the next morning it's stuck there so it won't move around while you lather it.

I got a sample of the Barbershop scent. I think this is a perfectly good soap; good lather and good shaves. I don't like the scent, but others love it, and scents are personal. A really good soap for the price.

kingfisher said:

You can just push the whole piece of soap into the bottom of a container. Get it wet on the bottom, stick it in there, and by the next morning it's stuck there so it won't move around while you lather it.

I got a sample of the Barbershop scent. I think this is a perfectly good soap; good lather and good shaves. I don't like the scent, but others love it, and scents are personal. A really good soap for the price.

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I have barber shop too, honestly, I got the samples because I wasn't liking any scents of the soaps/creams I have, none are bad or unusable at all, just nothing that I liked all that much. My girlfriend and roommate open them up and say "echh" but this one I thought smelled amazing.
By the way, from smelling the barber shop sample I have no clue if I will like it or not, it's this spicy smell I can't really put my finger on, someone else I saw was having trouble describing it, it's really an interesting smell, I think I'm going to have to lather it to decide if I like it though, I really couldn't put a finger on it, it's a very complex smell!

I didn't put it in the bottom because I just tried Rose and Cedarwood and got maybe 5 samples? Forgot the exact number (I throw them in a drawer with everything in hopes that the girlfriend won't notice my pile getting larger by the day) and I want to try them all, I know each scent will take a while, his samples are not all that small. I used too big of a piece to finish it in one shave, but hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow and be on to Barber Shop or some other scent by Sunday

I was trying to get all the scents in, and I thought I'd review them too since I'm kinda young and picky on soaps. Plus my girlfriend seems 2x as picky so if she likes it I really am impressed

I bought 2 of the shaving soaps from Mike. The Lavender & Eucalyptus and Orange,Cedarwood & Black Pepper. I really like them both! I decided to shred them and pack into the bottom of my favorite bowls. Mike was a delight to work with and is understanding of the technically challenged. They were very reasonably priced and seem certain to last quite a while.
I highly recommend these soaps!

pipskicks said:

I was thinking about that but read that people had issues with it.

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Dude -- try it yourself. Just b/c someone else has or had issues with it doesn't mean that you will. It's great to read about other folks' experience but nothing substitutes for personal experience.

I've used Mike's regular-sized soap like a shave stick, and it worked perfectly. The only thing I've noticed about his soaps relative to most others is that it likes a LOT of water -- way more than I'm wont to use. But once you've hydrated the soap enough, it works beautifully. In fact, I like his soaps more than I like most of the other, commercially-available brands. I'll take Mike's soap over AoS any day.

I have never had a soap scent linger on me after using an A/S, so I've never had to worry about someone liking the scent of my soap. That being said use the whole sample to lather from and Mike's does like water. Once you find the sweet spot it lathers very easily and in copious amounts. Hope you find one of the soaps to your liking, YMMV

I don't really like to face lather, I'm a newbie more interested in making sure there's good protective lather, I will try eventually.

This soap was not bad in the slightest, a little hard to lather is completely fine when the lather is amazing IMO. Guess I came off a little harsh on my review maybe

I really like this soap but I am being thrown soaps by my friends who are asking me my opinions of them as well for themselves, so I'm going to get to the next scent a little later than I thought, but I'll try and give my opinion of all of them. Hopefully it will help some people in trying to decide scents, or convince someone to try some samples

Hi soaps are great and the scents are a YMMV thing. I have the Orange/Cedarwood/Pepper and it is a great performing soap and very interesting scent.

MeanGene said:

Hi soaps are great and the scents are a YMMV thing. I have the Orange/Cedarwood/Pepper and it is a great performing soap and very interesting scent.

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I think I should have that one, of course the scent is YMMV, but I figured I'm 29, have had a hard time getting my younger girlfriend into the more "classical" scents and so far these have been great, I thought maybe some other youngins would be having the same problem and may be interested in the samples of soaps that are less "classical" smelling like say maybe the Barber Shop (although that didn't smell so "old" to me I think I kind of like it, I'm going to have to give it a test run).

You are right that it is a YMMV, but I hope I also perfect my lathering technique on his soaps which would make it a little easier and it seems like most people have perfected it. I just need to get used to it, sometimes different soaps lather up very differently and require much different techniques to lather.


Maybe then I'll just try and give my impressions after trying a few more, although I have to say even with just the scent of the Rose/Cedarwood, it got a much higher review (of the scent to my girlfriend) of just about every soap I had tried up until then, which was pretty interesting to me, and took a lot of different tries to get to!

pipskicks said:

Rose/Cedarwood, it got a much higher review (of the scent to my girlfriend) of just about every soap I had tried up until then, which was pretty interesting to me, and took a lot of different tries to get to!

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Wishing you the best on pleasing SWMBO. For me, I am a soap freak, and always ask my wife to sample the scent because I am so excited. She politely entertains me, but at the end of the day, she doesn't care because the soap scent doesn't last beyond my alum application and WH cleanse. She prefers the citrus scents and it just so happens I do too, so it all works out for us.

MeanGene said:

Wishing you the best on pleasing SWMBO. For me, I am a soap freak, and always ask my wife to sample the scent because I am so excited. She politely entertains me, but at the end of the day, she doesn't care because the soap scent doesn't last beyond my alum application and WH cleanse. She prefers the citrus scents and it just so happens I do too, so it all works out for us.

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Yeah I guess you're right that usually it doesn't last. Unfortunately for some reason that doesn't keep her from complaining!!


I had found REALLY strong scented soaps like Arko may linger (I guess depending on how it turns out, it's been 50/50 for me on smelling it lingering) but Mike's is not that strong you're right...I am not sure why SWMBO complains about the poor smelling soaps


Although I have been trying to get her to use them on her legs with no luck, so I'm hoping maybe if she really likes a scent she may decide to try it

Today I got one of the rarer "very impressed" comments about my shave soap smell. Mystic Waters "Prospect Creek." Sort of like shaving with peppermint icecream, at least in feel and smell.