I had read about Mike's Natural soaps here, and to be honest, I usually joke about "artisan" makers as there are a lot of bad ones out there, and I've had some less than good experiences. Then I heard that one of the my top 3 soaps, Calani, was actually an artisan maker. This got me thinking. After reading some of the reviews, and having 1 too many Gin and Tonics I decided to order some samples of Mikes Natural Soaps. And I'm glad I did.
For my tests, I used a Hart Steel 7/8 Square point razor. I did this for 2 reasons. 1) I'm a predominantly straight razor shaver, and 2) Straights require a better lather than a DE. That is my personal opinion, but while in my experience I can get away with a lesser lather using a DE, a straight requires the best. And there are a number of products which are highly regarded here but are no longer in my den for that reason alone.
The scents have been described elsewhere, so I'm not going to go into that. The samples are 1 oz. I haven't weighed them, but for $1, they are a nice size that let you get an accurate idea of how it performs. I smashed one into my lathering bowl, which I use for any soap samples that I'm testing out. Its not a soft soap, but its somewhat pliable. Nowhere near a croap, but a tad on the softer side of hard soaps. Think a Arko, or a tad softer.
For lathering, I used a Simpson's Manchurian Chubby 2, which a member so graciously loaned to me. The soap lathers very easily, and produces a very thick and creamy lather. It has good skin properties too. In fact, while I normally use AS, so I don't consider moisturizing to be important, I didn't use any after my shave and I didn't really feel any dryness until a couple hours later. I can tell it has tallow and lanolin in it. To me, tallow has a characteristic feel, and its evident in this soap. That being said, most of my soaps, and all of my top soaps, don't contain tallow. So I'm not a tallow fanatic by any means. The lanolin is the real star here, and I think thats what adds to its moisturizing properties. I had a BBS shave with it, and was quite pleased.
As an extremely picky soap user, I can thoroughly recommend this soap. I'm a huge skeptic, but I'm really glad I decided to give Mike's a try.
Here are some photos in action:
Mike also recently came up with a new veggie formula of one of his soaps for people to test. Since most of my soaps are veggie soaps, I thought I would be able to give an accurate review.
The first thing I noticed about the soap is it seems harder than the tallow version. Not triple milled hard, but certainly much less pliable than the tallow version. I used the same Manchurian CH2 for my shave, and the same Hart razor.
I wasn't given an ingredients list, but I don't think it contains lanolin. And I'd be willing to bet it contains a LOT of clay. It took quite a bit more time to load some soap. I normally face lather, but I had trouble getting the lather when I like it. Normally with a dense brush like a Chubby, there is too much water, but as I went back to loading I found myself having to add more and more water to get the lather where I like it, which tends to be on the more runny side, as slickness is much more important for straight shaving than cushion.
Anyway, I finally got it where I liked it and received a very nice shave. Also BBS, with no irritation. The skin care properties were not quite as nice as the tallow version, but by no means bad. I would rate it average. Considering the soaps I use, I'd say thats still above average, but it didn't strike me as being particularly moisturizing the way the tallow version was. I'll get to the photos in a second, but what struck me most about the lather was its density. If you're the type that likes clouds of lather, I don't think this soap is for you. But the only lather I care about is that between my skin and the blade, so having a 1 cm thick pile of lather on my face means 90% of it is just getting in the way and requires me to rinse the blade more often.
I'd rate this just about as slick as the tallow version, but the density of it was something that I, as a straight user, highly appreciate. It reminded me of Calani in many ways. Probably because it contains a high amount of clay, or at least I suspect so. For DE users, you may require more water, or a more voluminous brush to get a suitable lather, as I imagine lather this dense would clog the razor in no time flat.
Here is a photo of the lather produced with the Manchurian CH2, followed by one produced by a semogue 1305. Perhaps I didn't load the semogue long enough, but being a harder soap I think its best suited for a badger brush, and preferably one with backbone at that. Although I'm admittedly a backbone brush snob in some ways, and generally stay away from brushes without that. Boars do better with croaps than badgers, IMHO, but for a soap like this, I think a badger is where its at.
I don't know what Mike's intent is with this formula, and it may still require a little tinkering, but these are my initial, un-edited impressions. All in all, I highly recommend these soaps. While price isn't a factor I consider in soaps, they are certainly budget friendly. And if you're a vegan or don't get along with tallow and/or lanolin, then hopefully this is one that you may enjoy.
For my tests, I used a Hart Steel 7/8 Square point razor. I did this for 2 reasons. 1) I'm a predominantly straight razor shaver, and 2) Straights require a better lather than a DE. That is my personal opinion, but while in my experience I can get away with a lesser lather using a DE, a straight requires the best. And there are a number of products which are highly regarded here but are no longer in my den for that reason alone.
The scents have been described elsewhere, so I'm not going to go into that. The samples are 1 oz. I haven't weighed them, but for $1, they are a nice size that let you get an accurate idea of how it performs. I smashed one into my lathering bowl, which I use for any soap samples that I'm testing out. Its not a soft soap, but its somewhat pliable. Nowhere near a croap, but a tad on the softer side of hard soaps. Think a Arko, or a tad softer.
For lathering, I used a Simpson's Manchurian Chubby 2, which a member so graciously loaned to me. The soap lathers very easily, and produces a very thick and creamy lather. It has good skin properties too. In fact, while I normally use AS, so I don't consider moisturizing to be important, I didn't use any after my shave and I didn't really feel any dryness until a couple hours later. I can tell it has tallow and lanolin in it. To me, tallow has a characteristic feel, and its evident in this soap. That being said, most of my soaps, and all of my top soaps, don't contain tallow. So I'm not a tallow fanatic by any means. The lanolin is the real star here, and I think thats what adds to its moisturizing properties. I had a BBS shave with it, and was quite pleased.
As an extremely picky soap user, I can thoroughly recommend this soap. I'm a huge skeptic, but I'm really glad I decided to give Mike's a try.
Here are some photos in action:
Mike also recently came up with a new veggie formula of one of his soaps for people to test. Since most of my soaps are veggie soaps, I thought I would be able to give an accurate review.
The first thing I noticed about the soap is it seems harder than the tallow version. Not triple milled hard, but certainly much less pliable than the tallow version. I used the same Manchurian CH2 for my shave, and the same Hart razor.
I wasn't given an ingredients list, but I don't think it contains lanolin. And I'd be willing to bet it contains a LOT of clay. It took quite a bit more time to load some soap. I normally face lather, but I had trouble getting the lather when I like it. Normally with a dense brush like a Chubby, there is too much water, but as I went back to loading I found myself having to add more and more water to get the lather where I like it, which tends to be on the more runny side, as slickness is much more important for straight shaving than cushion.
Anyway, I finally got it where I liked it and received a very nice shave. Also BBS, with no irritation. The skin care properties were not quite as nice as the tallow version, but by no means bad. I would rate it average. Considering the soaps I use, I'd say thats still above average, but it didn't strike me as being particularly moisturizing the way the tallow version was. I'll get to the photos in a second, but what struck me most about the lather was its density. If you're the type that likes clouds of lather, I don't think this soap is for you. But the only lather I care about is that between my skin and the blade, so having a 1 cm thick pile of lather on my face means 90% of it is just getting in the way and requires me to rinse the blade more often.
I'd rate this just about as slick as the tallow version, but the density of it was something that I, as a straight user, highly appreciate. It reminded me of Calani in many ways. Probably because it contains a high amount of clay, or at least I suspect so. For DE users, you may require more water, or a more voluminous brush to get a suitable lather, as I imagine lather this dense would clog the razor in no time flat.
Here is a photo of the lather produced with the Manchurian CH2, followed by one produced by a semogue 1305. Perhaps I didn't load the semogue long enough, but being a harder soap I think its best suited for a badger brush, and preferably one with backbone at that. Although I'm admittedly a backbone brush snob in some ways, and generally stay away from brushes without that. Boars do better with croaps than badgers, IMHO, but for a soap like this, I think a badger is where its at.
I don't know what Mike's intent is with this formula, and it may still require a little tinkering, but these are my initial, un-edited impressions. All in all, I highly recommend these soaps. While price isn't a factor I consider in soaps, they are certainly budget friendly. And if you're a vegan or don't get along with tallow and/or lanolin, then hopefully this is one that you may enjoy.
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