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Does a soap's smell matter? Does the smell of it linger after you're done shaving?

for me scent is secondary. which is why I still use arko, and palmolive.
on weekends I reach for d.r. harris. or proraso sandalwood cream. i enjoy the zen of lathering so I enjoy a nice soap or cream. ps- I always have a bar of glycerine by the soapdish.
 
In the first thread I posted today people said Arko soap was great but that the smell might not be all that wonderful.

And it got me to thinking...

We buy shaving soaps sometimes for the scent alone. Or at least the smell of the soap is important. I love the smell of the C&E soap that I am currently using.

But other than enjoying the smell during the actual shave, does the smell matter? Does the smell of the soap stay on your face? My guess would be NO.

Think about it. You lather up, shave, then wash it off. I doubt the smell of the soap remains. Once shaving, we often put a DIFFERENT A/S on our face anyway.

And even if we put on the same scent afterwards, how can we know that the smell from the soap stayed with us.

We'd have to shave, rinse, put nothing on to test this, but I would still think you don't detect much of the scent.

Any thoughts?
As long as you don't get nauseated, smell makes little difference. Dissipates rapidly.
 
Scent for me is pretty important. There are many soaps available with outstanding performance, so why would I comprimise and use something pretty much every day if it didn't smell good? Akro and Cella have never even touched my face and they are two of the most loved soaps on here. I just don't like the way they smell at all.
 
The scent of Irisch Moos stick lingers for a while, and I like it. Makes for a fine shave too. That said, I'm shaving with vintage Williams just before I go to bed, to get me through tomorrow. No scent whatsoever.
 
After I'm done shaving I massage the lather into my goatee a bit and give it a rinse.. it keeps the scent around for a little while longer.
 
When i use MWF the scent seems to hang around even after using an aftershave. For such a neutral type of smell its got some staying power.
 
It does to me or I'd still be using MdC. Fantastic soap, absolutely hate the scent. It doesn't linger but it doesn't matter. YMMV.

Thank you! I think scent is a big part of how I choose which soaps to keep. For example, I couldn't stand the RR No. 888 soap scent. The performance was amazing but I couldn't justify keeping it. Same went for KL Lavender and MdC. Just not my thing.
 
I can smell Mystic Water's Bay Rum on me for a few hours
Proraso, not so much, but it's there
Col Conk's Lime is a stayer too
 
Does a soap's smell matter?
Seems to be a recurring theme in your threads. It's subjective/YMMV. Even if it doesn't last whether the scent during the shave matters is for each person to decide.

Further, not all soaps are identical. Some scents will last longer than others.
 
i just gave away a great smelling english coconut soap that is just atrocious in performace. sorry but I enjoy the soapy arko smell. and superb performance.
i despise great smelling soaps that perform poorly. it's a pig covered in roses..... still a pig!!
I have D.R. Harris lavender. Love the smell, very light. good performance so I cantolerate the price... hell it lasts so long.
proraso sandalwood cream will not last as long, is cheaper, and as a cream smells superb. more heavily than the Harris soap.
My razorock famiglia "il pepino" smells amazing, like earth, green tobacco, reminding me of my great grandpa's farm. it's simply a divine smell. To me.
ymmv
 
If I cannot stand the smell, I don't use it and it goes. Some have scents that are passable (like Williams) that I keep because I find at times I really enjoy the scent, but I know I could get sick of them sometimes, too. Why not enjoy the smell during your shave? Just makes it more fun.
 
I have never had a soap scent linger on me. I enjoy a nice scent to my soaps but for me performance is more important, i.e.: MWF.
 
To me, it's the small things in life that make all the difference. Take a shower. A hot shower can warm you up, a cool shower can provide relief in the middle of a scorcher. A shower can invigorate you when you're having trouble getting going, and can calm you down when you're stressed. I look forward to my shower each and every day.

Shaving scents are the same. For just a few moments, I can enjoy whatever scent I want. Sure it doesn't last forever, but that's one moment of my day that nobody can take back from me. From a purely utilitarian perspective, I don't think the scent really matters. Grip it and rip it with Arko, if you want a $0.0048 shave. If you want anything else, that's certainly your right.
 
The smell is just as important to me as performance. There are so many products to choose from that there is no reason not to get something that is a great performer that smells great. I just wish I could smell like MWF all day too bad it only last about an hour.
 
Some soaps do have a scent that lasts a while after you wash it off. And yes, the scent does matter to me. To make it into my rotation a soap is required to smell good AND perform good. And why shouldn't it? There are so many to choose from I can afford to be picky.

Now performance is slightly more important to me than scent. For instance I LOVE the performance of Cella and I like the scent. The reverse is true of RR Zi' Peppino. I like the performance (it is a very good performer, just not quite at the same level as Cella IMHO) and I LOVE the scent. They are both in my rotation but I'm sure I will run out of Cella before I run out of Zi' Peppino.

But a bad scent will certainly kill a soap for me no matter the performance. For instance I tried MWF and it performed GREAT, better than any of my other soaps. But I hated the scent and never used it so I gave it away. Of course bad performance will kill a soap for me too, no matter how much I like the scent.
 
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I am definitely in the camp of those who like a soap that performs well and has a pleasant scent. For me, performance trumps scent but scent is important. I am fortunate to have quite a number of vintage soaps that still have their scents and I like them very much but it is the performance of these fine soaps that I really enjoy.
GFT Eucris is a scent that I like very much and I know that some have trouble lathering it but I don't so I enjoy using it. If it did not lather for me I would not stay in my den. If I liked a scent a lot but the soap was a poor performer, I would try to get it to work but in the end, if it did not perform it would go.

Regards,

Doug
 
The Arko scent blends nicely with freshly laundered clothes. I always said it reminded me of laundry detergent. I get some good shaves with Arko, so picking on the scent just seems silly to me.:thumbup:
 
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