differences between english, american, italian, (and other?) soaps?

[tinashubby]

So what's the deal? Some soft, some hard, some glycerine, some tallow? I really don't know the differences and properties associated with them.

[Luc]

I'm not too sure on how to answer your question... I mean, shave soap is shave soap. Some have different textures... Some are made in different countries... Some members have preferences for particular ingredients, others textures or consistency and others, where it's from...

Most of the deal is a preference from the user.

You won't be getting the same results based on your experience, the product, your water, your shave brush...

[Krona Kruiser]

It's difficult to generalize them by country but I can say that for me, the French soaps are my favorite for the time being. Excellent complex scents and very slick performance on most of them. I have noticed that the lather isn't as thick as others but that's when I reach for Italian or English 3-milled soaps.

[petr]

American - first was artisan glycerin, now artisan tallow. trademark is bold EO scents.
English - triple milled luxury in upscale packaging. generally thin lather and poor shaves. perfected scents.
Italian - croaps or soft soft benchmark for performance. effortless irritation free shaves. sublte fragrances.
German - varied middle production veggie, except for the big dog Tabac. Great artisan stuff also.
French - shea and/or all natural focus. some shave pretty darn good.

gross generalizations. favorite and best is a moving target ... ymmv

[Marco]

American - first was artisan glycerin, now artisan tallow. trademark is bold EO scents.
English - triple milled luxury in upscale packaging. generally thin lather and poor shaves. perfected scents.
Italian - croaps or soft soft benchmark for performance. effortless irritation free shaves. sublte fragrances.
German - varied middle production veggie, except for the big dog Tabac. Great artisan stuff also.
French - shea and/or all natural focus. some shave pretty darn good.

gross generalizations. favorite and best is a moving target ... ymmv

+1 This is a fantastic answer and I totally agree. Bravo, petr!

[tinashubby]

American - first was artisan glycerin, now artisan tallow. trademark is bold EO scents.
English - triple milled luxury in upscale packaging. generally thin lather and poor shaves. perfected scents.
Italian - croaps or soft soft benchmark for performance. effortless irritation free shaves. sublte fragrances.
German - varied middle production veggie, except for the big dog Tabac. Great artisan stuff also.
French - shea and/or all natural focus. some shave pretty darn good.

gross generalizations. favorite and best is a moving target ... ymmv

Thanks much!

[jpakstis]

American - first was artisan glycerin, now artisan tallow. trademark is bold EO scents.
English - triple milled luxury in upscale packaging. generally thin lather and poor shaves. perfected scents.
Italian - croaps or soft soft benchmark for performance. effortless irritation free shaves. sublte fragrances.
German - varied middle production veggie, except for the big dog Tabac. Great artisan stuff also.
French - shea and/or all natural focus. some shave pretty darn good.

gross generalizations. favorite and best is a moving target ... ymmv

Heh, when I first read the initial post, I thought to myself "there's no way it can be that generalized and not give each country their due" but you did it excellently. I think this is a good jumping-off point if a newbie might be interested in a particular "style."

[petr]

Heaven: English scents in Italian soaps with American post skin care

Hell: Turkish scents in English soaps

[7 O Menthol]

Heaven: English scents in Italian soaps with American post skin care

Hell: Turkish scents in English soaps

[SliceOfLife]

Dr Harris is one of the best lathering soaps out there. I wouldn't say English soaps have thin lather. A LOT of houses screwed up good old recipes with reformulations but not all. Wilk Sword stick is great too.

Frankly Italy seems the most focused on performance. Give me ten random italian soaps and I'd bet at least 8 of them are decent. That said, I haven't found one that for me is an absolute top tier performer (MdC, Dr Harris, Tabac), but a LOT come pretty close at a very good price. Scents aren't bad but tend to be simple and cheap. Just about the opposite of the English houses.
UK soapers seem to be the snobs with their scents and a we've been around for centuries so we can do no wrong attitude towards the above mentioned reformulations.
As mentioned American soaps I'm aware of (that aren't crap) are all artisan.
The only french I can think of is MdC. Do what the italians are doing but pull no punches... claim it's a secret old world technique with magic. Charge 5x what the italians would for a (n admittedly great) soap.
German. There's a German soap other than tabac? There's a Germany outside the Tabac factory?

[takeshi]

Most of the deal is a preference from the user.

^ This.

English - triple milled luxury in upscale packaging. generally thin lather and poor shaves. perfected scents.

Not my experience with DRH. As always, sweeping generalizations will always fall flat at one or more points.

I really don't know the differences and properties associated with them.

Best way to address that is to just try some and see for yourself. Generalizing by country is fairly pointless. My 3 favorites aren't all from one country but 3 different countries.

[El-a-Menthol]

There's a Germany outside the Tabac factory?

Calani
Haslinger
Dr Dittmar
Klar Seifen.

The other French ones you haven't tried yet (most I haven't as well but on my list):
Provence Sante
Institut Karité
L'occitane Cade
Lothantique Le Collectionneur
Savon du Midi

Also I hear nothing of the English Truefitt & Hill Luxury Shaving Soap, which I thought needed to be high on my list.

[SliceOfLife]

The tabac thing was mostly a joke. Klar isn't bad. Calani didn't impress me. Haven't tried the other two.

PS, IK and Cade were all subpar soaps for me. I'd rather forget about them. Haven't tried the other two.

As I recall T&H soaps are considered below average. I haven't tried them though.

[El-a-Menthol]

Some of what you claim as sub-par are among the absolute most praised soaps.
No I'm not saying you're wrong, plus there is no such thing, YMMV and all, but I will try those soaps myself and am a little reserved about your opinion.
Arko might not be the best soap but if 90% or more say (besides scent) that it's a solid performer, especially for the money then it's worth trying.

[gwav64]

American - first was artisan glycerin, now artisan tallow. trademark is bold EO scents.
English - triple milled luxury in upscale packaging. generally thin lather and poor shaves. perfected scents.
Italian - croaps or soft soft benchmark for performance. effortless irritation free shaves. sublte fragrances.
German - varied middle production veggie, except for the big dog Tabac. Great artisan stuff also.
French - shea and/or all natural focus. some shave pretty darn good.

gross generalizations. favorite and best is a moving target ... ymmv

Very good!

[SliceOfLife]

Some of what you claim as sub-par are among the absolute most praised soaps.
No I'm not saying you're wrong, plus there is no such thing, YMMV and all, but I will try those soaps myself and am a little reserved about your opinion.
Arko might not be the best soap but if 90% or more say (besides scent) that it's a solid performer, especially for the money then it's worth trying.

People look for different things in lather. One person recently posted that they preferred one soap to another because it lathered faster. That persons choice in soaps would no doubt be very different from my own. If people qualify what they want out of soaps, it's easy to rank their soaps. For simple reference, my soap preference is almost directly corresponding to how thick the lather produced is. There are some other variables in lather that matter, but you have to almost try to miss them. (100% stearate salts soap, 0% glycerin soap).

Sub par in my terms means the lather those soaps produce has a certain minimum level of air in it (short of lathering in a vacuum) which is above what I consider acceptable.

[tinashubby]

FWIW I've only ever used Mystic Water, just shooting for information. Right now I have about a two year supply of Mystic and am working on suppressing my ASAD. I read somewhere that tallow wasn't used or is frowned upon in the UK, and they use vegetable (Fat?). So Glycerine soaps are maybe slick, but don't lather up thick, and thick equals cushion?

[dreadpirate]

Well, for that matter how about Spanish soaps? e.g., Lea. I for one can't make too many generalizations by nationality other than to say the UK soaps are more refined and well scented. The other nationalities seem to me at least, to be more practical.

[BillC]

American - first was artisan glycerin, now artisan tallow. trademark is bold EO scents.
English - triple milled luxury in upscale packaging. generally thin lather and poor shaves. perfected scents.
Italian - croaps or soft soft benchmark for performance. effortless irritation free shaves. sublte fragrances.
German - varied middle production veggie, except for the big dog Tabac. Great artisan stuff also.
French - shea and/or all natural focus. some shave pretty darn good.

gross generalizations. favorite and best is a moving target ... ymmv

Great 'gross generalization' but the other big german Shepherd is Speick. And the English exception that proves the rule is Mitchell's Wool Fat

[7 O Menthol]

Isn't Speick from Austria?