My take on Mike's Natural Soap

First off, I want to thank my good friend SmoovD for the generous sample he sent me. Daniel is a true Southern Gentleman. Secondly, I rarely try new products. I stick with what works for me. I stopped trying new products about 4 years ago. I often read about the latest and greatest with little interest other than to see what you gents are using. Nevertheless, this product did pique my interest when I read it was tallow based.

SmoovD sent me a sample of Rose & Cedarwood. The scent is subtle. It is not in your face and loud as some of the glycerin/hand pour soaps that are being sold nowadays. The scent is also milky which I appreciate.

I soaked the sample in water prior to the lather.



Next, I lathered the soap with a Rooney brush. The soap does not explode with lather. The soap is held inside the brush.



I applied the soap to skin and it coated well. Again, I am not looking for an explosion of lather. I am looking for a good even coating. This soap does not disappoint.



The shave was above average. It left my skin feeling refreshed. I used a five day old blade with no problems. Not a nick or cut.

This soap is worth the small cost. Soapmakers take note. The bar has been raised. This one is a keeper.

Glad to see that you enjoyed the soap. I have found it to create a very slick and moisturizing lather. +1 on the keeper.

IMO. You need to load more soap, much more soap!

When I load Mikes that's how my brush looks after 10 seconds or so, certainly not shave ready.

If you want lucious creamy lather that is.

YMMV of course

Glad you liked it. My tins explode with lather though. I don't have experience lathering the bars though.

More soap, more water will make for a thicker, more protective lather, in my experience. Enjoy!

I think it is a great, protective soap. A side note, I am not nearly as worried about the later, as my face exploding with nicks and irritation, which I get nether with Mike's soaps, definitely a keeper in my den.

The date on your watch looks like MON 24 but this thread was posted today. Time warp?

Loaded brush

After 2nd pass still full

Squeezing out for the 4th overall and 2nd head pass

Lather patted on for 2nd and final braille head pass

I just ordered some samples from Mike, as well as a load of British samples from Garry and a handful from Mystic Waters. I'm looking forward to finding something amazing out there!

heybatter said:

The date on your watch looks like MON 24 but this thread was posted today. Time warp?

Click to expand...

I usually don't the date on my wind up watches.

mhdena said:

Loaded brush

After 2nd pass still full

Squeezing out for the 4th overall and 2nd head pass

Lather patted on for 2nd and final braille head pass

Click to expand...

Nice!

You must have soft water. My water is hard and don't get much lather from most creams and soaps. No big deal to me. What counts is if provides glide for the razor.

You should try using distilled water, Austin. Especially with artisan soaps that lack EDTA and other agents to combat hard water. My water is slightly hard, but not enough that I bother... however if my lather was that thin, I'd have no choice. You might notice a fairly sizable improvement if you give it a try.

Sounds promising...
Certainly my next purchase.


Thanks for reviewing it.

As usual. fantastic soap!

I have three of Mike's scents (Bay Rum, Barbershop, and Peppermint-Rosemary). Despite my hard water, I am truly impressed. Yes: more water + more soap = slick, moisturizing shaves with pleasing, complex scents. I plan to order more scents.

Austin said:

Nice!

You must have soft water. My water is hard and don't get much lather from most creams and soaps. No big deal to me. What counts is if provides glide for the razor.

Click to expand...

From your keyboard to God's ears. Photogenic lather isn't needed for a great shave. It's nice to look like old St. Nick while you're lathered up, but if an ugly slurry of suds protects from actual nicks, it's good enough.

He might do better putting the sample in a bowl/container and loading it there instead of holding it in hand. Just a thought.

Got my orange c'wood n pepper a few days ago and I love it! Can get a rich fluffy photo worthy lather if I have time, but even a thin layer provides enough and protection for me! Mike even chucked in a sample of another scent, what a gent !

I swore I was trying new products as well about 2 years ago? I really wanted to try a bunch but I held off. Until I read a review from EVBO? I believe. I then hesitated until I just had to pull the trigger from all the rave reviews. I am not much a fan of fanboyism? but this stuff is just amazing. I really want to try Mystic Water and QCS but really have no need to. This soap leaves my skin feeling the best of any product I have used. Well except when I use the Gentlemens Refinery ASB. I dont know what it is but this stuff is perfect in my book. MANY of products work great and perform perfect but having all the attributes being perfect....glide, cushion, and moisturizing. Now I am not getting rid of anything and have well over 10 years of products to use but Mike's could easily be my one and only shave product.

Yep our budding DFW shaving group been a great cornucopia of shaving product introductions. I have been blessed by meeting nice people and discovering some great products. I finally getting into some of the samples from Smooth gave me at our first meeting. Good stuff and Smooth saved me from blowing some major cash on a soap that his sample showed it gave me the red face. The sad thing Cella lathered great for me and gave me a good shave the 3 times I tryed it over a month but I was beet red in the face all 3 times for 4-6 hours after using it.

I am going to keep working through the samples Smooth blessed me with and then make some orders this fall.