Shave Sticks Review Project

I did an experiment where I added a drop of peppermint EO to the stick. The idea was to have something that would cool my face (mentholated). It did a freezer-burn type of sensation. I did not feel the Lilac Vegetal after the shave. That's how frozen it was. I think that half a drop would be better or something that would be mixed in the soap. Anyways. That's following the superlather lather experiment where the Edwin Jagger cream that I tried was the mentholated one.

I'm approaching the 30 shaves (total) but not the 30 shaves for this stick). I will take a picture when I reach my 30 shaves total (as I previously used the product before) to show how much the stick melted since it was new and then provide a projection for the number of shaves.

Great thread! Very curious about the Harris stick as I'm thinking of getting one as well.

mblakele said:

I had some success getting a Speick stub to adhere to a D.R. Harris Arly stick, and later disposed of another stub the same way. But that Harris stick container has a sleeve, which kept the stub from slipping around much until it had bonded to the soap underneath it.

Mike H posted instructions from an old Handy Grip: take a look at step 5. The idea of scoring both surfaces is new to me, and might help.

Click to expand...

I love that the 90 year old shaving instructions are still pretty much the best way to shave.

I like DRH soaps and got an Arlington stick. Nice, but too small. I love the size of the Tabac stick.

The Barbus shave soap has been shaped to be the next contender. The procedure for the transformation can be seen here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/359104-Let-me-present-the-shave-stick-maker!

Long overdue thanks for taking on this project, Luc.

After reading your experiences with the Wilkinson stick, I'm planning on picking one up to try.

As promised, here's a picture of the stick after 30 shaves. Now, I'm at shave 24 (so 6 shaves to go) but that stick already had 6 shaves so that why I took a picture this morning. The Palmolive stick is roughly the same size (width and height). It's almost half way which would indicate that the Wilkinson Sword would run for probably 65-70 shaves total.

mblakele said:

Over the five shaves my stick lost 3.7-g, averaging almost exactly 3/4-g per shave. At that rate a full 50-g would last 66-67 shaves.

Click to expand...

Luc said:

As promised, here's a picture of the stick after 30 shaves. Now, I'm at shave 24 (so 6 shaves to go) but that stick already had 6 shaves so that why I took a picture this morning. The Palmolive stick is roughly the same size (width and height). It's almost half way which would indicate that the Wilkinson Sword would run for probably 65-70 shaves total.

Click to expand...

Our numbers check pretty closely, Luc. It feels so strange when mileage does not vary.

mblakele said:

Our numbers check pretty closely, Luc. It feels so strange when mileage does not vary.

Click to expand...

Funny that! I will document it when I reach the bottom of that stick for sure!

The shave stick that you see is roughly used to 50% and has a total of 36 shaves which would still put us on a 65-70 shaves for this one. I added a review in the Review system and was surprised to see that there isn't that many reviews for a product like this (fantastic)!

I took a few snaps to show the 50% of the stick mainly.


Next is the Barbus Shave Soap that was transformed in a stick for this thread. I re-used the Erasmic stick holder. It's a bit wide but should work fine.

I will be honest, I was expecting an okay shave this morning. Following the fantastic 30 shaves that I did with Wilkinson Sword, I did not remember Barbus to be that great. The lather was easy to make, very slick and it was perfect. If you can get past (or like) the laundry scent, this one is for you. Review in 29 shaves!

Up to 10 shaves with Barbus at the moment, everything going well. It's starting to be clear that this soap is not as good as Wilkinson Sword. More on this in the review in 20 shaves.

With so many on your list to pick from, I am going to have to give the shave stick a try.

@ Luc--thanks for this thread!! I just used a stick for the 1st time--Speick. Nice 1st shave. Looks like I've got a whole other area to explore. I face lather,I thought I would have to shred it, but no, rubbed on my wet face hit it with a boar and voila'! A darned good lather. Enjoy your lathers!

Here we are, at shave 15 so I will start experimenting with glycerin and shave cream to make superlather this week. this is where we are at. Even if it's a soft soap, it did not reshaped itself too much. It's melting quickly however... Quicker than Wilkinson Sword...

Shave #20 with this one today. Everything is coming together and the review is almost completed. I got the next shave stick lined up right after this one.

Tomorrow will be my last shave with Barbus Shave Soap (in a stick) and I will also reveal the next stick in line. I'm finishing up my review that will be posted in the review system.

The Barbus stick (soap) is done and I posted a review in the review system about it. Here's what it looks like


It melts fairly quickly.

Next stick, Tabac! I'm having very high hopes on this one as it's bigger and higher than the Wilkinson Sword Stick (that I guesstimated at 65-70 shaves) so, I'm expecting at least twice that!

I used the Tabac stick extensively during most of August. It is so good that I have been toying with the idea of milling my puck and make a stick out of it.

This morning was the first shave with a Tabac shave stick. I had the puck in the past and I honestly do not remember what happened to it. I was not a fan of the scent at the time and today, I find it okay, it will probably be better in a few shaves. To take my dad's words : "It doesn't smell bad but it doesn't smell good either!"

I think it smells better than what I had a few years back. The soap is very thirsty, similar to De Vergulde Hand stick. More to come until I get to 30 shaves!

Looking forward to this, as well as Arlington and MWF.