Shave Sticks Review Project

normdugas said:

I'm almost done my first stick of La Toja. I haven't kept a log but I'm guessing I'm at, or close, to 45 shaves. The nub was getting too awkward to make stay in the holder so I cut the stick into disks and put them in a mug.

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For future reference, this works well: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/358961-How-to-use-up-the-last-of-a-shave-stick



Luc, mind if I sit in for a week? I have a La Toja stick on deck for my next five shaves, Monday through Friday.

whats the favorite so far?

Luc said:

I think it would be good to list the stick on how I rank them for now from best to worse. Those are based on my experience and keep in mind that yours might vary (i.e. I may like something that you don't, so, YMMV!). The way it works, the sticks on top of the list are more likely to stay in the rotation where the ones at the bottom, not...

Ranking

1. Wilkinson Sword Shave Stick
2. Tabac Shave Stick
3. Speick Shave Stick
4. Valobra Shave Stick
5. De Vergulde Hand Shave Stick
6. Barbus Shaving Soap
7. Sir Irisch Moos Shave Stick
8. Chicman Shaving Stick
9. Erasmic Shaving Stick

Keep in mind that discontinued shave sticks are difficult to get, that's why they are lower in the list. If they would be available easily, it would be a different story. Also, many should have the same number as they are on the same step. Finally, there's a big (huge) gap between the Chicman which was great and the Erasmic (forgettable at best).

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is this still the latest rankings

mblakele said:

For future reference, this works well: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/358961-How-to-use-up-the-last-of-a-shave-stick



Luc, mind if I sit in for a week? I have a La Toja stick on deck for my next five shaves, Monday through Friday.

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I have seen this. I was switching soaps so I sliced the nub into an OS mug. It's now part of a frankensoap: bottom is Ogallala, a slice of Arko, and om top, the remainder of the La Toja. The La Toja is almost gone, maybe 2 shaves left.

No worries Mike, you are welcome to stick around!

safetyrazornewbie said:

whats the favorite so far?

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The top stick is Wilkinson Sword IMO. It might change as I have 2 more tallow sticks coming next. The rankings are very very close as most of it is the same performance or 1 notch down.

As I wrote, discontinued stuff is at the bottom as it's more difficult to get. I should make 2 lists instead.

normdugas said:

I have seen this. I was switching soaps so I sliced the nub into an OS mug. It's now part of a frankensoap: bottom is Ogallala, a slice of Arko, and om top, the remainder of the La Toja. The La Toja is almost gone, maybe 2 shaves left.

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Hooray frankensoap!

For all manner of soaps, whether stick or puck or body bar, the way to use the last sliver is to wet it and stick it to a new piece.

La Toja came up in my soap rotation this week, so I put in five shaves Monday through Friday. According to my scale I used 4-g of soap for those shaves, so I would expect about two months from a stick. As usual I did not dip or soak the stick: I applied it directly to my wet face.

Overall I agree with Luc: the slickness and glide are not quite as good as mainstays like Palmolive EU or Arko. I also noticed that my blades did not last as long as usual. Subjectively it felt like my beard was not as well-softened as it is with my top-shelf soaps, and that would tend to reduce blade lifespan. Maybe the mineral salts are at work there, somehow blocking the soap from softening my beard? Even so I love the scent of La Toja: clean, but with a sweet coumarin note that avoids being cloying. I also like the texture of the lather, which seems different from other soaps... silken, perhaps. And it seems to agree with my skin: those mineral salts again?

Bottom line: I still like La Toja, but perhaps it could be improved. Is Henkel AG listening?

Neat! Thanks Mike!

I will have an update and picture tomorrow

I'm currently half way with the LaToja stick, sort-of. I used the stick 11 times before I started this review so, instead of going for the usual 15 shaves (4 more shaves), I took the stick to 30 shaves total (so 19 shaves) since I usually use a stick up to 30 shaves. I will finish the stick (11 more shaves) so I will end-up with 41 shaves in total.

Compared to the full stick, I would say half or nearly half is gone. I guesstimate at this stage that I will have less than 30 shaves left as the bottom of the holder is higher (contains very little product). I'm guessing around 50 shaves top for this stick but we shall see.

I have to admit that this stick was on a rocky start. It's now much much better but not great to be honest. Don't get me wrong, this product works well but Montreal harder water (Versus Melbourne) makes a huge difference. You can still have a decent lather and it works well but there are easier products to work with I reckon. Anyways, I will post a full review when I reach those 41 shaves. I will now start the Uberlather and Superlather experimentation. I've attached a few pictures to show the progression of the stick.

I cheated a bit with 2 different products in the last 2 days. Unfortunately, those products are not made in a stick but I will complete the LaToja review shortly as I only have 10 shaves left.

There's an interesting situation that I've encounter in the last few days. It seems that the soap is now softer so when I apply the product, the soap is being compressed (between my face and hand) causing it to have a slightly larger diameter and I now have some issues taking the stick out of the container. I have to twister it out otherwise the handle comes off the soap... Pictures to come next week-end.

Thanks for your tip on soaking the tip of the LaToja stick in the container itself by pouring water into the lid portion. I tried it the other day and it really made a difference. Contrary to the stellar ratings this soap gets I am still not blown away by this product. I consider the lather I get from Tabac shave stick to be a great deal creamier and more protective. The container on this stick is however the best I have come across, in terms of functionality.

Good stuff Erik!

La Toja has been my trusty travel soap for a couple of years. Getting down to the nub.

Funny how your LaToja did not do the same thing than mine Jeff... 1 shave to go and I will post some pictures and review.

Luc said:

Funny how your LaToja did not do the same thing than mine Jeff... 1 shave to go and I will post some pictures and review.

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Not sure. I do not soak the stick. I dip as I go. Since it's in my travel kit, it gets used once or twice in a row and then dries completely.

JeffJ said:

Not sure. I do not soak the stick. I dip as I go. Since it's in my travel kit, it gets used once or twice in a row and then dries completely.

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You are probably right as mine does not dry completely between the shaves. Well, it's an intensive 30 shaves!

Here we are, the shaves are completed for LaToja, a total of 41 shaves are on that stick at the moment. I've been using it every day and this made it softer. You can see that I am able to press the shave stick easily where this soap is normally hard. I think that 60 shaves would be a maximum for this stick. It's an okay product but the water in Montreal makes it more difficult so I do not think that I will keep this one as a regular. I will post my review in the review system in a few minutes. The next stick will be reveal soon!

You guessed it, the LEA shave stick is next! I had this one for a little while now and I am really looking forward to this one. I used it this morning and this stick is thirstier than LaToja (a lot). I don't think that I used enough product but I will work on this for the next 29 shaves!

Luc said:

Here we are, the shaves are completed for LaToja, a total of 41 shaves are on that stick at the moment. I've been using it every day and this made it softer. You can see that I am able to press the shave stick easily where this soap is normally hard. I think that 60 shaves would be a maximum for this stick. It's an okay product but the water in Montreal makes it more difficult so I do not think that I will keep this one as a regular. I will post my review in the review system in a few minutes. The next stick will be reveal soon!

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I never had issues with my La Toja. I used it every day for a 3 week stretch. I also didn't soak mine but dipped as required. Let it air while shaving, then put the cover back on when putting my shave gear away. Maybe it's the soaking?