Shave Sticks Review Project

Luc · Dec 7, 2014

Eeyore said:
Amazing how experiences can differ; the Boots stick was one of the very few soaps that I threw away before finishing. I could not stand the scent, and I did not like the lather as well.

YMMV in action, it seems

How was the lather? Too thin? How's the water in your area? I do not have any difficulties with this stick to get a good lather out of it. The scent is very subjective on your personal preferences which is all right. I don't think it's a great scent, it's an average scent, it's an okay scent but nothing more.

Luc · Dec 12, 2014

I was hoping that next week-end would be the Boots review but I think I will have to post-pone it for a little while as I will be receiving a Canadian traveling box which will move the shave sticks reviews a bit. I did, however, start to test other sticks against the Boots and I have a fair idea on where it should go.

Eeyore · Dec 12, 2014

Luc said:
How was the lather? Too thin? How's the water in your area? I do not have any difficulties with this stick to get a good lather out of it. The scent is very subjective on your personal preferences which is all right. I don't think it's a great scent, it's an average scent, it's an okay scent but nothing more.

The scent was ok-ish, I guess (but very chemical, and to my nose, unpleasant) ... my most serious complaint was with the lather (tried in London and Edinburgh). I could not get a slick lather out of it. With the same water, my Palmolive and Tabac sticks had not issues at all.

Luc · Dec 12, 2014

Eeyore said:
The scent was ok-ish, I guess (but very chemical, and to my nose, unpleasant) ... my most serious complaint was with the lather (tried in London and Edinburgh). I could not get a slick lather out of it. With the same water, my Palmolive and Tabac sticks had not issues at all.

Interesting. No point in pushing this product too much if you don't like it. I don't find that I need an extra amount of product compared to Palmolive but then, I might put a lot too so I'll never know. Thanks for the input.

mjclark · Dec 12, 2014

I haven't tried the Boots stick, but the Boots Black Bowl soap is absolutely amazing - almost Arkoesque, and after an intial aroma of sweat ends up smelling like Hermes or burnt orange.

Sounds like the stick formulation is inferior in a similar way to the abomination that is the current Erasmic stick.

Luc · Dec 12, 2014

mjclark said:
I haven't tried the Boots stick, but the Boots Black Bowl soap is absolutely amazing - almost Arkoesque, and after an intial aroma of sweat ends up smelling like Hermes or burnt orange.

Sounds like the stick formulation is inferior in a similar way to the abomination that is the current Erasmic stick.

Do you have the ingredient list for the bowl? I see that we are missing this one in the wiki (http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Boots_Shaving_Soap) in order to compare it with the stick (http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Boots_Shaving_Stick_Refill).

mjclark · Dec 12, 2014

Luc said:
Do you have the ingredient list for the bowl? I see that we are missing this one in the wiki (http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Boots_Shaving_Soap) in order to compare it with the stick (http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Boots_Shaving_Stick_Refill).

Voila! Here's the excellent Boots Black Bowl ingredients:

vs the slightly different stick ingredients (which I now won't be buying!)

Luc · Dec 12, 2014

Thanks, I will put the information in wiki later.

mblakele · Dec 12, 2014

I took care of the wiki page, Luc.

It looks to me like the principal ingredients for bowl and stick are about the same, but in a different order. I am not sure how significant that is: in theory the order indicates relative proportions, but is that an iron rule? What happens if two ingredients are used in equal amounts? Then there are some scent components and extras at the end, and the stick has more of those. But what if the labels were written at different times, and the rules changed?

So we need a panel of gents to try both products and report on their results. I would do it myself, but I will not be in the UK for a while and anyway I never had much luck finding the Boots bowl.

Luc · Dec 12, 2014

mblakele said:
I took care of the wiki page, Luc.

It looks to me like the principal ingredients for bowl and stick are about the same, but in a different order. I am not sure how significant that is: in theory the order indicates relative proportions, but is that an iron rule? What happens if two ingredients are used in equal amounts? Then there are some scent components and extras at the end, and the stick has more of those. But what if the labels were written at different times, and the rules changed?

So we need a panel of gents to try both products and report on their results. I would do it myself, but I will not be in the UK for a while and anyway I never had much luck finding the Boots bowl.

Thanks mate, I will see what I can do. I'm curious about the burning sensation bowl vs stick...

mjclark · Dec 12, 2014

And thanks Gents! You've reminded how excellent the Boots Black Bowl is - I'm queuing it up for tomorrow morning's shave

Luc · Dec 15, 2014

All right, review is on hold for now as I got the East Coast Canadian box yesterday, it will resume in a week. I'm almost done with Boots.

Bushhippi · Dec 15, 2014

Luc said:
All right, review is on hold for now as I got the East Coast Canadian box yesterday, it will resume in a week. I'm almost done with Boots.

Have fun............. :thumbup:

Luc · Dec 25, 2014

I posted the review for boots here: http://badgerandblade.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=32540

Unfortunately, the burning sensation made it go down the drain. However, keep in mind, I cannot stress this enough, it's very mild. You may not even notice or feel it slightly. If the burning sensation wouldn't be there, it would be a very good stick that could compete with every other stick easily.

Luc · Dec 25, 2014

I forgot the 30 shaves later picture. Here it is

I would guestimate that this stick could easily go for 90 shaves.

Luc · Dec 25, 2014

Another non-stick soap that I stickified. There are a few ways to create a shave stick (http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Creating_A_Shave_Stick). I tried my shave stick maker this morning (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/359104-Let-me-present-the-shave-stick-maker!). It did not go according to plan. Proraso is a very soft soap so pushing down did not get me anywhere, the soap was sticking to the bottom of the tube. I had to scoop it out. Then, the soap was too much of a cream consistency. I tried to roll it like dough but ended up with a lot of shave cream on my hands. I will need to let it dry for a bit. I did that with the shave cream before and it worked well : http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/129506-Drying-some-shaving-cream-in-a-jar

So, I will let this one air dry for a few days before I go back to it. The shave was a bit difficult as I had too much water in my brush (creams need less water than soaps). It worked well however. We shall see where this one gets us.

Vlad · Dec 26, 2014

Luc said:
Another non-stick soap that I stickified. There are a few ways to create a shave stick (http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Creating_A_Shave_Stick). I tried my shave stick maker this morning (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/359104-Let-me-present-the-shave-stick-maker!). It did not go according to plan. Proraso is a very soft soap so pushing down did not get me anywhere, the soap was sticking to the bottom of the tube. I had to scoop it out. Then, the soap was too much of a cream consistency. I tried to roll it like dough but ended up with a lot of shave cream on my hands. I will need to let it dry for a bit. I did that with the shave cream before and it worked well : http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/129506-Drying-some-shaving-cream-in-a-jar

So, I will let this one air dry for a few days before I go back to it. The shave was a bit difficult as I had too much water in my brush (creams need less water than soaps). It worked well however. We shall see where this one gets us.

Ugliest stick ever! :w00t:

Bushhippi · Dec 26, 2014

Plus 10+ on your ugliest stick ever.

Sullybob · Dec 26, 2014

Luc you are a dedicated shaving stick user!

driftwood · Dec 26, 2014

I mean this in the friendliest way possible, but I actually laughed out loud when I saw the last picture in the series, the one with the "stick". Your dedication to shave sticks is limitless! Good on ya.

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