As outlined in an introduction post elsewhere in these forums, I am a couple of years into DE shaving and I come at this from a desire to not spend a lot of money, period. I was getting a nice lather from VDH Deluxe and wasn't breaking the bank of buying pucks of it at Wal-Mart. I just wanted something with a better scent for my nose. I didn't see anything locally other than Williams, and after having a laugh at what Art Of Shaving is asking for a puck of soap at the mall (again, it may be worth it, but I couldn't justify the cost-- it would irritate me to spend that much for soap going forward) I decided to try out some of the tallow based artisan soaps I read about in these forums.
I ordered samplers from Mike's Natural, Mystic Water and Barrister & Mann. This is my experience with them.
Ordering
I placed an order with Mike's Natural back at the first of May. Unbeknownst to me, Mike was finishing his doctorate and getting married, so he fell behind in orders. As a result I received his soaps last. I ordered samples from Mystic Water a day after Mike's and got them within 4 days. While I was sampling MW and waiting on Mike's I decided to try out Barrister & Mann. I ordered their sampler on the 17th and received my soaps on the 20th. I cannot recommend the customer service of MW and B&M any higher. Good communication throughout the process. I can't say the same for Mike's Natural. Although I understand I caught him at the worst possible time, it is taking him a while to get caught back up on his orders. This may be moot in a month or so, but it is part of buying soap from a smaller vendor. I have read enough in these forums to know that Mike's Natural will be just fine going forward.
Scents
At the beginning of this exercise, based on descriptions I read, I thought Mike's Barber Shop was going to be my choice for a scent. And this is perhaps the most subjective aspect of a soap purchase, so make of it what you will. Mystic Waters soaps have a milder scent to my nose, more soapy (not in a bad way) than either Mike's or B&M. Mike's soaps tend to give off more scent as they lather, and B&M's soap has a solid scent throughout. I won't go into too much detail here but I discovered I really liked four of the scents I came across (figures, right?). Mystic Waters' Irish Traveller is my wife's favorite and smells great. I tried MW's Lilly of the Valley (I didn't try Mike's) on a whim and discovered I liked its scent, too. Mike's Barber Shop is very good. But in the end I like B&M's Seville the best. Very close to Barber Shop but just more my cup of tea I guess. And also I think I should mention that B&M's Cheshire really does smell like Earl Grey Tea.
Lather
I load my Fine Badger brush once, take it to the bowl, scrape it off, and load again. Then go back to the bowl and lather for about 25 secs. All three soaps were "thirstier" than what I was used to but I am able to get a fine lather from all of them. As others have stated, I work a little harder with Mystic Water, but I can get a good lather with it. Both Mike's and B&M just explode off the brush in no time. I can get that "straight out of the can Barbasol" consistency with all three, though. All three soaps are slick and luxurious compared to what I was using before, and I easily get 3 pass shaves off of very little soap every shave.
The best thing about these tallow soaps is how your skin feels post shave. I will likely never go back to anything else. They leave my skin feeling baby's butt smooth and moisturized throughout the day. In fact, I reapply the last of my lather to my face after my third pass to just let it sit there for a while while I dry my hair just to give me more scent and smoothness.
Conclusion
We really do have an "embarrassment of richness" with these and other artisan tallow soaps here in the States. I probably didn't help anyone decide on their soap with this, but the good news is that no matter which way you go, you will get a very good soap that is amazing for your skin.
I ordered samplers from Mike's Natural, Mystic Water and Barrister & Mann. This is my experience with them.
Ordering
I placed an order with Mike's Natural back at the first of May. Unbeknownst to me, Mike was finishing his doctorate and getting married, so he fell behind in orders. As a result I received his soaps last. I ordered samples from Mystic Water a day after Mike's and got them within 4 days. While I was sampling MW and waiting on Mike's I decided to try out Barrister & Mann. I ordered their sampler on the 17th and received my soaps on the 20th. I cannot recommend the customer service of MW and B&M any higher. Good communication throughout the process. I can't say the same for Mike's Natural. Although I understand I caught him at the worst possible time, it is taking him a while to get caught back up on his orders. This may be moot in a month or so, but it is part of buying soap from a smaller vendor. I have read enough in these forums to know that Mike's Natural will be just fine going forward.
Scents
At the beginning of this exercise, based on descriptions I read, I thought Mike's Barber Shop was going to be my choice for a scent. And this is perhaps the most subjective aspect of a soap purchase, so make of it what you will. Mystic Waters soaps have a milder scent to my nose, more soapy (not in a bad way) than either Mike's or B&M. Mike's soaps tend to give off more scent as they lather, and B&M's soap has a solid scent throughout. I won't go into too much detail here but I discovered I really liked four of the scents I came across (figures, right?). Mystic Waters' Irish Traveller is my wife's favorite and smells great. I tried MW's Lilly of the Valley (I didn't try Mike's) on a whim and discovered I liked its scent, too. Mike's Barber Shop is very good. But in the end I like B&M's Seville the best. Very close to Barber Shop but just more my cup of tea I guess. And also I think I should mention that B&M's Cheshire really does smell like Earl Grey Tea.
Lather
I load my Fine Badger brush once, take it to the bowl, scrape it off, and load again. Then go back to the bowl and lather for about 25 secs. All three soaps were "thirstier" than what I was used to but I am able to get a fine lather from all of them. As others have stated, I work a little harder with Mystic Water, but I can get a good lather with it. Both Mike's and B&M just explode off the brush in no time. I can get that "straight out of the can Barbasol" consistency with all three, though. All three soaps are slick and luxurious compared to what I was using before, and I easily get 3 pass shaves off of very little soap every shave.
The best thing about these tallow soaps is how your skin feels post shave. I will likely never go back to anything else. They leave my skin feeling baby's butt smooth and moisturized throughout the day. In fact, I reapply the last of my lather to my face after my third pass to just let it sit there for a while while I dry my hair just to give me more scent and smoothness.
Conclusion
We really do have an "embarrassment of richness" with these and other artisan tallow soaps here in the States. I probably didn't help anyone decide on their soap with this, but the good news is that no matter which way you go, you will get a very good soap that is amazing for your skin.
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