Am I the only person on B&B who thinks its ridiculous to have to follow a business on Twitter and like on FB just to know when they have stock available for order? Its just Soap.
Shout Out for Mike's Natural Soaps
- Thread starter Chadao
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Am I the only person on B&B who thinks its ridiculous to have to follow a business on Twitter and like on FB just to know when they have stock available for order? Its just Soap.
There is a range of attitudes about this - some taking it more seriously than others. I'm with you: it's just soap. If Mike were the sole supplier of bread with no competition permitted then things would be different. I love Mike's soaps, among several others, and I do get his Facebook feed (recently figured that thing out) in case the muse strikes me when he restocks an item. I'll buy a couple bars of his barbershop bath soap if/when he restocks, and if he doesn't ever make it again, well, that's ok too.
Mike is doing it his way as a side business and while we can recreationally critique his business model here, as consumers we have the ultimate power in our own Paypal accounts to walk away if it becomes unbearable - but I'm not sure how good smelling soap and unbearable get to be in the same sentence. Shopping for some of the smaller production shave supplies can at times seem like a recreational inconvenience.
And this is the difference between buying from a larger business with a vendor network, and an artisan who sells direct. Most artisans do what they do, and are not willing to sacrifice their product quality for pretty much anything. IMHO the difference is this: the larger companies, for the most part, are in it to make money. The one-man-operations and artisans are in it because they love it. While I do understand the frustration, this "artisan attitude" is what draws me to a lot of these products. Personally, I like the idea that there are folks out there who won't change their process or product to satisfy the instant gratification mentality that we seem to have nowadays.
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- #104
I try not to ever be in a hurry. I love Mike's soaps, and I'm willing to wait. 
I've never followed a business on Facebook or Twitter. I think ordering 3 or 4 tins at a time means i can wait till I'm on my last one and just check his site occasionally for re-stocks.
I just checked, Mike is completely sold out of everything....Good for him, do your thing Mike!
I'm tried about hearing about how great Mike's is b/c now of his stuff is ever in stock for me to try it! He doesn't seem to respond to e-mails either. I guess he doesn't want my business.
The only time I would follow someone on twitter is if I was a fan of what they do, not to check stock levels. He really needs to hire some help b/c he is the only artisan maker that is constantly out of stock that I know of. What does he do, make 5 tins of soap and say he is back in stock. With so many other great soaps out there I'm surprised he is always out of stock, is his soap that good?
The only time I would follow someone on twitter is if I was a fan of what they do, not to check stock levels. He really needs to hire some help b/c he is the only artisan maker that is constantly out of stock that I know of. What does he do, make 5 tins of soap and say he is back in stock. With so many other great soaps out there I'm surprised he is always out of stock, is his soap that good?
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His soap is definitely good but there are a ton of other artisans that make soap that is every bit as good and easier to lather. Having said that I've owned six of his soaps and liked them all.
It was so difficult to put in an order, but I am glad I did. Amongst the artisan soaps I've used (Mystic Water, QCS, Stirling, Razorock, Cold River Soap Works, Tikibar Soaps) only Strop Shoppe bettered Mike's in my opinion. Mike's and Strop Shoppe are the zenith of artisan soaps. Can't beat them.
Totally agree. I would recommend trying Catie's Bubbles and Maggard's. They are definitely on the level of SS and Mike's.
My top 2 also; though I put Mike's first. It's definitely a bit harder to lather -- or more accurately, to learn to lather at first -- but this is not an important criterion to me. I suppose that's because I got over whatever hump there was.
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Just checked Mike's website. He's on vacation until Sept 3. They will be accepting orders again on Aug 30. He'll have to restock by then because his shelves are empty. 
I just got my tin of Barbershop from Mike, along with a sample of another scent. I have to say that it smells amazing. I can't wait to try it out. I should also add that I ordered my soap from him on the 14th, he processed it on the 19th, mailed it out the morning of the 20th, and I received it this morning (the 23rd). All in all that is pretty fast service. Especially for a one man business. Very impressed, now I hope the lather is as amazing as everyone says.
Mike's is good soap. Good lather. But there are others that provide equally good lathers, and maybe even better. Tabac comes to mind.
The thing with Mike's, and the reason I've used it exclusively since October of last fall, is the post shave conditioning. I have dry skin, and my skin feels so much better after using Mike's than with other soaps.
As someone who turned a hobby into a profession for several years, I'm very sympathetic to Mike's supply issue. Frankly, I hope he keeps it going at the rate he's doing it. I don't want him to get burned out and quit. Any issue guys are having is finding a scent they want. He almost always has soap. Things could be worse.
I'm not seeing any Barrister & Mann in there, and given your love of SS and Mike's I think you'd like them as well. B&M is also producing some of the most interesting scents in shaving right now.
I'm waiting for Barrister & Mann's Aromatique Fougere to return before getting there soaps. None of their other scents really pique my interest.
Also, I forgot this in my list, but I have also used LA Shaving Soaps. I still rate Mike's Natural Soaps and Strop Shoppe ahead of the other US artisan soaps.
According to this page the B&M Fougeres will be back in November:
http://www.barristerandmann.com/production-schedule/
http://www.barristerandmann.com/production-schedule/
I find B&M more of an automatic lather, so there's a big advantage for people who find Mike's tricky to dial-in; and I find it to be very close to as good as Mike's, but not quite. "Good" to me means close shaves with least irritation. I also find Mike's Vetiver and Hungarian Lavender to be as good scents as ANY soaps'. This of course is a very subjective thing. B&M are very creative with their scents. And I like that they branched out to the Kyovu AS. The latter will make me order some more from them at some point, soon.
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- #120
I really dialed in Mike's a long time ago when someone posted that Mike's was a "thirsty," soap.
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