What happened to the love, even reverence for British soaps?

I'm back to the forum after being away for a few years. When I was active before in 2009 and 2010 there was nothing but love and respect for British soaps, GFT, DRH, Pen's, Floris, Taylor, C&S, MWF... Now there's virtually no discussion of them (except MWF). Is this because of the proliferation of small producers and artisanal soaps that have risen with the tide of wet shaving, or has the quality of the British stuff fallen off?

I got my first puck of MWF last month and I use it just about everyday since. Love it!

Most have reformulated their soaps to exclude tallow.

NRK said:

I'm back to the forum after being away for a few years. When I was active before in 2009 and 2010 there was nothing but love and respect for British soaps, GFT, DRH, Pen's, Floris, Taylor, C&S, MWF... Now there's virtually no discussion of them (except MWF). Is this because of the proliferation of small producers and artesian soaps that have risen with the tide of wet shaving, or has the quality of the British stuff fallen off?

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I think that the artisanal soaps are now equal or better than many of the reformulated British soaps, and often cost less. I'm finishing off a puck of MWF and probably won't replace it, although I'll be sure to get another puck of D.R. Harris Windsor.

D.R. Harris is alive, well, and living in my bathroom in several flavors! And there may be more flavors added when I finally get some of the other soaps I have used up. I personally believe that D.R. Harris basically outshines anything else (including artisanals) for performance and scent. I understand that Penhalgion, at least for one example, has re-reformulated itself back into the game. May have to try some of that in either the English Fern or Sartorial scents. It is a social phenomena that the newest thing on the block getting rave reviews (often deservedly) is most talked about, while the older, hard-core products just don't get talked about enough.

Good performing and affordable domestic products have an advantage that some international producers might not be able to compete on. Keywords;
Performance
Affordability
Domestic

I too love D. R. Harris. Arlington has been my favorite soap and I also really like MWF. I have the new Panhaligon Sartorial and it is definitely top tier. It is my understanding that they will not be producing English Fern in the new formulation but I think they will have Blenheim Bouquet refills available. It is strange - the English creams are still terrific, especially T & H in my opinion, but the T's really screwed up their soaps.

Mr. Scruffy said:

Most have reformulated their soaps to exclude tallow.

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And in the process ruined a great shaving soap and lost customers.

DRH is still my favorite soap and I have all 5. I also have an older reformulation (no tallow) of GFT Rose that I really like, but I don't plan on replacing it with the current reformulation based on reviews over the past year.

DRH is my #1 soap, cream, AS, deodorant, and Shampoo.

I think it has all been said. Check out the Soap of the day thread!

My guess would be that Soapworks, Ltd. happened, given that they're the manufacturers of Geo. F. Trumper, Penhaligon's, Truefitt & Hill, Woods of Windsor, Crabtree & Evelyn, etc., and reformulated many/most of them in a manner that did not meet with the approval of the wetshaving community. (This is really unfortunate, as the company itself, and the goals behind it (corporate social responsibility, improving greater Glasgow, etc.), seem to be pretty excellent.)

The new Penhaligon's Sartorial Shaving Soap seems to be getting some positive initial reviews around the internet, so hopefully that's a sign of better things to come.

I love my D.R. Harris, and I am really looking forward to trying Mitchell's as well. With that said, I also love Mike's and QCS. There are lots of great soaps out there. They don't have to be hard English soaps to be great.

I don't think a shave soap NEEDS tallow to perform well, though. I'd love to try Floris and Penhaligon's soaps in the future.

Mr. Scruffy said:

Most have reformulated their soaps to exclude tallow.

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Blasphemy!

I didn't necessarily count the re-formulations out of the running just for being reformulated without the tallow. I do tend to take the general reviews here into consideration before parting with my money though. If more than a few reviews are saying that a product is not performing up to par I probably won't experiment myself. I think that's what drives the reverence for a product here in the shaving community. People continually keep trying an established product, posting their positive experience, the ADs kick in for us that haven't tried it.

I have to wonder if the artisan soaps would have had overwhelmed some of these anyway, even without the reformulations just in terms of being economical. I suppose the continued popularity of the very fine DR Harris soaps might make a case against.

Mr. Scruffy said:

Most have reformulated their soaps to exclude tallow.

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Succinct and well put.

I'll only add what others have said...DR Harris is still the front running British soap on the market IMHO...

Try Windsor, you won't care about the other soap makers!

I love my Windsor Soap. I have a lot more soaps to try, but I can't imagine the D.R. Harris getting phased out altogether.

IMightBeWrong said:

I love my Windsor Soap. I have a lot more soaps to try, but I can't imagine the D.R. Harris getting phased out altogether.

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Cross your fingers and toes that DRH never decides to "improve" their soaps like the 3T's. The trend, particularly in Europe, is for more "natural" and "ethical" products that not only remove allegedly harmful chemicals like parabens, silicones and SLS, but also animal products like tallow. With few exceptions like Proraso, these reformulations often lead to vastly inferior products. I sincerely hope that DRH remains a stubborn holdout for the foreseeable future.

I typically use artisan soap, but I have dropped several hints to SWMBO that I would like DRH Windsor for Christmas.

It's because they (at least GFT) messed up their soaps a few years ago.

Bitten once, twice shy. There are enough good soaps in the world.

Shmuel said:

It is my understanding that they will not be producing English Fern in the new formulation

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I heard that they were producing English Fern in the new formulation!