LA Shaving Soap: Santa Monica Bay Rum Review

LA Shaving Soap: Santa Monica Bay Rum

Hi folks, I recently responded to a request on the Forum from John from LA Shaving Soap asking for some feedback for a new range of soaps. John very kindly offered to send me a sample of soap as a thank you, I chose the Santa Monica Bay Rum.

After a few days I received this:



As you can see two samples, both of which smelled absolutely beautiful something my Wife commented on as soon as I opened the envelope.

I chose to use the Bay Rum first, with a Merkur 37c, a Gillette Green Blade in my recently re-finished stainless steel bowl with my Bluebeards revenge Doubloon brush.

Choosing to bowl lather I placed a small amount in the bottom of the bowl:



Added a bit of water and started to work the soap, all the while loving the aroma, after a short time I was rewarded with a lovely thick foamy lather:



As soon as I began painting my face I found the lather was indeed nice and thick and I was sure It would definitely provide a nice cushion for my shave, I was not wrong and had a lovely 3 pass shave and enjoyed the smell of cloves as I did so.

Once finished I still had enough lather in my bowl for another shave, although I had managed to drip some water in it would definitely be usable. ( sorry for the poor picture)



I was very happy with the performance of the soap, a little bit went a long way and was very easy to work with, the fragrance was very pleasant and not too overpowering.

I look forward to trying the Topanga Fougere.

Thanks for reading and thanks again to LA Shaving Soap for the chance to use a great product.

Nice review, Boaz! Also just received some samples from Los Angeles Shaving Soap, and tried John's Bespoke #1 this morning. Excellent results, like yours! And, starting with a small dollop of soap, I ended up with way more lather than I could possibly use. Great shave and excellent face-feel!

That lather does look good!
Nice review Boaz!

I got a sample of their Fougere and based off the first shave I went and ordered a full size of it. It's awesome. and as you mentioned, their soap is super potent, a little goes a long ways. I find I have to load my brush less w/ this vs. other soaps.

John sent a sample of the Santa Monica Bay Rum which lasted me a week, last week to be specific. Great performance with a potent Bay Rum scent.

oldtrout said:

John sent a sample of the Santa Monica Bay Rum which lasted me a week, last week to be specific. Great performance with a potent Bay Rum scent.

Click to expand...

I will definitely get a few shaves from each sample, the scent is very nice it lasted well during the shave.

My tub of Los Angeles Shaving Soap in the Woody Lavender scent arrived yesterday. After trying and really liking 4 different samples from Maggard Razors, I decided to go with the WL. I liked the Topanga Fougère scent better, but not 50% better: $16 vs. $24. Many have compared the LASS soap to MdC. The owner tried to reverse engineer the MdC. I can’t speak to that, not having used MdC yet (I guess if you find it very close, $24 still beats the heck out of $60+ for MdC). I can say that this is a great soap. It is a soft croap and very easy to lather, even in my ROCK hard water. It doesn’t take much soap to get a lot of creamy, thick, and very cushioning lather. My face feels great. Those of you that have used both can comment on how they compare. The bottom line for me is that this is an excellent artisan soap line.

They really do need to invest in some waterproof labels though!

Excellent, thanks for the info. Good luck with the Woody Lavender.

I've been using Santa Monica Bay Rum the last few shaves and this is a fantastic soap. I am really impressed with the product. I also love the smell of it. I had gotten a sample soap from John and transferred it to an old empty Trumper container I have, and to me the scent comes out stronger in a larger container.
What is also neat about it is that it hardly looks like I have used any product. I think I will get 6-7 quality shaves (15-25 seconds loading, enough lather for 4+ passes)...maybe more.

Anyway, I'm sold on LA Shaving Soap Company. I look forward to trying more of their soaps (I have another sample of Woody Lavender I am looking forward to using).