Artisan Soap vs. the old standbys - I once was found, but now am Lost.

For years I was very happy using Tabac, Cella, Mitchell's Wool Fat and a variety of shave sticks. I could build easy lather that was slick, protective and smelled good. These lasted a very long time, moisturized my skin and I laid in a good supply taking advantage of BST and occasional sales.

I was very happy. I even was able to ignore the enthusiastic response to Italian Barber releasing the first release of the three RazoRock Shave creams.

Then Mystic Waters came on the scent and shortly thereafter Mike's Natural. These soaps were so inexpensive and really ratcheted up my sense of moisturizing soap. For almost two years I used these soaps almost exclusively, again I laid in a good stockpile.

This past year, I've been bitten by the RazoRock bug - Hello King Louis, Mudder Focker and Zi' Peppino. This was fine, I enjoyed the thrill of Joe's Christmas in July. I succumbed to Mantic59's claim that Synergy new soaps were the best ever. I even picked up a Petal Pusher's Fancies, Black Tea.

Where once my morning revolved around a few choices, now I have too many superb choices. I still admire the old standbys, and feel that they do a fine job, however I consistently am blown away with the quality of the new artisan soaps. I haven't even tried PannaCrema, Tiki, or Caties Bubbles or the new Maggards Razors soap, but I'm sure that I'll be completely smitten with these soaps as well. I'm actually frightened of the scale of whole Stirling soap universe

My dilemna is that there are too many fine shave soaps for my morning shave. I shave every morning and have considered shaving twice a day, but a whole hour during the day is too much for even me.

Enough of my ramblings, I'm curious how many folks have stuck with the old European soap companies and how many have given these up for the new Artisan movement.

Ahhh. But Stirling makes bath soaps in the same scents. Now TWO opportunities a day to use great smelling soap!

To answer your question, Cella and Stirling both have a place on my shelf.

I have tried Stirling (6 styles: Orange Cumin, Earl Grey, Clubman, Sharp Dressed Man, Bonaparte, Bay Rum), and Queen Charlotte Soaps (Green Irish Tweed ).

The QCS was nice, but prefer the TOBS, GFT, Truefitt & Hill , and Proraso soaps.

The Europeans lathered better, and resulted in a slicker lather.

Having said that I may try other makes. That is the fun of seeing all of the different manufacturers on the B&B.

I'm having the same problem. I've got a few tubs of TOBS, a puck of MWF, and three tubes of C.O. Bigelow. I should be set for quite a while. Then I bought Synergy Chocolate Bourbon because of great reviews for Synergy and a huge interest in a chocolate scented soap. Then came Synergy The Beach. Then PPF Oakmoss and Sage. Then a bunch of Razorock, including Fine American Blend and Mudder Focker. Then Tiki Bar Soap. Now I have way, way too much and the old standby soaps and creams have moved to the closet because they don't feel "special" at the moment. That sounds really weird, come to think of it.

I use Sterling (Sharp Dressed Man, Spice, Scotts Pine Sheep, Bay Rum, and Vanilla Sandalwood are my favorites) I also like the bath soap and aftershave, my English product is TOBS

Strop Shoppe has fine soaps, tallow and non-tallow, and I've been very impressed with Maggard's soap. The artisan is a potter IIRC, but the soaps lather up slick and glossy, maybe not as thick as others, but pretty much perfect for straight razor use. Really excellent soap especially for a newly marketed product.

Cheers, Steve

Corey said:

I'm having the same problem. I've got a few tubs of TOBS, a puck of MWF, and three tubes of C.O. Bigelow. I should be set for quite a while. Then I bought Synergy Chocolate Bourbon because of great reviews for Synergy and a huge interest in a chocolate scented soap. Then came Synergy The Beach. Then PPF Oakmoss and Sage. Then a bunch of Razorock, including Fine American Blend and Mudder Focker. Then Tiki Bar Soap. Now I have way, way too much and the old standby soaps and creams have moved to the closet because they don't feel "special" at the moment. That sounds really weird, come to think of it.

Click to expand...

I feel your pain.

P.S. I love the Chocolate Bourbon.

Ah, what a dilemma. But a nice dilemma compared to the stresses of the day. I started off old school with TOBS, but quickly jumped to Mama Bear and Synergy. I then mixed in a few shave stick goodies of familiar names. Now that the dust has settled I have both artisan new school and very old school soaps in the den. They fight with each other at night when I'm asleep.

redrako said:

I feel your pain.

P.S. I love the Chocolate Bourbon.

Click to expand...

Chocolate Bourbon smells amazing. I've received quite a few compliments on the scent from that soap. I haven't had that happen for any other soap yet. I'm glad it's a solid performer as well. I'd hate for that great scent to be wasted on a bad soap.

This is a conundrum. On the one hand I am the stodgiest, most curmudgeonly traditionalist you could ever meet. I WANT the old British houses and European makes to be the top dogs. Particularly the Anglo stuff since I am an old Anglophile. However, I have come to the same conclusions others have. The new breed of artisans have surpassed the old houses in terms of shave quality. And in some cases it is not really a contest. There are still a goodly number of top shelf shave lathers from the commercial brands. Tabac, Czech & Speake, Provence Sante. And these all come with outstanding packaging and some panache to them. However, much like the artisan beer brewers in America left the old brewers in Europe behind(read the Beer Hunter Michael Jackson's old web site and his take on where you need to find the best beers in the world) the artisan shave soap makers are starting to take a clear lead in quality of performance. To me there was always room at the table for all. The grand old brands with their big personalities, big names, and big prices. And the dedicated mom and pop shops making top shelf soaps at great prices with superb customer service. I have no problem with the former as long as they keep their products top shelf. But the last ten years has seen a tarnish on some of these old brands. One of the most glaring is George F. Trumper. Their catalogue just six or seven years ago contained a lot more than it does now. And the shave soaps. Lets not get that started on that one again.

I am largely in the same place the OP is. I have gone through 95% of my old line products and keep asking myself if I should actually pay to replace any of them or just pay $9.91 to Michelle at Mystic Water and get the best shave soap in the world(at least for me). Her scents are gorgeous and the skin conditioning is beyond compare. Why in the name of Pete can't firms like Trumper do something really out of their box so to speak and make a Spanish Leather shave soap? I mean a real shave soap and not what passes for it currently. How about a Hammam Bouquet shave cream from Penhaligon's? Oh and btw, since you charge like every package is going to Prince Charles how about you put it in the beautiful glass jars that Bleneheim Bouquet use to come in? You know, the one you stupidly discontinued. I cannot find it on your web site these days. Speaking of which, fix your web site so it does not report my credit card as a fraudulent transaction. This is the stuff I am speaking to when I mention tarnish. Here's another suggestion. Taylor of Old Bond St. how about putting your fabulous old scent, #74 Traditional in a shave lather of some sort? Just up the quality and think a bit about who you sell to. Hint; it is not some kid on the posters at Abercrombie and Fitch at ruddy mall.

Strop Shoppe, Catie's Bubbles, Barrister & Mann, QCS, Razorock, Mikes, Tiki., Synergy, are a few of my recent soap additions.

On a whim, today I used the old tallow-first AoS sandalwood. The old AoS is as good as anything I've ever used. Tomorrow, I think some old DR Harris will be in play.

Yep, agree. But, I still think the Valobra hard is better. $20 better, I don't know!!

I had the exact opposite experience. For 50+ years, I have been using British old-school hard soaps, even during The Dark Years (blue Bics, Mach-3s) - Yardley Lavender, Trumper Rose, Floris Lemon Verbena for years. When I returned to DE shaving this year, I got my Floris brush refurbished, got a blade sampler, and went nuts on soaps and creams.

I bought four well-thought-of artisan shaving soaps, and a bunch of samples, and I didn't like one of them. The scents were dicey. The performances were all over the place. I don't like the bentonite clay the makers think necessary to include.

But so many of the British names are making stuff nowhere as good as they did when I lived in London. I have three hard soaps now, Trumper Rose, D. R. Harris Almond, and Tcheon Fung Sing Neroli Bergametto. All fabulous. Klar Kabinet. Valobra almond. Cella in the tub.

Creams have been a disappointment. The traditional English ones are luridly dyed and have very odd scents. I concentrate on just rose and almond aromas. Harris is OK, Taylor not so good, Trumper terrible. Rose of Bulgaria is fabulous, but the two winners are Cyril R. Salter Wild Rose and Almond creams.

So that leaves me with 9 soaps, croaps, and creams in the rotation. No artisan brands. I think I will try again later, as there are a couple of brands that look interesting, but I am prepared to be disappointed.

I am part of the resistance movement.

Todd, don't keep anything back now, stop beating around the bush and tell us how you really feel


I've only been doing this a couple years. When I started, I went cheap, trying to get my sea legs, before I was going to splash out on the old classics from the Mother Country.
Never got there, and have been blessed with Mystic Waters, Queen Charlotte Soaps, Tcheon Fung Sing, various Razorocks, La Toja and Arko. The latter may count as old standbys, but I don't think that's what the OP had in mind.

With my shave cream order from India on the water, I'm calling no joy for a bit. There are sooo many choices. And excellent choices they are. The new breed is giving us great products, great service and value

Strictly old school

The more options you have, the more discerning you have to be. At least that's how I think of it. If everything is solid 10's then the ones you drop are the 9's and 8's that would otherwise be "great" or even "amazing", but in comparison they're just not "better".

I love RazoRock's soft soaps, but in light of how amazing Stirling soaps have been performing for me I'm sending all of my RazoRock's off to the PIF box (except for the one Tcheon Fung Sing clone I really like).

Edit: All that said I still don't think anybody's almond smells better than Cella, and no artisan has really nailed that addictive Arko and Godrej Round scent. There will always be a place for commercial soaps in my routine.

I love QCS and Razorock and the dominate my rotation but DR Harris soaps still keep a place in the rotation. I can't remember the last time I pulled out my Tabac or MWF.