The Age of Veggie is upon us.

I've been on a veggie kick for a while now. The only recent tallow soap I've really used is Cold River because I just got it. Everything else has been veggie, and I keep finding myself ordering more. Lately a major thought on my mind has been "Why on earth do people love tallow so much?" With soaps like Martin de Candre, Le Pere Lucien, Antica Barbieria Colla, Synergy, Razorock CC Bay Rum, Petal Pusher Fancies, Calani, Pre de Provence, and surely many other veggie soaps of high caliber I find it hard to listen to the "Tallow Supremacy" crowd.

Does anybody else really love their veggie soaps as much or more than their tallow soaps? I just consider tallow to be like any other ingredient - It has it's place and it does something to a soap, but it's not an essential ingredient for a soap to be a world class performer.

And while I'm on this kick, are there any veggie soaps I haven't listed that I need to try?

I believe La Toja is tallowless. Excellent performer for me in the stick.

Tallow soaps are good but not all tallow soaps are. Veggie soaps are good bit not all veggie soaps are.

August West said:

Tallow soaps are good but not all tallow soaps are. Veggie soaps are good bit not all veggie soaps are.

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Bingo.

August West said:

Tallow soaps are good but not all tallow soaps are. Veggie soaps are good bit not all veggie soaps are.

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+1
IMO. A good tallow-base soap is better than a mediocre veggie-based soap and vica versa.

IMightBeWrong said:

I've been on a veggie kick for a while now. The only recent tallow soap I've really used is Cold River because I just got it. Everything else has been veggie, and I keep finding myself ordering more. Lately a major thought on my mind has been "Why on earth do people love tallow so much?" With soaps like Martin de Candre, Le Pere Lucien, Antica Barbieria Colla, Synergy, Razorock CC Bay Rum, Petal Pusher Fancies, Calani, Pre de Provence, and surely many other veggie soaps of high caliber I find it hard to listen to the "Tallow Supremacy" crowd.

Does anybody else really love their veggie soaps as much or more than their tallow soaps? I just consider tallow to be like any other ingredient - It has it's place and it does something to a soap, but it's not an essential ingredient for a soap to be a world class performer.

And while I'm on this kick, are there any veggie soaps I haven't listed that I need to try?

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I don't think tallow is supreme; I just haven't yet found a veggie soap I like quite as much as my most favorite soaps. (I like some veggie soaps ALMOST as much! Just on the cusp...). I think the RazoRock, and others', "Argan oil" soaps might do the trick, but the jury's out. And from what I'm hearing about Tiki Bar's veggie version, that might The One, too. I haven't ordered that yet, since there's so much soap in my den. (Or closet, really).

Also, I'll have to experiment more, but I wonder if the veggie soaps will be as good for shaving with a straight (i.e., as slick, and leaving a good amount of remaining slickness after clearing the visible lather).

As of right now I really like La Toja stick, RazoRock Brain Freeze (one of the Argan Oil soaps), and especially Tcheon Fung Sing hard soaps. But the most protective soaps I've used are still Mike's and Strop Shoppe SEs.

I believe I saw something where Mike said he was going to make veggie soaps, too... That's another one I'm very hopeful about!

Maggard. Ridiculously slick and protective.

Tallow is not essential for making a good shaving soap. We should however consider that virtually any shaving soap contains stearic acid, a substance usually produced from tallow processing. In fact, "stear" is Greek for "tallow".
Although stearic acid can also be obtained from vegetal materials, making it from tallow is cheaper and quantitative more efficient.
A real veggie soap must therefore be made with stearic acid of vegetal origin and, in this case, this usually is something stated by the producer. Most of the cases stearic acid used for soaps is of animal origin.

August West said:

Tallow soaps are good but not all tallow soaps are. Veggie soaps are good bit not all veggie soaps are.

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+1 A funny way to say the right thing!

Insitut du Karite is tallow free as well. I've been really enjoying that one recently.

Mama Bear

egh128 said:

Maggard. Ridiculously slick and protective.

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+1 I've been loving this stuff for the past couple of weeks.

I have been using Pre de Provence more and more lately.

I have oily skin and I am loving the way this soap rinses clean without any oily residue.

Some tallow soaps leave me a bit greasy feeling.

IMightBeWrong said:

I've been on a veggie kick for a while now. The only recent tallow soap I've really used is Cold River because I just got it. Everything else has been veggie, and I keep finding myself ordering more. Lately a major thought on my mind has been "Why on earth do people love tallow so much?" With soaps like Martin de Candre, Le Pere Lucien, Antica Barbieria Colla, Synergy, Razorock CC Bay Rum, Petal Pusher Fancies, Calani, Pre de Provence, and surely many other veggie soaps of high caliber I find it hard to listen to the "Tallow Supremacy" crowd.

Does anybody else really love their veggie soaps as much or more than their tallow soaps? I just consider tallow to be like any other ingredient - It has it's place and it does something to a soap, but it's not an essential ingredient for a soap to be a world class performer.

And while I'm on this kick, are there any veggie soaps I haven't listed that I need to try?

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some of the ones you listed may well be animal based.

i admire folks who go the vegan route, probably better for your health.

August West said:

Tallow soaps are good but not all tallow soaps are. Veggie soaps are good bit not all veggie soaps are.

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Truer words have not been spoken

coonskinner said:

I have been using Pre de Provence more and more lately.

I have oily skin and I am loving the way this soap rinses clean without any oily residue.

Some tallow soaps leave me a bit greasy feeling.

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Ive noticed a slight effect of this as well. PdP is a stunning soap, and the smell

Barrister & Mann offers some excellent vegan soaps.

Having said that. I prefer B&M's tallows to his vegans. I prefer RR's tallows to its argans. I prefer Mikes and MWF to just about everything. I live in the great white north, during the frigid winter months soaps with both tallow and lanolin (MWF / Haslinger, etc ) rule. Their are many excellent non-tallow soaps, I often use them during the summer but do not specifically seek them out. To be honest, except for the winter months, I don't care what soap is made out of as long as it performs. To me its just a non-issue. I've said it before and I'll say it again....it's just soap.