Shannon's Soaps - Test Ride

I've been wanting to try Shannon's for a while now. The ingredients and feedback from B&Bers on performance seem to be very similar to Mike's Naturals, which I like, and shipping was the same for up to 3 soaps, so when I saw the 15% off sale earlier today, I jumped in with both feet and ordered Woodlands, Silk Pajamas and Barbershop.

Thanks, ALL you guys above !!! I just ordered 4 tins of soap that I'll now have to find a hiding space for so Wifey doesn't ask the dreaded, unanswerable; "But why do you need so many?" question...

I did not like this soap.
Requires much more time to obtain the desired foam consistency
And the aroma of "silk pajamas" on the fan. Heavy and stuffy odor.
Here's my little record-comparison with soap from Chris on the Russian forum Shaving http://forum.watch.ru/showpost.php?p=2795473&postcount=2824

The 4 'flavors' I ordered arrived today, and I am especially looking forward to using the Amaretto, just going by the delicious aroma, so far! Also, Thanks Shannon, for the little extra sample items to placate Wifey!

well I pulled the trigger on a tin of Shannon's Barbershop today....I am a big fan of this type of scent and I'm looking forward to trying another tallow soap

Well I finished my first ever soap start to finish and it was silk pajamas. It was awesome. Still have 2 more to go.

Just received my order. Full puck of Woodland Frost and a sample of Smokin and Falling Leaves. The Woodlands smells awesome, I get mostly Cedarwood from the dry puck. Smells a lot like Mike's Cedarwood and pine. The Falling Leaves is a clean fresh leafy smell. The biggest surprise was Smokin'. Oh man, this scent is great imagine marshmallow with the scent of Fall Leaves on top. However, I think it would be better if it were just the sweet warm marshmallow without the leaves. Maybe I'll ask if they do custom soaps. I didn't think the sweet marshmallow scent would be so fantastic. I can't stop smelling it.

my tin of Barbershop arrived today and it smells great....it will be the first soap I go to after the 12 Days of Fatness are over!

I received a shipment of this soap today. The favorable reviews in this thread induced me to order two tins.
The Barber Shop scent generated excellent lather and smelled great. I got an excellent shave with it. I'm looking forward to using it with different blades. I really liked being able to understand the ingredient list without needing a phd in chemistry.

Shannon's is a AAA top soap. I could just have this and be happy for the rest of my life (is that good). Its on my top 5 and that also includes MdC, Mike's, Caties Bubbles and Barrister & Mann.

I used Shannon's soaps for the first time today; Falling Leaves. Omg. Great stuff. Performance was awesome. Will definitely buy again

I was introduced to these soaps via another forum and since my birthday was coming up I asked my kids to get me 2 scents. Of course I started with the PJs and Smokin'. Delivery was fast but there was a minor issue. I emailed Shannon with an attached photo of the problem at 10pm. At 5am she responded and not only corrected the problem but went out of her way to make me happy. The soaps are very good in a competitive artisan market but her customer service is hard to beat.

Figaro qua said:

I was introduced to these soaps via another forum and since my birthday was coming up I asked my kids to get me 2 scents. Of course I started with the PJs and Smokin'. Delivery was fast but there was a minor issue. I emailed Shannon with an attached photo of the problem at 10pm. At 5am she responded and not only corrected the problem but went out of her way to make me happy. The soaps are very good in a competitive artisan market but her customer service is hard to beat.

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Very true. I believe these soaps are not getting the attention they deserve. They should be tried by all serious wet shaving enthusiasts.

herbert7890 said:

Very true. I believe these soaps are not getting the attention they deserve. They should be tried by all serious wet shaving enthusiasts.

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I agree with this statement. The ingredient list is top notch. The only soap I have completely finished since starting my journey has been silk pajamas. I still have smokin and falling leaves in my rotation. Good stuff!

I just saw that there is a new scent offering for Shannon's Soaps. It's got (IMHO) a goofy name, but the scent profile looks appealing, so I ordered a tin. It's "Lady Luck" and the scent description from their website is: "A clean scent of amber and bergamot with a dash of patchouli and sandalwood....."

This will be the 8th soap of theirs that I've tried, and I've been really impressed with the performance of each. Shannon's Soaps is in my "Top 5" soaps - awesome in every aspect (scent, slickness, protection, easy to lather).

I have now shaved several times with each the three scents that I ordered - Woodlands, Silk PJs and Barbershop. I face lather and normally create shave sticks out of my soaps (Shannon's is a little on the soft side for making a shave stick, but workable if I am careful when rubbing on my face, using very light pressure).

I like all three scents, although I remember saying "Hmmm" to Silk PJs the first time (I like it a lot now). As others have said, it performs very well once I got the amount of water dialed in - this is one very thirsty soap). Cushion, slickness and post shave feel are all excellent.

Shannon is making soaps that are easily on a par with my other faves - Haslinger Schafmilch, CRSW Select and Mike's.

cmh737 said:

I just saw that there is a new scent offering for Shannon's Soaps. It's got (IMHO) a goofy name, but the scent profile looks appealing, so I ordered a tin. It's "Lady Luck" and the scent description from their website is: "A clean scent of amber and bergamot with a dash of patchouli and sandalwood....."

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Chris... I look forward to your impressions of the new scent.

Alright, I just gave the new scent, "Lady Luck" a go this evening. The performance is consistent with all the other Shannon's Soaps I've tried (outstanding!!!) so I won't dwell on that aspect, except to emphasize what I've always thought: that this just may be the slickest soap I've tried yet!

In terms of scent, this is dynamite! I really like this one. The sandalwood and amber are the dominant notes (at least to me), and I'm guessing that the bergamot and patchouli "round" it out. This one is a winner! Shannon's Soaps continue to be in my personal "Top 5" soaps list.

Just received my first package from Shannon's today, so I haven't had a chance to lather them yet. The scents I ordered were Smokin!, Cafe Mocha, and a sample of the Lady Luck.

Thanks to the fairly strong scenting and wax paper wrapping, the Lady Luck was the first scent I checked out because the entire envelope carried the scent. The amber and begamot combo is nice, but the patchouli comes through fairly prominently. That may be a sensitivity on my part, as I find patchouli to stand out strongly to me even in the smallest concentrations.

Smokin'! is way sweeter than I had anticipated. The sugary marshmallow note is front and center. So much so that I don't really pick up the smoky wood/campfire part of the scent. There's definitely a background behind the sweetness, but this is far from a smoky campfire scent if that is what you are looking for.

Cafe Mocha was my real winner. This is the second time I've seriously wanted to eat a puck of shaving soap. The first was Catie's Bubbles Boucles Fruite. Cafe Mocha has a moderate coffee scent that is superbly blended with a chocolate/hazelnut. The listed vanilla note doesn't really stand out for me but probably helps add a bit of creaminess to the chocolatey coffee blend.

Having a few dozen soaps in my possession, Cafe Mocha easily enters the top 5 for fragrance.

Now if you will excuse me, smelling this soap has made me hungry. I need to go find a snack.

I just noticed that there is a new scent offered: Bay Patchouli Grapefruit. I placed an order and will report my initial impressions when I've tried it.