New soap from QED: Discussion thread

Charles at QED (qedusa.com) is a name that may be unfamiliar to folks who are newer members of the B&B community, but back in earlier days of B&B Charles was known for a decent shave soap with impressively strong and natural scents. B&B held group buys for his rose, sandalwood and violetta scents. (Full disclosure: Evbo and I ran the last of these buys for sandalwood and rose scents.) QED soaps have always been part of my rotation, so I watched with increasing alarm over the past couple of years as the inventory on his site dwindled.

I checked back in yesterday and discovered a new line of QEDman soaps, with a completely different formulation, available for sale. I've not yet tried any of them (my order is forthcoming), but am pleased to see them nonetheless, and wanted to create a thread for early opinions on these new soaps. (That is, unless I've missed an existing thread.)

Your thoughts?

This is the first I've heard of the new soaps, Chad, and welcome news it is....if only for the scents. Sandalwood, Fresh Citrus, Cypress & Lavender and Lime & Vetiver. I anxiously await the first reviews, as these are very different from his glycerin-based soaps, with Charles saying that they are similar in consistency to the Valobra soft soaps, but a little harder.

Glad to hear; guess I'll mosey on over.....


marty

I wasn't a fan of his glycerine soaps, or any glycerine soaps for that matter, but I must admit I am intrigued. I look forward to some reviews.

Chad!

I'm not buying a lot of soaps these days, but I'm curious to hear your (Chad's and others') impressions.

I am intrigued by these new offerings.

Heck, I just placed an order with Charles that arrived yesterday for some other things. Had I known these new soaps were forthcoming I would have tossed at least one in the cart.

I never did try the sandalwood. Luckily I still have 2 pucks of the Wild Rose and Violetta. Ill have to check out his new offerings.

these look interesting. The scents sounds nice, too. I wonder if he makes them himself or whether he has them contracted out to an artisan?

I still have two from way back in the day of QED mania. The intensity of the scents is amazing, but there's so much EO/FO in there it makes my very sensitive skin burn. Wonder how the new formulation will work.

Either way, nostalgia thread!

I believe Chad is referring to QED's new All Thumbs line.

Over the years, Charles has come up with some of the most awesome scents I ever tried. I look forward to upcoming reviews.

One of my favorite soaps is his Special 218. It reminds me of Pine-Sol!

And those who are leary about glycerin soaps should know that the QED soaps I've tried are among the best and easiest lathers I've ever experienced. They also are super slick and provide great cushion. I'm not really in the market for more soap... but this might change my mind!

Ingredients and scents sound very interesting. Definitely worth further investigation.

Missed out on the wild rose. Hoping he does a similar scent in this one.

Good news: I've received the soaps I ordered (Lime/Vetiver, Lavender/Cypress) and used one this morning (the latter). Both are strongly scented out of the screw top aluminum can, wrapped in wax paper (in fact, my mailbox smelled lovely when they arrived). The lime/vetiver is a really nice combination of the two. Charles' old lime soap was well known as one of the strongest-smelling (in a fantastic way) lime soaps out there. The lime/vetiver isn't quite that strong (it'd be impossible for it to be given the vetiver note), but very well-balanced and enjoyable.

The lavender/cypress is more the former than the latter. The cypress provides a woodsiness that counter-balances the floral finish that lavender scented products can sometimes have. For lack of a better term, what you end up with is an even manlier version of lavender. I quite enjoy the scent. On the site Charles recommends against using these new soaps in the container he provides, so I moved mine to a GTP lather bowl, wet the puck and my brush (B&B Kent), and three swirls on the puck later I was set to face lather. This soap likes a bit more water than Charles's prior soap (which makes sense given the transition from a glycerin base), and is an better performer overall. Good cushion, average to good glide, and great face feel (moisturizing). I had plenty for three passes, and then some. I'm not concerned about longevity with this one.

I'll need to work with this one more before I feel comfortable making comparisons to products outside of Charles's former range, but I very much like what I see (and smell) so far.

ouch said:

I believe Chad is referring to QED's new All Thumbs line.

Click to expand...

#forthewin

The soap world continues to move away from glycerin based soaps

Chad, thanks for the review.