50+ soaps reviewed by a new DE shaver.
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- #322
I didn't want to give my first impressions because I failed the lather but I was thinking "this soap is ridiculously slick, cushioning and moisturizing, I have to look this up"
I try to never look at ingredients before a shave so I don't pre-judge, but in this case I am curious. Here is what they say about SV:
These amazing hard soaps are artisan made and triple milled. Many shaving enthusiasts are comparing the performance to the famous and revered Martin De Candre shave soaps. Many enthusiasts also believe that these shave soaps are superior to Martin De Candre in performance and scent.
Key Features of Saponificio Varesino shave soap:
• 100% vegetable (except fragrance)
• NO palm oil (forest protection)
• NO preservatives / chelators / antioxidants of chemical origin
• NO petroleum, mineral oils, dyes, parabens
• NO EDTA - SLS - BHT - SLES - PEG
A formula so rich in natural active ingredients and whose properties include the following characteristics: softening, emollient, moisturizing, regenerating the skin barrier, firming, lubricants, soothing, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, toning; will give you an exceptional shaving experience.
Ingredients: Sodium Cocoate, Potassium Stearate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Rapeseedate Sodium, Sodium Sunflower Seedate, Aqua / Water / Eau, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil, Glycerin, Parfum / Fragrance, Oryza Sativa Starch, Sucrose Cocoate, Xanthan Gum, Carapa Guianensis (Andiroba) Nut Oil, Stearic Acid, Sodium Chloride, Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Citric Acid, Alpha Isomethyl Ionone, Citronellol, Coumarin, Limonene
Made in Italy
Size: 150g (5.3 oz)
It took me three tries to get the lather dialed in, which is pretty quick, and this stuff is amazing when you do. Slick, rich, protective, good post shave and smells amazing! I used it again tonight and had one of the best shaves of my life, one of those knife through hot butter types of shaves. SV is very impressive.
I would definitely put it above all non-tallow except for Klar Seifen, and that includes MdC in my list. Of course, the difference between my top 10 soaps is pretty narrow since performance is so great on all of my best soaps it's almost a toss up really.
I know it's blasphemy but I didn't care for mdc
I find Klar Seifen to perform better for me than MdC as well. The puck last quite a while for its size.
I know, I wasn't as impressed with MdC as many are so maybe we should start up a MdC heretics group.
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- #328
Saponificio Varesino Felce Aromatic
Face lathered this time. First pass felt and looked perfect at the time but was still too dry. The photo shows it was dry as well.
Second and third were perfect for my noobness and produced BBS with excellence.
Some quick thoughts on this soap, I already know it will be rated 10 out of 10 for slickness but the cushion is much lower than a Tallow based soap. This really doesn't concern me because my technique is good but I think there is a trade-off between slickness and cushion in the ingredients somewhere.
My last thought is I think it takes much less soap than people think. I loaded the brush very lightly so I could face lather while adding water but I never returned to the puck for more soap. The very small amount already loaded was enough for three full passes and touch-ups. I think my first try at this I actually loaded too much which is why I was using so much water trying to get the consistency right.
Face lathered this time. First pass felt and looked perfect at the time but was still too dry. The photo shows it was dry as well.
Second and third were perfect for my noobness and produced BBS with excellence.
Some quick thoughts on this soap, I already know it will be rated 10 out of 10 for slickness but the cushion is much lower than a Tallow based soap. This really doesn't concern me because my technique is good but I think there is a trade-off between slickness and cushion in the ingredients somewhere.
My last thought is I think it takes much less soap than people think. I loaded the brush very lightly so I could face lather while adding water but I never returned to the puck for more soap. The very small amount already loaded was enough for three full passes and touch-ups. I think my first try at this I actually loaded too much which is why I was using so much water trying to get the consistency right.
Your lather looks a lot thinner than what I get on my first pass. Do you bloom your puck? I found that a dry puck doesn't yield enough product for a rich lather. It's still very slick but you should be able to do much better on cushion than you've currently got there. If you aren't already, bloom the puck for about 5 mins with hot water and use a good boar brush rather than badger and you should notice a huge difference in lather quality and consistency.
Tried Saponificio Varesino for the first time recently. Bloomed it, loaded for about 20 seconds and only wet the tips of my brush once to add water. Huge mistake as I had a very sticky lather. I had no idea this soap was this thirsty. I figured since it had no lanolin or tallow it wouldn't be but dead wrong. Gonna keep at it till I get it right because the scent of Felce Aromatica is heavenly to me. Awesome thread by the way, great to see how much you've improved on your lathering rockclimber. Cheers & shave on 
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- #331
I have to work in Dallas for a few days so the SV is going with me. (I will take your suggestion of blooming and loading for those few days, thank you!)
I decided to run back to Arko for tonights shave to recalibrate.
I must say I am impressed with Arkos lack of fuss. Rub the brush around for a few seconds and face lather. Easy enough to be used in a Turkish prison shower.
Slickness 8/10 but I had very little beard to shave.
Cushion 8/10 because of the simple fact that I can load and fully lather in less than 1 minute this gets an 8.
Moisturizing 7/10 better than I remember. Used an aftershave balm to sooth my face still.
Smell 6/10 It's not getting better even though I am letting it air out. It doesn't matter to me, these 24 sticks go with my years of food, ammunition and water.This is my bunker stash and after 6 months of no running water I have a feeling Arko will score a 10/10 on smell while my SV fern smell scores a 3/10.
Overall 7.5/10 bunker soap, I love it.
I decided to run back to Arko for tonights shave to recalibrate.
I must say I am impressed with Arkos lack of fuss. Rub the brush around for a few seconds and face lather. Easy enough to be used in a Turkish prison shower.
Slickness 8/10 but I had very little beard to shave.
Cushion 8/10 because of the simple fact that I can load and fully lather in less than 1 minute this gets an 8.
Moisturizing 7/10 better than I remember. Used an aftershave balm to sooth my face still.
Smell 6/10 It's not getting better even though I am letting it air out. It doesn't matter to me, these 24 sticks go with my years of food, ammunition and water.This is my bunker stash and after 6 months of no running water I have a feeling Arko will score a 10/10 on smell while my SV fern smell scores a 3/10.
Overall 7.5/10 bunker soap, I love it.
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Not all of those are samples but many vendors and soap makers offer sample sizes you just have to poke around a bit.
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- #333
http://www.maggardrazors.com/woocom...ch-in/product/cat-in/all/search-other/product
Stirling website
Mystic waters website
Dr Jon website
Soap commander website
Wet shaving products website
Etc
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- #334
One more shave in. Bloomed it for a while, lots more lather. Added tons of water for the pic. Will shave tomorrow A.M. and evening then rate this soap. So far though slickness is a solid 10/10, I am just trying to determine cushion and moisturizing. I'm not too fond of the moisturizing when I am shaving 2x a day. When I did a single shave day it felt good, now my face is feeling raw, the shave is so close I think 2x a day with SV is too much.
I haven't done 2x per day with SV so I wouldn't know but my skin is a tad on the oily side so I like a neutral soap. I tend to moisturize a lot right now though with Nivea face cream. It really soothes your skin if it's a little or burned.
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- #336
I haven't been using any cream because I'm trying to test each soap in its purity. I have only used post shave balm when my face is tore up from brands like Col Conk.
Now that I have sat here watching the Thunder Spurs game for a bit my face feels fine.
Now that I have sat here watching the Thunder Spurs game for a bit my face feels fine.
I couldn't be that dedicated lol.
Are you using any sort of aftershave?
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- #339
Nope, only if my face is torn up. I'm really trying to try these shave soaps out by themselves so the reviews are more accurate. The tallow and butter based soaps are fine with no aftershave but the veggie soaps are a lot more drying typically. When I am not reviewing a soap (rarely) I use an aftershave balm or Aqua Velva aftershave. Those will cure any razor burn or dryness instantly. The problem with that approach is that every soap i try will score a 10/10 in the moisturizing category and i want to actually test these soaps out as far as a new DE shaver can.
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- #340
I am almost done with my soaping ingredients. I have
10 pounds grass fed hormone free beef tallow
10 pounds stearic acid
Jugs of coconut Oil
2 pounds of every oil and butter i could ever use (Shea, aloe vera, Kokum, Avocado, Castor, Mango, Etc. Etc.)
A pound of lanolin, well two types or around half a pound each.
4-6 pounds each of KOH and NaOH
The list goes on and on, I will probably have to start a new thread for it so i can get some help along the way. I estimate I have enough ingredients to make around 25 pounds of shave soap currently and plan on using them all up this first year until I have an acceptable group of recipes.
So far I have a basic recipe for:
Beef Tallow Soap
Veggie Soap
Wool Fat Soap
Aloe Vera Soap
Palm Oil free Veggie Soap
Then of course the variations with Indian Healing Bentonite Clay
Some of these recipes will be tweaked along the way and others will be copied and credited to their original masters I.E. Silver Fox Crafts Shave Soap. I appreciate all the feedback I have received from this forum and look forward to completing my 160+ soap review and soap making journey. I have no intention of profiting off anything as my full time job is more than full time but PIF will definitely be in order over the course of my trials.
10 pounds grass fed hormone free beef tallow
10 pounds stearic acid
Jugs of coconut Oil
2 pounds of every oil and butter i could ever use (Shea, aloe vera, Kokum, Avocado, Castor, Mango, Etc. Etc.)
A pound of lanolin, well two types or around half a pound each.
4-6 pounds each of KOH and NaOH
The list goes on and on, I will probably have to start a new thread for it so i can get some help along the way. I estimate I have enough ingredients to make around 25 pounds of shave soap currently and plan on using them all up this first year until I have an acceptable group of recipes.
So far I have a basic recipe for:
Beef Tallow Soap
Veggie Soap
Wool Fat Soap
Aloe Vera Soap
Palm Oil free Veggie Soap
Then of course the variations with Indian Healing Bentonite Clay
Some of these recipes will be tweaked along the way and others will be copied and credited to their original masters I.E. Silver Fox Crafts Shave Soap. I appreciate all the feedback I have received from this forum and look forward to completing my 160+ soap review and soap making journey. I have no intention of profiting off anything as my full time job is more than full time but PIF will definitely be in order over the course of my trials.
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