I'm anxious to try a soap

I've never tried a shaving soap, only creams. For a comparison of creams to soaps, here are several creams I use daily:
Truefitt & Hill - Trafalga
St. James Of London - Sandalwood & Bergamot
Taconic - Bay Rum

The soaps I've narrowed it down to are these three:
Tiki - Set Sail
Mickey Lee - Colonia (if you can find it, always out of stock)
Barrister & Mann Latha - Oceana

Any comments on these, or any other suggestions, based on the creams I use, would be much appreciated.

Thx,
Mikey

meliahog said:

I've never tried a shaving soap, only creams. For a comparison of creams to soaps, here are several creams I use daily:
Truefitt & Hill - Trafalga
St. James Of London - Sandalwood & Bergamot
Taconic - Bay Rum

The soaps I've narrowed it down to are these three:
Tiki - Set Sail
Mickey Lee - Colonia (if you can find it, always out of stock)
Barrister & Mann Latha - Oceana

Any comments on these, or any other suggestions, based on the creams I use, would be much appreciated.

Thx,
Mikey

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I haven't personally tried any of those soaps, so I can't give you specific guidance on how they perform.

But why not throw a handful of dollars at common, everyday soaps if you want to test out the SSAD waters?
Arko, Williams, VanDerHagen are three good brands to get you started.

PS: If you can find Brand-X soap in stick form, it will be a cheaper entry-level way to test it out.

Stirling has samples that are less than 3 bucks and will last for a month. That's a great way to test out some soaps without spending to much

I prefer hard, slick, easy to lather soaps...
Pre de Provence regular, no. 63 and Fine Classic Platinum ($13.32 shipped / ebay).

Try La Toja

There are samples all over and really inexpensive soap options. Out of the gate, are you looking for performance, aesthetic or both?
As mentioned above, Arko is an awesome performer and for around $2 it fights way above its weight class. I like the smell, others not so much. I just got turned on to Speick which hits the mark as a performer and smells great, with strong botanical notes. I think the soap goes for under $6.

Creams are great and easy to lather. You'll have to work just a bit more for lather with hard soaps. But that can be fun.
I've used both cream in a tube and hard soaps. Also have croaps. I say order those up and give us a report back on your experience.
Stirling samples were mentioned above. I have a few of these and it's a generous amount of soap for the money.
Good luck

I've only tried Tiki but not that scent.
Found Tiki very easy to lather, but if you are big on smell I felt it was on the weaker side.

If you are taking any other suggestions +1 on Stirling or VdH.

Gnomeo0228 said:

Stirling has samples that are less than 3 bucks and will last for a month. That's a great way to test out some soaps without spending to much

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This.

Also, try some "old standards" such as Tabac and Cella, both easy to lather and very good soaps.

Get a stick of Arko.

Arko is the "gold standard" soap that ALL others are judged against (better than Arko, not as good as Arko)

You might as well get this past you in the beginning as if you settle on a soap, THEN try Arko you will be thrown into the abyss where you may drift for years before finding what you are truly looking for

I suggest you try some of the 'standards' to see whether soaps are for you (most kindly listed above).

For me the issue with more 'artisan' soaps is that the formula changes, the soap maker moves, the company closes, etc.

I prefer to purchase a product that will still be around when I want some more. Clearly, this is YMMV!

BigJ said:

For me the issue with more 'artisan' soaps is that the formula changes, the soap maker moves, the company closes, etc.

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I've had that happen too many times. I am still hoping that "shave library" starts up again but it has been a long time since they stopped making soap.

gentleman's quarter did start back up not too long ago and this I find very enjoyable

turtle said:

Get a stick of Arko.

Arko is the "gold standard" soap that ALL others are judged against (better than Arko, not as good as Arko)

You might as well get this past you in the beginning as if you settle on a soap, THEN try Arko you will be thrown into the abyss where you may drift for years before finding what you are truly looking for

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+1 ... well-stated and true all the way.

You have tried Truefitt & Hill; you have tried the best.
For sure pick up an Arko stick, Proraso, and TOBS (scent of your choice). For about $25 +/- here you will have an excellent cross-reference and sampling of the products used possibly by the vast majority of this membership.

meliahog said:

Mickey Lee - Colonia (if you can find it, always out of stock)

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Maggard has plenty of this in stock. They have samples of it, too.

But why not try CRSW Oliva?

I don't know much about Tiki soaps (except a few bad things about the artisan him/herself of which I can't remember any specifics), but Latha and Mickey Lee are both quite good stuff in terms of performance.

You can get samples of both Mickey Lee and Barrister and Mann from Maggard Razors site. You seem to have done your research as the 3 soaps you chose are pretty popular, I say pick up 5-6 samples from different brands and see what you like. I recently purchased a tub of Oceana after trying a sample. Maggard's themselves have a great soap as well, I recommend Barbershop if you go that route. Good luck finding your favorite soap!

I have the B&M Oceana and it is great, and smells really good. I was worried about performance of the latha label compared to their white label but it is pretty much on par. I think it just mostly doesn't have lanolin in it which makes for a great post shave.

turtle said:

Get a stick of Arko.

Arko is the "gold standard" soap that ALL others are judged against (better than Arko, not as good as Arko)

You might as well get this past you in the beginning as if you settle on a soap, THEN try Arko you will be thrown into the abyss where you may drift for years before finding what you are truly looking for

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+1

Every time I shave with Arko, I fall in love with it. There is a reason I buy it by the 12 stick 900g box. I sometimes shave with soaps that cost more for one small tub than 900g of Arko, and I wonder why? The only soap (I mostly have creams) in my rotation that might be better is Mike's Naturals. I've not tried any of the soaps or creams on your list. I'd say get one of them, a stick of Arko, and a container for your Arko. I smash mine into a plastic tub. Some people put them in push up containers and apply it directly to the face. You can load a brush right from the stick. Arko isn't picky about how you lather it.

SFGiants101214 said:

I have the B&M Oceana and it is great, and smells really good. I was worried about performance of the latha label compared to their white label but it is pretty much on par. I think it just mostly doesn't have lanolin in it which makes for a great post shave.

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This. Based on your likes in creams, I would recommend the Latham Oceana without question.