Mystic Water to.

When I started with a safety razor, I began with TOBS. Nothing special there. I moved to Mystic Water and have used almost the entire tub. I'm not thrilled with it's finicky nature in terms of getting the best lather every time but love the post shave effect on my face. What would be a good soap to try next? It has to work into a great lather without as much attention to detail.

Suggestions please.

I'd vote for cold river soap works and their select series... I had issues with mystic water as well, cold river gives the most amazing post shave feel I've felt, given I also use their lotion but this stuff is awesome, best soap I've used. No issues lathering it and I have very hard water, it's the first time I've reordered shave soap from the same company... I just bought their spiced amber, I have their American barbershop. I think I'm done trying other shave soap brands...

I vote for Stirling. Together with Mystic Water they're in my top rotation, with equally good performance (the post shave feel isn't as good though, but no one can compete with MW on that) and they're not as finicky to lather, lots of different scents too.

Saponificio Varesino.

Samurai Shaver said:

When I started with a safety razor, I began with TOBS. Nothing special there. I moved to Mystic Water and have used almost the entire tub. I'm not thrilled with it's finicky nature in terms of getting the best lather every time but love the post shave effect on my face. What would be a good soap to try next? It has to work into a great lather without as much attention to detail.

Suggestions please.

Click to expand...

You may want to try Mystic Water again. Michelle has a new formulation that seems to be improved (not that I have ever had an issue with lathering). There is a thread going on it around here. As far as others go:

PannaCrema - Any of them...Old Formulation can be found at Italian barber still. Great Post Shave fell on all of these.
WSP Formula T
Bain Amour - Great Artisan Soap at a great price! Just do a Google Search for Bain Amour Bath & Body Co.

Just three off the top of my head that have incredible post shave feel.

Hope this helps!

I'll take a look at Stirling and Cold River, thanks

dangerousdon said:

You may want to try Mystic Water again. Michelle has a new formulation that seems to be improved (not that I have ever had an issue with lathering). There is a thread going on it around here. As far as others go:

PannaCrema - Any of them...Old Formulation can be found at Italian barber still. Great Post Shave fell on all of these.
WSP Formula T
Bain Amour - Great Artisan Soap at a great price! Just do a Google Search for Bain Amour Bath & Body Co.

Just three off the top of my head that have incredible post shave feel.

Hope this helps!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions!

Another vote for Stirling. He has so many scents and the samples are very reasonably priced and generous in size. It is a great way to try a bunch of different soap.

I would second Cold River Soap Works select v.2 formulation. I would also consider Barrister & Mann in their glissant soap base.

Mike's
Cold River
B&M
Stirling
Shannon's
Haslinger.....

These are just a few with so many others........good luck.

Castle Forbes. You can get samples from Maggard's.

Cheers, Steve

Mystic Water just changed their formula slightly to make it easier to lather. If you already like it, you might try the new formula and see if it is less finicky for you. She also has some great new scents.

My favorite post shave feel (so far) has been TFS from Italy. Good price too! My second choice would be B&M.

Mike's Natural. It's excellent !

Whiskey Sour said:

I would second Cold River Soap Works select v.2 formulation. I would also consider Barrister & Mann in their glissant soap base.

Click to expand...

I'll also recommend CRSW. At this time it's the best I've tried. They have great scents and performance and always leave my face feeling great.

Some of my favorites

Sudsy Soapery - my second favorite soap only bested by PannaCrema Nuavia. Pretty inexpensive as well.
PannaCrema - Nuavia is great but expensive. Their Pure2O is my third favorite soap.
Cold River Soap Works - another excellent soap.
Midnight & Two - maybe my fourth favorite, excellent performing soap.
Tallow & Steel - This one is nice, likely the best lather I've found but not as slick and moisturizing as my top three. Still outstanding though,
Mystic Waters (new formula) - I refused to fight with the old formula but the new one is nice.
Obsessive Soap Perfectionist - Another really impressive soap. I really like this one.
WSP Formula T - This one performs great and a tub lasts a long time. Think like MdC with added butters.

Thanks for all the recommendations. I'm leaning towards trying Stirling first. I don't have to shave every day (maybe 1-2 times a week tops) so soap lasts me quite a while, otherwise I'd try 3-4 at a time.

I did like the scent of the Mystic Water Egyptian Dragon though.

I didn't have any luck with Mystic Water, My tops:

B&M
Mikes
Stirling
Haslinger
Soap commander
CRSW

nemumford said:

Mike's Natural. It's excellent !

Click to expand...

+1

JimL911 said:

Saponificio Varesino.

Click to expand...

+1

I haven't tried a ton of soaps yet, but SV's performance is far, far above anything else that I have tried. For my very first shave with it I failed to get the right soap/water mix, which led to a relatively thin and bubbly lather. Guess what? That sad excuse for lather still outperformed my best lathers from a few other soaps. And that's not even considering the post-shave feel! SV felt so good on my skin that I lathered up at the end and left it on for a few minutes as part of the aftershave routine. Actually, I almost skipped the rest of the AS because I didn't want to ruin the post shave feel. And remember, the price upfront may be high but it is a triple-milled soap so it should last much longer than softer soaps of similar weight.