Mamma Bear's Shaving Soap

Just a quick addition to the chorus of praise. Right now, I have some pretty fine soaps in my rotation -- Floris, Occitane Cade, Mitchell's Woolfat. But the soap I most look forward to using is Mama Bear's Rosemary Mint. It is fair to say that this is my all-time favorite soap. It has opulent, silky lather, a glorious scent, and the blade just glides over it to give a super smooth shave. It is, I might add, quite a bit cheaper than those other fancy-pants soaps I named. I still plan to continue sampling the other Mama Bear scents, but I cannot imagine any will be better than this.

I've used about ten of these fine soaps. Just on the basis of providing a great shave, I don't know how a soap could be any better. Razors easily glide over the generous lathers created by these glycerin based soaps. The wide range of scents offered by Mama Bear's is one of the things that drew me into wet shaving over a year ago. There is a scent for everyone and every occasion. I only marked down the scent rating because, in some (not all) instances, I would like them to be a bit stronger. At the price, I don't see how anyone could be disappointed by this product. As for some of the scents that immediately come to mind:

Ye Olde Barbershoppe: I guess everyone has their own idea of what that scent should be, but for me, this is the aftershave scent the barber used to put on me after he shaved my neck with a straight razor.

Spicey Lime: One of the best lime scents out there. My favorite among all of them.

Aromatic Pipe Tobacco: Grandpa...is that you? This stuff is a little pungent if you smell it in the tub, but once you make a lather, the scent is just right.

Hydrogen: My wife's favorite and my second favorite. It smells so clean, in the way that laundry does, but even better.

Orange Orange: They describe this perfectly on their site. "Take a fresh orange and pierce the skin with your fingernail.... and smell it. This is the scent of this." Unfortunately, for some reason it just wasn't as exciting in use as it was in my imagination.

Creme Brulee and Turkish Mocha: These two smell soooo good you just want to eat the lather. Pairing them up with an aftershave is a problem.

Finally, as far as vendors go, it's hard to get better customer service than what you get from the likes of Mama Bears.

Okay, after not trying any of her products in a while, I finally purchased some more soap from Mama Bear. The Hydrogen ended up not being the scent I was hoping for, so I sold it as quickly as I received it. However, the Rosemary Mint blew me away.

This is an incredible mint soap. My whole bathroom smelled of mint, and the lather was a great wake-me-up! I only dinged the Scent score by 1 point because I didn't really detect Rosemary in the scent. The 8 for price is only because I also think Honeybee soaps are wonderful, and they are cheaper. Moisturizing isn't a big sale for me, because I use balms anyways.

This lather was incredible. I whipped it up with my Shavemac 220, and it was thick and very slick. At times, it didn't even feel like the blade was touching my face, but when I would rinse between passes, I know it had. This lather was so good that I even went for a 4th against the grain pass, which I never do, due to the fact that it almost always gives me razor burn. Not this time. BBS shave, zero irritation, a wonderful cooling sensation - this was particularly nice, because I loved the cooling of Proraso but hated the scent - and an incredibly powerful, fresh mint smell. I can understand now why this is one of her more frequently praised soaps. I still had plenty of lather after 4 shaves, even with the 220, which tends to be a lather hog.

I ordered 4 soaps from Momma Bear with the prelim smell test as follows:
Awakenings: WOW! Smells like a cold blast 'o air, probably feels like a slap down from Mr. Freeze!
Diogenes Club: Hmmmmm. The least favorite scent of the order...I'll wait for a shindig and see where it goes...
Rosemary Mint: YOWZA! I think this one's gonna be a fave....yep tried it this morning and it whips up something fierce and all I can say is WOW!WOW!WOW! New Fave!
Eucalyptus: DAMN! Oh yeah, this one's pretty eye opening!

Look forward to ordering some more perhaps as gifts, yeah gifts, that's the ticket!

I purchased three: Rosemary Mint, Hydrogen, and Aeromatic Pipe Tobacco and I think they all smell great. I have used the APT the most and think that it lathers great and does a fine job! Great value considering that there are so many scents to choose from...maybe too many!

Great stuff. I will join in the chorus of praise.

I knocked a point off of 'scent', but that's more of an indication that I like some of her scents better than others. Mysore Sandalwood was hard to smell, but generally her scents would rate a 10.

I don't see myself ever being without some of her soaps in my 'favourites'. And with her ever-expanding list of scents, the adventure will never stop!

I have been using Sue's soaps for a number of months now, and they have truly transformed my shaving experience. While I think all of the soaps I've tried so far are superior to anything else I've used in the past (Taylor's, Nancy Boy, etc) when you find a fragrance you really like, it's nothing short of a revelation.
So far my tops pix are Dragon's Blood, tangerine and clove, Beau Brummel, and Tahitian vanilla. You lather em up, put em on your kisser, and they smell so yummy you don't want to shave the stuff off.

Now THAT'S shaving satisfaction!

I have three of her soaps:

Romance Silver
Sensual Fragrance [now out of production *sniif* ]
"Mystery" Soap [dun't esk]

All three have wonderful fragrances, lather like a dream, protect me while I shave. Could be a tad more moisturizing, but this is a minor quibble. I have aftershave balms/milks to take care of that. All in all, a wizardess of the shaving soap!

Just got my order. First of all, a big thank you to mama bear for throwing in the extra soap and a sample of the shampoo, and for the things I ordered too! It's a great service she's providing - amazing soaps.

Secondly, I ordered the Old Spice, Beau Brummel, and Dragon's Tears. I tried to order the ones that sounded the most interesting. That was a mistake on my part.

The Beau Brummel was very strong and something about it just didn't sit right with me - I felt vaguely sick and couldn't stand it. The Dragon's Tears smells great but it is too intense for me. Now the Old Spice - just right! Not too hot and not too cold (anybody catch the reference? It's not that clever).

The two scents I personally didn't enjoy are in the process of being traded. I want to stress that this isn't Mama Bear's fault, and I'm not saying you won't enjoy them - not all scents are for all people, and that's why we have a vibrant trading forum.

Now I did lather them all up - they're AMAZING. Some the richest, slickest lather I've ever had - even better than Taylor's. It lasts for a long time and lathers easily.

So, in summary, stick to scents you know and this soap is golden (get the reference?).

Great soap. I have the Rosemary/Mint, Dragon's Blood, Beau Brummel, and Black Code. The fragrances are very good. The rosemary/mint is cooling and refreshing too.

The soap itself is a bit drying, so I usually don't use it two days in a row. Mama Bear (Sue) says she is going to start producing some with natural moisturizing agents added. That should be an interesting addition to some already great soaps.

(Since you have a pic of the Rosemary Mint, that's the soap that I'm reviewing here even though the Post is generically titled as Mama Bear's Shaving Soap)

Great soap and man does this stuff tingle!

It may be offend purists but this stuff rivals Proraso with it's cooling effect! From the time I started applying the lather I could feel the peppermint chill!

First, I'd like to Say that Sue is an awesome lady who enjoys making soaps and making sure the customer is satisfied. Always quick to answer questions and get things shipped out.
Second, 8 months ago, I was impressed that Colonel Conk had 4 different scents. Now, I can choose from many, many more.
Third, there are very few soaps that can produce the lather that her stuff can. It's also consistant between the scents (I currently have 6, with 4 on the way).
Last, but definately not the least, is the strong scent of these soaps. Kind of saddening to rinse off the extra lather on your face after a nice shave. I hope everyone has the opportunity to experience the wonderful scent of Somali Rose or Dragon's Blood in the morning!
I really can't say enough about this product.
-Fred

I think Joel summed it up pretty well. So far, this is my favorite MB soap.

Randy

Mamma Bear's products are out of this world incredible. It is rare to find a shaving soap that smell incredible, produces excellent shaving lather, and affordable. Rosemary Mint is one of my top five favorite soaps from Mamma Bear. I'm quickly acquiring the entire line and have yet to find a fragrance I don't care for.

A unique quality of Sue's product is the consistancy of lather properties between all the scents. You can't go wrong with this product.

Ok.... so #1 who is this "mamma bear?" #2 What qualifies her to make shaving soap? #3. Why spend money on such a random, off the wall, mom & pop type of product?

#1 - One of the nicest ladies you'll ever talk to who makes soaps out of her house... on her stove... with pots and pans.

#2 - Well.... nothing really that I am aware of.

#3 - Spend money on this product because it works exceptionally well, smells out of this world, and is awful inexpensive... in fact - it is just about the cheapest soap out there, cheaper even than Em's, SCS, QED, etc.

First and foremost... let me just start with the scent - as when you open the jar "WAAAPOOW" it hits you with a sharp crack like a blow from an angry - drunken Russell Crowe. At first whiff... I wasn't dissapointed, but I was a little let down. Don't get me wrong... it has an amazing peppermint scent to the soap... but where the heck was the rosemary? Well - take your wet brush, rub it around for a few seconds and BAM - your washroom is filled with the delightful, and elegantly mixed scent of peppermint AND rosemary. Honestly... the scent did not sound appealing to me in the slightest - but based on Rik's recommendation I went for it, and thank god I did.... REALLY delightful and BIG TIME invigorating. The second the brush touches your face you feel a whallop of a cooling effect - but PLEASE note the soap is 100% natural and the particular scent is comprised of essential oils, not fragarence oils - as a result it was incredibly delicate to/on my skin. Outstanding scent... simply first rate all the way, as ALL SIX of my mamma bear soaps have been - I can't wait to lather up some others and see if they change, as this one did, once lathered.

Now down to "bidness" - performance. Simply put - little needs to be said in this regard, as without question this is among the best, if not THE best glycerine soap on the market... yes... it is that good. As with all glycerine based soaps - you don't get as much of a "protective barrier" as you do with a thick, rich shaving cream, but mamma bears soap provides more "cushion" than most other glycerine based soaps, provides SUPERIOR lubrication to other glycerine based soaps or any shaving cream, and cuts WICKEDLY close. Using my plane jane Merkur Classic Long Handle for the last 2 days in a row with this soap and a 5 day old feather blade, I have gotten 2 world class, better than normal shaves. For a mere $6 you get a large 2.5inch soap in a plastic tub... but this is a much deeper/fatter cake of soap than standard and as a result offers quite a superb value - and Mamma sure don't skimp on the essential oils. As far as shaving soaps go... this is right up there with THE BEST of 'em, and when you take price/scent into consideration... (I kinda cringe when I say this as I have so many other soaps I have paid 5X+ for that I like LESS) this is probably the best shaving soap out there... yeah... there you have it.

You can purchase this soap from Sue AKA "Mamma Bear" HERE in about 400 different scents :lol:

Seriously.... way too many scents to choose from... it is overwhelming as they all sound exceptional!

TO DISCUSS THIS REVIEW OR ASK QUESTIONS PLEASE SEE THIS THREAD!

Below - check out the pictures of Mamma Bear in action...