Old Post Road #4 Shaving Soap (New Formula)

No. 4 is great. I love it. I use it everyday, and will reorder soon. I also use it for washing my face, and it is a great product. It makes me wonder if anyone else makes a shaving soap that can be used in either hard bar or liquid push dispenser (as with No. 4) for shaving and general usage. A great concept well produced.

Now with the travel size, I take it everywhere. This has displaced Pacific Shaving Company Oil and other shaving oils as my no fuss no muss product.

Just a final note: IMHO the sandalwood is the better of the two fragrance options.

***Edit***

Sorry to have started a new review thread, but once again the search feature failed me. After reading the positive reviews, I stand by my results.
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I don't remember where I first heard of Old Post Road, but saw a blurb on it and decided that for $7, I could give this a go.

Here's a quote from their website:


If it were only so...

First of all, the bottle resembles nothing as much as cheap hand soap. That I could live with; I'm over paying top dollar for a container. I love sandalwood, but the scent is faint and fleeting even in the bottle -- on the face, it is non-existent.

I used it EXACTLY as instructed on the rather nicely written package insert. Again, a quote:

"First, wet your face very thoroughly with hot water. Take two pumps of No. 4 in your hands and rub thoroughly into your whiskers. Then take a third pump and rub that soap into your whiskers. With your hands still soapy, take a very small amount of hot water into your hands and wet your face with that soapy water mix. Now you're ready to shave. Shave down initially, then shave up. Wet your face slightly to re-lubricate (no need for additional soap). Use your hand to feel for areas that need a closer shave (a shave down/shave up process will give you about 85-90% of a good shave). Use your razor over your wet and slightly lubricated skin until you're satisfied with the closeness of the shave. There is no need for additional soap; the residual soap with small amounts of hot water will provide all the lubrication you need at this point to give you a very close shave. The nourishing qualities of No. 4 will keep your face rejuvenated throughout the shave."​

No. 4 had no sandalwood scent on my face whatsoever. The rubbing produced a mildly slick feeling with little or no lather (which I would expect from an oil.) Within the first few strokes of my trusty Superspeed loaded with a twice-used Feather, I knew I was in trouble. All I got was skipping and dragging and pulling that reminded me of an incident when forced to used hotel hand soap.

Ok, I was determined to make this stuff work. I re-read the instructions, and did another go with hot water, a few squirts in my hands, and rubbing it on my face. Same thing.

One more go of hot water, rubbing, and a few more harsh strokes. OK, at this point I gave up. Made a quick lather using the first tub of cream I saw (GFT Almond), brushed it over the No. 4 without washing, and got my usual satisfactory shave.

I still wasn't done. The next day, I went through the entire process again, even following the directions as written. Same problems.

Sorry, guys. I respect your corporate mission, appreciate your interest in making shaving easier, but No. 4 just didn't do anything for me.

I used the original version and found it acceptable for occasional shaves. It will never replace my beloved creams and lathering soaps. But it was OK. However, OK wasn't good enough for OPR and they worked with B&B people to reformulate their soap, and with sperb results.

Again, this is not a lathering soap. It goes on smooth and in a thin layer. It will seem weird to you lather lovers, but stick with it. The slide and cushion are really good, and my Cobra Classic glided over my face like it was on skates.

The scent was mild and pleasant.

The only gripe I have is my inability to simply rinse it off. Creams like KMF, W&S, Trumpers, et al rinse off easily with water. OPR requires a wet facecloth and elbow grease to remove. But that's a small price to pay for the convenience and good shave qualities of this soap.

This is a wonderful travel companion and may well become your go-to soap, especially if you are not married to the idea of mounds of thick lather everywhere. Give it a shot. The maker has worked hard on it and has a unique and excellent product. It deserves to succeed and I hope it does!

Old Post Road #4 is a product that will be in my rotation perpetually.

It is extremely slick, but it washes off of your hands very easily. While some complained about a slick, soapy hand holding a razor with the original, I never had a problem with this because it washed off easily for me. This is also true of the new formula. The slickness of OPR #4 was nice because it really didn't take a lot of the product to shave.

This product is really quite effective for a 2-3 day growth shave. Even ATG passes were very comfortable on my initial 3 day growth shave. Also, the reformulated version performed very well in my daily shaves that followed

OPR#4 is not very moisturizing, but that isn't that big of a problem for me as I make up for that in other areas. The new formula doesn't dry my face out nearly as much as the original did.

The updated formula that Julian sent was significantly improved in two areas.

1. The scent was much better; I like it very much. There is a sandalwood note combined with something that I can't quite pinpoint, but it's pleasant.

2. The second area of improvement is in protection from razor burn. After several days of use, this version performed much better than the original OPR#4 formula. I've learned that was due to a lot of aloe vera added in. Whatever Julian did, it works much better now.

When I was reevaluating this soap, I really came to like it. For a quick shave, or for travel, this soap is an excellent choice. However, I shaved with my Irisch Moos shave stick since using OPR#4 and before doing this review, and I realized something. One thing that OPR#4 lacks that some would really miss is the comforting cushion from copious amounts of creamy lather that comes from the competition (alliteration is fun)

The bottom line is this: For those who view shaving as a chore, OPR#4 is a huge upgrade over traditional canned goo. I would recommend it to my friends that use cartridge razors in a second. And for those that are shaving snobs, OPR#4 can definitely fit in your rotation. From an efficacy standpoint, it really is great. It can serve as a face wash, preshave oil, or soap for superlather. And, it stands on it's own as a shaving soap, as well. This is especially true in the event that you need a quick shave or for travel.

EDIT: DISCLAIMER: The "Ratings" from my original review of the soap updated to reflect the new rating automatically, and I lost the ability to edit that review. Just a quick note, Scent, Efficacy, and Quality got better marks than previously given.

I'm posting this as a place holder. I just received my sample of the new Formula. Once I have the opportunity to test it I will review it here.