Old Post Road #4 Shaving Soap

I had heard great things about this soap, so I decided to give it a shot. It works okay, but reminded me more of a preshave oil. It's very slick and the razor just glides over it, but there's no cushion, so as soon as irritation starts, it gets ugly. I've heard of some guys using this once a week, and that might be a good solution. It has a scent which isn't unpleasant, just not really my style.

Old Post Road #4 is a product that I will probably have 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, I never had a problem with this because it washed off easily for me. The slickness of OPR #4 was nice because it really didn't take a lot of the product to shave, but I did find that I needed more than the recommended portions according to the directions.

I didn't care for the citrus/sandalwood combination (frankly I think it stinks), but the smell is not a deal breaker because it isn't strong and doesn't linger.

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. However, with the daily shaves that followed, I found that the irritation increased over the course of the trial. I even got razor bumps on my 4th shave and decided to end the everyday shave experiment.

OPR#4 is not moisturizing, but that is not an essential quality for my purposes for this soap.

The bottom line is that this soap is not (yet) in the same league as the quality soaps/creams that most of us have become used to. It is not good for an WTG, XTG, ATG routine daily DE/Str8 shaver IMO, but it would probably be very effective for the average cartridge user. Also, I found that I could get a BBS shave with XTG and ATG passes only. This routine seemed to help with the irritation, but it didn't eliminate it. For short trips, 3 days growth, or a fast shave; this is a great product. For daily DE/Str8 use, I wouldn't recommend it. But this product does have a permanent place in my shave den.

So after all of the calamity and the rocky start for this soap I've finally finished my review of the product. I chose a fairly aggressive set up for my first shave with the #4. I believe in a fair shake for everyone and I enjoy testing the limits. I didn't want to use something I knew would be mild and skew the results, so I went with an open comb (Custom Gillette NEW) and a Feather blade.

I started each shave exactly as the instructions indicated. I started with a nice hot water rinse of my face. I did this several times over roughly 30 seconds. I chose not to shower first, as again, I wanted to put it to the max test. I know for me personally a hot shower prior to my shave yields the best results, so I deliberately skipped this step. After applying plenty of hot water to my face I followed the instructions pump for pump and step by step.

Right away I could tell this was a very slick soap, but I had no idea until after I let it dry and then re-applied hot water and a final pump worth of soap. As I applied the soap I found the scent pleasing. It wasn't strong or obnoxious, just simple. There appeared to be a bit of citrus and perhaps sandalwood?

As I made my first WTG (N-S) pass I was immediately taken by the ease with which my Custom NEW sliced through the 3 day growth like a hot knife through butter. The whiskers literally seemed to simply melt from my face. After a full WTG pass I did a hot water rinse and then added a single pump (not outlined in the instructions) as I felt I needed just a little more slickness and completed an ATG pass. Normally I'd shave XTG prior to my ATG pass but this wasn't necessary with the OPR #4.

In the end I got a perfect 100% BBS shave from the #4. I had no nicks, cuts, weepers, no blood or irritation of any type.

After day one I was super impressed with this product and how it performed after a few days growth.

I continued to use the exact same set up/routine each day of the test.

After my second shave my skin felt a little tighter than normal and my AS splashed burned more than day one.

After my third shave my skin was even tighter, I had a few weepers (that stopped bleeding with my cold water rinse) and my AS splash burned more than shave one or two.

This soap washed very easily from my hands and my face after the shave. There was no unpleasant residue and zero difficulty washing it away. Once it was rinsed clean the scent was gone.

Summary of my first shave:

• Very slick
• With 3 days growth it was easier to see what I had shaved without having lather in the way
• It was a very comfortable shave (rivaled my finest soaps/creams used with my best brushes)
• 100% BBS irritation free shave!

Summary of my second shave:

• Very slick
• Comfortable shave
• 100% BBS!
• AS Splash burned a little
• Skin was tight post shave

Summary of my third shave:

• Very slick
• A couple of weepers
• AS burned more than previous days
• Skin was tighter than previous days
• Again 100% BBS!

Old Post Road #4 offered a fantastic first shave to my week. It did gradually and subtly became less comfortable each day and by day three I had about a half dozen weepers on the sensitive parts of my neck/chin.

It is my opinion that this shave soap is better suited to occasional use than repetitive day after day use. The fact is after a 3 day growth Old Post Road performed as well if not better than the best of the big 3 T's. However, with consecutive use it became less and less comfortable. It did deliver 100% BBS every day.

This will remain in my rotation and may even become my go to soap for my Monday morning shave (if I haven't shaved all weekend long).

This would also make a spectacular travel soap. It would be the only soap you'd need. You can use it as a body wash, shampoo and of course as a great shave soap. This would be perfect for a short 2-3 day get away, though if I were traveling for longer I'd still need other soap options.

OPR #4 is fantastic for one day use and only average for multi-day use.

Final thought, this product would be a huge step up for the canned goo crowd and is adequate as part of a regular rotation among us die hard wet shavers.

Okay, I gave the product a work week of shaves with the first being after a Saturday and Sunday growth period. Day one I felt I got a very good shave with no immediate irritation, but that evening I did have some tenderness and a couple small areas of razor burn.

Days two thru 5 got progressively worse for me. One of the major reasons I've welcomed wet shaving to my life is it completely cured what I used to refer to as "neck dandruff". Regardless of the moisturizers I tried my neck was dry and flaky all the time. When I began to use the soaps and creams made specifically for use with a brush that all went away...until now. I noticed Thursday morning that the dark blue shirt I was wearing had those old familiar flakes around the front collar area and on my chest. The comfort I experienced the first day also made way to increasing discomfort over the course of the 5 days spent using the product. During the shave, it always seemed to glide relatively well, but I've never been more fearful of my alum block or aftershaves. Visible razor burn worsened with each shave as well.

My feeling is this oil allows the blade to be just a little too close to the skin, which may make it the perfect solution for those wishing to stick with their cartridge razors. As someone had mentioned in the discussion board, perhaps this would make a better pre-shave oil for use under creams or soaps but I think I'll be removing it from my regimen altogether.

I believe there is a market for this product but I can't recommend it for providing the sole source of lubrication for a proper wet shave. This will most likely make it into a PIF at some point unless my wife likes the scent (which didn't bother me near as much as some others have stated) then she can possibly try it for her legs.

First of all, I wondered several times in the silence of my solitary bathroom why someone has never made a simple shaving soap that could give a superior shave and could be used for face washing, etc... Well, "they" have. This is it. It is a great shaving product and can be used for overall grooming, including washing your face and hair. Frankly, I love it. It is a great alternative to the pre-oils, mugs, brushes, soaps, after shave balms, etc... For about 20% of the price you get pretty much the same result. This is 100 times better than any canned foam or pump gels, which I hate with a passion. This is not simply an easy product it is a quality product, and something very different. It pumps out and rubs on like you are washing your face. The disconcerting part is that it is not foamy AT ALL. But you get a wonderful layer of moisturized protection that takes a blade well, and shaves the hair off your face and leaves it smooth. Pretty quick and easy. I plan to keep the nice blades and all, but I no longer need all the bottles and all that time. This 9 on a scale of 10, and is absolutely worth trying.

I shaved with it this morning and did so with an open mind and two days growth. To keep this about the product I will preface this with I used a top notch blade on its 2nd shave and and a highly regarded not aggressive adjustable razor set to 6. I showered first and other than the shower did not one bit of prep work.

I rubbed in 4 pumps of the soap and was very surprised that it completely disappeared into my skin. Hmmm, this is different stuff.

I did a 3 pass shave W-X-A with a bit of extra water between passes and went at the whole endeavor very quickly as I am not normally a morning shaver.

I found that my fast 3 passes gave me an irritation free, nick free, comfortable DFS!

I rinsed with hot and then cold water and found little to no residue left on my skin. My after shave splash tingled some, but neither a lot or less than any other for me to believe that the impact to my skin was less than ordinary.

My skin felt different post-shave than it does with traditional products. This was both a good thing and a bad thing in my opinion. My skin was somewhat tighter and probably more deeply moisturized than with the traditional products, but it did not have the same ultra-smooth, ultra-pampered soft feel that scores me big points with SWMBO...a negative for me.

Also, a big negative was the scent. To me this soap smelled like an apple pie about to go in the oven. There was a cooking oil smell that overwhelmed everything. It is mostly olive oil, but the other food product oils added to the smell as well...I would have enjoyed a pure olive oil smell, but this was different. Then right underneath was a fruity sweetness that was a bit appley and a bit something else I couldn't place. Perhaps this was the ingredient listed as "fragrance." All in all the smell was a big turnoff to me, while I am all for natural "green" products, I think many of the more traditional products reach the same goal while sticking to a more traditional smell. I honestly felt as though this would be a product my partner the "dead head" would really enjoy.

I was going to give it a few goes before I reviewed it and try it with a brush as well, but after my first shave I realized that a brush is completely unneccesary with the product and I cant see that it would add to the shave in any way.

Ultimatley I think this is a hybrid product probably best placed for cartridge shavers (speed conscious) to do something to get a better shave than they can with canned stuff or as a great travel/emergency shave soap. I really dont think you can find something better to toss in a dop kit for a trip where you want to go light and fast. Finally, I think it really might shine as a pre-shave oil to go under a traditional product...its soooo much cheaper than most oils, and using a pump or two under a traditional shave might really get you the best of both worlds very cheaply.

Yes, this is the stuff that caused the (minor) set-to here at B&B. Curious about it I obtained some and gave it a fair shake following the very specific instructions that come with it. The razor was a Cobra Classic with a Feather Professional blade. The blade has a few miles on it (shave #8 or so), but still works and gives a BBS, comfortable shave with a good cream like Speick or a soap like MWF, Harris or similar.

I gave it good marks on price. Hey, it's $7 for 8oz. That is a very good price for a shave product of any quality at all. And yes, this is good stuff. The box claims 200 shaves based on recommended usage. I have also heard the maker here say 160 shaves. So for the price of lunch you get about 6 months of shaves. Hard to beat.

Edit - the maker has been in contact with me and tells me that due to a snafu with the bottle vendor, the correct number of pumps is 160, not 200. The insert that comes with the soap states 200, but that was printed before the bottle size screwup. In either case the price is nowhere near unreasonable.

The soap comes in an amber bottle with a pump dispenser. You are supposed to wet your face with the hottest water you can stand, and apply two pumps, rubbing it into your beard. Then one more followed by a little hot water. This I did. It's a little scary since there is nothing but s shine on your face. The soap is quite thin - it's not a cream at all. Not even liquid hand soap consistency. And for those of you looking for gobs of lather, no way. This stuff is not intended to lather and no way will you make it lather. No brush used here, and very little prep.

The scent is really good. I got a strong citrus note from it. It's not overpowering at all. Mainly a nice clean scent that doesn't linger.

OK, how does it work? I found the shave to be on par with a reasonable cream. It's not up there with creams like Trumpers, Fraser or Speick in terms of smooth glide, but the shave was quite comfortable and easy, with no irritation. The instructions say you do not have to reapply between passes. This is true. You finish your first pass, get your hand wet with hot water and rub your face again. This allows you to find what you missed and re-lubes your face. There is plenty of soap left on your face, so you really don't have to add more. I was able to do my usual two passes with some buffing, and could have done a third. In fact my biggest gripe with this stuff is that it's hard to get it all off your face. You have to rinse quite a bit before it all comes away. My face felt a little tighter than I am used to following, say, a Speick cream shave. Most soaps (except IK or Harris) leave me that way. So nothing unusual there.

This product is clearly aimed at people with are not shave connoisseurs, always looking for that perfect lather and the sensual joy of a shave. It is a HUGE improvement for anyone using canned foam, and especially mass market cartridge razor users. It would also be a fantastic travel companion. You don't need to take your brush, soap dish and what-have-you. Just slather this on and go to town. You will get a good shave with a minimum of fuss.

The website claims it's all natural, and a look at the ingredients list affirms this. The maker is a member here and has been very willing to put his product in the rather harsh spotlight, and I have to tell you it comes out looking very good indeed. Is it for you? Maybe. You really do need to give it a shot. It is very definitely worth every penny you pay, and I think it will stay in my rotation. It won't take the place of my beloved high end creams and soaps. But it is as good as many and better than most products, and has a place on my shelf.

Thanks to Old Post Road for sticking with it (and us)! You have a winner here.