Prairie Creations tallow shaving soap

Great soaps. I like the scents. They are different and not everybody will feel the same way. Each scent has a bit of a twist to it. Not your run of the mill scents. Skin feels great after using her soaps. Got two of her cream samples on my last order. (Bedford Falls & Bamboo) - they are light and understated, but great. Her shave sticks are terrific!

I have 3 Prairie Creations Tallow and Lanolin soaps.

I won't waste any time here, I'll just say that they are flat out better than any other artisan soap I've tried.

Significantly better than Mama Bear's, SCS, Honeybee Sue's, QED and all the rest.

The two that I like the best are the Facial Blend and the Lavender Essential Oil. Facial Blend has a healthy dose of peppermint and tea tree oil. I like both of these and so does my skin.

The lavender has a clean, true lavender scent and it compares well with any of my other lavender soaps (T&H, Harris, eShave, MdC)

The one blend I bought that I do not care for (from a scent standpoint) is the Lemongrass and Sage. I can barely detect any scent but sometimes my nose works that way. (for example, I can't smell T&H 1805 but all the other T&H scents come through for me)

From a lathering/shave performance/skin care perspective these are first class soaps. The PC soaps I've tried that are formulated with essential oils smell great.

I like the Facial Blend and Lavender so much I've bought replacement pucks that will keep me stocked up for years (maybe decades - I have way too many soaps in rotation)

I've got the unscented version of this soap - not sure if the wheat protein is in mine... Works great. IMO, it's better than most of the other 'big boys' out there and it's half the price.

I didn't base the review against other products.

Price: at $7 a 5oz tub, you can't beat it. It's not hard soap but not as soft as say a Cella. I'm sure I'll get a long time out of it.

Quality: it's poured into a plastic tub and filled to the very brim so that's nice. If you're not a fan of the mess a soap can make because of this, this is soft enough where it can be molded into one of your favorite wooden tubs or other container.

Scent: the Old Spice scent is simply amazing. If you love the original scent, this is a mirror image of our grandfather or fathers favorite manly scent. I also ordered a Bay Rum which is great and my wife even loved it.

I also ordered a tub for my wife in a Cinderella scent, let's just say I call it Cinder'fella. It smells so good and will have to break into my wife's bathroom to give it a try.

Lather: I couldn't decide how fair I could be. I face lather my soaps and never get quite as nice and picturesque lather as some folks may like. But you don't need a glob of mess anyway and a face lather is more than enough for me. So it did lather but not as well as a soap would. Now that didn't hinder the job it had to do but could have been better.

Efficiancy: it did a nice job lubricating my face and letting my straight slide through very well but the lather was did not make it for my 3 passes so I swirled it around a few seconds. No big deal but not a 10. Maybe if I tried it with a badger it will hold a better lather.

Moisturizing: for some it is great, but living in the desert I can notice if the product isn't a 10 in this arena. Being winter now, I notice even more. It did a good job and didn't have any tightness all day.

A must try soap maker and will be a regular and even day to day. Not a special occasion soap like my Creed but this is nothing to speak negative about. Good product.

Some people seem to really love this stuff (like me) and others seem to think it's just meh.
Let me clarify a few things first. When I give a product a rating in one category, the rating is for that category. So I won't let my amazement at something's cheap price make me mark the lather as being amazing. I also try my best to not let my biases for/or against things like the company's principles or marketing strategy influence how I rate things like efficacy, performance, etc.
Basically, I'm trying to say that I'm not some overzealous nut who's raving about this soap because it's cheap, made by an independent artisan, or tallow based.

Price Pretty cheap for a puck of soap considering the other options. It's a good price for the amount of soap you're getting.

Quality Nice and effective packaging. And a look at the ingredients list lets you know that it is made of quality materials. It's not beautiful like your English Fern bowl, but IMO it's actually more practical to have a screw on plastic top. I assume less air leaks in, and plastic is less likely to get damaged than wood.

Scent Pleasant, but meh at best. Not the reason I love this soap. Other soaps (Penhaligon's especially has much nicer scents). Better Lavender scent elsewhere.

Lather It doesn't look as uber thick as my other lathers, so I gave it a lower rating despite the great shaving qualities of the lather. It's slick and moisturizing and provides great glide. Keep in mind that I face lather, so the lather doesn't turn into huge globs of sour creamy lather like when you bowl lather.
The lather looks better than GFT lather to me; similar to Cade, MWF, Palmolive; less thick and creamy than Penhaligon's. Again those are looks.

Efficacy Here is where this soap shines IMO. It performs similar to MWF for me in that it does not look as pretty as my other lathers, but shaves better than them. Imagine the positives of MWF (cushion, glide, and getting no resistance from my razor going ATG) taken a notch up.
IMO it outperforms Penhaligon's tallow soaps. Pen's looks richer, but doesn't shave with as little resistance for me. That's the tallow first Penhaligon's. It shaves way way better than tallow 5th Penhaligon's, which I would say is similar to GFT soaps.
PC soaps give me more ease when shaving, so that I don't really feel the blade that much as I shave. I get similar results from MWF, Cade, AOS, Lothantique and Palmolive.

Moisturizing I need an ASB after every shave cause my skin gets dry really easily. This soap is no exception. However, it is perhaps the only soap with the exception of MWF that leaves my face feeling a little bit less dry than usual.

Overall PC performs as well as my favorite soaps and is really only tied with AOS probably in terms of performance. It's more moisturizing than most soaps (doesn't really matter since I use an ASB) and shaves better/as good.
This is a real YMMV situation as you can see by the two reviews above mine. Some people seem to love this stuff and others don't. I do think that it's fair to recommend this soap to a newbie, because back when Krissy was less busy, it was easily available and a great performer at a cheap price.
I'm not trying to be objective about it, because I don't believe that's possible considering I'm writing about what I like and don't like. It would be like trying to be objective about food. What's spicy to you may not be spicy to me. You may have more tolerance for a certain type of spicy (wasabi) than another (chili peppers), so we could think that totally different dishes are spicy or not spicy. Same with soaps. What works well for one person may not work well for others, so it's impossible to be objective. The best we can do is to try to remove avoidable and unrelated biases.

With all the hype on the board I decided to give the PC soap a try. I read the previous posts and also on Rob's advice I went back and read the sticky on what soap really is. I'll skip how much it costs, packaging and so forth and get straight to the matter of how it works.

Scent - The scent was nice. Maybe I'm not as nostalgic as some so I wasn't overwhelmed. It smelled nice during the shave but didn't hang around long which was good.

Lather - It lathered well but not spectacular. Not bad, but just what you would expect from any tallow soap.

Efficacy and Moisturizing - Shaving with it didn't set off any bell or whistles either. It felt like other tallow soaps and didn't gunk up the razor. 3 passes went smoothly as normal.

As I was rinsing my face I was wondering what I was missing and why everyone was so high on this product. I was actually disappointed. I wanted this to be the great soap that made me shun all others. Then I realized how close the shave was and how good my face felt. No nicks, no burn and I didn't have to do any touchup on any areas. Wow, I almost overlooked the most important part, the end result. Seeing how a previous post talked about the quality of the shave dropping after 3 days I decided to use it for the next few days. I didn't notice any drop. Each day I got a very good shave and my face felt really good after.

So to wrap things up. This is a soap with a lot of YMMV in it. Price, packaging, scent, lather, etc. In the end though, for me, it is all about the shave you get. I have found this soap has the ability to allow some great shaves and make your face feel really good when it's over.

It won't replace any of the other tallow soaps in my current rotation but it has found a place in it.

I think it's something worth a try when you SSAD is kicking in. Don't expect the heavens to open up and angels to come down and spread lather on your face and I think you'll be ok.

As some of you may remember I was one of the B&B members who volunteered to help test Krissy's soaps when she was early in the development phase and before we knew they'd become Prairie Creations. At that time I gave her #17 a 90% rating but that was as compared against her other soaps. #17 was the best of the many variations I tested. Since that time I've gone on to compare both #17 and her improved/final versions against countless other soaps and the regulars/mainstays of my rotation.

As you may also remember that testing concluded less than four months ago. Is it possible for a new company to develop a good product in <4 months? I think so. However, it is unlikely for a new upstart to decimate the age old giants of the industry in a few short months. In the case of Prairie Creations I do think that Krissy has brought her product a long long way in a very short amount of time but it simply isn't fair to our membership, especially newer members to imply that PC is better than Penhaligon's, GFT and many others.

The previous reviewers in this thread, and other reviews around the board, as well as countless posts of praise all over the forum are implying that in less than four months Krissy went from producing a soap that produced an airy, un-protective lather that would totally vanish from a persons face before they could complete a single full shave pass to the best soap out there.

Is Prairie Creations the end all/be all of shaving soaps that simply decimates literally centuries of gentlemanly shave products from the likes of George F. Trumper, Trufitt & Hill, Penhaligons, D.R. Harris, Czech and Speake, Yardley, Floris etc. etc.?

No gentlemen, that is not the case at all. I understand what it is like to be zealous about a product or what it even means to be extremely excited to discover something that works well and is affordable (and for some this tends to bias us greatly). But I hope to offer an objective review of PC soaps.

Due to the inordinate amount of members praising the quality of Prairie Creations I felt it would best serve our membership, especially those new to the wet shaving world (or new to soaps), to offer a full and complete review of Prairie Creations shave soaps by someone who uses the best of the best daily. I have used every soap mentioned in this review (and countless others) and maintain a rotation of soaps that work best for me, not just those that sound impressive to others. I am primarily a soap person though I do own a few creams (mostly for ease of travel). That said I've mastered the Tricky MWF and understand the greatness that is Tabac and Sir Irisch Moos. I've used inexpensive soaps like VDH and paid well over $50 for a refill puck of my favorite soaps that have been discontinued.

Before delving into this review I'd like to offer a few resources. Like many newbies when I was trying to decide what the very best soaps were I started with the all important list of "stickies" in the Shaving Soaps forum. From there I made it a point to learn what soap really is. Jim put together some fantastic resources for both newbies and veterans alike but unfortunately, like many things, I think these resources are missed all too often.

So all that aside, what do I think of Prairie Creations Shave Soap? It's a good soap, good being the operative word. It is much like any other product from any number of small business soapers.

• Price: Price is very relative to me. Does a soap costing $4 make it a 10 and a soap costing $50 a 0? No, this rating should be relative to what you get for that money. If PC were selling for $10-$12 a puck this would be a much lower number for me. However, at $8 for a refill or $9 for a soap with container, PC is very affordable. When I compare the affordability of the soap with the quality of the product (as compared to others) I give PC a 6 for price.

• Quality: Quality is a combination of things in my mind. Is the price relative to the efficacy of the product? Does the packaging say quality/professionalism or does it say "garage band" so to speak? Does the soap itself look like something professionally done or something I carved up in the kitchen? In the case of Prairie Creations I see the quality as par for the course when compared to other artisan soapers. It's presentation isn't too cheap but it isn't as nice as some others. Quality from PC is what I'd expect from a small business. Despite the recurring theme that Tallow is the only thing, Tallow alone doesn't make a fantastic product. Overall I'd give PC a 6 for quality. For comparison I give GFT and Penhaligon's both a 10 for quality. For further reference I've never given ANY soap a perfect 10 (100%) overall. I think a perfect 100% is simply impossible as we are all so different and there are so many variables involved in wet shaving.

• Scent: This review is for the Spiced Rum. It smells like Spiced Rum (Bay Rum). I've smelled others I like a great deal more and others I liked far less. For this particular scent PC gets a solid 8.

• Efficacy and Lather: This is where my review will be contrary to the massive amount of praise PC has received in the past couple of months. First, PC creates an odd kind of sticky lather. It is easy to load onto the brush and it does build a great deal of lather with only a little more work than some of the big names. At first glance it appears to produce a ton of great lather (lather enhancers?). However, I find that the resulting lather is a bit like I'd imagine shaving with diluted Crisco would be like. It's thick enough to provide cushion but the sticky feel is a bit off-putting for me. I have experienced a small amount of razor skip with different PC soaps and find it isn't nearly as slick as I expect a great shave soap to be. I've found that with all PC soaps I tested as well as the two final versions I have I simply cannot use PC more than two or three days in a row. Day 1 I get a nice/decent and presentable shave, day 2 takes a great deal of work and day 3 nearly always results in more weepers than I'm willing to accept. For comparison in June I participated in the month of soap and used GFT Limes exclusively and in 30 shaves didn't have a single weeper, nick or razor burn.
  
  One other draw back is that you will go through your PC shave soap at an insane rate. I have a puck that I've used for both shaving and test lathering that I've managed to use more than 50% of. As I mentioned earlier I have GFT soaps that are more than a year old that barely look dented. Overall I'd give the one time shave efficacy of this soap a 7. With repeated use the efficacy of this soap drops steadily with every consecutive use so I'm going to go with an average efficacy of 5. Due to the stickiness of the lather I'm also giving lather a 5.

• Moisturizing: I have 'normal' skin. My skin is not oily nor dry. I have not seen any lasting benefits or negative reactions to PC soaps. As such I'll give it a 5 (middle of the road).

Final thoughts:

PC is, in my mind, an average soap from a small artisan soaper. How does it stand up to MamaBear, Gingers Garden, QED, Gentlemen's Best, SCS and others? In some aspects it is better, in others it is par and others still it falls short.

As far as comparing it to Tabac, Sir Irisch Moos, MWF, GFT, T&H, Penhaligon's, D.R. Harris or many of the other giants of the shave soap industry; they are simply on a different level.

Since I've already raved about Prairie Creations Old Spice Type, I'll just briefly recap and then hit on the main difference here, the scent.

Price is dirt cheap for what you get, quality is top notch. I just lathered up for my nightly shave with my VDH boar brush that mostly gathers dust, and it produced mounds of rich, creamy beautiful lather. Krissy's soaps get along well with badger and boar. Bowl lathering, face lathering and when used as a stick, this soap delivers.

Great cushion, lets your razor glide like a figure skater and leaves your face feeling like you just got the treatment at a spa.

The Bay Rum scent is a less spicy and more fruity than what I'm used to in a Bay Rum (Pinaud and Bigelow) but I like it...if Pinaud is for buccaneers, this Bay Rum is for the more refined gents ashore. Those looking for a more swashbuckling Bay Rum scent in a PC soap should check out Spiced Rum.

The scent is present from the moment you open the tub, but not overbearing or lasting once the shave is done. Just what I want. It's a little stronger then the Old Spice type scent.

Give this stuff a spin. You might find, as I have, that you've found "your soap".

I had read all sorts of testimonials here on the forum regarding Krissy's fine tallow soap, but dismissed them from my own mind because I had yet to encounter an artisan soap that was better than any of the top quality commercial offerings that were available. But I continued to have problems of one form or another with the commercial soaps, so I finally ordered a bowl of Prairie Creations Tallow Shaving Soap in lime scent.

Wow - what a revelation!

Here was a tallow shaving soap that handily beat the competition on all points:

• Price - $8.00 per 5.25 oz plastic container (as ordered for this review) or $6.50 per 5.25 oz refill puck. An unbelievable bang for the buck, as most of her commercial competition starts their refill pucks at $13 and up for a 3.5 oz puck.

• Quality - The soap is a poured solid product that is consistent throughout. It is opaque, without any artificial coloring and is delivered in a mid-weight resealable plastic container. The soap is filled up to the very brim of the container, ensuring the buyer is getting every penny's worth of their purchase.

• Scent - The scent of the lime fragrance oil - in this review - that Krissy uses is very clean and light. It lasts through the length of the shave but drys down quickly afterward, so as not to interfere with aftershaves or colognes.

• Lather - The lather has to be felt on one's face to be believed. The lather produced is super moist, dense and lubricating, and leaves the face so supple that aftershave balms aren't required. It's very easy to create a wonderful lather; just be sure to load the brush thoroughly with soap and add water sparingly during the mixing process.

• Efficacy - I've been using this container now for a month and have only used about an eighth of it. A little goes a long way.

• Moisturizing - The tallow, combined with the aloe vera and wheat protein, makes for an unbeatable combination. Prior to this review I had been using Mitchell's Wool Fat (MWF) shaving soap, another tallow heavyweight that I had established as my baseline to judge against. Prairie Creations leave MWF in the dust when it comes to moisturizing properties - there simply is no comparison.

One thing additional feature I discovered is that the Prairie Creations tallow soap can easily be removed from the plastic container, kneaded into a ball and pressed into any other soap bowl one cares to use (see my review photo above).

If you're looking for a dynamite shaving soap for an excellent price - look no further. Krissy has you covered.