Monthly Archives: October 2012

Mama Bear Soaps – Autumn Afternoon Glycerin Shave Soap

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

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It was a dismal dreary rainy morning, typical of fall / winter in Victoria BC, when I was choosing what soap to use next. So I plunged my hand into the box o’ Mama Bear samples, and grabbed a few. One stood out as a promise to remind me that fall need not be all that bad. So next, I’ll be reviewing Mama Bear’s Autumn Afternoon.

Mama Bear describes this one as a clean blend of herbs, falling leaves, and clean fresh air. And, as per usual, it smells exactly like it sounds. It’s a nice pleasant fresh smelling scent that reminds me of a walk through the park on a crisp day in the fall.

The strength could have been kicked up a notch. It was noticeable, but not strongly, when the lather was applied to the face, however it seemed to fade fairly quickly. Sniffing the soap directly is reasonably strong.

And the shave was the usual from Mama Bear. Decent glide, as long as you’re not too stingy on the water, but careful not to go overboard either or you’ll kill the cushioning. Lather will break down between passes if you’re using a scuttle, but can be re-whipped up easily enough (and you probably want to add a couple drops of water each pass as you do).

Overall, I give it a 6/10. Give it a shot if you’re looking for a light fresh scent.

  • Cost: $9.99 for a jar full. The samples used to be available for a dollar each, and it is for the other scents I checked; that option seems to be broken for this scent, however I suspect this might be an oversight.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Safflower , Glycerine (kosher, of vegetable origin), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Soybean protein (conditioner), Wheat protein and fragrance either natural or synthetic.

Mystic Water Soap – Irish Traveller

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

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Mystic Water Soap for Men is hardly unique in doing an interpretation of Creed’s Green Irish Tweed scent. It seems like every artisan soap-maker with more than a dozen scents gives it a go. Irish Traveller is theirs attempt.

The scent itself is quite nice, what I will assume is a reasonable interpretation of the original (I’m hoping to get a bowl of the Creed stuff for xmas!). The strength leaves something to be desired; the soap itself smells fine, but like a lot of soaps, the lather fails to deliver. I was only able to catch the occasional faint whiff when it was applied to the face.

The sample is generously sized; the soap pliable, but not enough to be considered a soft soap, or a “croap”. It lathered up easily, and performed decently. I would have preferred a bit more slickness, but it cushioned quite well, and overall gave a perfectly decent shave.

Overall, I’d say it’s a 6/10. I was far more impressed with their Coconut Lime Verbena; I’ll see how the rest of the samples go.

Gear used:

Ingredients (actually listed on the sample package!): Tallow, Water, Castor Seed Oil, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Shea Butter, Avocado Oil, Palm Oil, Fragrance, Sodium Hydroxide, Stearic Acid, Aloe Vera Leaf Juice, Bentonite, Silk.

Man Cave Soapworks – Gentleman’s Tweed

29 Monday Oct 2012

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After a recommendation from a fellow redditor, I looked into Man Cave Soapworks, and promptly bought every scent they make. As an aside, it seems like most artisan soap makers put little effort into their packaging; I usually only buy the puck itself and just throw it into a mason jar or tupperware. For these, however, Carrie over Man Cave Soapworks appears to have actually put some effort and skill into crafting unique interesting labels for each of her soap scents. So, to any other soap-makers out there, presentation counts too!

Gentleman’s Tweed would be their take upon Creed’s classic Green Irish Tweed scent. Here’s what they have to say about it:

This rich, sporty scent bursts with a sprig of Dublin ivy and a blend of French verbena and lemon. Green herbaceous clover, sublime notes of mysore sandalwood and gray amber will make you wish you were with nary a care on O’Connell Street in Dublin; Guinness in hand.

It’s a bit sweeter than most other versions of this scent that I’ve smelled so far. All in all, it’s an extremely pleasant scent. Unfortunately, it’s not strong enough. Quite nice in the jar, but when lathered and applied to the face? Only the faintest occasional whiff. As anyone who reads my reviews on a regular basis knows, this is all too common of a fault amongst soaps across the board. Seriously people, I like your scents! I want to be able to smell them when I’ve shaving, not just when I’m sticking my nose in the jar.

For the shave itself, it performs about the same as most other Glycerine shave soaps that I’ve come across. Nice and thick lather, fairly decent amount of glide. No issues finding a good balance between the two. Plus it did seem to leave the face seeming a bit softer / nicer than most soaps.

Overall, I’d give it a 6/10. I wish it could be a bit stronger scented, but at that price point it might still be worth a shot.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Safflower Oil, Glycerin, Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide,  Organic Shea Butter, Sorbitol, Sorbitan Oleate, Bentonite Clay, Soy Bean Protein, Wheat Protein, Fragrance.

Vitos Extra Super – Coconut scent soap

28 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by in Italian, Soap

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Vitos gave me a pretty darned good shave. It was fairly easy to get a good lather out of it, nice and thick with good glide. Not too much in the way of volume, but that’s not all that big of a deal. Nothing out of the ordinary in the way of extra moisturizing properties, but still a nice solid shave.

The scent is a classic marzipan / sweet almond, with just a little hint of coconut. It’s quite pleasant; when the girlfriend gave the jar a sniff her eyes just lit up, and I had to warn her not to take a bite out of it.

Strength-wise is where it fails however. In the jar, it’s nice and strong. On the brush after loading up, it’s barely there. Once lathered up on the face, it fades to non-existence pretty swiftly.

Overall, I give it a 6/10. I wouldn’t recommend it really. Cella is better. Buy that instead.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Stearic acid, hydrogenated tallow, water, potassium hydroxide, glycerin, sodium hydroxide, sodium hexametaphosphate, talc, benzaldehide.

Mama Bear Soaps – Phoenix Rising Shave Soap

24 Wednesday Oct 2012

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Time for another Mama Bear soap review (because I’ve got like 60 samples to get through!). Up next is Sue’s Phoenix Rising (from the ashes) scent. To start off, here’s what she has to say about the scent:

The Phoenix is a symbol of rebirth, a new beginning.This mysterious and invigorating soap evokes the sense of anticipation. What the day may bring or what the night has in store.

This wonderful scent is warm smoldering embers and vanilla containing notes of charred birch, pine and cedar with a balsamic vanilla, amber, sandalwood and musk drydown. One of my favorites!

The woodsy / smokeyness of this soap is tempered quite nicely by the sweetness of the vanilla. It’s a combination that, where I to guess based on just the description, I probably wouldn’t have thought would be something I liked, however in actually smelling it, it came together really well. The scent is patterned after a now-discontinued line of scented candles called “Fireside” which was produced by Bath and Body Works in collaboration with Sir Elton John.

The only complaint I have is my most common complaint with soaps from manufacturers across the board: not quite as strong of a scent as I would have liked. I was still able to pick it up throughout the shave, but not easily.

As for the shave itself, it’s the usual from Mama Bear. Decent balance of glide and cushioning, as long as you’re careful about the amount of water added. Start dry, add it in slowly, otherwise you’ll risk making it too runny. But you do need to be sure to add enough, otherwise you’re not going to get enough glide. And you’ll probably need to re-work the lather between passes if you use a warmed scuttle, as the heat causes it to break down.

Overall, I’d say it’s a solid 7/10. The beauty of Mama Bear is the wide variety of scents available and how easy it is to sample them. This is worth adding to a sampler pack.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Safflower , Glycerine (kosher, of vegetable origin), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Soybean protein (conditioner), Wheat protein and fragrance either natural or synthetic.

Al’s Shaving Products – Calypso Shaving Cream

21 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by in Al's Shaving Products, American, Cream

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Calypso is Al’s take on the classic Bay Rum scent. I’m definitely a fan overall of Bay Rum. I’m absolutely a fan of this Calypso. Here’s what Al had to say about it himself:

Calypso can be described as cool, refreshing, bracing. There is also a warm, friendly, honest feel to this fragrance and one that is extremely natural. On top of this, there is also, strangely, a shadowy, deep, mysterious, spicy quality. The scent itself may be relatively simple but its impression is complex.

The first thing that needs to be mentioned is that the scent of this shaving cream transforms when lathered. When in just the cream form, it has a subdued scent that comes across as a bit grassy, that smells (to steal a phrase from Douglas Adams) almost but not quite entirely unlike Bay Rum. But once you start lathering up, the aroma of the spices absolutely fills the room. The bay leaves, cloves, and cinnamon are quite evident, and if smells just great. And as you could guess from the description of the scent filling the room, there is no problems whatsoever with weakness of the aroma here. It remains strong once applied to the face, and doesn’t fade noticeably while shaving.

The shave itself was likewise quite nice. It’s a thirsty cream, so be sure to not be stingy on the water. Once lathered up, it’s thick and slick (don’t worry, it puts all that water to work rather than just thinning out), and left my face feeling wonderful after a BBS shave both days.

Definitely a 9/10. Seriously, go try it. Worth a sample for sure.

  • Cost: A 4 oz tub goes for 20 dollars, or you can try this scent in the $20 7 day sampler pack, with each 1/4 oz sample being good for 4 – 5 shaves at my usual wasteful usage. (I will say, although I usually don’t mention sale prices, since I want these posts to stand the test of time, I believe both those items have been on sale for at least a few months. It may be one of those semi-permanent sales you sometimes see.)

Gear used:

Ingredients: No ingredient listing was provided, nor was I able to find one on-line. Al did however have this to say: “The forumula of Al’s Shaving Cream is Triethanolamine and preservative (parabens) free and only contains sodium and potassium salts of fatty acids (stearic, oleic, linoleic, palmitic, myristic and lauric) in addition to water, glycerin and botanicals.”

Mama Bear Soaps – Sandalwood Rose Shave Soap

20 Saturday Oct 2012

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Sandalwood Rose is an intriguing combination of two classic shaving soap scents. The rose seems to beat out the sandalwood. It’s interesting, but I don’t quite think it does it for me. Something about the combination just doesn’t mesh; overall I think I’d prefer either just rose or just sandalwood. Mind you, I think I’m finding that I’m generally not all that much of a sandalwood fan in the first place, so naturally your mileage may vary.

As for the strength, not bad but not quite there. You could catch some of it in the lather once applied to the face, but not too much. It didn’t fade all that much however, which helps.

As for the shave itself, Mama Bear is nothing if not consistent on that front. Lathered up nice and thick, decent volume; be sure to use a fair bit of water for slickness, but be careful not to add too much or you can end up too runny.

As promised in my last review, I did a little experimentation, and didn’t heat up the scuttle to see what effect it had on the rate at which the lather broke down between passes. It definitely seemed to make a difference. That having been said, I have a scuttle because I enjoy the nice warm lather, and I’m not about to abandon that just because of the added work of a few seconds of re-mixing each time I want to lather up my face.

Overall, I give it a 5/10. I probably won’t use it again. But of course, as per usual with Mama Bear, at a dollar a sample, it might be worth the shot for you. That’s the beauty about having such a wide wide range of options to pick from; there’s gotta be something for everyone.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Safflower , Glycerine (kosher, of vegetable origin), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Soybean protein (conditioner), Wheat protein and fragrance either natural or synthetic.

Mike’s Natural Soaps – Lime

17 Wednesday Oct 2012

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I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about Mike’s Natural Soaps, and after having tried my first sample, I can definitely see why.

My first shave with the stuff was pretty good. Decent amount of cushion, reasonably slick, etc. On my 2nd shave, I accidentally added a fair amount more water than I would have normally done so. And it turned out to be glorious. A little elbow grease (and perhaps using up a bit more soap than I might have otherwise), and I have a wonderful lather that was slick as a skating rink and cushioned like a dream. It was the best shave I’d had in, well, since I started doing these reviews.

And the scent was pretty darn good too. Mike promised a “Simple, sweet, citrusy invigorating lime”, and I would say he delivered. It’s quite pleasant.

Strength-wise, it’s not quite strong enough. The soap itself smells strongly, and follows to the lather, if not quite as strongly as I would have liked. While on the face, it’s smells nice but a tad weak, but at least it doesn’t fade all that much while shaving.

  • 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
  • 8/10 Scent Strength
  • 10/10 Lather Quality

Overall, it’s a great soap! 9/10. Thus far, it’s my favourite Lime scented soap. I highly recommend giving it a shot.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Distilled water; saponified tallow and stearic acid; vegetable glycerin; saponified kokum butter, avocado oil, and shea butter; lanolin, fragrance and/or essential oil(s); saponified coconut oil;  kaolin clay, vitamin E.

The Strop Shoppe – Baker Street

15 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in American, Soap, Strop Shoppe

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Here dwell together still two men of note
Who never lived and so can never die:
How very near they seem, yet how remote
That age before the world went all awry.
But still the game’s afoot for those with ears
Attuned to catch the distant view-halloo:
England is England yet, for all our fears–
Only those things the heart believes are true.

A yellow fog swirls past the window-pane
As night descends upon this fabled street:
A lonely hansom splashes through the rain,
The ghostly gas lamps fail at twenty feet.
Here, though the world explode, these two survive,
And it is always eighteen ninety-five.

– 1895 by Vincent Starrett

With their Baker Street soap, the fine folks over at the Strop Shoppe attempted to evoke images “of sitting rooms, pipes, and foggy London streets” to start off your day with “The Game Afoot”.

And I would say they succeeded marvellously. The blend of Bergamot, Juniper, Jasmine, and Patchouli have combined wonderfully to create a scent that could easily be something that Mr. Watson or Sherlock Holmes would have worn. This is my 2nd favourite scent, behind TOBS’s Jermyn Street.

And they didn’t skimp on the scent either. The soap itself smells quite strongly, and the lather carries the aroma rather nicely, staying noticeable throughout the entire shave, without fading. I might have liked perhaps just a fraction stronger, but I am hardly complaining.

The shave itself was likewise great. It lathers up very easily into a thick creamy voluminous foam, with quite a wide “sweet spot” for the amount of water it needs to balance the thickness with the slickness. During a normal shave, it left the skin feeling quite and moist afterwards. The only downside I saw was some irritation when I left it sitting on my face for a while (when I was testing how long the scent would last), but that took longer to emerge than the average shave takes me anyways, but those with sensitive skin might want to be a bit wary.

I’m not sure if it’s on purpose or not, but the cakes sent out fit just perfectly into the wide-mouthed mason jars I use to store most of my soaps (when I don’t feel like paying extra for a jar from the manufacturer). A nice bonus. One note, this review was of the original vegan-friendly vegetable-oil based configuration. This scent is also one of ones being offered in a tallow-based soap or in their “special edition” with shea and cocao butter.

Normally, I might be debating whether or not to give it a 9/10 or a 10/10, but seeing as how this is currently my favourite shave soap to date, I’ll go ahead and round up. 10/10. Sir Conan Doyle would be proud.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Glycerin, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Fragrance.

Saponifying agents : Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide.

May contain : Sunflower Oil (Used as a substitute for Rice Bran Oil when needed).

The Shave Den – Raspberry soap

13 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by in American, Soap, The Shave Den

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Sniffing the little baggie this sample came in revealed a quite nice raspberry scent. Not excessively sweet, it captured the fruit’s smell quite well.

The soap itself smelled strong enough. As is often the case, the lather did not. I could still catch the occasional whiff of the aroma while shaving, but it certainly wasn’t consistently so.

I found that this sample seemed to have a fair bit more slickness to it than the other soap I’ve tried from The Shave Den thus far. I was still able to get sufficient glide and have a comfortable shave while leaving the lather rather thick, although I can’t guarantee that this wasn’t due to some minor differences in how I prepared the lather rather than actual differences in the soap itself.

Overall, I give it a 6/10. The scent underwhelms, so it’s not recommended if that’s a big deal for you.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Glycerin, Aqua, Olive Oil, Bentonite Clay, Sodium Borate, Sweet Almond Oil, Sodium Palmate, Sorbitol, Sodium Cocoate, Palm Acid, Coconut Acid, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, and fragrance.