Mama Bear Soaps – Sandalwood Rose Shave Soap

Tags

5/10, Glycerin, Mama Bear Soaps, Rose, sandalwood, shaving soap

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.

• 5/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 7/10 Lather Quality (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

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.

• Cost: $1.00 for the sample used, which should last a 3 – 4 shaves easily. Larger amounts range from $4.49 for a 1.5 ounce puck, to $10.79 for a 5 ounce puck, with containers available for extra.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Merkur Progress
• Blade: Feather Hi-Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

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.