I was contacted by Artur, the fellow behind the polish Arturro Barbier line of soaps about doing a review. So, he sent off a pair of soaps, their Vetiver scented one (which I’ll be covering in a few days), and this unscented “Purile” soap.
The soap is relatively soft. It reminds me a lot of Wickham Shaving Soap, both in appearance and consistency and performance. Like the Wickham, I found it had a relatively wide sweet spot. It would work reasonably well with just the water on a moistened brush, but the performance did improve when a moderate amount of water was added to the mix. It didn’t seem easy to over-shoot the amount needed. It provides a very good balance of glide and thickness, and left my skin feeling soft and moisturized as well. All in all, a pretty damned good shave.
So, it’s a pretty good soap for an unscented. Those of you who follow my reviews with any regularity will know that I consider the scent to be a rather important part of the overall shave process. The scent of this soap is, well, extremely neutral. It doesn’t smell of much at all, which I suppose is the point. Sometimes even with unscented stuff you can make out what ingredients went into it, but I didn’t really find that to be the case here.
- 6/10 Scent Pleasantness
- 3/10 Scent Strength
- 9/10 Lather Quality
So, if you’re specifically looking for an unscented soap, I’d definitely recommend that. If not, obviously I wouldn’t. Overall, taking the unscented-ness into account, I think I’ll have to give it a 6/10, because after all, it’s not something that I’d go out of my way to use when there’s scented products available. That having been said, I’ll be reviewing the Vetiver version in a couple of days, and I’m sure it’ll fare better.
- Cost: They come in either a 100g plastic tub for about $9 USD or a 150g tin for around $12 USD, depending upon the exchange rate at the time. Purchases are made either via e-mail at arturrobarbiere@interia.eu, or via the contact form on his website.
Gear used:
- Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
- Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
- Blade: Astra Superior Platinum
- Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4
Ingredients: coconut oil, stearic acid, vegetable Glycerin, distilled water, shea butter, beeswax, potassium hydroxide,
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