Tag Archives: 3/10

Seattle Sundries – Smooth Shave Soap

02 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by in American, Seattle Sundries

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Seattle Sundries - Smooth

So, about a month ago, I got a message on reddit from the esteemed LeiusureGuy. You know, that fellow who literally wrote the book on wetshaving? It read, and I quote, “If you should want to give a review to what seemed to me a pretty bad shaving soap, try Seattle Sundries. Indeed, if you want a free puck of their soap, let me know.”

Well, how could I possibly pass up an offer like that?

And he was right, it was indeed pretty bad. The lather was nice and slick, good lubrication. … Oh, I’m sorry, did I say lather? I think I meant “collection of bubbles”. Because I wouldn’t really call what was produced lather, and even if it did start out as lather, is sure as heck didn’t stay that way. Seriously, no stability at all. I’d estimate that the lather had about a half-life of under 5 seconds. Needless to say, by the end of each pass, there really wasn’t much there at all.

Anyhow, if I wanted something that only provided lubrication, I’d be using a shave oil or something like that. Once again, the perils of a soap maker thinking that a shaving soap is no more complex than taking some regular soap and throwing some clay into the mix.

The scent at least was nice. The “smooth” scent is made up of essential oils of coriander, lime, and petitgrain, with some green tea on top. All together, it turns into a rather pleasant scent, which I’d consider to fit the “barber shop” type aroma. The strength was pretty decent, and at least didn’t fade as fast at the lather does.

  • 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
  • 7/10 Scent Strength
  • 3/10 Lather Quality

All told, yeah, I’d recommend against it. If they put the effort into doing the research into what actually makes a good shaving soap, a new formulation with this scent might be worth it, but for now, I’ll give this a 3/10.

  • Cost: As mentioned, I got this one for free for the purpose of the review. You could pick it up for $9.50 for a 2.5 oz tin.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Olive Oil, Castor Oil, Bentonite Clay, Green Tea, Shea Butter, Vitamin E Oil, Coriander Essential Oil, Lime Essential Oil, Petitgrain Essential Oil

Simple Luxuries – Rainforest Sage solid shampoo, soap & shaving bar

22 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Canadian, Soap

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Simple Luxuries

This is a terrible shaving soap.

Granted, I had a few clues that this would probably be the case. First off, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen a proper shaving soap that functions well as a shampoo or a bar soap. I mean, they’re both soaps, but intended to be used in completely different manners. 2ndly, the lack of a full ingredient listing doesn’t inspire confidence. 3rdly, the fact that it was made by a local person who clearly specializes in “regular” soaps indicates to me that chances are high that they haven’t looked into what actually makes a quality shaving soap. And last of all, for god sake, they use comic sans as the font on their label.

I should note here that this shouldn’t be confused with the Simple Luxuries soap being sold online out of Newark; they haven’t been foolish enough to claim that their shampoo bars are good for shaving as well.

Anyways, regardless of the fact that I knew it’d probably be terrible, when you’re doing reviews sometimes you just have to take a hit for the team.

The lather was, well, not all that lather-like. It got some decent glide, but was completely unable to sustain any sort of thickness. The stability of what lather I was able to produce was the worst I’ve seen out of anything thus far. Seriously, when I applied it to my face, the lather was degrading at such a rate that I could feel it popping away; kinda tickled.

The scent is fairly nice, but very weak. Sniffing the bar itself, you can smell the sage & the mint, but when lathered up (if you can call it that), you get pretty much nothing on the scent front.

  • 7/10 Scent Pleasantness
  • 4/10 Scent Strength
  • 3/10 Lather Quality

3/10 overall. Don’t think much more needs to be said.

  • Cost: I purchased this at the Victoria Soap Exchange (link is to a similar but not identical product listing from the same soapmaker). I forget exactly how much I paid, but I think it was around the $6 range, for a 120 g bar that I hope actually works as a body wash / shampoo because otherwise I’m going to have to throw it out. You can’t buy it online, but suffice it to say that you’re not missing out on much.

Gear Used:

Ingredients: No full ingredient listing was given, however the following ingredients are mentioned on the package: Essential oils (mint; sage), Olive Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Glycerin, Milk, Coconut Oil, Castor Oil. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume there was probably also some type of hydroxide, mostly / all sodium being the most likely bet IMHO. Dunno what else is in there.

Domino Shaving Cream

13 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Cream, Macedonian

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Domino Shaving Cream

Domino is a shaving cream from Macedonia. The tube says that it’s scented after the famous French perfume of the same name; if that’s actually the case, I feel sorry for the French because it must be some vile stuff. Of course, I also think that might be a lie, since Google didn’t turn up a French perfume by that name; only one out of India. Or the after-shave of the same name made by the same company. That is also rather vile.

Anyways, it’s mostly what I would say is an unpleasantly harsh, soapy / chemically smell, combined with a cloyingly fake floral smell. I honestly can’t really tell what they might have been trying for with the scent, but it didn’t turn out good. At least it’s not overpoweringly strong & bad smelling (unlike the aftershave).

The lather didn’t seem to bad at first; good thickness, ok glide, whipped up pretty easily. However there was a fair bit more irritation than I usually get. At the end, it seemed to have more of a drying effect than the moisturization I’m looking for.

  • 3/10 Scent Pleasantness
  • 6/10 Scent Strength
  • 6/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I really would not recommend this product. 3/10. Smells bad. At least it’s really cheap.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Aqua, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Cocos Nucifera, Capric Acid, Lauric Acid, Myristic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Oleic Acid, Linoleic Acid, Sorbitol, Triethanolamine, Sodium Hydroxide, Allantoin, Perfume, Coumarin, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, d- Limonene, Linalool, 3-Methyl-4-(2,6,6-trimethyl-2-cyclohexenyl)-3-buten-2-one, 2-(4-tert-Butylbenzyl) Propionaldehyde, Cl 19140, Cl 28440