Arturro Barbiere “Pulire” unscented shaving soap

Tags

6/10, Arturro Barbiere. unscented, shaving soap, soft soap

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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Erasmic Shave Stick

Tags

6/10, floral, shaving soap

My first impression of Erasmic’s shaving stick was that it was too brittle to be sold in this format. Like many shave sticks, it comes with a little plastic holder that has four prongs, onto which you are to impale the shaving stick. Anyways, one I removed the wrapper and went to reimpale the stick on the prongs, the soap broke off in chunks, preventing the holder from actually, you know, holding the soap. Far too brittle to be sold in this format.

The soap performed… well, pretty much exactly like the Derby shaving stick that I reviewed a while back. Good balance of glide and thickness once you dial in the right amount of water to use (not too much, be careful of adding too much between passes, not too little). A bit finnicky, but it was good stability-wise. No real noticable moisturization or other skin benefits however.

The scent was slightly less unpleasant. I wouldn’t say I like it, it was still a very artificial aroma, cloyingly floral. It was however also not very strong at all. Quite discernible when sniffing the stick directly, but not really noticeable at all when shaving.

• 6/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 4/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

Overall, meh. The scent did nothing for me, the shave was good but not great. 6/10.

• Cost: Connaught Shaving sells two of the 50 g sticks for £2.40. They also have a 75g version that comes in a plastic tub, for £3.00.

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Sharp Durablade

Ingredients: Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Aqua, Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Cocoate, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Parfum, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Citral, Citronellol, Coumarin, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Chloride, PEG-14M, Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Gluconate, Sodium Silicate, Magnesium Sulfate, Tetrasodium Etidronate.

Garden Variety Soap Company – Bergamot Cedarwood shaving soap

Tags

6/10, bergamot, cedarwood, citrus, clove, garden variety soap co, juniper, Lime, patchouli, shaving soap, wood

So I received this puck of shaving soap after getting an inquiry from the soap maker about doing a review. I frankly kind of wish she had contacted me prior to coming up with the formulation; perhaps I could have helped to steer her in a bit of a better direction.

As we often see from people who are already making soap that decide to delve into making shaving soaps, it looks like it’s basically hand soap with bentonite clay added. I suppose I can’t blame them terribly; after all that’s pretty much what comes up on the first page or so if you google “How to make shaving soap”. The problem being that they’re all listed on soap oriented websites, and not anyone with any real “cred” with regards to shaving. I’d liken it to someone who was trying to figure out how to bake a cake following a recipe on an breakfast website telling egg lovers how they can alter their omelet recipe by adding some flour, instead of actually listening to the advice on a baking site.

Which isn’t to say that some type of clay can’t be a small component of a good shaving soap (as seen in Mike’s Naturals amongst others), but it sure as heck can’t be the only thing that you’re using to try and make it into a shaving soap instead of something else.

Anyways, enough of a generic rant, about this soap in particular: it seriously lacked lather stability. If you do use it, I’d suggest tailoring your lather mix to be on the water-heavy side, so at least you get a very good amount of glide, since you’re not really going to be able much to speak about in the way of thickness. It did at least have some decent moisturization properties, but that’s not really enough to salvage the performance.

The scent was pleasant; the bergamot seems to be predominate with the cedar and the other scents providing a nice base. There’s a bit of sweetness to the mix as well, which might be from the shea / cacao butter. All together, it came together for a nice combination.

It was about a middling strength; not strong, but not weak, with fairly decent staying power.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 8/10 Scent Strength
• 6/10 Lather Quality

Anyways, I’ll be giving this a 6/10; I can’t really recommend it due to the unsatisfying shave it provided.

• Cost: As mentioned, I was given this puck free of charge for the purposes of this review. You can get your own 4 oz puck for $8.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Merkur 37C Slant
• Blade: Personna DE
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Water, Sunflower Oil, Castor oil, Coconut oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Palm Oil, Shea Butter, Cacao Butter, Bentonite Clay, Essential Oil Blend (bergamot, cedarwood, juniper, patchouli, lime, clove)

Musgo Real Shaving Cream – Classic scent

Tags

6/10, Claus Porto, Lime, Musgo Real, shaving cream

Musgo Real is most well known for their line of glycerin pre-shave soaps. The shaving cream line is relatively new, or at least relatively newly widely available outside of Portugal / Europe. The brand is part of the Claus Porto group, so this is the 2nd cream from them I’ve reviewed, the other being O Melhor.

This scent is the original, based off the “Real Lime Oil” version of the pre-shave soap. And I don’t really like it as much. It frankly smells harsher than the original; more chemically if you know what I’m getting at. It’s not a *bad* smell per se, but it’s not something that I particularly find pleasing either. The scent is relatively weak when lathered however.

The lather on the other hand performs quite well. It’s a relatively thirsty soap, but with enough water and some work it whips up to a nice and thick creamy lather, with a reasonable amount of glide. Some minor lather stability issues, but not bad enough to have an impact unless you tend to lay it on very thin. And good moisturization properties as well.

• 6/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I’ll be giving it a 6/10. Some might like the scent better, but I wouldn’t really see myself using it on a regular basis.

• Cost: The 100 mL tube can be found for $15.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Edwin Jagger DE81BL (Red)
• Blade: Polsilver Super Iridium
• Bowl: Hand painted by myself (Yes, I know it’s ugly).

Ingredients: Aqua, Potassium Stearate, Sodium Palmitate, Glycerin, Coconut Acid, Parfume, Potassium Silicate, Coconut Oil, Lanolin, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel extract), Buxus Chinensis (Jojoba) Oil, Alcohol, Menthol, CI 77007, CI 19140, Geraniol, Fcoumarin, Cintronellal, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Inalool, Benzyl Benzoae, Limonene

Alba Botanica – Natural Very Emollient Cream Shave – Mango Vanilla

Tags

6/10, Alba Botanical, Fruit, Mango, non-lathering, vanilla

Once again unto the breach, with a “cream” that was never intended to meet either someone’s face or a shaving brush.

The scent was nice; the vanilla was clearly distinguishable, whereas the mango wasn’t quite as recognizable as mango, more of a muddled fruity sweetness. Which, having had a glance at the ingredient listing, kinda makes sense, since it does have other fruit extracts in there as well.  Still, it smelled nice, and was fairly strong, without fading noticeably.

As for the performance of it as a cream, that was far more of a so-so result. Like most non-lathering products out there, I tended not to be able to get quite the balance of cushion and glide as I like, since I couldn’t adjust anything to my liking by fiddling with the water content. This one seemed a bit low on the glide. It also did cause some clogging of the razor, which can be hard to clean away with a blast of water, since it’s not water soluble like most soaps are. Finally, while I generally have rather resilient skin, this did end up causing a bit of a burning sensation.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 9/10 Scent Strength
• 5/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I suppose I can consider bumping it up to a 6/10. Definitely can’t say I’d go out of my way to use it again.

• Cost: I purchase this at iHerb.com, where the 8 oz tube shown currently goes for $5.04.

Gear used:

• Razor: Yuma Safety Razor
• Blade: Feather Hi-Stainless

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Ananas Sativus (Pineapple) Fruit Extract, Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, Carica Papaya (Papaya) Fruit Extract, Hedychium Coronarium Root Extract, Hibiscus Sabdariffa Flower Extract, Lavandula Angustifolia Extract, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Fruit Extract, Passiflora Incarnata Flower Extract, Passiflora Incarnata Fruit Extract, Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Extract, Citric Acid, Glycerin, Tocopherol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Benzyl Benzoate, Coumarin, Limonene, Fragrance (Parfum).

Lea Shaving Stick

Tags

6/10, lea, shaving soap

The Lea shaving stick performed pretty much indistinguishably from the Palmolive classic shaving stick; a good performance, good balance of glide and thickness, reasonably easy to lather up, and left the face feeling nice and moisturized. A nice all-around solid shaving soap.

The scent was also pretty close; a soapy-clean type scent, with maybe a bit of that faux lavender aroma that makes its way into far too many products. I saw another review describe it as reminiscent of powdered laundry detergent, that also seems like a reasonable description. It’s not really all that strong; probably a good thing I suppose.

One thing to note, this product apparently has undergone some reformulations; the one I reviewed is the new formula as of a 2012.

• 5/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 4/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I’ll say it’s a 6/10. Usable as long as you don’t really care about your shave smelling nice.

• Cost: I purchased the 50 g shaving stick for $5 from Shaveabuck.com.

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant with an iKon stainless steel handle
• Blade: Shark Super Stainless

Ingredients: Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Potassium Cocoate, Aqua, Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Lanolin, Parfum, Cocamide DEA, Titanium Dioxide, Potassium Hydroxide, Geraniol, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide.

Haslinger Meeresalgen Rasierseife (Seaweed shaving soap)

Tags

6/10, haslinger, seaweed, shaving soap

The next brand I’ll be trying out is Haslinger, who’ve been making shaving soaps out of Austria since 1890.

The scent of this soap is seaweed, made with real seaweed. I think I catch a little hint of that while sniffing it, but to be frank, overall, it just smells like soap. That’s while sniffing the puck itself; once lathered, it was essentially scentless.

The performance of the lather is quite good. With regards to the required moisture content, I’d say it’s about average. Not insanely thirsty like your Barrister and Mann or your Mike’s Natural, but it still needs a decent amount of water to do the job properly. But it does seem to have a reasonably large sweet spot, and it’s quite easy to whip up a nice thick lather, with good stability and good glide. I can’t say I noticed all that much in the way of moisturization properties however.

One thing I should note, for those who have allergies, the ingredient listing does include peanuts (Arachis Hypogaea). Or more likely peanut oil I suppose. But still, I’d suggest not putting it on your face if it could kill you.

• 7/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 3/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I don’t really recommend this soap. It’s relatively affordable, and performs well, but the lack of scent doesn’t add anything to the experience for me, and there’s better soaps out there that perform better. 6/10.

• Cost: I purchased this 60 gram puck from Italian Barber for $9.95.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Asco Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Aqua, Propylene Glycol, Fucus Vesiculosus, Parfum, Arachis Hypogaea, Potassium Cocoate, Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerine, Potassium Hydroxide, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Cl 61585, Bencylsalicylat, Citronellol, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Amylcinnamal, Hexlycinnamaldehyde, Butylphenyl, Methylpropional, Linalool, Hydroxymethylpentylcycloheencarboxaldehyde.

Face Skin Care – Ultimate Comfort Shave Cream

Tags

6/10, non-lathering, shaving cream, unscented

The creation of Face Skin Care’s Ultimate Comfort Shave Cream was prompted by a business decision of another company: the 2010 reformulation of Lab Series Maximum Comfort Shave Cream. Jim over at Face Skin Care had been using the Lab Series Product since 1991, and apparently quite liked it. However, once the reformulation occurred, he found himself quite displeased with the quality of the shave he was getting from the new stuff. (Personally, I didn’t like it all that much either) Like many that I’ve seen on the internet, when he switched over to the new stuff, he experienced an increase in razor burn, irritation, and pain while shaving, and also laid a lot of the blame on the removal of one key ingredient in the former formulation for the Lab Series cream: benzocaine.

Benzocaine is a topical anesthetic, often used in cough drops, and amusingly enough on some condoms, designed to allow gents to last longer by reducing the sensitivity of the penis. Anyhow, I can certainly see how it could be useful for folks prone to irritation and razor burn to mask the symptoms of those maladies.

So, long story short, after not being able to find a new shaving cream that had some Benzocaine, Jim decided to recreate it himself. He ended up using Lidocaine instead of Benzocaine, as it’s supposedly safer to use. Similar effects though.

Thus he ended up with is a non-lathering shave cream, designed to “gently desensitize the skin to reduce the pain”. It’s a decent thickness, providing a good amount of cushion with a good amount of lubrication. Certainly not quite as excessively thick as the stuff I tried last week was; at least with this stuff I could rinse most of it off my razor with ease, although it still looks to be mostly non-water soluble, and there was a big that didn’t come off easily, mostly in the nooks and crannies of the razor.

It did have a bit of a tendency to act like a lotion, rubbing it on the face would lead to some of it being absorbed by the skin. Not quite to the degree that I saw with the One Shave cream, but it was still there.

As for the effects, well, after the fact it did leave my face feeling really nice and refreshed, moisturized, etc. Was it the Lidocaine, or the other stuff in the cream? I don’t know about that. I mean, personally I usually avoid razor burn and irritation simply by using quality shave products and good technique with a DE razor. I don’t feel that adding a pain-killer to my shaving cream is something that is really necessary to avoid pain when shaving. I suppose that some others might not be quite as able to shave pain-free via the same methods, and might feel that this stuff is more helpful than not. Everyone’s face is different after all. All in all, it’s a pretty decent shave.

And finally, it’s only available as an unscented shaving cream. Anyone who’s been following my reviews knows that I consider the scent of the shaving product to be a rather integral part of the shave experience. What scent was left was fairly neautral, and not strong.

• 5/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 3/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Cream Quality

So, I’d say it performs pretty good for a non-lathering cream, but the lack of any scent would be enough to make me avoid using it on a regular basis. Fortunately, I don’t really feel I need pain killers built into my shave cream. Feel free to adjust accordingly if you think you do. 6/10.

• Cost: I was provided these samples free of charge by the manufacturer for the purposes of this review. The cream comes in a 8 oz jar for $29.99 and a 3.4 oz travel tube for $15.99.

Gear used:

• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech
• Blade: Big Ben Super Stainless

Ingredients: Purified water, Stearic acid, Propylene glycol, Propylene glycol stearate, Petrolatum, Glycerin, Cocos nucifera(coconut) oil, Triethanolamine, Glycol stearate, Glycol distearate, Stearamide AMP, Butyrospermum parkii (shea) oil, Cetyl alcohol, Aloe barbadensis leaf juice, Butylene glycol, Centella asiatica (gotu kola) extract, Avena sativa (oatmeal) extract, Urea, Panthenol, Glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice) root extract, Allantoin, Chamomilla recutita (Matricaria) extract, Calendula officinalis (Calendula) flower extract, Anthemis nobilis (Roman chamomile) flower extract, Centaurea cyanus (Cornflower) flower extract, Tilia cordata (Linden) flower extract, Eucalyptus globulus (Eucalyptus) leaf oil, Tocopheryl acetate, Dimethicone, Lidocaine hydrochloride, Zinc oxide, Titanium dioxide, Mica, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, and D & C Bronze

Giovanni Moisturizing Shave Cream – Refreshing Pink Grapefruit & Pomegranate

Tags

6/10, citrus, Fruit, grapefruit, non-lathering, pomegranate, shaving cream

Once in a while I’ll review a shaving cream that wasn’t really ever intended to be used on anyone’s face. Wetshaving? Not quite, but still.

On occasion, creams which are intended to be non-lathering still manage to lather up quite fine, often yielding better results. This? Well, this is not one of them.

The performance of this cream had good sides and bad sides. The good side? It provided great lubrication. And whatever it’s made of left my skin feeling pretty nice afterwards.

The bad side? It’s not water soluble, and really thick, so as a result it is very difficult to clean up. Which admittedly did help with the shave, providing a decent cushion, but then in order to rinse it off my razor, I needed to unscrew the flow aerator on my washroom sink’s faucet, just to get enough pressure to blast it away. For anyone who doesn’t shave shirtless, I’d suggest avoiding it, as I imagine it would be a real pain to get out of clothing. A pain to get off of your razor, and even to rinse off the face once you’re done.

Also, since it’s non-lathering, you end up needing to use a lot more of it. After all, the lather you get from most soaps and creams is mostly air and water by volume. Using something like this will end up costing a fair bit more just because you use a lot more of the product per pass.

The scent however, I found to be quite pleasant. I mean, it’s not surprising, I love pomegranate, and I love grapefruit. The combination is great, it’s perhaps a bit heavier on the grapefruit than the pomegranate. The strength is pretty decent as well, not what I’d call strong, but it’s got good staying power.

• 10/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 8/10 Scent Strength
• 5/10 Lather Cream Quality

Overall, the annoyance of the cream and its lack of solubility is bad enough that it scent barely makes up for it. 6/10.

• Cost: I picked this up from iHerb.com, where they’re selling the 7 oz tube shown for $4.89 (hrph, it was $5.36 when I bought it!).

Gear used:

• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech
• Blade: Big Ben Super Stainless

Ingredients: Water (Purified), Isopropyl Palmitate, Stearic Acid, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Helianthus Annus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Glycerin, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Cetyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Polysorbate 60, Dehydroacetic Acid, Benzyl Alcohol, Hydroxyethycellulose, Sodium Hydroxide, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil, Acai (Euterpe Oleracea) Fruit Oil, Rosa Canina (Rose Hip) Fruit Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Extract, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Fruit Extract, Fragrance (Natural), Aloe Vera (Aloe Barbadensis) Leaf Juice (USDA Certified Organic), Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Fruit Extract (USDA Certified Organic), Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon) Peel Extract (USDA Certified Organic), Citrus Paradisi (Grapefruit) Fruit Extract (USDA Certified Organic), Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Fruit Extract (USDA Certified Organic), Echinacea Angustifolia (Coneflower) Extract (USDA Certified Organic)

Gentlemen’s Tonic Traditional Shave Cream

Tags

6/10, bergamot, citrus, gentlemen's tonic, shaving cream

Next up on the cavalcade of brands I haven’t reviewed yet is Gentleman’s Tonic Traditional Shave Cream.

The lather was good but not great. I found that I needed to add a bit too much water in order to have it give adequate glide, which ended up thinning out the lather more than I like. Not terribly so, mind you, but enough to be irksome.

The scent to me seemed to be a fairly complex “cologne-y” scent, with a fair amount of citrus, which developed as it was lathered. It didn’t really get stronger, like some do, but it did change. For some reason, I thought I smelled a fair amount of anise and a bit of ginger, but that’s not really listed at all in the ingredients or the description, so maybe my nose is just acting weird, or maybe it’s just one of those weird combinations that smell like something else to some people. Overall, I found it fairly pleasant, but nothing to write home about.

Strength-wise, it was so-so. Medium strong when first applied, with a fair bit of fading as the shave went on.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 7/10 Lather Quality

All told, with a so-so scent profile and good but not great lather, I think I’m going to round down on this one to a 6/10.

• Cost: Seth over at Men Essentials provided this sample for me for the purposes of this review. A 4.4 oz tub of the stuff is available for $25.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech (with iKon SS Handle)
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Aqua, Stearic Acid, Myristic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Coconut Acid, Glycerin, Parfum (Linalool, Limonene, Hexyl Cinnamal, Coumarin, Eugenol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone), Triethanolamine, Sodium Hydroxide, Orbignya Oleifera Seed Oil, Mel (Manuka Honey).