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)

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Kiss My Face – Key Lime Shaving Cream

Tags

8/10, citrus, Fruit, key lime, kiss my face, lemongrass, Lime

The scent is a refreshing aroma of tart lime; very nice. Although a glance at the label reveals that the underlying ingredients which made that scent are a fair bit more complex. but it definitely comes together as something that strongly reminds me of key limes. Unfortunately, it’s not really strong enough. It’s certainly noticable when lathered and put on the face, but not strongly so, and it faded away quite a bit while I was shaving.

The lather seems to be the same as any other Kiss My Face cream; requires a medium amount of water to get going, and a bit of elbow grease, but leaves you with a creamy lather with a pretty good balance of lubrication and cushioning. Nothing really out of the ordinary when it comes to moisturization.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

All in all, we’re looking at a 7/10 for this one.

• Cost: $4.99 for the 100 mL (3.4 oz) tube shown, (although current on sale for half price) or a 325 mL (11 oz) hand pump type container for $7.95 (currently on sale for $6.45). Also, it’s one of those brands that is more likely to be available locally, especially at places that specialize in organic foods (both in Canada and the US).

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Big Ben Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Aqua, Myristic Acid, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Allantoin, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf Extract, Arnica Montana (Arnica) Flower Extract, Hydrastis Canadensis (Golden Seal) Root Extract, Equisetum Hyemale (Horsetail) Extract, Alchemilla Vulgaris (Lady’s Mantle) Leaf Extract, Cymbopogon Schoenanthus (Lemongrass) Leaf Extract, Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Fruit Extract, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Flower Extract, Saponaria Officinalis (Soapwort) Root Extract, Nasturtium Officinalis (Watercress) Leaf Extract, Eucalyptus Globulus (Eucalyptus) Leaf Oil, Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon) Peel Oil, Cymbopogon Schoenanthus (Lemongrass) Leaf Oil, Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Fruit Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Flower Oil, Hydroxyethylcellulose

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

Seattle Sundries – Smooth Shave Soap

Tags

3/10, citrus, Coriander, green tea, Lime, petitgrain, Seattle Sundries, shaving soap

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:

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

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

Elvado – Key Lime Shaving Soap

Tags

9/10, citrus, elvado, Lime, mint, shaving soap

Next up on the list of new soaps, one that’s actually new, instead of just new to me. I think I first heard about Elvado a couple months back, after hearing about them working with Seth over at Men Essentials for the creation of a line of Men Essentials branded soaps. Their parent company seems to have actually started out as a medical supply company, before branching out into skin care, and then shaving “software”. One interesting little tidbit I guess!

Anyhow, their Elvado line of shaving soaps seems to be a modified version of a melt-and-pour base, with the addition of a fair bit of shea butter. Rather akin to Honeybee Soaps in that regard, and to be honest, the performance reminded me of it as well. First off, you do need to use a fair bit of water, and some elbow grease to get what I’d say is a good balance of thickness and glide; I found I generally had to sacrifice a bit of thickness in order to get the glide I needed. As this also mostly fixed the lather stability issues I found the soap had at lower water contents. So, yeah, don’t be stingy!

One area in which I think it performed a fair bit better than Honeybee soaps was the moisturization; my face felt better afterwards that I recall getting from Sue’s product.

I’m not sure why they named it “Key Lime”, as I wouldn’t think just from the name that the scent includes a mint aroma.  Maybe shoulda called it “Key Lime Mojito”?! But it most certainly does, and the lime and the mint smells do come together exceptionally nicely. They’re balanced great, such that neither overpowers or dominates the other.

As for the strength of the scent? I’d say just about perfect. It was nice and strong when first applied, without being overpowering, and saw very little in the way of fading.

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

Anyways, overall I’m rather pleased with the performance of this soap. I feel reasonably comfortably rounding up to a 9/10.

• Cost: I was provided this tub free for the purposes of the review by the folks at Elvado. You can get a 115 g tub for $16, or if you find them more convenient, a 71 g shaving stick for the same price.

Gear used:

• Brush: Ecotools Kabuki Finishing Brush
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant (with iKon handle)
• Blade: Asco Super Stainless
• Bowl: Hand painted by myself (Yes, I know it’s ugly).

Ingredients: Cocos Nucifera (Coconut Oil), Elaesis Guineensis (Palm Oil) , Cathamus Tintorius (Safflower Oil), Glycerine (Kosher of vegetable origin), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Purified Water, Fragrance (Parfum 100% Natural), Sodium Hydroxide, Sorbitol, Sorbitan Oleate, Glycine Soja (Soy Bean Protein), Titanium Dioxide (Mineral Whitener)

Edwin Jagger – Lime and Pomegranate Shaving Cream

Tags

9/10, citrus, Edwin Jagger, Fruit, Lime, pomegranate, shaving cream

Edwin Jagger’s Lime and Pomegranate shaving cream is a relatively new scent, having replaced the old Sea Buckthorn scent, which I liked fairly well in the soap form.

The lather was very nice; it lathered up very easily into a nice thick cream, with a good amount of glide. Just a bit of extra water was needed for the mix, but it seemed to have a fair amount of tolerance for variation. Good moisturization properties too.

The scent was wonderful; sweet and tangy, I found it invigorating. It’s a great summer-time aroma.

Unfortunately, it fades far too fast; starting off at a reasonably decent strength, it doesn’t stay there for long, and I found that I was only able to really enjoy the scent for the first few strokes of each pass.

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

Overall, I think I’m still willing to fudge the numbers a bit and give this a 9/10; if the scent lasted longer this would probably be a serious contender on the top ten list. As it is however, it falls too short.

• Cost: I picked up the 75 mL tube from shaveabuck for $16, Maggard Razors also sells samples of this scent, either on its own ($2.25), or for a bit cheaper per unit as part of one of their sample packs; also available in a 100 mL tub for $22.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Lord Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Aqua (water), Potassium Stearate, Potassium Palmitate, Potassium Cocoate, Glycerin, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Palmitate, Sodium Cocoate, Cera Alba (Beeswax), Potassium Myristate, Cetyl Palmitate, Parfum (fragrance), Punica Granatum Seed Extract, Potassium Laurate, Sodium Myristate, Sodium Silicate, Sodium Thiosulfate, Limonene, Linalool.

Six Shooter Shaving – Classic (Lime) shaving cream

Tags

7/10, citrus, Lime, menthol, shaving cream, Six Shooter Shaving

You might be familiar with Six Shooter Shaving’s brushes, where the knot is attached to a handle that’s made up to look like the cylinder of a revolver, complete with the primer of 6 bullets attached (presumably gun-powder free). They’ve also got some DE razors with handles made up to look like the muzzle of a rifle. And, they also make a shaving cream.

It’s a lime scented cream, with a bit of a kick of menthol for the cooling sensation. It’s scented with lime essential oil, so it avoids that chemically/cleanser scent you get from a lot of artificially scented citrus products.

The strength is what I’d say is decent. It starts off sorta strong, but does fade a bit throughout the shave, although it doesn’t get to the point where I was having trouble picking it up.

The lather produced yielded a rather good balance of thickness and glide; just be careful that you don’t over-do it with the amount of water added, it doesn’t need much. I did however notice a bit of a lack of lather stability; there was some definite noticeable breakdown of the stuff by the time I was getting around to finishing each pass. In the end though it did leave my face feeling rather nice and moisturized.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

Overall I’m giving it a 7/10. It definitely could have done better by bringing the strength of the scent up.

• Cost: A 2 oz bottle will run you $6.95, or you can go for the 4 oz for $9.95.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Gillette NEW Ball-handle
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), TEA Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Glycerin,  Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Allantoin,  Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Tocopheryl Acetate, Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Oil, Menthol, Tetrasodium EDTA, DMDM Hydantoin, PEG-14M.

Penhaligon’s Blenheim Bouquet shaving cream

Tags

9/10, Blenheim Bouquet, citrus, lavender, lemon, Lime, musk, Penhaligon, pepper, pine

I’ll admit, I try a lot of shaving soaps and creams that a lot of people rave about, and a lot of the time I just don’t really see what they’re going on about. Once in a while, I do, and Penhaligon’s Blenheim Bouquet is one of those times.

It’s mainly a citrus scented soap, however after the first hit of the lemon and lime, it reveals a nice complex mix, tempered by lavender, and supported by pine, musk, and a bit of black pepper. I really really quite liked it.

The strength was great as well; not much fading, good strength throughout the shave.

The lather too was rather good. Relatively thirsty for a cream, once enough water was added it easily lathered up to a nice thick consistency with great glide. Rather voluminous as well. Nothing outstanding in the way of moisturization / skin care, bad or good. My only quibble would be that the stability could have been a bit better; it didn’t become unusable or anything, but the lather was visibly fading by the end of my shave.

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

Overall, I’m giving it a 9/10, and I think I’ll slot it in at #7 on the top ten list. Because, damn that stuff smelled nice. Seriously, I need to get the cologne. So… if anyone’s got a spare $120 kicking around, I’d really appreciate it!

• Cost: I had a sample sent to me by a kindly redditor who wanted to know what I thought of the cream. For everyone else, however, I do recall Garry’s Sample Shop having had it in stock at one point, although he doesn’t right now, you might want to keep your eye there, and on the Wetshaving Sample Shoppe. Or, you could just go for it: 150 mL can be found for $45 in a travel tube or $55 in a glass jar, shipping included.

Gear used:

• Brush: Ecotools Kabuki Finishing Brush
• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech
• Blade: Lord Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Aqua, stearic acid, myristic acid, glycerin, potassium hydroxide, coconut acid, glycol distearate, sodium C14-16 olefin sulfonate, parfum(fragrance), limonene, linalool, citral, phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, butylparaben, ethylparaben, isobutylparaben, propylparaben

Castle Forbes – Lime Shaving Cream

Tags

8/10, castle forbes, citrus, Lime, shaving cream

So, I’ve finally gotten around to trying a sample of Castle Forbes, provided to me in a trade by a kind fellow redditor.

First-off, the cream itself is quite thick, honestly only a bit less thick than a few of the softer “croaps” on the market, such as RazoRock Cacao. It didn’t need all that much in the way of water to work it up, and did so with great vigour, producing a veritable mount of lather. What it did produce gave a really good glide, with a fairly decent level of thickness. After a bit of fiddling around with it, it seems to have a reasonably wide “sweet spot”, although it will start thinning out a fair bit as you add water past that.

The scent was a very nice heady lime scent. Which shouldn’t be all that surprising. It started off very strong, but did experience a fair bit of fading during the shave.

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

Overall, I’d say it’s a 8/10. It was good, I’d dare-say the best lime cream I’ve tried yet, although it doesn’t beat Mike’s Natural Lime if we’re including soaps in the equation.

• Cost: A 200 mL tub will set you back $38. Some places also carry a 50 mL travel-sized container, that goes for $16, although the couple places I checked seem to be out of stock. Joe over at Italian Barber had mentioned when asked on his facebook page that the production of Castle Forbes often seems inconsistent, which seems to often lead to shortages by retailers.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: 1966 Gillette Tech
• Blade: Lord Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

INGREDIENTS: Water, Stearic Acid, Aloe Vera, Myristic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Coconut Acid, Dipropylene Glycol, Lime Essential Oil, Citric Acid, Triethanolamine, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hydroxide, Methylisothliazolinone, Potassium Sorbate, Limonene, Citral, Geraniol, Linalool

Mystic Water Soap – Marrakesh shaving soap

Tags

7/10, cedarwood, cinnamon, citrus, Lime, mystic water, Orange, patchouli, shaving soap, spice, wood

“I believe that Marrakech ought to be earned as a destination. The journey is the preparation for the experience. Reaching it too fast derides it, makes it a little less easy to understand.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights

I managed to wrest a very good lather out of this soap, although I found I needed to do a fair amount of fiddling with the water content to keep it where I liked it, as some of the water evaporated off between passes. I think one aspect that tends to get overlooked when making lather is just good old elbow-grease; put a bit more work into actually working your lather and the results do improve, just don’t be lazy! Anyways, a good shave, with good enough glide (assuming you keep the water content high enough!) and nice and thick.

I’ll note here that I’ve decided to slightly tweak my scoring system when it comes to the lather quality; I’ve been giving out too many 9/10s, and there’s sufficient range within that group to justify two rankings. So now, the “high 9s” will be staying 9s, the “low 9s” will be bumped down to 8s, and everything below it will drop a score too. I’ll be going and adjusting the scores on previously submitted soaps as well.

The aroma today was, well, rather underwhelming. Mystic Water touts it as “dark iron-distilled East Indian patchouli, Virginia cedarwood, cinnamon leaf, oak moss, lime and petigrain essential oils” which seems accurate enough. It’s earthy and woodsy, and reasonably pleasant. Just not strong enough; when you first lather it up and slap it on your face, you only get just a hint of the scent, and even that mostly fades away as you shave.

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

So, overall I’m going to give it a 7/10. There’s nothing bad about it per se, but nothing stands out.

• Cost: $9.91 for a 4 oz puck or a 2 oz shaving stick; $11.79 for the puck with a tub; 1/2 oz samples are 3 for $3.50. 

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Edwin Jagger DE81BL (Red)
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Tallow, Water, Castor Seed Oil, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Shea Butter, Avocado Oil, Palm Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Patchouli EO, Stearic Acid, Cedarwood EO, Lime EO, Fragrance, Aloe Vera Leaf Juice, Bentonite, Cinnamon Leaf EO, Silk.