RazoRock “La Famiglia” Don Marco shaving soap (original formulation)

Tags

8/10, bergamot, citrus, floral, Fruit, Neroli, RazoRock, shaving soap

So, this is yet another example of the fact that I really need to get reviews done quicker and out the door faster. Here’s a review of the original formulation of RazoRock’s “La Famiglia” Don Marco shaving soap, which has since been superceded by a new formulation. The old one can however still be found at a few spots.

The soap lathers up easily, really thick, with good amount of lubrication. Just be sure to use enough water; this is one of those soaps where you might lather it up, and it could look right, but when you go to use it, it’s not as slick as it should be, because it needs more hydration. But if you get the water balance right, it’s just an excellent soap, with a good amount of moisturization as well.

The scent is quite pleasant, orange-y and citrus-y from the bergamot, with a nice bit of sweetness from the neroli, it is really a nice little package. Unfortunately, it’s not all that strong, starting off at what I’d say is a medium amount, and experiencing some fading from there throughout the shave.

Edit: For those who don’t read the comments, Joe from RazoRock has pointed out that the only change in the formulation was an increase in the strength of the scent by 50%. I presume by that ihe means a 50% increase in the amounts of the fragrance used by either volume or weight. The base soap formula has stayed the same. So… yeah, I’ll probably like the new stuff better.

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

Overall, I’ll give this an 8/10.

• Cost: As mentioned, there only appears to be a few places you can find the old formulation in stock now. One such spot sells it for $6.99.

Gear used:

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

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, water, cocos nucifera, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, fragrance, sodium carbonate, linalool, linalyl acetate, decanal, erthyl 2-naphthyl ether, gamma-undecalactone, alpha-dimethylphenethylbutyrate, octanal, cital.

RazoRock – Nonno Michelino sandalwood shaving soap

Tags

9/10, Discontinued, RazoRock, sandalwood, shaving soap, soft soap

Edit: this soap has since been discontinued.

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Today’s shave is RazoRock’s Nonno Michelino sandalwood. The scent is a rather nice rendition of sandalwood, using fragrance rather than essential oils. The strength is pretty damned good; it comes on with what I’d consider to be a bit above medium strength, but manages to stay there without any significant fading whatsoever, not only for long enough for me to finish a pass shaving, but long enough for me to start this post and finish typing this paragraph.

The lather quality, is also the extremely high quality I’ve come to expect from RazoRock. A rather soap “croap”, it loaded up and lathered very easily; real thick, however be sure to add sufficient water for good glide. The soap can handle the extra water without thinning out as long as you give it a bit of elbow grease. And was pretty decent in the moisturization department as well.

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

Anyways, a rather darned fine entry from RazoRock, or more accurately Tcheon Fung Sing via RazoRock, as Paola Barile over at TFS is the producer of the La Familglia line (she’s also responsible for the Barbiere di Figaro line). Overall? 9/10. And a steal at that price. My favourite sandalwood to date.

• Cost:I got this one in a den-clearance sale off of /r/shave_bazaar, but it’ll normally go for $6.99 for 125 mL.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Merkur Super
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, water, cocos nucifera, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, fragrance, sodium carbonate, linalool, benzyl alcohol, geranol, buthylphenyl methylpropional.

RazoRock Boston Tea Party Green Tea Soap

Tags

7/10, Boston Tea Party, Discontinued, green tea, RazoRock, shaving soap

Edit: This soap has been discontinued

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We were merry, in an undertone, at the idea of making so large a cup of tea for the fishes. – Joshua Wyeth

Personally, I think there’s a bit of a mis-match in the name of this soap, as I would have expected a black tea scent out of something named after the Boston Tea Party. But, instead we’ve got a green tea scent.

Update: Apparently I’m somewhat wrong! There was indeed some green tea thrown overboard at the Boston Tea Party, accounting for about 22% of the volume of the tea “used”.

It’s a nice fresh light scent, rather reminiscent of green tea with a little bit of something else I can’t place, something I think I’d say is in the “aquatic” family of scents.

It’s a bit hard to describe in part because it’s a light scent, and I’m sure most people reading this review are aware that I prefer my soaps to be reasonably strongly scented. This one isn’t all that strong in the tub, but once lathered, it’s really only barely noticeable while you shave.

As for the lather quality, well, as far as I can tell the only difference between this and RazoRock’s Caprician Lemon was the scent, both gave quite a spectacular shave. Very easy to lather up, with just a smidgen of water, it’ll produce a wonderfully thick lather with a lot of glide, and superior moisturization properties. Seriously top-notch.

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

So, overall I’m giving it a 7/10. A great lather, but not enough scent. There’s plenty of other soaps out there that provide both, or at least a better balance of the two.

• Cost: $10 for a 125 mL tub. I should note that this line seems like it is often plagued by availability issues. As it’s all still made in small batches by one artisan soapmaker in Italy, the popularity of the soap seems to be outstripping the supply.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Gillette Old Style with WWI US Service Set
• Blade: Lord Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Tallow, Water, Cocos Nucifera, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance (Green tea), Potassium Carbonate

RazoRock Nervous Wreck – Vetiver Shaving Soap

Tags

8/10, Discontinued, RazoRock, shaving soap, soft soap, vetiver

Edit: This scent has been discontinued.

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Next up we’ve got RazoRock’s Nervous Wreck (Vetiver), from their “Linea Officina Artigiana”, aka their Artisan Workshop Line.

The lather is, well, just wonderful. For my initial pass, I would have preferred a bit more glide, but as is so often the case, it was merely a matter of me misjudging the amount of water needed. A few splashes more, and voila! Nice and slick. While still managing to remain thick and luxurious. And after the shave? The face just felt wonderful; good moisturizing properties too.

The scent was a nice pleasant earthy Vetiver, with a fair bit of sweetness too it too to mellow it out a bit. I found it quite nice. Stength-wise, it was so-so; it was noticable but weakly so once lathered and applied to the face. Reasonably strong while still in the jar mind you, but not all that much there during the shave. Only a little bit of fading though.

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

I’m giving it a total of 8/10. It gave a great shave, and smelled good, but I definitely would have liked a bit more oomph to the aroma. Decent bang for your buck however.

• Cost: $9.99 for 150 mL

Gear used:

• Brush: Ecotools Kabuki Finishing Brush
• Razor: Gillette Travel Tech
• Blade: Shark Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Tallow, Water, Cocos Nucifera, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance(Vetiver), Potassium Carbonate

RazoRock Cacao Shaving Cream Soap

Tags

8/10, Almond, cacao, Discontinued, marzipan, RazoRock, shaving soap, soft soap

Edit: as below, this has been discontinued

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This is an emergency last-minute review, as Joe over at Italian Barber has informed us that Cacao is going the way of XXX very very soon.

Like the original classic RazoRock soap, this is a marzipan / sweet almond scented shaving soap, along the lines of Cella and Vitos. It’s quite the pleasant scent, if you like that sort of thing. Strength wise, it started off very nicely, however seemed to fade rather quickly. Not just over the course of a pass, but subsequent layers of lather put on between passes was also noticeably weaker than the previous applications, to the point that it was rather weakly scented at best by the end of the shave.

On the other hand, the lather performed admirably. It’s a very soft soap, and loaded up easily, and lathered nice and thick with just a bit of water. It could have used a tad more lubrication, but it wasn’t far off at all in that regard either. All in all, it gave a great shave, and had superior moisturizing properties as well.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 9/10 Quality of Lather (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

Overall, I’m going to say it’s a rather strong 8/10. In comparison to the most obvious competitor, I think it shaves better than Cella does, but Cella’s scent holds up better. Also, in comparison to the classic RazoRock, I haven’t tried it myself, but I’ve been told that they perform quite similarly. From what I can tell the main difference is just the inclusion of the Cacao Seed Butter in this version, and frankly, there’s not really much of that included anyways (2nd last ingredient on the list).

• Cost: As I write this, there are 24 150mL tubs available left for $5.99 on Italian Barber.

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Gillette Travel Tech
• Blade: Shark Super Stainless

Ingredients: Water(l’eau), cocos nucifera (coconut)oil, stearic acid, palmitic acid, potassium hydroxide, propylene glycol, myristic acid, peg-150 distearate, parfum(fragrance), simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) oil, tetrasodium edta , theobroma cacao(cocoa) seed butter, menthol

RazoRock XXX Shaving Cream Soap

Tags

9/10, citrus, cologne, Discontinued, RazoRock, shaving soap, soft soap, spice

Apparently, RazoRock lost the manufacturer of their XXX scent, and will be soon running out. Once they’re out, they’re out, and they’re running out fast. So, should you like what you read in this review, I suggest you get on it, annnddd they’re gone. Sorry folks. From what I’ve heard, it’s proven to be their most popular formulations to date.

Edit 2: For what it’s worth, there’s been a reformulation of the XXX which has been reintroduced. Not exactly the same mind you, but I hear the scent is similar; I haven’t had a chance to pick some up yet.

Here’s what they have to say about it:

The classic barbershop scent is light, airy and has a crisp citric finish…if you close your eyes and take a whiff, it is capable of giving you the feeling of being in the hills of Tuscany. Fresh and clean; a cross between a classic Italian colonia and an old-school barbershop!

For the shave itself, the soap whipped up very nicely, into a thick voluminous lather, which provided plenty of cushion and glide. It’s a very very soft soap, but not one I felt the need to treat like it was a cream. It gave what was probably my best shave in weeks. As well, if left my face feeling nice and moisturized afterwards.

Initially, I wasn’t all that big a fan of the scent. But over time it’s grown on me. It is somewhat reminiscent of Old Spice, but with a bit more of a citrus-y tinge.

Strength-wise, I’d say it’s just shy of perfect. The scent is easily discernible when first applied to the face, without being over-whelming, but faded a fair amount over the time it took to complete a pass.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 9/10 Scent Strength
• 9/10 Quality of Lather (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

Overall, I’d say it’s an outstanding 9/10. I think you’d be doing yourself a disservice to not at least give it a try (especially considering how affordable it is), and even if you don’t like it, I don’t think you’ll have much trouble trading / selling it when they do finally run out.

• Cost: A 150mL tub goes went for $9.99

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Edwin Jagger DE81BL (Red)
• Blade: Shark Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Water(l’eau), palmitic acid, cocos nucifera(coconut) oil, stearic acid, potassium hydroxide, propylene glycol, myristic acid, parfum(fragrance), glycerin, peg-150 distearate, tetrasodium edta, triticum vulgare (wheat) germ oil, prunus armeniacus dulcis(sweet almond) oil, hydrolized wheat protein, malva sylvestris(mallow)extract, melissa officinalis(flower / leaf) extract, menthyl actate, mentha aquatica(watermint) extract, hedera helix (ivy) extract, vitis vinifera(grapefruit) extract, cinnamal, limonene, eugenol, hydroxycitronellal, linalool, benzyl salicylate, citral.

RazoRock “La Famiglia” Cumba Cheech – orange blossom and jasmine soap

Tags

8/10, Discontinued, floral, Jasmine, Orange, orange blossom, RazoRock, shaving soap, soft soap

Edit: This scent has been discontinued

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No, I have no idea what exactly a Cumba Cheech is supposed to mean or refer to. Other than a rather nice shave soap, that is. The first impression is that it’s a quite soft shaving soap. Almost seems to have more in common with a cream than with a hard triple-milled style soap, with a bit more stiffness than Play-Doh.

Now, when shaving with most soaps, I’ll typically lather the soap in the container it came in (or whatever container I put it in), whereas with a cream, I’ll transfer a bit of the cream to my scuttle and lather it there. For this soap, I did one day of each, and found I had better results treating it as a cream.

It easily lathered up into a nice thick cushioning foam, which provided enough slickness and lubrication to make the shave go well. Or at least, the aspects of the shave that didn’t go well this morning I chalk up to the blade. I think I’m done trying out the Derby Extras.

As for the scent, it was rather nice. The sweetness of the orange blossom was mostly overpowered by the jasmine, with a hint of bitterness to the aroma. Overall, it came together well, and I rather enjoyed it.

Strength-wise, it came on strong enough, but dissipated quickly. So lather early and lather often! As I usually only lather a third of my face at a time (left, right, muzzle), this wasn’t too much of an issue.

•  8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 10/10 Lather thickness
• 8/10 Lather slickness

Overall, I give it a 8/10. It gave a great shave, smelled good, and you certainly can’t argue with the price.

• Cost:$6.99 for 125 mL

Gear used:

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