Red Leaf – Black tea shaving cube

Tags

8/10, black tea, sage, sandalwood, shaving soap

Red Leaf is a shaving soap which, judging by the ingredient listing, is at least partially based upon a melt-and-pour base. That having been said, I think it’s at least on par with one the best melt and pours that I’ve used before, such as Elvado, or Honeybee Soaps.

I didn’t find too much of an issue finding the right amount of water for use with this soap. I do know I sometimes have issues with that with soaps sticks, or cubes I guess, given that it’s a bit harder to control the amount of water you’re using when it’s not being added directly into a bowl or scuttle. But this stuff seemed to be fairly tolerant to different levels of moisture. It provided a good balance of glide and lubrication, and some decent moisturization to boot.

They describe their scent as follows:

The scent of warm toasted tea leaves, Black Tea is a slightly smoky, sexy, and warm scent with a woody natural smell with notes of Sage and Sandalwood.

I suppose that seems reasonably accurate; it’s definitely smoky and warm. I wouldn’t really say that it smells all that much like Black Tea itself, but it’s definitely in the same vicinity. I rather do like it. The strength could use some bumping up; it’s still noticeable, but definitely not strongly so when lathered up and applied to the face.

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

All told, I think I’m willing to round this one up to an 8/10.

• Cost: I got this from MenEssentials, where the 100 g cube goes for $10. Red Leaf also has sample sizes available on their website. I’ll note here that the sample sizes are the same formulation as the cubes; however I’ve confirmed with the owner of Red Leaf that the “travel containers”, the 3.5 oz jars of soap, they are a slightly different formulation from the cubes or the samples, so I make no promises that the performance would match what I’ve outlined here.

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech
• Blade: Shark Super Stainless

Ingredients: Ingredients: coconut oil, sustainable palm oil, castor oil, safflower oil, vegetable glycerin, purified water, sodium hydroxide, sorbitan oleate, soybean protein, wheat protein, fragrance

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

Tags

3/10, sage, shaving soap, wood

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:

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

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.

Barrister and Mann – Ferox shaving soap

Tags

9/10, Barrister and Mann, citrus, grapefruit, herbal, rosemary, sage, shaving soap, tea tree, thyme, vetiver

I’m pretty sure that Barrister and Mann’s formulation doesn’t change between their scents, with the exception of the fragrance portion. The Ferox performed quite like I expected: it’s a rather thirsty soap, kind of. I mean, if you only use a bit of water, it’ll be ok, but if you use a fair large splash, it’ll be great. It’s not quite as thirsty as Mike’s Natural is, but almost. Anyways, it works up into something really slick, nice and thick, with great moisturization properties.

The scent is quite nice. If I had to pick one word for it, it’d be “invigourating”. It’s a blend of grapefruit, sage, thyme, rosemary, tea tree, and vetiver. The grapefruit gives a nice tartness and pep, which is tempered nicely by the herbal elements, and supported by the earthiness of the vetiver. It was designed to be a “springtime” scent, and I think it fits that bill.

The strength was pretty decent. It came on reasonably strong, and didn’t fade much during the course of the shave.

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

I’ll happily round this one up to a 9/10. It’s quite an enjoyable shave, and although perhaps a little stronger would have been nice, but I’ll generally prefer a middling-strength scent that doesn’t fade much to a strong one that disappears quickly.

• Cost: A 3.75 oz puck of Ferox goes for $12, or you can get it included as one of 6 1/2 oz samples for $10. Also, they’re the only soap-maker I know that takes Bitcoin, if that’s your gig.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: 1966 Gillette Tech
• Blade: Merkur Super
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate, Aqua, Glycerin, Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Citrus grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Oil, Salvia officinalis (Sage) Oil, Thymus zygis (Thyme) Oil, Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) Oil, Melaleuca alternifolia (Tea Tree) Oil, Andropogon zizanioides (Vetiver) Oil, Coconut Milk, Potassium Kokum Butterate, Sodium Kokum Butterate, Unrefined Shea Butter, Potassium Cocoate, Sodium Cocoate, Lanolin, Allantoin, Silk Protein, Tocopherol Acetate.