Elegant Rose artisan shaving soap – Woodland Spice

Tags

9/10, cedar, cinnamon, cloves, Elegant Rose, fir, Orange, shaving soap, spice, wood

So, when Melissa over at the Elegant Rose boutique contacted me about reviewing her soaps, I was initially reluctant, after having a look at the ingredient listing on her page. Well, turns out I was at least a bit mistaken, she had completely reformulated her soap, this time not falling into the whole “slight alterations to a hand soap” trap that so many artisan soap makers do when they want to branch out into shaving soap. She just didn’t have it up on her website for sale at that point; now she does.

And the product that she did provide to me is pretty darned good.

Latherwise, it’s a reasonably thirsty soap. Not quite as much needed as, say, Mike’s Naturals or Barrister and Mann, but you’re definitely going to want to add a small splash when lathering to help develop it. It’s too finnicky, so absolute precision isn’t a worry here. It develops into a nice thick lather with pretty good glide, although perhaps not quite what I’d say is great glide. After the shave, it leaves the face feeling nice and moisturized, smooth, etc. I’d imagine that’s in no small part due to the kokum and shea butter?

Anyways, it’s good stuff; she obviously actually did her research and tested thoroughly. And, as a bonus, it smells nicely too!

The woodland spice is, well, pretty much exactly like what it sounds like, a woodsy scent combined with spicy notes, most notably the cloves and the cinnamon. With some sweetness too, from orange and probably at least some influence just from the kokum and shea butter in the soap itself. A very deep invigorating scent, great for the winter months. As far as soaps go, it’s not too shabby in the strength department; once lathered up and applied to the face it presents itself rather noticeably, with only some fading during the course of a pass.

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

I think it’s reasonable to give this one a 9/10. I’m really glad that she managed to reformulate her soap with this much success!

• Cost: As mentioned, I was provided this soap sample for the purposes of this review. Pucks of the soap can be obtained from the Elegant Rose website, for 14.95 per 4 oz. Just keep in mind that this review is valid only for their artisan shaving soap. As well, Melissa provided a coupon code “Shave” which could get you 10% off your order until April 24th.

Gear used:

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

Ingredients: Saponified Oils of vegetable stearic acid, organic shea butter, kokum butter, organic palm oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, castor oil, apricot kernel oil, organic jojoba oil and essential oils.

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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)

The Strop Shoppe – 1887 Limited Edition with Lanolin

Tags

8/10, Discontinued, shaving soap, soft soap, spice, strop shoppe, tobacco, wood

So, anyways, one thing that I need to keep in mind when I get a limited edition soap to review is that they’re limited. And I should probably review them faster than slower. I bought this soap back in June of last year, and stuffed it under the sink on my “to-do list”. In the meantime, they stopped making it, and you’ll have trouble finding it. So, sorry, here’s a review for a product you might not be able to get.

The Limited Edition / Lanolin formula performs exquisitely. It’s got a very wide sweet spot, and provides great thickness and glide. There are absolutely no issues with lather stability, and it left my face feeling great and moisturized to boot. Anyways, it’s pretty much what I expected out of the Strop Shoppe. For quality wise, at least.

One thing I’ll note is that there appears to be an inconsistency about the packaging. At the top, it says it is “Special Edition: Extra soft – Double butter Formula, Cocoa Butter – Shea Butter.” The ingredient listing at the bottom however doesn’t list any Cocoa Butter or Shea Butter. I presume that this was probably just a left-over from their special edition that they failed to remove when they made up the label for the Limited edition. This is, unfortunately, also something that I’ve somewhat come to expect from the Strop Shoppe; they’re great at making soaps, but the little details of running a business sometimes seem to slip past them. For example, their current listing of a Limited Edition says in the description that it’s made with tallow and lanolin, but the ingredient listing doesn’t mention lanolin at all.

The scent is nice enough. I’ve seen it described elsewhere as “woodsy, spicy, and tobacco”, which doesn’t seem all that far off. The spicy portions develop a bit more once lathered up. All in all, it’s a nice cologne-y scent. The strength is decent; coming on at about a medium strength, without much in the way of fading.

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

Overall, I’m willing to round up and give it a 9/10.

• Cost: As mentioned, it’s not really available anywhere anymore. I had purchased this one $17.50 from MenEssentials.ca.

Gear used:

• Brush: Ecotools Kabuki Finishing Brush
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Bolzano Superinox
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Glycerin, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Lanolin, Fragrance.

Knockout Shave Cream – Sonny

Tags

7/10, cedarwood, citrus, floral, knockout shave, lavender, lemongrass, shaving cream, wood

The real question here, is which Sonny are they referring to? The Corleone? Or the Bono?

Sonny is a blend of Cedarwood, Lemongrass, and lavender. The Lemongrass is the strongest of the bunch with the lavender coming in for 2nd. It is a rather pleasant scent; I am a fan of lemongrass overall.

The strength was pretty much spot on, strong, with nothing noticeable in the way of fading. However, the strength probably contributed to one problem:

While I generally have fairly bullet-proof skin, I did notice a fair bit of irritation and a burning sensation from this one. Thus, I’d probably recommend avoiding it if you’ve got sensitive skin, as it’ll probably hit you harder than I. I’ll be docking some points directly from the overall score for this.

Since this cream uses Al’s Shaving Products main line as a base, a lot of you should know what to expect. A very darned fine shave, great thickness and lather slickness, as long as you’re sure to use enough water (and elbow grease)! Good moisturization, good lather stability; great shave.

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

So, normally this would probably be a 9/10, however due to the irritation I experienced, I’m going to downgrade it to a 7/10. Still usable, but there’s better stuff out there.

• Cost: I was provided my samples free of charge for the purposes of this review; you however can get samples (0.25 oz each) of the four current Knockout Shave scents for $7.50, or buy a 4 oz tub of the “Sonny” for $25.

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue

Ingredients: sodium and potassium salts of fatty acids (stearic, oleic, linoleum, palmitic, myristic and lauric), water, glycerin, essential oils (for fragrance).

Los Angeles Shaving Soap Company – Woody Lavender

Tags

9/10, floral, LA Shaving Soap Co., lavender, shaving soap, wood

So, any of my readers who are also subscribed to /r/wicked_edge are likely aware of the LA Shaving Soap Company, set up by fellow redditor jbisinla‘s fairly new soap line (up and running for the last 7 months). It’s certainly been gaining high praise, and after trying it I can see why.

First off, the lather is great. It whips up easily, into a nice thick creamy lather, with some great glide. Not too thirsty, but it seems to have a relatively wide sweet spot, so you’re probably not going to accidentally over-water it. Great stability,and left my face feelin’ nice.

The scent is just what it says on the tin; woodsy and lavender. The lavender provides a good contrast to the wood notes base, provided by essential oils of Ho Wood, Amyris (Torchwood) and West Indian Bay. It comes together quite nicely.

The strength is what I’d say is just spot on. It’s a nice and strong scent, without being what I’d say is overpowering, with little to no fading during the course of the shave.

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

Overall, definitely worth a 9/10, IMHO.

• Cost:This scent can be found as one of five scents in their sampler pack. Although availability does seem rather sporadic. Or you can get it in a 4 oz thin tin (increased surface area for easier loading) or a 4.5 oz tub for $16.

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: Vegetable Stearic Acid, Distilled Water, Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Vegetable Glycerin, Essential Oils (Lavender, Ho Wood, Amyris, Pimenta Racimosa (West Indian Bay)).

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.

Knockout Shave Cream – Citrus of Paradise

Tags

9/10, cedarwood, citrus, floral, Fruit, grapefruit, knockout shave, shaving cream, wood, ylang ylang

Happy new year folks. Here’s to hoping that 2014 treats you all well. As mentioned previously, I’ll be starting off the first bit new year with new soaps and creams. Although I’ll admit, this one isn’t exactly completely new.

It’s a new brand, but it was developed in conjunction with Al over at Al’s Shaving Products. Ralph over at Knockout Shave is using, and I quote, “Al’s cream base with different essential oils to create a different scent experience.” So at the least, we’ve got a darn fine idea of how we can expect the lather to work.

So, first up I’ve got a sample of their Citrus of Paradise. Were I to have judged this one blind, I would have said that I thought I smelled predominately a sweet lemon-y scent (or maybe lemongrass-y) with some wood as a base. Their website outlines how they crafted this one from essential oils of grapefruit, Virginian cedar wood, and ylang ylang. So, my nose wasn’t all that far off I guess. No calibration required.

Both myself and the girlfriend really liked this scent, her a bit more than I. The strength was pretty much spot on; it started off quite strong, and only experienced minor fading throughout the shave. All in all, I’d say Ralph did a great job of crafting the scent for this cream.

As for the lather, well, like I said, it uses Al’s as a base, so a lot of you should know what to expect. A very darned fine shave, great thickness and lather slickness, as long as you’re sure to use enough water (and elbow grease)! Good moisturization, good lather stability; great shave.

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

This is clearly a strong 9/10. I like it a lot. So much so in fact, I think it may have earned a spot on the top 10 list… it doesn’t quite beat out TOBS’s Avocado, but I think it’ll bump Tabula Rasa’s Herb off the list.

• Cost: I was provided my samples free of charge for the purposes of this review; you however can get samples (0.25 oz each) of the four current Knockout Shave scents for $7.50, or buy a 4 oz tub of the Citrus of Paradise for $25.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant (with iKon handle)
• Blade: Big Ben Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: sodium and potassium salts of fatty acids (stearic, oleic, linoleum, palmitic, myristic and lauric), water, glycerin, essential oils (for fragrance).

Wm. Neumann & Co – Old Fashioned Soda Shaving Cream

Tags

9/10, Birch, cinnamon, citrus, clove, Coriander, floral, Fruit, lemon, mint, Neroli, nutmeg, Orange, shaving cream, soda, spice, Star Anise, vanilla, Wintergreen, Wm. Neumann & Co, wood

Now, some of you have probably noticed that I’ve been pretty lazy with getting these reviews out lately. For that, I apologize. It’s had one side effect; rather than trying several soap or cream a couple times, without getting updates out, I’d just been reusing and reusing one of them. So, rather than getting the usual 2 – 3 tries that other soaps and creams get, this upcoming cream has gotten used about ten times that. One of my most thoroughly reviewed products ever!

Wm. (William) Neumann & Co’s schtick is that the descendant of a pharmacist from the turn of the last century found a notebook wherein said gentleman had found the recipes for a bunch of custom scents that the fellow had created.

So I was prompted to purchase this product after seeing Mantic’s review of it. He says that he smelled Cola and Root beer, with a bit of cream soda; his wife got a citrus cream soda vibe. Personally, I’d say it’s cola, root beer, with a bit of Dr. Pepper. It’s a sweet, slightly tangy scent that I think if I were to sniff it blind and be asked what it smelled like, I would probably reply with something similar to “Old Fashioned Soda”. Really suits what they were going for. They describe it as a “secret combination of Orange, Lemon, Nutmeg, Coriander, Neroli, Cinnamon, Wintergreen, Clove, Birch, Star Anise, and Vanilla”, which seems like a reasonable description to me; it comes together quite nicely.

The strength of it was pretty good. It starts off pretty much perfect, although it does experience fairly significant fading as the shave progresses. Still, it was “strong enough” for the time it took to finish off each of my cheeks and the neck, which isn’t too shabby.

As for the performance of the cream itself, it’s very good, although I did find it a bit tricky to get just right. In particular, I found it was fairly easy to over-do it with the amount of water added, leaving a lather that’s too thin. Not too much water is needed at all, and a bit easy to overshoot. That said, when you do get it right, it does result in a very fine lather with some great glide and cushioning, and some good moisturization to boot.

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

All in all, I’d say it’s a pretty damned fine cream. Fine enough that I believe it deserves a spot on the top ten list; I think I’ll be putting it at number 8 for the time being. 9/10.

• Cost: $24 for 8 oz (236 mL) of the shaving cream, in a container with a hand pump. They do also make a shave soap, an aftershave (which they can’t ship outside the US due to its alcohol base), and an aftershave balm in the same scent.

Gear used:

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

Ingredients: Water, stearic acid, glycerin, myristic acid, potassium hydroxide, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, olea europaea (olive) oil, aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice, hydrolyzed silk, fragrance (contains natural oils), menthol, tocopheryl acetate (vitamin e), butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, retinyl palmitate (vitamin a), allantoin, camellia sinensis (green tea) extract, aphanizonmenon flos aquae (blue-green algae) extract, urtica dioica (nettle) extract, stellaria media (chickweed) extract, ulmus rubra (slippery elm) extract, silybum marianum (milk thistle extract), althaea officinalis (marshmallow root) extract, hydroxyethylcellulose.

Green Mountain Soaps – Nick’s Red Jacket (shave off entry)

Tags

8/10, cedarwood, clove, Discontinued, Fruit, nutmeg, oakmoss, Orange, peppermint, Scent Off 2013, shaving soap, spice, Spruce, tobacco, wood

Edit: This particular scent is no longer available.

Ho Ho Ho! And now, with a fair bit of delay because I’ve been feeling both lazy and ill lately, we’re up to the final Scent Off 2013 entry. From Green Mountain Soaps – Nick’s Red Jacket. Here’s what the rest of the judges had to say about it. And here’s what the manufacturer had to say about the scent:

Triple milled shaving soap with a special scent developed for the holidays. Essential oils of Spruce, Sweet Orange, Peppermint, Texas Cedarwood, Nutmeg, Clove, Tobacco Absolute, Carrot Seed & Oakmoss evoke the scent of Christmas Eve clinging to St. Nick’s jacket on Christmas Eve on his journey home to the North Pole.

Of all the scents listed in the description, the Peppermint really predominates. To the point that, while you can tell that there’s “something else” there, it’s difficult to really be able to distinguish what that something else might actually be, with probably the orange and the spruce as somewhat distant runners up.

Overall it’s a pleasant scent; I do like peppermint, and it certainly fits the seasonal theme. The scent was at a good strength level; started out fairly strong, with only a bit of fading throughout each pass.

I’d call the lather fairly good. While it wasn’t all that difficult to find the right amount of water for a good balance of lather thickness and glide, it did seem to have some lather stability problems, with noticeable breakdown starting to happen before got from one cheek to the other.

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

All in all, I’m going to be giving this final entry in the scent off a 8/10.

• Cost: A 1 oz sample is available for $5.50, or a 2.5 oz puck for $9. Unfortunately, the last time I checked, they only shipped within the United States, so any of us who live elsewhere might be a bit out of luck.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Yuma Safety Razor
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Tallow, Distilled Water, Stearic/Palmitic Acid, Coconut Oil, Sodium Hydroxide (lye), Castor Oil, Cocoa Butter, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Olive Oil, Borax, Bentonite, essential oils

Fitjar Soaps – Isrose (aka Frost Rose; Scent off entry)

Tags

7/10, 8/10, floral, menthol, pine, Rose, Scent Off 2013, shaving cream, shaving soap, wood

Next up in the scent off is a product coming to us from the town of Fitjar in Norway. Fitjar Såpekokeri (aka Fitjar Soap) offered forth both a cream and a soap, which I’ll be doing in one review, in a scent they call Isrose, or “Frost Rose”. This is the first products I’ve tried from them. I’d heard mostly quite good things, and they seem to have lived up to their reputation. Here’s what everyone else had to say about it.

The soap is good; not great, but quite good. It lathers up quite easily,
however does thin out a bit when enough water is added to give it what I
think it a good level of glide. I didn’t really notice anything in the
way of moisturization after the fact. I did have quite good lather
stability however.

Upon a trying it a few more times, I’ve actually switched my initial
opinion; the cream seems to be working better than the soap; it does
require a bit more elbow grease, but it gave what I considered to be a
superior balance of glide and lather thickness. Good stability, still
not much noticable on moisturization.

As for what they had to say about their scent off entry:

The inspiration for this scent is from frost roses on the windows of my log cabin in Telemark. One of the most magical Christmases I have ever had was spent here. The Frost roses were exquisitely beautiful, and they looked a bit like the pine trees that grow right outside the window. So the Christmas scent Frost Rose became a blend of sweet rosa damascena aand rose geranium, spicy pine and icy menthol.

The aroma of rose with the touch of pine is pretty nice, with a reasonable strength level. However, I’m not sure that the menthol is all that suitable for what’s supposed to be a seasonal scent winter/autumn scent. It reminds one of winter, but it’s not something that I’d want to be using during winter. Even living in a spot with one of the mildest winters in Canada, I’m still not eager to try and cool my face down further in the mornings once we get to this time of year!

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 8/10 Scent Strength
• 9/10 Lather Quality for the cream; 8/10 for the soap

Overall, I’d say that I’ll give the soap a 7/10 and the cream a 8/10.

• Cost: The cream can be had for 155 NOK (about $25.50 USD) for a full 175 mL jar, or a 20 mL sample (shown) is available for 20 NOK (~$6.40 USD). The soap is available for 111 NOK (~$18.25 USD) for a 100g refill; extra if you want a plastic bowl with an aluminium lid, or a wooden bowl.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Gillette 7 O’clock Black
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients (shaving cream): Potassium stearate, potassium cocoate (from organic oconut oil), glycerin, olea europea (organic virgin olive oil), essential oils(rosa damascena, rose geranium, pine, menthol).

Ingredients (shaving soap): Glycerin, sodium stearate, sodium cocoate (from unrefined, organic oconut oil), coconut fatty acid, lauric acid, cocus nuciferi, olea europea (organic virgin olive oil), sorbitol, sodium laurate, sodium laurate sulphate, sodium lauryl sulphate, pentasodium pentetate, tetrasodium etidronate, essential oils (rosa damascena, rose geranium, pine, menthol).