DR Harris Arlington Soap

Merkurologist

Merkurologist

LeJog 2022 Finisher
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I've tried in excess of 25 soaps and creams over the last 12 months and this DR Harris Arlington soap ranks, in my opinion, amongst the best and it is British.

It's described as "This solid white soap of finest quality is triple-milled to increase the profuseness of the lather and is fragranced with Arlington essence, a light citrus and fern aroma...."

In my opinion, it performs on a par or better than all the Stirling soaps, all the Phoenix Artisan Accutrement (PAA) I've tried ( 16 soaps between the 2 Artisans), Tabac Original, Tiki, Cella, TOBS, etc.

Sterling soaps have earned a reputation for their slickness, I find the Arlington a good match or an improvement for slickness, and that is in a hard water area.

Tabac has always been a favourite of mine but the slickness of the Arlington is substantially better in my opinion. Tabac is quicker at producing a good shaving lather though.

The Arlington produces a thick and creamy lather that is very cushioning and superbly slick.

It has a really wonderful light citrus scent that is doubled in strength when the soap is bloomed.

The aftershave feel is excellent too, on a par with some PAA soaps. Probably the Tiki might have a slightly better aftershave feel.

There might be other soaps that are better that I'm yet to try but for now the Arlington is standing within my top 3 soaps.
 
I have the DR Harris Lavender soap and found it a bit underwhelming to be honest. The scent is very faint and it always leaves my face feeling dry and tight after the shave. Performs well as far as slickness and cushion goes but I don't think I'll bother replacing it once it's used up.
 
Lucido said:
I have the DR Harris Lavender soap and found it a bit underwhelming to be honest. The scent is very faint and it always leaves my face feeling dry and tight after the shave. Performs well as far as slickness and cushion goes but I don't think I'll bother replacing it once it's used up.
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Dries My Face Rotten..Another Bog Job..:)

Billy
 
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...I also use Arlington. I find it a good soap and it certainly lasts, I do not find the post feel drying or moisturising rather neutral. That said, I will not replace it when it is finished as other soaps such as Tabac, Valobra and Haslinger perform better for me...
 
Sorry to hear you don't like the soap as much as I do.

I spent best part of an hour at the DR Harris store in London. I sniffed everything they had there to sniff and there were only two items I was happy to buy. I came out with an Eucalyptus scent cream..... a few days later I saw the Arlington being offered by a forum member and yes, I couldn't resist myself :)

I will definitely buy a replacement.

My wife loves the scent too.


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Merkurologist said:
I've tried in excess of 25 soaps and creams over the last 12 months and this DR Harris Arlington soap ranks, in my opinion, amongst the best and it is British.

It's described as "This solid white soap of finest quality is triple-milled to increase the profuseness of the lather and is fragranced with Arlington essence, a light citrus and fern aroma...."

In my opinion, it performs on a par or better than all the Stirling soaps, all the Phoenix Artisan Accutrement (PAA) I've tried ( 16 soaps between the 2 Artisans), Tabac Original, Tiki, Cella, TOBS, etc.

Sterling soaps have earned a reputation for their slickness, I find the Arlington a good match or an improvement for slickness, and that is in a hard water area.

Tabac has always been a favourite of mine but the slickness of the Arlington is substantially better in my opinion. Tabac is quicker at producing a good shaving lather though.

The Arlington produces a thick and creamy lather that is very cushioning and superbly slick.

It has a really wonderful light citrus scent that is doubled in strength when the soap is bloomed.

The aftershave feel is excellent too, on a par with some PAA soaps. Probably the Tiki might have a slightly better aftershave feel.

There might be other soaps that are better that I'm yet to try but for now the Arlington is standing within my top 3 soaps.
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I recommend you give Wickhams 1912 a go if you're after British and hitting all the points you mention.
 
Merkurologist said:
Sorry to hear you don't like the soap as much as I do.

I spent best part of an hour at the DR Harris store in London. I sniffed everything they had there to sniff and there were only two items I was happy to buy. I came out with an Eucalyptus scent cream..... a few days later I saw the Arlington being offered by a forum member and yes, I couldn't resist myself :)

I will definitely buy a replacement.

My wife loves the scent too.


.
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It's all about what works best for you. It's a great feeling when you find a brand/line of products that work perfectly. I have two of the DR Harris creams and aftershaves (Arlington, Rose & the Pink and Arlington splashes) and really like them. It's just their hard soaps that I find drying.
 
Yesterday I've received an Arlington soap and a Rose scent cream jar, both from DR Harris. I lathered tonight the soap, but have chosen the cream for shaving today and for the next days. Arlington doesn't impressed me, is just lemon candy scent to me. Let's see in the future. But as far as it is one of the classics we ought to buy at least one for the den. The cream post is very good and the scent a nature Rose; lather is below Speick and Musgo Real, which I've used before. But scent and post make it appealing. Let's see Arlington soap.
 
Thalasos said:
Yesterday I've received an Arlington soap and a Rose scent cream jar, both from DR Harris. I lathered tonight the soap, but have chosen the cream for shaving today and for the next days. Arlington doesn't impressed me, is just lemon candy scent to me. Let's see in the future. But as far as it is one of the classics we ought to buy at least one for the den. The cream post is very good and the scent a nature Rose; lather is below Speick and Musgo Real, which I've used before. But scent and post make it appealing. Let's see Arlington soap.
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The Arlington scent is very simple, citrus and fern but it's very nice. I get lost with more complex scents or should I say my nose is not trained enough :) I can't pick up more than a couple of notes and most of the times I can pick only one. I have a Cognac and Cuban cigars soap but I've never been able to pick up the cognac scent. :)

Some people undoubtedly have a gift for picking up scents, like wine tasters...... some are really good but the vast majority talk a lot of BS :) my family used to have a wine making business so I grew up around people that trained to taste wine and it takes many years to become good at it..... it makes me laught when I see on YouTube people listing 5 or more scents coming out of a soap :)
I would imagine a pro soap sniffer would look after his nose like a footballer looks after his legs.

Scents is such subjective thing, I have bought soaps that some people find they smell amazing and I have actually hated them lol.
 
Merkurologist, tomorrow I'll use Arlington. SWMBO find some cotton and white flowers scent. We must be somehow differents to keep out of boring. I found some orange like in ¿4711?, the EdC from Koln, Germany. I lather it tonight and the foam didn't impress to me like some others. But it's enough for shaving on Saturday. I hope that. ;-)
 
Thalasos said:
Merkurologist, tomorrow I'll use Arlington. SWMBO find some cotton and white flowers scent. We must be somehow differents to keep out of boring. I found some orange like in ¿4711?, the EdC from Koln, Germany. I lather it tonight and the foam didn't impress to me like some others. But it's enough for shaving on Saturday. I hope that. ;-)
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Sorry, I have not tried 4711 but I believe you.

This is what I have been doing to lather it, I place the puck in my steel lather bowl with tap hot water while I take a 5 minutes shower and then I pour the bloomed water into a glass to use before each pass. I load the brush for 20 seconds wich is more than enough for 3 passes. I build the lather in my scuttle. Let the puck out to dry before it goes back in its beautiful black wood container. That's it.
 
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