Artisan soaps vs mass produced

I'm glad that artisan soaps exist because they tend to fill niches in the market that mass produced soaps miss. It's nice that we have the choice to buy extremely strongly scented or over-the-top mentholated soaps but I can't help but be disappointed when the actual performance doesn't even match, let alone exceed that of a cheap soap like Palmolive or Speick.
 
Artisan soaps have the coolest names, if Haslinger were to introduce a mentholated soap it would be called Menthol, not Margaritas in the Arctic.
 
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As far as I'm concerned there are two dimensions to soap:

Quality / Functionality - Good through to bad
Interest (especially scent) - Imaginative through to plain

Artisans usually score well on the latter, but on the former it's a pretty even distribution from mass produced through to one (wo)man band
 
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Greybeard said:
Don't get me wrong here...I'm not taking a particular viewpoint, but I am interested in gauging people's views generally.

Artisan soaps usual carry a price premium...Like every wet shaver, I find myself facing the choice of a wide range of soaps (and creams), and I can pay £2-£5 for 150ml tub or tube of Cella, Proraso, Palmolive, etc; or I can pay 3 or 4 times as much for similar amounts (or even less) for an artisan soap.

In use, I have to admit, I find it difficult often to really understand the qualitative difference between artisan and mass produced.

What's your view on what makes a 'Wickam's' or 'Exec Shaving Company Natural' or other small scale productions worth the extra cost? Is the performance that much better?
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Greybeard, it's me...you, but from your future. Yes me! You!
Just wanted to try and warn you beforehand that if you insist in posting this question you may be in danger of creating schisms in the very fabric of the forum. at some point, some idiot might even demand a referendum to determine if they should stay in the forum or go their own way. You might even cause dangerous ripples in the market for artisan and mass produced shaving products! Think on!:rolleyes::oops:
 
Curious, re: US soaps - have you tried Barrister & Mann? If so, what do you think of their soaps?
 
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Lucido said:
Good performance but really, really, really strongly scented. Expect your face, hands and brush to stink for hours afterwards.
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+ 1..Yeah That..That Barrister & Mann Ate My Face Off..It Stinks Like a Brothel..It Stinks the Bathroom, It Lingers Like a Bad Perfume for Yonks..Its Like a Number of so Called USA Artisan Soaps..Oh..I Forgot its a Poor Soap any Roads..In Fact it Doesn't Even Resemble what I would Expect of a Soap..:)

Billy
 
Fergiebilly said:
+ 1..Yeah That..That Barrister & Mann Ate My Face Off..It Stinks Like a Brothel..It Stinks the Bathroom, It Lingers Like a Bad Perfume for Yonks..Its Like a Number of so Called USA Artisan Soaps..Oh..I Forgot its a Poor Soap any Roads..In Fact it Doesn't Even Resemble what I would Expect of a Soap..:)

Billy
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I had trouble getting consistent lather out of the old formula. I haven't tried the newest base yet. I've enjoyed *some* of their scents myself.
 
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