Old Spice Soap

mulligano

mulligano

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I was really lucky to get an Old Spice mug complete with soap (and lid) this week:

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The mug seems to match those on the old spice collectible website from the late 1960's. But the untouched soap that came in it weighs 5 oz which, according to the same site, was supplied from the mid 1940's to 1959.

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I'd imagine that maybe the soap was bought as a refill before the owner got a new mug? Or a newly produced mug was filled with an unsold refill? Perhaps there were just left over refills or a special offer on.

Anyway, I finally worked up the courage to use it today and all I can say is WOW, WOW and DAMN. I was incredibly frugal with loading my brush since it is a rare item but, using the method I mentioned here, it produced what I would have to call the best lather I've ever had:

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The soap has a very faint scent, which I imagine is due to it losing scent but it performs so, so well. It is slick, cushiony, light and "clingy" (in a good way) all at the same time. To anyone that has a fair stock of this - I salute you! It's a great soap and I just wish they would make it again.
 
The scent from heaven smells like old spice is a great great alternative

It makes you wonder why these forms discontinued items or havnt remade them since
 
I have some vintage Imperial Leather soaps, two of which I've used and one i haven't. Although none have their original smell they produce an incredible lather from, like yours, very little product and have loads of slip and protection. Same for vintage Palmolive /Colgate.
I guess the convenience of shaving foam and gel and various reformulations of soaps over the years made it happen.
 
Yeah, it's a shame. Did the carts & gel really come to such dominance in the 90's that the OS soaps were just not selling? Or did P&G actively discontinue the soaps so as not to compete with the gel?

I can understand the emergence of carts as being more convenient but it seems more of a stretch to convince people that canned gels are more efficient or effective, especially at what they cost.

Another thing, are the old soaps made differently? Are there ingredients in them that are frowned upon now that makes them so damned good?

The Scent From Heaven soaps are described as "Vegetable based" - do they perform as well as the Vintage stuff or is it purely in scent that they're similar?
 
I managed to pick up a NOS Old Spice mug with untouched soap in it. I'm unsure as to whether I should use it or not, but looking at your pictures, I am sorely tempted.

Cheers,

Jon
 
Go on, give it a try! All I did beforehand was give it a good rinse under warm water and then do a couple of lathers to remove the top layer of soap.

It's good to know the SFH are good - as if I need anymore incentive to spend money.
 
I have an OS mug with a puck of soap in. I haven't tried it yet, but looking at the success you've had I'm sorely tempted too.

If I remove the lid and take a deep sniff, I can clearly small the aroma, so its promising....
 
mulligano said:
are the old soaps made differently? Are there ingredients in them that are frowned upon now that makes them so damned good?
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Yeah, I think some soaps were made differently and better years ago. I've tried some Old Spice soap from I believe the 1970s and the performance was really good. Thicker than usual lather that whipped up very easily. Your soap looks pretty darn old and it's the large size which will last a while.

There's a few other vintage soaps in my arsenal that perform kinda like the Old Spice. One of em is called Lentheric and its got very little scent left but performs like crazy. Same sorta very thick lather.

I'm guessing the average price for a puck of Old Spice is around $30 or so. It's not hard to understand why people spend the money on something that old, rather than a puck of say Penhaligons. Plus, in most cases you get a soap with a truly classic original fragrance. Sometimes the soap's just too old for any scent remaining, but that's unusual.

Not to enable you in any way, but I find the vintage Ralph Lauren 'Safari' shaving soap has the same kind of lathering properties. Great scent as well.

Martin

bigsimes said:
I have an OS mug with a puck of soap in. I haven't tried it yet, but looking at the success you've had I'm sorely tempted too.

If I remove the lid and take a deep sniff, I can clearly small the aroma, so its promising....
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That would probably be worth getting wet.
 

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It would be interesting to find out exactly how these soaps differ from modern offerings. The lather really is "thicker" from this stuff.
I'm just glad I got one of the big pucks, I think having a tiny amount of this soap would be too much to take!

Not to enable you in any way, but I find the vintage Ralph Lauren 'Safari' shaving soap has the same kind of lathering properties. Great scent as well.
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Not that it's hard to enable me, but I'll be actively looking for this soap and the Lentheric now.
 
NotTheStig said:
The Safari is very good. There's a very slight oil-like glide in these old soaps which i don't find in many newer offerings. Is that the tallow?
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Well at first I was gonna make something up, but instead I will just say I have no idea what ingredients are causing what. Maybe someone like the soapalchemist will comment.

To me, the Safari lather seems somehow a little more 'important' than most others....heh. More body to it. Plus you probably noticed you need less time loading it on your brush than most other soaps. Fun stuff.
 
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