Sharon's new soap - a test drive

Sharon is a member of this forum (soapalchemist) and also manufactures and produces under Nanny's Silly Soaps. Her soaps and shaving software are well known and highly regarded by the members here. This test was for a new shaving soap she is working on and wanted some feedback on it before proceeding. She has said she will produce the soaps with various exciting scents. Her stuff is all of the highest quality, using natural ingredients and is sold at very competitive prices. ( Was that alright then Sharon?)
 
majortom said:
Sharon is a member of this forum (soapalchemist) and also manufactures and produces under Nanny's Silly Soaps. Her soaps and shaving software are well known and highly regarded by the members here. This test was for a new shaving soap she is working on and wanted some feedback on it before proceeding. She has said she will produce the soaps with various exciting scents. Her stuff is all of the highest quality, using natural ingredients and is sold at very competitive prices. ( Was that alright then Sharon?)
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Ahhhh ty for the heads up - I will keep an eyeout for news of the new soap ;)

just found the website - im interested!
will you be announcing the new soaps on here when they are available soapalchemist ?
 
Apologies for delay all, been away on a holiday and couldn't find time to do a review.
I was the second person testing Sharon's new soap, with a difference of being in a hard water area (London). My findings are following (and mind you, I'm benchmarking against the best - Tabac and Speick):
Lather: 8/10
Lather was creamy, with nice meringue-like peaks. Lathers easily enough with a good and wide 'sweet spot'.
Scent: 5/10
It smells divine - I had the Scottish Pine scent, and it was really great, but as long as you could detect it. It was pretty faint though, which will suit a lot of people, but I would really love such a good scent to be noticeably stronger and last for a bit more.
Glide: 7/10
Razor didn't drag, but it also wasn't the slickest lather of all. Way above the average though.
Cushion: 8/10
There's enough cushion in this soap, lather is quite dense and stable.
Skin care: 9/10
Skin care is what NSS are known for. Can't fault it.
Protection: 6/10
Although it's certainly good enough for a casual shave with some mild razor like Aristo or Weber, as a slant user I felt it lacked in this aspect, as I had an odd nick or two every time I used it (talking about 3 pass+ BBS shave). Oh and by the way, my "6" on protection means it's about as good as 3T products and most of the usual suspects on the market.

Verdict: it's definitely a good product in line with other Sharon's creations. If you want an all natural product with an excellent skincare, and you're normally using a mild razor (or skipping ATG pass), then this soap can be a good choice. Scent is great, as always, but do mention if you would like a higher EO concentration when ordering.
 
Thanks for your detailed feedback Helveticum. It's interesting how different people's experience can be with the same product. I may tweek the recipe a little and see if it improves cushion, although I've already made a couple of small batches of this, so will see how those are received. I know French Blade has a bar of this, so he may chime in, although he didn't get it specifically for f/b, so may not. Another bar is also with a member, but he hasn't gotten back to me, and not looking like he will.
I will ponder further, and thanks again gents, for your time and effort.
P.S. As regards the scent, I've checked the recipe as regards what I put in, and I could use near enough 30% more essential oil, so will do so when next made.
 
PM me please Black Rat.
I'm wondering now, whether any members would like to offer their findings on the Olive Oil soft soap, in the aluminium tins. On a basic note, are the tins noticeably better for direct loaders, due to a little extra diameter compared to the mouth of the small jars in which I do the original recipe? And are they wide enough. I see lots of people decant the small blue jars of original recipe into wider containers, which is not ideal. In an ideal world they would come in a wide enough container to start with.
But most importantly, I am curious to hear what members are making of the olive oil soft soap in terms of performance, and especially any comparisons to the original recipe in the blue jars. I would like to move/stay with one recipe. I'll be very grateful for any f/b as it will help inform how I progress from here. Thanks in advance.
 
Could I ask a genuine question as a soap fiend who hasn't tried nannys soaps

We are in agreement (smell aside) that tabac, arko, Palmolive, proraso are considered by lots on here as good performers.

How does nanny soaps compare in performance and quality of lather only
 
Sharon,
I'm loving the olive in the aluminium tin. I have geranium rose soft in the smaller steel tin and lavender Hard soap in the bigger steel tin as a comparison.
The olive one gets most use in my travel bag, primarily as the tin is the smallest. But of all the soaps it's is my favourite - I also have a Liz Earl cream, Palmolive cream and a TOBs hard soap.
Typically I load the brush from the tin and then face lather. I probably use too much that way (but I am eaking out the edges now). I use a small EJ badger travel brush and get - I think- a consistently good lather every time. I think this may be down to spending so much time away, and consistency of my travel gear. But I have been all over the UK and experienced most water types. It seems to be consistently creamy in lathering. If I am struggling, I just load up a little more. It's the one I have had least problems with. Probably the next best in terms of consistence would b Palmolive.
At home I do the same, but seem to favour bowl lathering. I think just because I can. Also I have bigger brushes to choose from. Both those larger tins are ok, but I do prefer the shallower sides of the Alu tins.
I can't comment on the Blue jar stuff, but my order of preference would be Olive (please don't drop it, or pm me and I will panic buy), soft and then hard soap. I seem to struggle most with hard soaps.
Hope that helps. I think you have some great products. The only reason I've not bought more is 'cos I am using my least favourites (although the rose and lavender are my favourite scents) up. Thats how good they are, I can't bear to waste them.
 
Thanks Alistair; if you have a soft soap in the steel deeper tin, then it's the original recipe. So it sounds to me that you are preferring the olive oil soft soap to the original. So I hope others will chime in, as people's experiences with the same soap can be very different, as we see.
 
Sharon,
I think the olive oil is very slightly slicker than the original - but that might be my imagination - I think they are both outstanding soaps. Regarding the containers: I decant the blue jars into the Ikea stainless steel tins as they are too small to load from effectively. I leave the olive oil in the alumimium tin because I can load directly from them. They are much better than the blue jars.

I terms of performance I find I have to load the olive oil more than MdC or Castle Forbes (similar thicknesses) but I rate their performance higher than MdC and equal to Castle Forbes. I have hard water that runs through a water softener. My preference would be to always order an olive oil version unless it wasn't available in the scent I wanted - mainly due to the tins. CF and NSS are they only soaps I repeat buy.

Paul
 
soapalchemist said:
I'm wondering now, whether any members would like to offer their findings on the Olive Oil soft soap, in the aluminium tins. On a basic note, are the tins noticeably better for direct loaders, due to a little extra diameter compared to the mouth of the small jars in which I do the original recipe? And are they wide enough.
But most importantly, I am curious to hear what members are making of the olive oil soft soap in terms of performance, and especially any comparisons to the original recipe in the blue jars. I would like to move/stay with one recipe. I'll be very grateful for any f/b as it will help inform how I progress from here. Thanks in advance.
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I have the olive oil "Down home summer" in the wider shallow tin. I do not have any of your "original" recipe so I can't offer a comparison. Loads to the brush (bowl latherer) very quickly.
Overall, I really like it, and my findings are in line with Helveticum.
Lather: 9/10
Lather was creamy, with nice meringue-like peaks. Lathers easier than tallow-based soaps (Stirling/Palmolive). Stable, lather lasts beyond typical 3-passes.
Scent: 5/10
It smells really nice but was pretty faint though. Scent fades immediately after rinsing.
Glide: 7/10
Razor didn't drag, but it also wasn't the slickest lather of all. Not as slick as Stirling. Way above the average though.
Cushion: 8/10
There's enough cushion in this soap, lather is quite dense and stable.
Skin care: 9/10
Skin care is what NSS are known for. Can't fault it.
Protection: 6/10
Decent protection with a mild razor but got a few nicks with a more aggressive razor.

Hope this helps
 
Thanks guys; I'm a bit worried about poor score on protection, although pleased that the tin seems to be acceptable......I will continue to ponder. I'm guessing that protection is down to the density/springiness of the lather? By springiness I mean that if you put a glob between thumb and finger, you can feel....feel the glob slightly resisting?
 
Hi,

I have been looking at the reviews of Sharon's new soap and noticed that there are common headers for each of the qualities of the soap. Is this a known thing, are the terms defined somewhere or is this just a convenient way of writing it? I ask because when describing soaps or creams it's helpful if everyone is on the same page, which is what I want to do.

Some of the terms are self explanatory but some while they seem obvious may not be (to me at least).

I guess the ones I'm interested in are Glide, Cushion, Skin Care and Protection. Of course I can come up with ideas about what I think these are but this might not be right. I think Glide and Cushion are nearly the same thing, I can make some of my creams and soaps give no glide or cushion but this can be based on my poor performance rather than the product. Protection, is that not the same as Glide and Cushion? If there is no glide and cushion you will get cuts and no protection from them? Skin Care, is this during the shave or how your face feels post shave?

I would be grateful for any pointers to help me get on the same page :)

Cheers,
BR
 
blackrat said:
Hi,

I have been looking at the reviews of Sharon's new soap and noticed that there are common headers for each of the qualities of the soap.

Some of the terms are self explanatory but some while they seem obvious may not be (to me at least).

I guess the ones I'm interested in are Glide, Cushion, Skin Care and Protection. Of course I can come up with ideas about what I think these are but this might not be right.

I would be grateful for any pointers to help me get on the same page :)

Cheers,
BR
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Hi there,

I can give you my thoughts on those terms, even though there's probably other guys with different ideas.

Glide and slip are the same. It has to do with how smoothly the razor slides over your face. Some soaps/creams just feel slicker, for whatever the reason.

Cushion and protection go together. Not enough cushion and the blade rests too closely on the face with no buffer. Might make your face feel a little bit raw, and not give you as much warning before something bad happens (less forgiving). However, too much cushion isn't good either, in that it keeps the blade from cutting as closely as it normally should. Bearing down a bit can help compensate for that, but why add another variable.

Personally, I use a fairly thin layer of lather (1/8 inch maybe?)......always the same depth. Now sometimes the razor will be louder on my face than usual. Also, I will feel the blade more than usual on my face. Third, the resulting shave will be a little closer than usual. All those things happen when using a lather with less cushion than I prefer. Same depth as the lathers I do like.....but they act differently. Too much cushion, and I gotta fight through the stuff. Heh, my shave is quieter too.

Skin care refers to the post shave part......how your face feels after the shave. Ideally, it will be in a better mood than before running a razor over it. Yeah, it will actually feel healthier........pretty weird. Less than perfect results can cause redness, tightness or dryness.

Something to think about is this lather thing is not always gonna work the same for every product.......not even close. Even after many years of using a brush it will still sometimes take me 3-4 times to figure out a new soap/cream. The thing is not to give up after 1-2 times, especially if the product gets good reviews. Sometimes it really does take some time to unlock the secret.

Anyway, maybe some of this will help.

Martin
 
dodgy said:
Hi there,

I can give you my thoughts on those terms, even though there's probably other guys with different ideas.

Glide and slip are the same. It has to do with how smoothly the razor slides over your face. Some soaps/creams just feel slicker, for whatever the reason.

Cushion and protection go together. Not enough cushion and the blade rests too closely on the face with no buffer. Might make your face feel a little bit raw, and not give you as much warning before something bad happens (less forgiving). However, too much cushion isn't good either, in that it keeps the blade from cutting as closely as it normally should. Bearing down a bit can help compensate for that, but why add another variable.

Personally, I use a fairly thin layer of lather (1/8 inch maybe?)......always the same depth. Now sometimes the razor will be louder on my face than usual. Also, I will feel the blade more than usual on my face. Third, the resulting shave will be a little closer than usual. All those things happen when using a lather with less cushion than I prefer. Same depth as the lathers I do like.....but they act differently. Too much cushion, and I gotta fight through the stuff. Heh, my shave is quieter too.

Skin care refers to the post shave part......how your face feels after the shave. Ideally, it will be in a better mood than before running a razor over it. Yeah, it will actually feel healthier........pretty weird. Less than perfect results can cause redness, tightness or dryness.

Something to think about is this lather thing is not always gonna work the same for every product.......not even close. Even after many years of using a brush it will still sometimes take me 3-4 times to figure out a new soap/cream. The thing is not to give up after 1-2 times, especially if the product gets good reviews. Sometimes it really does take some time to unlock the secret.

Anyway, maybe some of this will help.

Martin
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Hi Martin,

Well that all makes perfect sense to me and is very similar to what I had guessed. Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
BR
 
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