Martin de Candre

Bob1955

Bob1955

Messages
699
Really!!!....this much money for a shaving soap, sell it to me, what makes it different from ALL the rest, please tell me it is out of this world and all you do is apply it and the beard falls to the floor in small bubbles of incredible scent £40+ for a soap needs to have something very special.
 
Bob1955 said:
Really!!!....this much money for a shaving soap, sell it to me, what makes it different from ALL the rest, please tell me it is out of this world and all you do is apply it and the beard falls to the floor in small bubbles of incredible scent £40+ for a soap needs to have something very special.
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It's a very good soap, check out the ingredients list, it doesn't read like a chemistry set.

No you don't apply and your beard falls to the floor in small bubbles of incredible scent and by that very comment I would probably say it's not the soap for you!

Maybe what make's it special is what's not in it apart from for me its for me one of the top performing soap's I use.

There are plenty of soaps out there that will be within your budget so why try to attack this one before you have even tried it.

I've rubbished soap's before now but only after I've bought them and subsequently used them.

P.
 
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I am not rubbishing it...I said sell it to me, tell me why it is better, I dont care too much about the price, but when it is roughly two or three times the cost of other soaps I want to know why.
 
Bob1955 said:
I am not rubbishing it...I said sell it to me, tell me why it is better, I dont care too much about the price, but when it is roughly two or three times the cost of other soaps I want to know why.
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Because it's top quality soap that will last two or three if not four times longer than most other soaps, I would suggest you also consider MDC Balm as it's even better than Bart's :)
 
I like Trumpers Coral skin food too, barts is a great everyday shave lotion, I have not used a lot of the balm...but the lotion is good for me
 
I find most soaps last long...too long to be honest, I usually get bored and stash em away for a while, just got the Williams soap today and dying to try that, also got la toja after reading good reports about it, and still got most of my 1kilo Vitos to go through, add 3 prorasso tubs, some palmolive sticks and a tabac/palmolive mix that I grated into a tub...it is really performing well, I still got a trump rose soap, and the samples and the ones I bought from sig soaps...love them too, so i'm certainly not short of soap but always like to listen to what ppl use and their thoughts on any particular soap.
 
Blademonkey said:
It's a very good soap, check out the ingredients list, it doesn't read like a chemistry set.

No you don't apply and your beard falls to the floor in small bubbles of incredible scent and by that very comment I would probably say it's not the soap for you!

Maybe what make's it special is what's not in it apart from for me its for me one of the top performing soap's I use.

There are plenty of soaps out there that will be within your budget so why try to attack this one before you have even tried it.

I've rubbished soap's before now but only after I've bought them and subsequently used them.

P.
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Another soap (or two) with a very short ingredients list is 3P (and TFS, the Almond classic) which has an ingredients very similar to MdC.

I've not used MdC but I've heard a 200g jar goes a very, very long way, with one jar producing several hundred shaves. In contrast to some other 'artisan' producers that are less expensive for a jar of soap but do not last very long and per shave work out to be a lot more expensive.
 
Bob1955 said:
Really!!!....this much money for a shaving soap, sell it to me, what makes it different from ALL the rest, please tell me it is out of this world and all you do is apply it and the beard falls to the floor in small bubbles of incredible scent £40+ for a soap needs to have something very special.
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Your expectations are very high for the soap and I fear they may not be met by MdC. But here are a few reasons that may help justify a purchase :) - (1) it is a luxury buy; in any world outside of a shaving forum most people, I suspect, would think it insane spending £40+ for 200g of shaving soap, but hey who does not like a little luxury now and again. (2) It is actually better value than any other artisan soaps I have used including UK artisans soaps. I find most artisan offering will give approximately 30-40 shaves per 100g as they usually have a high water content and indeed masquerade as soaps when they are more akin to creams. MdC really does last and last like a triple milled soap. (3) No short shelf life; it lasts for years and indeed MdC recommend leaving the lid off. (4) MdC's party piece is it only requires a few swirls of the brush on the soap to produce copious lather. (5) the scents do not have the same synthetic nose as many other soaps. (5) the performance I do not find any better than mainstream European tallow soaps but the post for me is neutral and clean. I may not be articulating the last point very well but sometimes it is good to just have a clean feel after a shave rather than the over moisturised post that is the vogue with artisan soaps at the moment. (6) your brush will rinse clean very quickly and easily and leave no "stickiness" or residue; I find this somewhat reassuring vis-a-vis the ingredients.

The above said, I actually do prefer Speick and Cella / Vitos, although this is probably in part because of a strong frugal streak in me, but I would recommend MdC as a great performing soap and a must buy for the experience for anyone in this crazy interest of wet shaving. Not sure if it helps but I would say an enjoyable punt, I do not think you will feel "had or took"...
 
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Thats more like it, I knew it would be luxurious, and you are correct about others thinking we were all mad to spend what we do, but I will very likely buy some as a Christmas present for myself now if only for the experience.
 
Missoni said:
Your expectations are very high for the soap and I fear they may not be met by MdC. But here are a few reasons that may help justify a purchase :) - (1) it is a luxury buy; in any world outside of a shaving forum most people, I suspect, would think it insane spending £40+ for 200g of shaving soap, but hey who does not like a little luxury now and again. (2) It is actually better value than any other artisan soaps I have used including UK artisans soaps. I find most artisan offering will give approximately 30-40 shaves per 100g as they usually have a high water content and indeed masquerade as soaps when they are more akin to creams. MdC really does last and last like a triple milled soap. (3) No short shelf life; it lasts for years and indeed MdC recommend leaving the lid off. (4) MdC's party piece is it only requires a few swirls of the brush on the soap to produce copious lather. (5) the scents do not have the same synthetic nose as many other soaps. (5) the performance I do not find any better than mainstream European tallow soaps but the post for me is neutral and clean. I may not be articulating the last point very well but sometimes it is good to just have a clean feel after a shave rather than the over moisturised post that is the vogue with artisan soaps at the moment. (6) your brush will rinse clean very quickly and easily and leave no "stickiness" or residue; I find this somewhat reassuring vis-a-vis the ingredients.

The above said, I actually do prefer Speick and Cella / Vitos, although this is probably in part because of a strong frugal streak in me, but I would recommend MdC as a great performing soap and a must buy for the experience for anyone in this crazy interest of wet shaving. Not sure if it helps but I would say an enjoyable punt, I do not think you will feel "had or took"...
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A superb write up.

I myself really enjoy Cella & Vitos like yourself, but I'm finding myself drawn towards using shaving soap sticks as they work really well with my boar brushes of choice.
 
Bob1955 said:
Thats more like it, I knew it would be luxurious, and you are correct about others thinking we were all mad to spend what we do, but I will very likely buy some as a Christmas present for myself now if only for the experience.
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I picked up some MdC samples of Original, Vetiver and Fougere from Shavedash for just over £10 delivered. The samples will last ages. I'm on the fence with some of the scents so it may be worth going this route initially. You can then commit to a £40 jar in confidence.
 
Bob1955 said:
Thats more like it, I knew it would be luxurious, and you are correct about others thinking we were all mad to spend what we do, but I will very likely buy some as a Christmas present for myself now if only for the experience.
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A great treat; it is also beautifully packaged, I know these things should not really matter, but it does stand-out and you will not help noticing. I get the sense that the manufacturer set out to make the best soap and then decided on the price rather than making a soap to a price. It is an important difference. I suspect a significant part of what customers are being charged for is the amount of time the soap takes to cure. That's not to say that no doubt MdC also enjoys sky high margins.
 
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I've tried a few tubs of MdC in the past few years. The last time, it was when I used up an entire tub of Fougere from start to finish. It lasted exactly 100 days. It was OK, but not the best ever. I haven't been tempted to use MdC again for several years. My personal observations are that (1) it costs too much; (2) it is not slick as I like in comparison to many others, particularly when doing the final smoothing and buffing pass with water only; and that (3) there is an unpleasant background chemical scent that is common to every tub I've ever tried. When the rose version came out, I was able to get a sample from someone in UK, and the rose scent was too strong for my tastes.
 
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