The 'London' Soaps

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I'm swaying more towards soaps than creams these days. I hear quite a lot about D R Harris soaps being excellent but not much about the other similar priced offerings from Trumpers, Truefitt and Hill, and Taylor.

I'm thinking of these 3 in particular as I'm going to be in the area to walk in and buy some. Floris etc a bit out of my price range.

Slickness is what I'm after, scent is of course subjective.

Are they all ok? Any better than others?
 
Floris - Very good performance (recently reformulated, for the better.)
D.R. Harris - Good performance.
Taylor's - Average performance.
Trumper's & T&H - Useless formula unsuitable for shaving soap... Most who buy it either bin or use in the bath/shower.
Penhaligon's - Shaving soaps all discontinued.

If limited to that selection I would advise you to go the D.R. Harris route, scents are:

Arlington: citrus & fern (think old fashioned Cologne.)
Windsor: Terre d'Hermes knockoff.
Marlborough: Cedarwood & Sandalwood (strong, some claim it smells of "ashtrays".)
Lavender: Smells of those old dried lavender pouches Granny used to keep in her wardrobe.
Sandalwood: Incense & woods (one of their most popular scents I recall.)
Almond: Named after the almond oil it contains, scent is actually quinine (mild yet bitter/medicinal.)

If you go for Floris I think they only do No.89 these days which is a 1950's scent which smells like expensive talcum powder.

TOBS, I honestly think their creams are far better products than their hard soaps.
 
Floris - Very good performance (recently reformulated, for the better.)
D.R. Harris - Good performance.
Taylor's - Average performance.
Trumper's & T&H - Useless formula unsuitable for shaving soap... Most who buy it either bin or use in the bath/shower.
Penhaligon's - Shaving soaps all discontinued.

If limited to that selection I would advise you to go the D.R. Harris route, scents are:

Arlington: citrus & fern (think old fashioned Cologne.)
Windsor: Terre d'Hermes knockoff.
Marlborough: Cedarwood & Sandalwood (strong, some claim it smells of "ashtrays".)
Lavender: Smells of those old dried lavender pouches Granny used to keep in her wardrobe.
Sandalwood: Incense & woods (one of their most popular scents I recall.)
Almond: Named after the almond oil it contains, scent is actually quinine (mild yet bitter/medicinal.)

If you go for Floris I think they only do No.89 these days which is a 1950's scent which smells like expensive talcum powder.

TOBS, I honestly think their creams are far better products than their hard soaps.
Wow, that's exactly the insight I was after. Thanks for the info.

I think I'll avoid the truefitt and trumpers then, may just get a couple of Harris pucks, Floris a possibility but pricey.

Thanks again
 
I'm swaying more towards soaps than creams these days. I hear quite a lot about D R Harris soaps being excellent but not much about the other similar priced offerings from Trumpers, Truefitt and Hill, and Taylor.

I'm thinking of these 3 in particular as I'm going to be in the area to walk in and buy some. Floris etc a bit out of my price range.

Slickness is what I'm after, scent is of course subjective.

Are they all ok? Any better than others?

If you're in central London I'd recommend walking down to John Lewis and buying yourself a puck of the hard soap Kent (aka Mitchells Wool Fat)
 
Another one has just come to mind. Murdock's. Their creams and in particular their old Avalon are really classy and high performance. Or so I think.

If their soaps are anything the same then I would expect the equal.
 
If you want a hard English soap that is as good as the ones you mention but at a fraction of the price look no further than Cyril. R. Salter's hard soap, a light lavender frag with outstanding lathering property's and a good post shave feel, London England. Nuff said :)
Edit.....If you are lucky enough to track down a tub of OSP (hard soap) you won't go far wrong, London, England. P.
 
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Floris - Very good performance (recently reformulated, for the better.)
D.R. Harris - Good performance.
Taylor's - Average performance.
Trumper's & T&H - Useless formula unsuitable for shaving soap... Most who buy it either bin or use in the bath/shower.
Penhaligon's - Shaving soaps all discontinued.

If limited to that selection I would advise you to go the D.R. Harris route, scents are:

Arlington: citrus & fern (think old fashioned Cologne.)
Windsor: Terre d'Hermes knockoff.
Marlborough: Cedarwood & Sandalwood (strong, some claim it smells of "ashtrays".)
Lavender: Smells of those old dried lavender pouches Granny used to keep in her wardrobe.
Sandalwood: Incense & woods (one of their most popular scents I recall.)
Almond: Named after the almond oil it contains, scent is actually quinine (mild yet bitter/medicinal.)

If you go for Floris I think they only do No.89 these days which is a 1950's scent which smells like expensive talcum powder.

TOBS, I honestly think their creams are far better products than their hard soaps.
I'm going to stick up for the T&H soap here. I've got the Luxury (lavender) and 1805 versions and I find they both perform well. For context though, I live in the South West where we have very soft water so maybe that makes a difference.

I like DRH Marlborough as a winter scent. If I was alive during the 50s and 60s, this is how I'd have wanted to smell (ashtray notes included!).

There's my two cents.
 
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