Artisan Shaving Soap (Mark 4) Testing...

artisansoap said:
Thank you rangers62 - glad you had success with a test lathering :D

I was wondering about the smell myself. All soap (even unscented) does have a scent of its own. Generally with an unscented soap, you just get a very clean smell, or of one of the oils in the mix. I agree with your wife on this one - it does have a smell remeniscent of oats - comforting. :p

Sorry you missed having a scent - I prefer my test bars to be unscented so that I don't get the usual "I like that it smells lovely" or "didn't like that it smells horrible" that I have had from testers in the past (not on this forum I hasten to add ;) ). Rest assured, when there is a soap ready for sale, it will be available in several 'flavours' :D

I look forward to hearing how you find it when you actually shave. :p

Artisan :)
Click to expand...

Hi
I didn't miss the scent at all, I think we almost subconsciously detect the smell in soaps, shampoos etc, when it's not there my wee brain gets confused. :shock:
 
Same kit again tonight, except for a new Shark in the HD Rocket. I didn't soak the soap and started off with a dryer brush.

I still found the first pass of lather a bit weak (and noticed some fizzing also tonight), but the second and third pass were noticeably better. I'm not sure if the lather is drier for the second pass, or if it goes further as my beard is less? I don't know. A couple of very minor nicks which I wouldn't expect with this blade, maybe just me.

The scent of a soap is important to me, and I do find an unscented soap a bit dull, that said I fully understand it's best to evaluate an unscented soap.

It's a better soap, maybe in time I'll get a better more reliable lather from it. I'll use it again soon, but need some variety back in my life ;)
 
Received sample in the post yesterday; had a couple of shaves with it so far, and will review later as I need to motorvate to get ready and out the door for work (the curse of not having parents who were financial-over-achievers).
 
TEST 2

This morn I did same as last time but I also tried a drier brush and less water on soap. Pretty much similar result as test 1.
After dropping kids to school I decided to try bowl lathering.
This time used a much drier brush and was able to load it with more soap without as much lather being produced on the soap.
Working it in a bowl produced a much better lather for me - it was denser, creamer with 'stiffer peaks' but also looked much brighter white and it lasted longer in the bowl and on a bathroom tile.
Maybe this is the best way to use mk4, so will try that for my shave tommorrow if have time.
So far I'm finding it a pleasant soap to use which is also easy to use.

Mand
 
Thanks Chaps - keep it coming :D I'm learning lots here ;)

So Jeltz and quattrojames (both hard water shavers) are both noticing some fizzing, and the lather lacking some thickness/stability (at least initially). :geek:

Testers blessed with soft water seem to fare considerably better (please correct me if I got that wrong).

mand - thank you for the detail. It is worth knowing that you get a better lather in a bowl. I've only tried leg-lathering myself so far :oops: :lol: , but being in a soft water area I haven't had any trouble ;)

Urban Hermit - I look forward to your feedback :shave

Artisan :)
 
OK my splodge arrived so I have it ago this morning.

The water is leaning toward soft but not overly.

I stuck the splodge into a small bowl, loaded a soaked and flicked brush then created my lather in a bowl as I do each time. it did seem to take alittle while to get a lather forming and I needed to add a little water, after a little more time than normal I managed to create enough for my needs so proceded to shave.

3 passes, wtc xtg and atg pretty much followed what I do each time, not as close as normal but i'm due to change my blade for my next shave. On my tidy up there was nowear near as much lather left in my bowl and the 3rd pass seemed to have less lather to play with.

Afterwards my skin felt a little dryer than after using either arko or prof blighty soaps but noware near as dry as after my blue bowl w/sword I started with. No razor burn or rash, no redness or tingling.

Will carry on with it for the next 3 or 4 shaves and see how I get on. :shave

Glad you explained about the lack of scent, both my wife and I commented it smelled "boring"

Sorry not as in depth as all the others but they have more experience than me

Thank you

Alan
 
A very generous sample arrived yesterday and managed to use it this morning. With my usual dryness of brush got a lot of lather forming on the soap and the resultant lather after working it in the scuttle was a bit short lived but shaved well enough. Managed only two passes but no after effects from the soap and for two passes it was a good shave . This afternoon have had a little more success with thicker lather but the brush started barely damp. I guess experimentation is the key here but it seems to need more work and less water than my other soaps. On balance I think I did better with mark 3

There seems to be a bit of variability in what people are reporting here so I would be happy to pass on my sample for more test data if anyone would like to PM me an address?
 
For what it might be worth ...

I've been a bit haphazard with my experimental methodology, which is but one small reason why I am not a scientist. Rather than using the same brush, razor & blade combo (new blade each shave, of course), I have used different razors, and blades, and used the following brushes once each in my trials:

    • Omega Pro 49: boar bristle
      Tres Clavelles Pro Barber No. 2: (Extra-)horse hair
      TGN/Le Tuft UH's Black & Blues: (Super/?)Silvertip badger[/list:u][/list:u]
      • Lather-building: due to living in a region of the UK that has wet water, I have had a bit of hit and miss luck with the product-to-water ratio; only to be expected with a new test soap really. Bowl- has been better than Face-lathering, & I suspect there is a fairly elusive sweet-zone. ... a bit too much water and whispy ephemeral lather; a wee bit not enough water, and dry fly-away-flakes in a short time.

        Slickness: dependent upon the product-to-water ratio, of course, but as long as a moderate amount of water is used, the slickness/slip is Good.

        Cushion: even with a good product-to-water ratio, the cushion so far, has been serviceable to moderate. That might be drastically improved upon once a sweet-zone mix is sussed out ...

        After-slip: after a pass, just a tiny amount of water allows for consistently good (though not highly protective) after-slip.

        Rinse-off: easy-peasy to rinse residual soap from the skin, and even for an unscented, there is no real scent to hang about post-shave.

        Overall initial impression:
        • Not the bestest-ever shave, but certainly not the worstest-ever I've had either. A bit of knocking into shape, or possibly me finding the key ratios, and it could most likely escalate through the rankings to be a 'very good soap'.[/list:u][/list:u]
 
My experience was much the same as the other testers'. Having used versions 3 and 3.5, I knew to start off fairly dry and managed to build a fairly promising lather on my face straight away, but it had deteriorated significantly by the time I'd stropped the razor and made more lather in a bowl. As Mr Hermit says, bowl seems to work rather better, and the lather was more stable that way, even standing over hot water. The texture once again was rather open with largish bubbles in evidence, which generally indicates that cushioning isn't going to be too good, and so it proved I'm afraid. That combined with glide which was just fair made shaving rather a delicate business; furthermore there was a suspicion of razor burn, which I wouldn't normally expect from that particular blade since it's in particularly good fettle.

I'm sure that the glide would improve if the soap could be made to accept more water without causing stability issues: the two are closely linked it seems to me. As before the soap rinsed off very easily, and the skin feel was excellent afterwards. This formula is a noticeable improvement on version 3, but not on 3.5. It certainly shows promise.
 
WOW! :D :D :D

Lots of very detailed and very informative feedback - THANK YOU ;)

From what you are all telling me, I know that I need more stability - particularly for hard water shavers. I thought the bit of added stearic in this formulation would provide that, but I missed the possibility of the potassium hydroxide changing the lather as much as it has (my bad :oops: )

I have 2 choices, either (1)don't use potassium hydroxide, or (2)increase the stearic acid in a Mark 5. I am more inclined to go for option 2. The main reason is that I don't want to make a soap that is too hard for me to work, but also because I like to experiment :ugeek: The mark 4 was soft enough for me to have confidence adding more stearic acid :ugeek:

I also think that if stability is increased, so should the cushioning effect of the lather.

OK - one more question for you Chaps. Do you think I should do an unscented or a scented Mark 5? I have said why I do unscented testers, but do you think you could see past a smell you do (or don't) like to evaluate a soap?

Artisan :)
 
Like UH I have wet water!! Although it tends to be soft.... wet...water.

I face lathered and agree with the consensus, dry brush/mix is best. The 'sweet spot' is on a fairly small scale and if it's off, it's off.

I got better results beginning the process by palm lathering, I didn't get a chance to bowl lather, though I suspect this may provide the optimum.

Slickness/glide etc are 'just about there'

Overall; I think you are about 95% on your way to creating a first class shave soap, hang in there.

(Interestingly enough, in the interests of science I created a 'super lather' using the soap and a tiny bit of TOBS Rose cream, it was brilliant!)

Oh, keep it unscented for the moment, less variables the better IMO.

Regards

Russell
 
hunnymonster - thanks for that, that is exactly why I used it. My ramblings probably didn't explain that properly though :lol: I just didn't take proper account of how much it would change the lather too. Thank you for delving back as far as your A levels - I didn't do soap in my chemistry A level. :D

rangers62 - thanks for the update. Seems I'm not the only person experimenting here :lol: That is 1 vote for unscented.

Artisan :)
 
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