Henk's no. 5

Rev-O

Rev-O

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right, I was BIG fan of Henk's no. 4 - a super soft silly putty soap with lots of lubricating clay. Lovely stuff. The only problem was that my wife didn't like the smell . . . .

So now here's our mad Dutch scientist's next offering: no. 5. A "sandalwood cream with tallow and clay"

Let's break that description down. Is it really sandalwood? No. But is *is* a very nice sweet woody fragrance (think roasted / toasted nuts; very autumn / winter). Mrs Rev likes it; enough said.

Tallow. Yup, old fashioned animal fat. Gives oodles of rich creamy lather and is the core key ingredient of such favourites as Tabac, Palmolive and MWF. Does the job wonderfully here as well.

Clay. Wtf? CLAY?! Yup. Think slick and slippery, think *that* scene in 'Ghost" where they throw the phallic lump on the potters' wheel. It lubricates, making repeated ATG passes a doddle.

Finally, in conclusion some summing up. This stuff is GOOD. Very, very good. I've tried lots of home-made artisan soaps (Nanny's/soapalchemist; Honey Bee; Suzi's; Olivia's; Soap Shed; Mama Bear et al) and this is, for me, the best of them.

BUT . . . I did like the consistency of the last formula (no. 4). I am a soap man, rather than a cream user, and I loved the very silly squidgy lump that was no. 4. (My kids loved it, too, unfortunately.)

If Henk could make this smell in that consistency, colour it brown and sell it as "Professor Henk's Shaving Fudge" it would be ideal and I would buy the biggest lump he could make.

So all in all: lovely stuff. Contact the man immediately and get yours this week.
 
Man, am I humbled...

Yes I can easily make it in the original consistency. The primary reason why I made this a cream is that it gives me more time, and less work to mix the fragrance in. In a semiboiled soap, you have a limited window in which you can mix your fragrance in the finished soap, before it gets too hard. Plus, the soap is then still hot, which means that a lot of your fragrance evaporates into thin air -- wasteful. By adding water, to make it into a cream, I can let it cool, and mix the fragrance in then. Easier, but not necessary...

I have about 8 tubs of the 'sandalwood' cream left -- after that, if there is demand for a soap rather than a cream, I can make a sandalwood/vetiver soap...

Henk
 
hi henk

i'd like to take one of your tubs of no. 5 cream please, if you have any left.

if you'd PM me your details, i'll sort the payment out

many thanks

regards
david
 
I've also had a sample of Henk's No. 5, and been using it for the last few days. It should come as no great surprise to anyone if I echo the Rev's endorsement: put simply it knocks every cream I have tried into a cocked hat, and gives nothing away to any of my soaps either. Like Ollie I'd rather it came in a soft soap format, but that's no criticism, just a personal preference. This is the best new shaving product I've tried in a long time.
 
Henk,

Drop me a PM with prices for a tub of this; I'm going to have to try it now after your pimp - er I mean Ollie - has given it such a glowing review. ;)

Rik.
 
Rev-O said:
Is it really sandalwood? No. But is *is* a very nice sweet woody fragrance (think roasted / toasted nuts; very autumn / winter).
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OK, Ollie very kindly sent me a sample of this cream and I am very impressed. Only tried one shave with it so far, but it was to me as good as the benchmark - Palmolive of course! I managed to make a fairly decent lather, but I'm sure that as I get used to it the lather I produce will improve. It was very well lubricating, and to be honest I haven't a great deal to add. That's all it needed to be and it did it well.

The only strange thing is that I got no Sandalwood whatsoever from it and the stuff smelled just like sunflower seeds. I can't say this is unpleasant, but I can think of better things for a shaving cream to smell of! I think we need a 5.1 offering. I'd be happy for a simple soapy scent, but would consider buying some in most scents really, seeing as it's such a good cream... :shave
 
Pig Cat said:
The only strange thing is that I got no Sandalwood whatsoever from it and the stuff smelled just like sunflower seeds. I can't say this is unpleasant, but I can think of better things for a shaving cream to smell of! I think we need a 5.1 offering. I'd be happy for a simple soapy scent, but would consider buying some in most scents really, seeing as it's such a good cream... :shave
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I can see the 'no sandalwood' part, but I fail to recognize the 'sunflower seed' part ;-)

The fragrance is basically a blend of Amyris, vetiver, and ethylene brassylate. Amyris balsamifera is a new world shrub from which an oil is distilled in much the same way as it is from true sandalwood, from the wood itself. It is touted as a cheap sandalwood substitute, and sold under that name, but there are distinct differences in smell. To me it smells like fresh-cut hardwoods, it reminds me of Padouk more than anything else. In the blend, it mainly imparts a light woody background. The vetiver adds an earthy, nutty smell to the blend, and the brassylate is a type of musk (a macrocyclic musk) which reminds me of early summer morning smells of misty forests with lingering traces of a wood fire -- I'm not one to wax poetic over smells, but this IS one of those smells that literally brings back childhood memories...

I have a nice (I think) fresh blend of scents that could be used in both soap and ASB, ready to be tested -- I was saving it for my next stash of ASB, but since I'm now, it seems, out of my supply of No. 5 cream, I could do a next batch of shaving cream with this blend also...
 
I really like the smell of no. 5 (better than the smell of a number 2): woody, nutty, earthy, sweet.

You could call it "Old Speckled Henk"

I'm actually tempted to spread some on toast and see if the whole roasted nut thing comes through in the taste.
 
Pig Cat said:
Well this nuttiness would partially explain why I can smell sunflower seeds I suppose. Shaved again this morning with the No.5. Another great one!
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Good. The current batch has a bay rum scent -- and I must say, I personally like it even more than the sandalwood & vetiver version...
 
Just got my Henk special through the post! How do you guys load your brush with these? Brush dipped in the pot, or scooping some straight to the mug/scuttle?

Love these scents by the way - proper "gentlemany" i think :D
 
I face lather with a soft brush, so I smear it all over my chops with fingers and build from there with brush and water.
 
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