Honeybee Spa "Ye Old Barbershop" soap.

[SirPrize]

When JDE was kind enough to PIF me his copy of "Sharp Practice" he also included some scent samples and a CAKE of this soap.
Well - it looks like toffee, it smells like toffee - but it works like soap.
This is my first positive experience with glycerine soap and I was astonished at it's performance - until now all I have achieved with non-tallow soap was soapy slime.
The water content has to be just right - too much brings wet slop and too little produces a substance not unlike freshly-tapped rubber.
I found that badger is not stiff enough for this soap but my modest Body Shop synthetic is just the job and whips up a lather that not only "serves and protects" but smells delicious!
I suppose that this means that I am now hunting for a quality brush stiff enough to lather glycerine but soft enough for an enthusiastic face-latherer! (sigh)

 

[hunnymonster]

I reckon you should get an Omega 49 from Paul @ Connaught... he posted a wee while back that he had some for £6.50 - I have one here and it can even get lather from Wilkinson Sword blue bowl screw lubricant.

Quite pleasant on the face once it's been broken in too.

 

[Rik]

A lot of brush for £6.50.

 

[SirPrize]

Thanks both, but I have an excellent synthetic in the Body Shop brush.
Considering Boar or some form of mixture.

 

[Audiolab]

I am pleased to hear you got a good lather with the Honeybee soaps. My experience is similar to yours in that I find they are super critical of the water mix, too much and you have slop too little and it is equally as poor for shaving.

At the time I had not long bought a Vulfix 18 in pure bristle from Paul and had been using that. I did not realise it at the time but I was using the perfect brush for the soap, an unbroken pure bristle that was face stabbingly new. Switching to a silvertip it was much harder but because I had a rough idea of where the soap could get to I made it only through persistence.

I would imagine if you got this soap and went at it like it was a bowl of Tabac then you would be very underwhelmed with the end result. I still use the Rose Honeybee soap I and still enjoy the challenge of using it. I find it does help if it is melted and poured into a cup, this allows a decent softening of the soap with water sitting on top for a few minutes before lathering which in turn allows me to get the right mix quicker.