Irish-Made Shaving Soaps (Or Creams)?
A few more Irish-made shaving soaps
'Manly Stuff'
'Suds Johnson'
'The Sunvale Soap Company' (lady who makes it seems to be from London but living in Ireland with a long while)
Also found out about 'Briel Shaving Limited' that seems to have been around from 2021 till about April of this year - had a shaving soap (link) and an after-shave splash. Can't get them anymore but picked up samples from here :
'Manly Stuff'
'Suds Johnson'
'The Sunvale Soap Company' (lady who makes it seems to be from London but living in Ireland with a long while)
Also found out about 'Briel Shaving Limited' that seems to have been around from 2021 till about April of this year - had a shaving soap (link) and an after-shave splash. Can't get them anymore but picked up samples from here :
Noticed a few of the ones that had no tins were possibly starting to attract moisture, so they’re now in their own containers and “ready to go” – will shave with these over next couple of weeks and see how they perform.
Didn’t get too strong of a scent from any of them but having handled all four and / or pushed them into place, there’s a very pleasant “collective” scent leftover on the hands…
Didn’t get too strong of a scent from any of them but having handled all four and / or pushed them into place, there’s a very pleasant “collective” scent leftover on the hands…
Was same for me when I got into wet shaving – didn’t see any shaving soap on the shelves. Found out about the L’Occitane one a couple of months ago (got it from the local branch). Also found a couple recently in barber shops. For these Irish ones, the Dr. K one is only one that seems to have a nationwide reach, across different types of outlets. But I'm not sure of the reason. Quality? Branding? Or just production volumes...
After a few shaves with the ‘Donegal’ shaving soap… usable, but has limitations in terms of the protection it gives. Lathers up well, sometimes really well, and always nice to apply, but any time I pressed the razor down with a bit of firmness… a bit risky. First shave I did was without a shaving oil and that was a rough one, for sure. So using a pre-shave, or just knowing the limits of this soap means it can do an okay job. It was only on the fourth shave (today) that I got round to using the shaving dish I bought from them (a nice bit of pottery).
Might need to update the product list in the New Year
For now, happy to report I’ve found a really great-performing soap in ‘Airmid’ -- heard a couple of good things about it so put it to front of queue.
It’s a hard puck and foams very fast when brush is brought into contact, but when you bring it to the face it’s a very low-key, humble lather (maybe a bit ‘pasty’). Face-lathering is actually the only way to go. Anyhow, the lather might not look much but it remains stable. Great protection and no big mess, decent post-shave feel as well.
For now, happy to report I’ve found a really great-performing soap in ‘Airmid’ -- heard a couple of good things about it so put it to front of queue.
It’s a hard puck and foams very fast when brush is brought into contact, but when you bring it to the face it’s a very low-key, humble lather (maybe a bit ‘pasty’). Face-lathering is actually the only way to go. Anyhow, the lather might not look much but it remains stable. Great protection and no big mess, decent post-shave feel as well.
- Messages
- 201
- Location
- Kent (not the brushes)
Not had anything from them but there's 'The Black Stuff' https://theblackstuff.com/collections/shaving
- Messages
- 613
I only know Dr. K. shaving soap but I don't believe it's very popular among wet shaving enthusiasts.
This pass-around of the ‘Natural Ireland’ shaving soaps seems to have gone okay, though there was some divided opinion about the scents.
The last shaver really did like the ‘Seaweed’ one, so ended up keeping that tin.
Ingredients not listed on the company's website, so good to find a couple of photos in there
St. Pat’s week bump - ‘Three Hills’ shaving soap seems to be made by a lady who is originally from Slovakia. I shaved with it for the first time on Christmas Day (because of the frankincense) and have had 12 or 15 shaves with it since. Gives excellent cushion – I don’t think I’ve had a single nick yet.
There were some speedbumps early on 'cause it’s a very conditioning soap and face-lathering with it meant that it turned out being too rich / too heavy. So I eventually decided to dial things back and use a synthetic brush to build lather in a bowl. Now that everything’s settled down it’s a very good soap that I will enjoy using again next winter.
There were some speedbumps early on 'cause it’s a very conditioning soap and face-lathering with it meant that it turned out being too rich / too heavy. So I eventually decided to dial things back and use a synthetic brush to build lather in a bowl. Now that everything’s settled down it’s a very good soap that I will enjoy using again next winter.
Attachments
Airmid looks like it is being discontinued. Have been using it a lot lately because the ‘Green Man’ is an entity that is associated with Spring (anyone else like the Roy Harper album of the same name?). I always get good shaves with it but the occasional nick suggests that it’s not quite as good as Three Hills.
With the narrow-knot Benecos synthetic it has found its perfect partner – the lather behaves 'normally' when the soap is used with this brush.
With the narrow-knot Benecos synthetic it has found its perfect partner – the lather behaves 'normally' when the soap is used with this brush.
