Soaps that have surprised/underwhelmed you

J

jhclare

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517
Hi all,

Been taking a break from the forums lately (spending way too much time on them....) I'm still alive however!

I was thinking lately about soaps that are highly regarded and have disappointed me with their performance:

  • MWF - jury still out on this one. Very mixed results ranging from airy, thin lather and irritation (lanolin?)
  • DR Harris (Arlington) - Lovely scent, but then....? It's a really average soap in my opinion. Very fussy about water ratio and bubbly lather which is never very slick. I've tried several times with different brushes and it has never WOWed me.[/list:u]

    And, conversely, soaps that I wasn't expecting to like so much:
    • La Toja - Fantastic veggie soap, with perhaps my favourite shave soap scent so far. Shaves great too.
    • Cella - slightly unusual scent, subtle, but slick, slick slick! Man is this stuff slick. Get the ratio right and it just glistens with moisture and slickness! :p If only they made it in various scents.
    • Boots soap - Excellent soap, better than Harris. Yes, I just said that. Not sure about the spicy smell, but it shaves very well indeed, on a par with Cade.
    • Palmolive - very good and a steal at the price. Smell is a bit "meh" - but performance is great. Again, shame it's a stick.[/list:u]

      So, come on guys, let's hear yours!

      John
 
MWF = WTF? Maybe my water's too hard or the faux Dickensian packaging but this stuff was a big no-no for me.

Henk's cream and soap (esp. the soap) = 9.8/10, the best stuff I have ever used, period. Tallow and clay and a silly putty consistency (I made mine into Morph, but didn't attempt the frame-by-frame animation) only slightly let down by the fact my wife doesn't like the smell. But with stuff this good, I don't care.
 
Harris Arlngton. Works fine, but I was expecting a better scent. People describe it as citrus, but I don't really get that. Just smells 'green' or 'ferny' to me. A bit like an Erasimic tallow stick.

Harris Lavender. Again, works very well as a soap, but the lavender scent was underwhelming, especially when compared with something like Taylor's Lavender cream.

Ian
 
Praise be the zealot's.

Harris is fine as is MWF. You want hard water? My stuff comes out of the tap and gives me a slap.

It's usually artificial lanolin that causes problems not the natural stuff used in MWF. Use them consistently, they will become more hydrated and therefore easier to use. A bit of a viscous circle really...ooff.
 
jhclare said:
MWF - jury still out on this one. Very mixed results ranging from airy, thin lather and irritation (lanolin?)
Click to expand...
I read somewhere that the secrect to a good lather with MWF is to have water at room temperature, not hot as we perhaps would for other soaps/creams
 
I'm new to this, although I have a few different soaps.

Scent is one thing, lathering ability and efficacy another.

I'm still experimenting, trying to find the particular characteristics of each soap and suitability for my skin as well.

Feel confused when hear comments like NatJag's on how a soap may be affected by temperature, mixing with some water to soften it, etc.
So many details, so many tricks... How can one know all that???
 
I'm going through a period of serious reflection about soaps.

I love swirling my brush over a soap and face lathering. But the fact is, it can get messy and it does take a lot of trial and error to get a wholly satisfying lather out of many soaps, at all price levels. I'm sure if I stuck to just one or two, life would be much easier. But a bit of bore.

On the other hand I have several creams that are a joy to use. Pop a blob into a bowl, swirl the brush around and in no time at all you have enough lather to cope with as many passes as you could wish for. And the lather - nearly always perfect. OK a bowl to wash up. But a few seconds and no messy soap in a bowl to clean up.

So I ask myself, why do I bother with soaps at all? And I'm still thinking about that.
 
I am a big ARKO fan & yes I like the scent. I also like La Toja, Palmolive, Speick, Tabac, Wilkinson stick, Boots Sticks.

One soap I cannot say enough about is Kells original its made with Aloe Vera & Hemp oil and the lather is slick, thick and goopy. The skin care is up their with Wool Fat.

The hallowed Wool Fat; Like Antdad I have some fairly hard water. So hard in fact it has to be chewed before it can be swallowed...That a side as I have tried distilled & other bottled waters as well as 5 different boar brushes , one mixed & two badger, silvertip & 2 band, it does not seem to make any difference to the lather. This soap will never be an ARKO or Tabac and it does take a bit more effort to get the best out of it, but, I have never had a bad shave with MWF. The scent is excellent. I have accepted the fact about the lather & it will have a place in my rotation.

Prairie Creations Tallow & lanolin soap. This stuff is way different to MWF. It lathers like Tabac - almost as easily - and has the skin care of the lanolin.

Soaps on my to try list ; Henks, Soapal's

since I wrote this i have had some good success with Wool Fat. I submerge the cake while I am in the shower. The brush is soaked at the same time in a mug. I drain the soap dish & allow the brush to drain only - so it is what i would call VERY WET - way wetter than with any other soap. I then twirl on the puck for ~30seconds & there are airy suds all over the joint. But, in the brush is the lovely slick & glinting lather.

I am not claimg that this is the way to lather Wool Fat, it works for this kid.
 
I tried William's Mug Soap as it gets mixed reviews on the forums. I thought it was good. If it was cheaper to buy here (it is $0.99 in America) I would use it more often.

Other soaps have pretty much lived up to what I've read in reviews (both good and bad).

Aramis and Czech & Speake #88 were the best smelling soaps I've ever owned but the Aramis fell well short in performance.
 
Arko Stick - Had a few shaves with it in different razors/blade combos.
For £2 or so, it's good. Although, it does leave the bathroom smelling like mosquito repellant. Mom, dad and SWMBO are all wondering what that smell is. I haven't told them yet. lol.

Palmolive Stick - As widely documented, a great stick for the price. However, is anyone finding it a bit drying after the first few uses? Or is it just me?
 
Arko, Tabac & Palmolive - for such cheap soaps they really work well & provide oodles of thick, slick lather (whether you do it on the face or in a bowl). Wasn't sure about the Arko scent on first opening the packet, but once it was on I'd grown to like it.

Col Conk Amber disappointed me at first with some feeble, airy lather that just dried out on the skin. However, a bit of perseverence and I got the water / soap ratio right and it's much better (though still not as good as the soaps above).
 
never been a fan of Wilkinson Sword Blue dish....tried it and binned it...Tabac and MWF are superb..was dissppointed with Trumper Sandalwood

but where to get Williams mug soap to try...this seems to pop up as a good one but where to find
 
Van Der Hagen Deluxe soap. I was sent a cake of this from a US friend. I was suspicious that it may be similar to the Wilkinson Blue Bowl (with no true foundation tbh) but was very pleasantly suprised when it lathered up a dream. Thick, slick and very comfortable. The scent is subtle but pleasant.

I am just not sure if it can be bought in any of its' guises here in the UK/Europe?
I may have to keep an eye out next time i go to an American camp to see if there is any in their shops (PX's).

Anyone seen this anywhere here? It is apparently dirt cheap in the USA.
 
go to <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.vdhent.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.vdhent.com/</a><!-- m --> and check 'our story'. Besides emphasizing their Dutch roots ( ;-) ), they also suggest that they make OEM products for several UK brands/stores.
 
Back to Wool Fat for a moment. I'm not after rubbing it in about the hard water (but I'm still happy to pif a gallon of mine to anyone who wants to pay the postage :twisted: ) - that's been gone over many times before. What Tony says about it being better for regular use reflects my experience exactly. Before I got inundated with Henk's superlative cream I was using the Fat every other day at least, and it virtually lathered itself. It likes being permanently somewhat hydrated.

+1 on Cella, by the way: excellent stuff.
 
Heinz Classic Tomato. Had some this week and frankly I wan't expecting much but was very pleasantly surprised. Perhaps it's just nostalgia but it has a lovely rich flavour and was somehow really comforting. Nice with some bread to dip in. :hungrig
 
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