This arrived in the post at the weekend form a scottish artisan in Glasgow was looking for a gift for the wife and seen they did some shave soaps I bought the Dark roast coffee and was only £9.99 including delivery the scent is really nice and it lathered well too
TwaBurdsSoaps
- Thread starter Daz McG
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- Sunny Cornwall
- Thread Starter
- #3
Hi mate took a photo of the ingredients list
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I bought the Burds In Paradise scent just after Christmas and I've used it half a dozen times now. Nice soap, performs well and the scent isn't your usual run of the mill stuff. I used to get a lemonade when I was a kid called Tropical and this scent reminds me of it, really nice. Its great when you discover a new UK artisan. Even better when the soap smells great and performs well.
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- 445
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- Old Kilpatrick, Scotland.
Don't remember Tropical lemonade. Anything like Lilt?
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- 683
Yes. Similar to Lilt. I used to get it from the Bon Accord lemonade lorry that came around our scheme on a Friday night. It wasn't available in the shops.
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- 445
- Location
- Old Kilpatrick, Scotland.
It was the Corona lorry in our area!Yes. Similar to Lilt. I used to get it from the Bon Accord lemonade lorry that came around our scheme on a Friday night. It wasn't available in the shops.
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+1 for the Corona man. Then returning the empties for 5p each back. God, I feel old
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- Edinburgh Scotland
Hahahah i remember it well.
I'm sure bon accord was from your neck of the woods if i'm not mistaken but it came to Edinburgh as well.
we also had another called Alpine and i can remember them fighting each other when i was a kid just like the ice cream vans
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We had Alpine lorries here too. They had a depot where our scheme used to fight against another scheme. Every summer the Alpine place would get screwed and once the juice was drank, the empty glass bottles would be the weapon of choice. Ahh the good old days!
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I remember them too! No wonder all our teeth are rotten!
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- 445
- Location
- Old Kilpatrick, Scotland.
And not a single flavour had a relationship with the natural world. Water, sugar, CO2 and chemicals. The limeade was especially toxic - my favourite!
I did a comparison shave between Twa Burds Lemongrass and Ginger and some Van der Hagen soap today.
I was kindly sent some Twa Burds samples by a UKWSS member and also purchased a tub of Dark Roast Coffee soap from Twa Burds at the same time.
The samples arrived yesterday and I decided to use Lemongrass and Ginger for my shave today. I had just finished lathering it in bowl and there was a knock at the door from the postie (as is always the way) with the tub of Dark Roast Coffee. A bar of hand soap had been added to the package and this came as a welcome surprise.
The Twa Burds soap seems to be made from a commercially available melt and pour base with essential oils / fragrance added. I looked at the other melt and pour soaps I have (Van der Hagen, HTGAM and Imperial) and noted that the ingredient list of HTGAM and Imperial are markedly different from VDH. Given this, I chose to use VDH as I believe this will give a fairer comparison as the ingredients as relatively similar (as can be seen from the photos below).
The bar of Twa Burds general use soap also appears to have an almost identical formula to the shaving soap.
As the tub of Dark Roast Coffee had arrived, I gave it a sniff and whilst it smelt nice, I noted that it didn't smell as strong as the Lemongrass and Ginger in the tub. I hope this will change once I have lathered it.
I've used VDH before and know that it is a basic, no-nonsense soap that will give a useable lather. It's not the best soap out there but it works. I found the Twa Burds to perform very similarly to the VDH. It lathered both easily and well and provided more than enough soap for a more than adequate shave. The comparison photos are shown below.
The post shave feel was similar to the VDH, with nothing being left behind. The VDH felt slightly slicker and where the Twa Burds shone was in the delightful fragrance it has.
The question remains as to whether the Twa Burds is a good shaving soap or merely a standard everyday soap that is terrible to shave with? I've answered this question in a number of points below:
1) The soap gives a level of performance that is very similar to a melt and pour soap like VDH. It is not on the same level as the best artisan soaps such MdC or SV, for example, but these soaps cost significantly more. Other artisan soaps such as Wickhams, Stirling and PAA offer better performance and, whilst closer in price, still cost more when postage costs are added.
2) The soap appears to be a melt and pour soap that shares a very similar ingredient list with the bar of soap I was kindly sent. Does the fact that the formulas are similar, make this a poor shaving soap? I don't believe it does. As I have already mentioned, it produced a more than adequate lather which, in my opinion, could be improved with the addition of some extra glycerin in a bowl (I've yet to find a soap that can't be improved in this way, though). I've bought enough shaving soaps before that have proven not be up to the task but made great shower soaps (reformulated GFT and T&H, C&E and Murdoch spring to mind), The Twa Burds soap is clearly not in the same category as these soaps.
3) Does the fact that the soap base appears to be a commercially available base that can easily be purchased on the internet make this a bad shaving soap? I don't think this argument holds water and believe it to be somewhat specious. The sharing of commercially available bases occurs elsewhere within the industry; Creightons, TFS and Valobra making products for other brands are prime examples of this. I cannot see how this would make this soap a bad soap.
4) Finally, and most importantly, does the soap do exactly what it says on the tin (or tub, in this case). The answer is a resounding yes. It's not an artisan shave soap that contains exotic fats and oils and doesn't claim to be. As I understand it, the word artisan is not used anywhere in the marketing literature or on any of the products and, therefore, this soap should not be judged against other products that claim this designation. To do so, is both unfair and disingenuous.
So would I use the soap again and potentially make further purchases? Again the answer is yes. The lather is more than adequate and the fragrance was great. It's not an expensive soap by any means, and it does exactly what it says on the tin.
I was kindly sent some Twa Burds samples by a UKWSS member and also purchased a tub of Dark Roast Coffee soap from Twa Burds at the same time.
The samples arrived yesterday and I decided to use Lemongrass and Ginger for my shave today. I had just finished lathering it in bowl and there was a knock at the door from the postie (as is always the way) with the tub of Dark Roast Coffee. A bar of hand soap had been added to the package and this came as a welcome surprise.
The Twa Burds soap seems to be made from a commercially available melt and pour base with essential oils / fragrance added. I looked at the other melt and pour soaps I have (Van der Hagen, HTGAM and Imperial) and noted that the ingredient list of HTGAM and Imperial are markedly different from VDH. Given this, I chose to use VDH as I believe this will give a fairer comparison as the ingredients as relatively similar (as can be seen from the photos below).
The bar of Twa Burds general use soap also appears to have an almost identical formula to the shaving soap.
As the tub of Dark Roast Coffee had arrived, I gave it a sniff and whilst it smelt nice, I noted that it didn't smell as strong as the Lemongrass and Ginger in the tub. I hope this will change once I have lathered it.
I've used VDH before and know that it is a basic, no-nonsense soap that will give a useable lather. It's not the best soap out there but it works. I found the Twa Burds to perform very similarly to the VDH. It lathered both easily and well and provided more than enough soap for a more than adequate shave. The comparison photos are shown below.
The post shave feel was similar to the VDH, with nothing being left behind. The VDH felt slightly slicker and where the Twa Burds shone was in the delightful fragrance it has.
The question remains as to whether the Twa Burds is a good shaving soap or merely a standard everyday soap that is terrible to shave with? I've answered this question in a number of points below:
1) The soap gives a level of performance that is very similar to a melt and pour soap like VDH. It is not on the same level as the best artisan soaps such MdC or SV, for example, but these soaps cost significantly more. Other artisan soaps such as Wickhams, Stirling and PAA offer better performance and, whilst closer in price, still cost more when postage costs are added.
2) The soap appears to be a melt and pour soap that shares a very similar ingredient list with the bar of soap I was kindly sent. Does the fact that the formulas are similar, make this a poor shaving soap? I don't believe it does. As I have already mentioned, it produced a more than adequate lather which, in my opinion, could be improved with the addition of some extra glycerin in a bowl (I've yet to find a soap that can't be improved in this way, though). I've bought enough shaving soaps before that have proven not be up to the task but made great shower soaps (reformulated GFT and T&H, C&E and Murdoch spring to mind), The Twa Burds soap is clearly not in the same category as these soaps.
3) Does the fact that the soap base appears to be a commercially available base that can easily be purchased on the internet make this a bad shaving soap? I don't think this argument holds water and believe it to be somewhat specious. The sharing of commercially available bases occurs elsewhere within the industry; Creightons, TFS and Valobra making products for other brands are prime examples of this. I cannot see how this would make this soap a bad soap.
4) Finally, and most importantly, does the soap do exactly what it says on the tin (or tub, in this case). The answer is a resounding yes. It's not an artisan shave soap that contains exotic fats and oils and doesn't claim to be. As I understand it, the word artisan is not used anywhere in the marketing literature or on any of the products and, therefore, this soap should not be judged against other products that claim this designation. To do so, is both unfair and disingenuous.
So would I use the soap again and potentially make further purchases? Again the answer is yes. The lather is more than adequate and the fragrance was great. It's not an expensive soap by any means, and it does exactly what it says on the tin.