My soap opera

Yes, but depending on how many shaves per cake, they could be very expensive. So, I'm still questing for the perfect domestic soap.
 
Anyway, watch for more reviews here on... The Shaves of Our Lives.
 
Gollnick said:
Yes, but depending on how many shaves per cake, they could be very expensive. So, I'm still questing for the perfect domestic soap.
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If it makes you feel better I've been using a cake of Harris lavender soap for over a year 3-4x a week and it's barely made a dent in it.

My fear now is that it will expire before I use it all lol.
 
I had a puck of Col. Conk Bay Rum and it lathered beautifully, too bad I was allergic to it:( because it gave me a great shave. I all comes down to what works for you, and maybe one of these soaps that are just a bit more than what you are use to spending will knock the ball out of the park for you. Bewst of luck with the testing and I hope you find you new grail soap.
 
My West Coast Shaving package arrived today. So, here are some first impressions:

First, West Coast Shaving: Ordered on Saturday, Shipped on Monday, Arrived on Wednesday... and that's the free shipping. The order fulfillment was flawless. The box is rough-finished cardboard with post-consumer recycled content. Perfect. The packing is starch peanuts. Good. Unfortunately, the blades I added to bring the order up above the free shipping threshold were in a plastic bag. Ten points off for that. West Coast used plastic packing tape. I know that paper tape is a royal pain to deal with, so only one point off for that. So, West Coast Shaving scores 100/100 for excellent service and 89/100 for environmentalism in packing materials.

Col. Conk's soap comes in a plastic package with no recycling code. At least they don't put that into any further packing. The fragrance is nice, a bit ambery, but not overwhelmingly so. When its turn comes, it will fit in my bowl just fine.

Trumper's comes in a paper box with a waxed finish, but it brags of being made of only sustainably-farmed wood and of being chlorine-free. I guess if you have to use virgin paper, sustainably-grown wood is ok. Inside, the soap is wrapped in paper... a good omen. But, when one unwraps the paper, the soap is then wrapped in plastic film. Drat! The lime fragrance is nice; not a sharp lime, but nice. This one will need to be shaved down an 1/8th of an inch or so all around to fit in my bowl, but this can be accomplished with a pocket knife if less than one minute. I can accept this because it will take less than a minute. What I'm not interested in is having to melt down and recast my soap; that's a bit more of a project than I'm interested in for shaving soap.

Golddachs comes in a rough-finished paper box. Unfortunately, inside of this environmentally-great box, the soap is wrapped in a plastic bag. The fragrance seems nice. Sandalwood can be overwhelming, but this seems to be the right level. This will fit in my bowl just fine.

Taylor of Old Bond Street comes in a waxed paper box which is fine. Inside, the soap is nicely wrapped in waxed paper. This is a good example of how even a high-end shaving soap can be packaged environmentally. The fragrance is a very good lavender. I'm looking forward to it. The artificial blue color is a bit garish and unnecessary. It will fit just about perfectly in my bowl.

For environmental packing, DR Harris wins. An unprinted (albeit waxed) white box with two paper labels opens to reveal... the soap. No unnecessary additional packing at all. Bravo! The Arlington scent smells on the soap itself rather clean and soapy. We'll see how it ends up in the lather after a few uses (I think you have to allow a few uses before reaching final judgement on a soap's scent as the surface may have had some components of the fragrance evaporate. I also think it's best to judge the scent in the lather and not the soap as it is formulated to be experienced that way.) This soap fits nicely in my bowl which is where it is right now waiting for tomorrow's shave.

Since I'm back in soap evaluation mode, I brought my very good scale into the bathroom to make measurements. (Remember, I am an electrical engineer / applied physicist sort and EEs are applied physicists are the second and third most metrologically-obsessed people in the world. The most metrologically-obsessed people are, of course, metrologists.) My cake of DR Harris Arlington was sold as being 100g. On my scale, it weighed in at 109.5g... almost 10% more than expected.

Each day, before I shave, I will weigh my soap. Doing so before wetting the soap allows excess water to dry off to a fairly-consistent dryness. What I have found in the past is that the weight of the soap will actually increase for the first few days as the soap hydrates. After that, there will by a period of inconsistency as I vary the lather looking for the right formula. Once I get "dialed in" (there's that phrase again), the soap's decrease in weight day-to-day will become quite consistent and, with a five or eight day average, I can get a very accurate measure of how many shaves I'll get from that soap.



Now, to those of you who have criticized the length of my first post and are doubtlessly rolling your eyes at this one, I will say this: the title of this thread promises a soap opera. And that is what I am delivering. A slow-moving and shallow plot yet intricately-woven, which reveals itself in painfully-drawn-out bits and pieces.
 
Gollnick, your posts got me into DE shaving. After trying a couple cheap and unsatisfactory soaps I gave up and have been using canned foam for the last couple months. I appreciate your thorough approach and will be watching for the results. Thanks.
 
I'm curious to hear what you think of the DR Harris... You can find it locally (Winn Perry) along with the Trumper's (Perfume House) and L'Occtaine; haven't found TOBS locally... Out of curiosity, have you tried any Ogallala products? I love their AS (favorites are "Bay Rum & Sandalwood" and "Bay Rum, Limes & Peppercorns") and just picked up a couple pucks of soap to try... My wife told me I need to whittle down my stock (and she might be on to something) when she realized I had over 15 different soaps... I told her we just need a bigger bathroom!

So far my favorites have been Tabac (I know, but the lather was fantastic and you used to be able to find it for <$10), Trumper's Coconut (great lather, great smell... my wife's favorite) and Udder Delight Bay Rum (smooth is the first word that comes to mind). I am having a local goats milk soap maker put together some samples for me and after that she'll be adding them to her line of regular offerings (she sells online but primarily at farmer's markets around Portland).

Next on the list to try (and patiently waiting for me in their bowls) are Ogallala Bay Rum and Sandalwood (LOVE the AS, high hopes for the soap!) and Trumper's Eucris (possibly the best smelling raw soap I've come across, anxious to see how it is whipped up)...

Good luck Brother. Just remember, there's many excellent options out there, why limit yourself? ;)

By the way, I'm still waiting for you to post a balisong straight... :D
 
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I've got interested in those Ogallala shaving sticks too.

I contacted them to see if they will post them to Europe at reasonable cost, anybody tried this stuff? I need a travelling stick that I like the smell of, not found one yet.........
 
I've been using the DR Harris soap for about three weeks now and I'm very pleased with it. I am pleased to be able to report that initial impression that this soap has a wide process window has prove very true. There's no magic ritual necessary to get a good lather and a great shave with this soap. So, I am delighted to now find out that it's available retail in Portland. Thank you, Mr. amcardon for that very good bit of information.

I have not tried Ogallala soap, no. I'm not a bay rum fan.

I had over 15 different soaps...
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I understand those who I call "hobby shavers." If shaving has become a hobby for you, that's fine. I have a friend who collects Farmall tractors. It's nice, by contrast, to have a hobby wherein adding another piece to your collection does not necessitate adding another building to the property.

Me? I don't need another hobby; I need a good, quick, economical shave. My goal is to get down to one soap. So, that's what I'm looking for.
 
Gollnick said:
...I am delighted to now find out that it's available retail in Portland...
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No problem! Have you had a chance to go through THIS thread? It's a little dated (you'll have to read through to the end to see who is still in business and who has closed up shop) but was helpful finding places around town to pick stuff up. I thought I wanted to try Trumpers Sandalwood but I didn't want to drop $18 (or $36 in a bowl) to find out I didn't like it - it was really nice to be able to go into the Perfume shop and check out my options. I also wouldn't have found Trumpers Eucris if I hadn't gone in!

Looking forward to your reviews.
 
Tobac, BTW, is available at this Bavarian Sausage place which is, I think, in Tigard. The only problem is that it's displayed right behind the pastery case... Bavarian pasteries... oh so good... oh so caloric. The food is amazing. I have a friend who is from Germany and she loves to go there; she says the food is 100% just like it would be in Germany. My Mercedes even seems to like having lunch there. (Though if it's sausage you crave, you must go to Olympic Provisions for French-style. But, I don't think they carry any shaving products.)

And Perfume House is amazing. The staff are experts... so nice to have knowledgable staff. The problem is finding parking. Once you are parked, though, visit Hawthron Cutlery just a few blocks away to make your trip worth the effort.
 
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Today, I completed my 42nd consecutive shave with DR Harris soap. That's seven weeks of shaves. During this period, I have tried Dorco ST-301, BIC Chrome Platinum, Derby, and Feather blades. I am pleased to report that my initial assessment of this soap was correct: this soap has a very broad process window. It is very easy to get a good lather and a great shave with DR Harris soap.

So much so, in fact, that I think I have cut a full minute off of my shave time. You just don't need to work to make a lather with this soap. It just springs up into a great working lather quickly and easily.

Based on visual estimation and upon my weight measurements, I am convinced that I will get well in excess of 100 shaves from this single puck of DR Harris soap. A typical can of shaving foam is about $3 and will give about 20 shaves, a cost-per-shave of about 15 cents. This puck of DR Harris cost $15. If it gives 100 shaves, which it will, then the cost-per-shave of lather with DR Harris is the same -- or less -- than canned foam.

By comparison, a puck of TGQ typically gave me about 40-45 shaves and cost about $12, a cost of at least $0.26 per shave. So, I have always said that the value proposition of DE is that the lather costs a bit more, but you ore than make it up on blade costs, Well, with DR Harris, the cost of lather is the same and blades are still significantly cheaper.

My conclusion on DR Harris is that TGQ has to move over, DR Harris is my new favorite lather,
 
You know, Ivory bar soap lathers up pretty nicely as well. This thread just made me chuckle because I make my own laundry soap. Oxyclean, washing soda, and borax in equal one-cup amounts plus one bar of Ivory soap all ground up in a food processor makes a killer laundry soap. I buy all the ingredients in bulk. One tablespoon (15mL) is enough to do a normal large load of laundry. Modify the recipe if you have excessively hard or soft water. There are plenty of googlable resources on the web for this so I'm not going to do the whole tutorial. Two tablespoons if I'm doing a load of muddy diapers from two toddlers, they all come out sparkly white. ProTip if you want to try this: Set your machine to do an extra long soak in hot water and two rinses, and put a cup of white vinegar where the bleach should go and you won't need a fabric softener. Instead, get a washcloth and put 2-3 drops of your favorite essential oil on it and throw that in the dryer with your clothes, and you're good to go.

A case of 32 bars of Ivory soap was like $20. There are a multitude of ways to buy bulk Ivory bar soap on Amazon, I can't remember which way I went. If you go to a certain website that sells bottles of essential oils from Oregon, including the famous Oregon lavender, you can scent your Ivory soap any way you want. A sampler of 15 bottles of essential oils cost me about $25, and $7 of that was for one bottle of Oregon lavender. There was something about a famous American bell in the name of the website.

Bang for the buck as far as soap and oil goes, you just can't beat it. Environmentally, the Ivory soap comes in a paper wrapper that's presumably biodegradable or recyclable. And cheap. The soap was around 50 cents a bar, lasts so long I get to try four or five different oils on it, and foams right up.

I'm still working through my Prorasso bonanza so I'll probably be grinding up the Ivory for laundry for another 2-3 years, but when the time's right, I'll be back to Ivory plus whatever essential oil I'm in the mood for that day.

Once I make my way through the $30 pack of 500 Schick blades I'll probably revisit the issue. Maybe a 1968 Gillette Fatboy with an assortment of 30 different blades.... no, I'll probably buy another $30 pack of Schick blades and be done with it until I'm 70. Or, I could go back to my stash of 400 Derby blades that I picked up on the cheap from eBay and squeeze another ten years out of the DE Futur.

No matter how you make it work for you, getting out of the cartridge 7-blade stupidity prison is the main thing. An $18 puck of soap you get 100 shaves out of sounds great to me, and everybody's skin is a little different. Some people have scars on their faces that they either need to grow a beard over or shave around, so they need special tools. I know people who have acne who have great difficulty with shaving and wind up with a hundred bleeding volcanoes on their neck. Whatever works for you is the way you should go.
 
Right now I'm enjoying Mitchell's Wool Fat Soap, but I've also got a small sample of Castle Forbes cream (lime scent). The Castle Forbes is fantastic stuff--very pricey, but may be worth the cost.
 
Gollnick said:
Today, I completed my 42nd consecutive shave with DR Harris soap. That's seven weeks of shaves. During this period, I have tried Dorco ST-301, BIC Chrome Platinum, Derby, and Feather blades. I am pleased to report that my initial assessment of this soap was correct: this soap has a very broad process window. It is very easy to get a good lather and a great shave with DR Harris soap.

So much so, in fact, that I think I have cut a full minute off of my shave time. You just don't need to work to make a lather with this soap. It just springs up into a great working lather quickly and easily.

Based on visual estimation and upon my weight measurements, I am convinced that I will get well in excess of 100 shaves from this single puck of DR Harris soap. A typical can of shaving foam is about $3 and will give about 20 shaves, a cost-per-shave of about 15 cents. This puck of DR Harris cost $15. If it gives 100 shaves, which it will, then the cost-per-shave of lather with DR Harris is the same -- or less -- than canned foam.

By comparison, a puck of TGQ typically gave me about 40-45 shaves and cost about $12, a cost of at least $0.26 per shave. So, I have always said that the value proposition of DE is that the lather costs a bit more, but you ore than make it up on blade costs, Well, with DR Harris, the cost of lather is the same and blades are still significantly cheaper.

My conclusion on DR Harris is that TGQ has to move over, DR Harris is my new favorite lather,
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So, how slick is the DR Harris? I need something as slick as my TGQ shaving creams to use with my Feather blades and so far I haven't found anything.
 
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