My soap opera

I'd also be pretty interested in Gollnicks opinion of Arko. Mine is this. It lathers up very easily. The lather isn't as ritch and thick as many of the better creams/soaps, but is a good lather. A stick also seems to last forever, so is even a better value than the price would suggest. I'm a fan of Arko, but I'm also a fan of VDH so my opinion and Gollnicks is probably going to be very different. But then again maybe not Arko is very easy to lather, rinses off easily, very good price, just has single paper wrapper, and would be easy to press fit into his bowl. The smell is alot like Williams, so that may be a negitive.
 
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Arko is cheap here in Europe, the stick is good for travelling and it produces a very dense foam. Being a stick it's likely a good face latherer too but I'm not a fan of that method at all.

Yes the quality of foam and its efficiency is impressive. However, I can't stand the smell of it, personal I know but that's how we judge products. It's like some kind of toilet cleaner so I pass on this one. Does a good job though.

Another bargain soap here in Europe is Monsavon bol a raser from France. Very cheap like Arko and produces a really fine foam whose smell I do like, sort of wood scent.
 
Thursday last was my last shave with Col. Conks. I got exactly 30 shaves from that cake. Weight data show that the bit and pieces I discarded were less than one shave's worth (if I was continuing with another cake of Col. Conks, I would have just put those bits into the bowl with the new cake and ended up using all of it).

My lathering with Col. Conks improved a bit, but it never gave a great lather, either runny and thin or pasty and dry. Col. Conks has a narrow process window. For a bowl-latherer, one who builds his lather in a bowl, this can work because he has better control of the process and the soap/water ratio. But, for a face-latherer such as myself, this is not a good soap.

It's also just not a good value. I paid $5.50 for this soap, which is cheap compared to some of the others. But I only got 30 shaves out of it. That's 18 1/3 cents per shave. But contrast that with a $14.50 soap from Taylor of Old Bond Street that delivered 150 shaves at 9 2/3 cents per shave. The Taylor costs a lot more to buy, but only about half as much to use. The smart money buys the Taylor of Old Bond Street soap, not the Col. Conks. And, on top of that, the smart money gets better lather and better shaves too.

I remain convinced that Col Conks is the same product as Van Der Hagen Glycerin soap which is significantly less expensive. So, if you use and like Col. Conk's I think you should try Van Der Hagen Glycerin soap and save money.

My conclusion about Col. Conks is that it's a major disappointment and not recommended at all. The joy of low price is quickly forgotten amidst the disappointment of low quality... and turns bitter when you do the math and find out that the price wasn't so low after all.
 
I want to thank so many of you who have recommended lather products to me. I appreciate that. My goal here is to find a soap for myself to adopt.

I want a soap that's readily available either locally or from one of my two favorite online sources, www.westcoastshaving.com or www.classicshaving.com. I know that there are other fine, reputable, reliable online retailers. I just haven't, myself, felt the need to go beyond these two. (And, really, Westcoast is my favorite.) I don't omit others for any reason other than that I have not, myself, tried them and don't feel the need to at this time.

I want a hard soap, not a cream. I've tried cream and it's not as easy to face-lather for me.

And I have very oily skin. As a result, I avoid any hygiene or skin-care products described as especially "moisturizing" or "nourishing" or "hydrating" or anything like that. These products tend to make me break out. (I have used all of the products tested in the Soap Opera for at least 30 days and have had no acne incidents from any of these.) So, I am a bit careful about that.

I like the stick idea and I may get myself one of those for travel. But, for everyday use, that sort of thing is way over-packaged for my liking.

Otherwise, I will continue to consider suggestions.

But, I have a suggestion for you: if I'm not testing out your favorite, then why not conduct a Soap Opera of your own, an extended trial using just that one soap day-to-day for an entire cake and then tell us what you think including how many shaves you got.
 
And so the Soap Opera is over with, eh?

Well... soap operas are known for their unexpected plot twists. And this one is taking such a twist. I'm adding ONE more soap. It's a soap I had thought to include in my big purchase, but I just could not bring myself to shell out $26 for a piece of soap, even one widely-reputed to be the absolute best shaving soap in the world. However, I now know from direct experience that these expensive soaps can actually be a great value in the long run due to the number of shaves you get from each cake. So, I decided that since the Soap Opera has plumbed the low-cost end of the shaving soap market, it should also ascend to the high end too. I am adding Truefitt and Hill Luxury Shaving Soap to the cast of the Soap Opera.

In fact, I've already had four shaves with it.

It comes in a paper box. Inside the box, the soap is wrapped in waxed paper. There is no plastic at all. A+ for environmentally-friendly packaging; bravo! The soap is sold as being 99g. My scale weighed my cake at 95.1g out-of-the-box. It's just a tiny bit too big to fit into my bowl and needed to be shaved down with a pocket knife quickly. This is acceptable to me because it takes less than one minute and makes no mess. i'm not interested, for example, in melting down and re-casting my soap; that's just more work than any soap could possibly be worth.

The shaving down reminded me a bit of using Geo. F, Trumper's soap. It just so happens that with the Truefitt & Hill, I also ordered some Trumper's. So, I compared the boxes. The boxes are the same. Oh, different printing, of course, but the same otherwise. And not just the dimensions, but in tiny details such as the radius of rounding the corners of the flap. It's the same box. And there's nothing wrong with that. But the bottom of the two soaps is very telling. They have the same exact mold marks. Clearly, these two products were made in the same factory. Truefitt & Hill's label declares, "Manufactured for Truefitt & Hill." The ingredient lists are very similar, though not identical. Trumper's is sold as 80g; my last cake tilted the scale at 98.9g. Anyway, I suspect that Truefitt & Hill soap is made by George F. Trumper.

I'm not going to say a whole lot about it until after I get "dialed in" on it, but my first impressions of Truefitt & Hill Luxury Shaving Soap are quite good. The fragrance is light. It's floral and lavender dominates. The lather comes quickly and easily and is quite good.

So, keep tuning into The Soap Opera to see how this new character fares.





P.S. I also got a cake of DR Harris Lavender for my travel bowl. I haven't used it yet as it is for travel. But, I did weigh it. It's sold at 100g and weighted in at 117.8g.
 
Interesting findings again as usual. I'm still working away on my cake of Col. Conk, but I'm quite sure I use less soap per shave that some guys. I've noticed that it can be finicky, but I think I have a wider tolerance window, since I generally only do a WTG and a clean-up pass. It stands to reason that you are using much more soap to find that "sweet spot" than I am, since I am not as picky. (not that its a bad thing)
 
LOL he may just have. But at least he is useing his soaps up and not stock piling them. I get about the same number of shaves from VDH as Gollnick gets from CC maybe a few more, 40 ish. I do agree that other than the smell they are the same soap. I'm out of the shaving game right now right hand is in a cast, so am growing a beard. I did use Arko for just about a month and hardly put a dent in it. should easily get more than 2 or 3 months from 1 stick. Btw pressed the stick into a bowl and use it the same as I used VDH.
 
db said:
But at least he is useing his soaps up and not stock piling them.
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Exactly. My goals are 1) Identify several good soaps that I can depend on for the future, that lather well for me and have good economy. And 2) to end up with exactly two soaps in the house: one in my travel bowl for travel use, and one in my home bowl for day-to-day use.

Right now, I have the DR Harris in my travel bowl ready for the holidays, I have the last trial soap, the Truefitt & Hill, in the home bowl, and I have several cakes of Trumpers in-stock which should get me through 2013. And I don't intend to buy any more soap through 2013.
 
So you went with Trumpers? I was guessing Taylors was at the top of your list.
 
Taylor is great too. But classicshaving, where I got the Truefitt & Hill, was out-of-stock on it, so I went with Trumpers.

Right now, I really liked Trumpers, Taylor, and Harris; these three all gave great lather, demonstrated wide process windows, and demonstrated good economy. Great lather for less money per-shave? What's not to like about that? And, therefore, what's not to like about any of these three? I recommend all three equally.
 
English shaving soaps/creams are generally very good indeed in my experience, and as you remarked, they also offer impressive value. A little can go far.

Italian stuff is well worth considering too. Proraso is very reliable, not everyone likes the eucalyptus scent mind. CELLA is my favourite, it's a cross between soap and cream, soft soap. Staggering lather and keeps slick, lasts a long time and I like the almond scent. Think it can be got in the USA by now, a really strong performer face is so smooth and never burn.
 
Tabac is my current favorite. It seems to last forget. La Toja is nice too. Both from WCS.
 
I have finished with the Truefitt and Hill Luxury Soap. I did 94 shaves with it and weight data showed two more shaves worth of soap left in pieces. So, the total is 96 shaves. The lather has been fast and good and the shaves great... but the lather and the shave is not better than that obtained with DR Harris, Taylor of Old Bond Street, or Trumpers. So, my conclusion about Truefitt and Hill is that, while it is a great soap, it's not a good value.

And that concludes my Soap Opera.

I hope that some of you will conduct Soap Operas of your own. Pick a few lather products that you want to compare. Shave with each one day-after-day through an entire package. In this way, the review that you give will be most valuable to the community. How, for example, would we know whether or not Truefitt and Hill is a good value if someone hadn't done an extensive review like this? Now we know.

My number of shaves may not be the same as yours. But, if you use a consistent lathering technique as I try to, then your ratios should be about the same.
 
Thanks for doing this! You actually helped me find DR Harris, and my one refill puck is still going strong after who-knows-how-long.
 
Mike R said:
What an interesting thread. I've been a member of shave forums for 7 years or so and this is one of the most interesting posts I've seen on a cream or soap. So thanks for posting.

I second (or third, or fourth, whatever we're up to now) the Arko. It's very good and if you buy more than one it can be gotten fairly cheaply. It's stick form, but it's pliable enough that you could work it in to a bowl or puck shape. As a hobby shaver, I've tried tons of different soaps and creams and it ranks up there. In fact I used it this morning. Yesterday, too. Another really good, really cheap shave stick is Palmolive.

So Gollnick, if you'd like, let me know and I'll send you a stick of Arko. I'd love to hear your assesment of it.

And I guess since this is my first post, I should say I've been lurking here for maybe two years or so. I've gotten lots of useful information. I came here researching what to get for an EDC. I found what I wanted and then kept finding more. Somehow the one knife I needed became two, then three, four, five . . .

Mike
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You are right on the money with your comments about Arko. The more I use the expensive soaps and creams the more respect I have for Arko. I keep a stick for travel and pressed another into a bowl for rotation with my other soaps. If it was the only soap I had access to I would not feel hard done by. Using a shave stick is the easiest and fastest way to face lather.

Bob
 
Thank you Gollnick for this thread. Your input on Taylor of Old Bond St made me try it and it is the best I've used by far, and the coconut scent is phenomenonal.
 
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