Thread: To Tallow or Not To Tallow

I am fairly new to shave soaps and have been researching the tallow or no tallow question and the oppinions are all over the board. I've allways leaned more toward the traditional side of things as a rule so that edges me toward the tallow based soaps. I've tried DR Harris Arlington, like the shave and smell. I've recently tried MWF, seemed good but the aroma wasn't the most exciting.

I know I will get a lot of diverse responses and I welcome them.

Thanks

I don't know if it really matters or not. I have had good soaps/creams in either tallow or non tallow. I like soaps/creams that have good slickness/glide/lubricity, call it what you want, and I think I find that more often in soaps/creams containing tallow. Just an impression though, nothing provable. Try some of each and see what you think suits you best. If you like tallow try an Arko or Palmolive shave stick or a puck of Tabac.

Bob

I have come to prefer soaps/creams that contain tallow. They feel like they produce a denser and more moisturizing lather than the glycerin soaps I have owned. D.R. Harris, Palmolive, and Cella are my favorites at the moment.

There are god ones in both categories. I don't care for the translucent glycerine ones though. I've never had one that I truly loved. I've been living off of Barrister and Mann's soaps these days and I buy the tallow.

I've been enjoying Sterlings' tallow based soaps. Plenty slick, easy to whip, has great choices of aroma and fair prices to boot.

In CHRIST
Steele

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

There are god ones in both categories. I don't care for the translucent glycerine ones though. I've never had one that I truly loved. I've been living off of Barrister and Mann's soaps these days and I buy the tallow.

I have looked into Barriser & Mann's as well. Have not ordered it yet though. Have you had any issues with it being "thirsty for water" and how that impacts your shave.

Originally Posted by Steeleback

I've been enjoying Sterlings' tallow based soaps. Plenty slick, easy to whip, has great choices of aroma and fair prices to boot.

In CHRIST
Steele

Looks interesting. Has had some good reviews. Super slick is the common praise. Interestinly as with the stirling soaps, it seems a lot of the traditional older soap companies have gone away from using tallow, with the newer younger folks getting into the soap business are retroing back into tallow.

I'm a big fan of Stirling Soaps. In my experience, tallow based soaps add extra glide for shaving with a str8. You can't beat the price for the quality.

Originally Posted by tstarks

I have looked into Barriser & Mann's as well. Have not ordered it yet though. Have you had any issues with it being "thirsty for water" and how that impacts your shave.

Not particularly. I really feel the B&M is one of the best soaps available today. I use them far more frequently tham MDC. I press a puck of the soap into a large latte mug from Target and build my lather right on top of it. The lather is thick, dense, slick, and very protective. I love the stuff. Especially the Roam scent. yMMV.

While I have bought and liked a few glycerin soaps, I prefer tallow soaps, with vegetable-based stearic acid soaps coming in second (both tallow and veg soaps are based on saponified stearic acid)... That said, I will give a try to most anything that isn't a translucent puck of glycerin soap at this point. I like Stirling, Tabac, and Martin de Candre, and for vegetable based soaps La Toja, and Pre de Provence.