Thread: The Seven Wonders Revisited

Having finally tested many of the creams/soaps suggested in Obie’s “The Seven Wonders” thread (plus a few others), I thought I would post my findings. This list is in order of preference:

Baum.Be—Glide and cushion are second to none, and my face/neck never show signs of irritation after a shave with this cream. It works within a fairly wide range of water/cream ratios with excellent results, bursting into a great lather within seconds. My closest shaves are all a result of using Baum.Be. I did not care for the scent at first, but it has grown on me.

Xpec—Great cream with a few exceptions: The scent lingers for some time after a shave; I must add some water to my brush before lathering for a second/third pass or my razor will begin to “chatter” rather than glide over my skin, and I sometimes have a bit of irritation after my shave.

Martin de Candre—The Fougere scent is fantastic, glide and cushion are superb as long as the water/soap ratio is right. As with Xpec, I must add water to my brush before lathering for subsequent passes or I get razor chatter. Sometimes I am left with a bit of aftershave irritation.

Antica Barbieria Colla soap—My ABC shaves are the equal of my MDC shaves except for the scent.

Castle Forbes Lime—The scent is a real eye opener on a sleepy morning. Cushion and glide are almost on par with Baum.Be. My only problem with this cream is that I nick myself every time I use it, odd because it is advertised as being formulated for nick-prone skin.

Meissner and Tremonia Pink Grapefruit: I hated the scent at first, but it is now one of my favorites. I use this mainly as an “uberlather”, mixing the soap and cream. Used this way, it is almost the equal of C/F in terms of cushion and glide without the nicks.

Trumper’s Coconut cream—I know Trumper’s products don’t get a lot of respect on this forum and this one is a distant seventh place. It leaves my skin feeling great after a shave, but the main reason it is here is the scent. After lathering with this stuff and taking in the smell, I just can’t be in a bad mood.

What have you guys tried as a result of recent posts, and what have been your results?

Try Saponificio Varesino that is very similar to MdC but a lot cheaper, smells very nice with stronger scent.

Pretty good list. But I have never had MDC dry up on me , and whatStefan said I just got the Saponifico as a gift from Cudarunner. And it's pretty good, Tc

Thanks guys, I'll have to try Saponifico.

You might also like BeeWitched by Mickey's Lee Soap Works. My usual preferred soaps are MdC, ABC, and SdM, but after today's shave this trio has become a quartet

One of my latest acquisitions is a Meissner lavender paste.
This is a very good soap and far superior to the new XPEC.


Are you using new or old XPEC?

I used the new Xpec. One of my problems with ABC, MDC & Xpec may be the fact I only had sample sizes to work with. I do plan to get a full-size jar of MDC.

The Meissner product I found to be truly superior was their A/S balm.

Originally Posted by CZMark

I used the new Xpec. One of my problems with ABC, MDC & Xpec may be the fact I only had sample sizes to work with. I do plan to get a full-size jar of MDC.

The Meissner product I found to be truly superior was their A/S balm.

SRD has XPEC on a sale now.

The one thing that precluded me from buying a full tub of XPEC was the price, that SRD sale price is a game changer. Thanks.

All the high end soaps seem expensive but the jars are big , and in the case of MDC I use 8 swirls around the jar and instill have enough left after a 3 pass shave to do it again, my jars are 2 years old because I have all 3 scents, and I have shared with a couple of friends and I still have a bunch left , I use MDC at least 4 times a week, and yes the new Xpec is not quite as good as the old formula, takes more product to come up with the lather and I think that the glide is not quite there like before, but I might be biased , I,m not an almond fan. Tc