Thread: Cold River Soap Works - Select V2 Review

I also posted this review on some facebook groups.

CRSW Select V2 Review:

Short Version: This is an amazing soap with extraordinary quality from all aspects (packaging, performance, post shave, scent quality). It does not contain coconut oil but lathers easier than many coconut oil soaps. Creamiest lather in the Shave World so far. If you like the post shave feel of Mystic Water Soaps but for some reason had trouble lathering (many do), you should try this soap ASAP.


Long Version:



A little about my profile.

I'm probably the most allergic man in the wet shaving world (having Celiac Disease, extremely allergic to gluten, and extremely allergic to almond and other nuts). This has cause my skin to become extremely dry, to the point that I can only use heavily moisturizing soap or else I suffer the consequences of the dryness, many many hours after I shave with a non-mousturizing soap (MdC, etc). For that reason, my top soaps are tallow soaps that contains moisturizing ingredients such as butters, avocado oil, among others.


Now onto the soap:



The Cold River Soap Works Select 2 is a new addition to the line, which is different from the regular Select since it does not contain Almond Oil nor Coconut Oil. The addition of Almond oil in Select V1 prevented me from using it. I message CRSW about the possibility of having a Almondless oil but never though he would go on into actually making it a full line for his brand (amazing gesture, I must say)


Presentation - 11/10 In my opinion of the most elegant presentations in wet shaving. Luxury feeling right from the gate. The sealed card is an amazing touch.


Shave Review:

Lather - You would think the ommission of coconut oil will mean a hard-to-lather soap, WRONG WRONG. This soap is as easy to lather as Catie's Bubbles. As an additional fact, this has to be the creamiest lather of all soaps I have tried (and I have tried MANY). 10/10


Slickness - This soap is very very slick, which makes shaving on non-lathered areas, a breeze. 9.7/10


Post Shave Feel - Oh man, this soap has reached a new level when it comes to post shave feel. 14/10. This is most likely to the ommission of coconut oil and the many mousturizing ingredients in the formula (shea, Tallow, Kokum, Avocado, Lanolin, Silk, etc)

Irritation Prevention - This soap provided 0 irritation in my neck, which is the hardest place to shave without irritation. One of the few soaps where I feel my neck feels better after the shave, than before the shave. Amazing! 11/10


Scent: The one I got is called Puro Fresco. The scent is amazing ( even my wife was raving about it this afternoon).


I totally recommend this soap and this brand. This jumped right to the top of my den and is not going out of there anytime soon! Must buy to all artisan soap lovers. Furthermore, I strongly believe this is a trend-setting soap (a game changer), that will likely involve the movement of some soap makers using less coconut oil or no coconut oil in their formulations, in order to create a better product than currently available. (MW was also revolutionary, but this one is 100 times easier to lather)

Thanks for the review.

For those of us who despise FaceBook, is their a site we can check out the various flavours and purchase?

The V2 then....

yes, they have a website (Im not sure I can post links to any website here) you can search google for cold river soap works and will find it pretty fast. Hope it helps. THey have 3 different formulas now (Select, Select V2 and Oliva)

I have had some Cold River Select for awhile now & I love it so I will have to try the new V2 version since I happen to be very satisfied so far!

Originally Posted by engine46

I have had some Cold river Select for awhile now & I love it so I will have to try the new V2 version since I happen to be very satisfied so far!

you will love it!