Have heard some stuff but not a whole lot on Soap commander. I see it's a vegan soap so no tallow, any feedback on performance, scent recommendations, comparable products?
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Have heard some stuff but not a whole lot on Soap commander. I see it's a vegan soap so no tallow, any feedback on performance, scent recommendations, comparable products?
Wow 5 days posted and not one reply, that's a first. Not good comments, not bad. I guess it's niche and just isn't as used as much.
Wow nothing, huh? I just got a tub of their Vision and will try it out this week and let you know.
Soap Commander is run by a terrific couple and provide outstanding customer service. Darren is retired Navy and runs the technical side, while Carrie is the soap maker. I would probably classify SC soaps as Tier 2, in terms of performance. They are easy to lather, with a variety of nice scents, and most soaps are a generous 6 oz. for a very reasonable price. They also offer balms and bath soaps in the same scent. Although I don't feel that their soaps match the performance of MdC, LpL, XPEC, Klar Seifen, and a few others, they are very nice soaps and are definitely with a try.
I love Darren and Carrie's soap. Great scents, can handle a lot of water without breaking, and has good post shave feel. I think it is a top soap in it's price range. The big six ounce tubs last for what seems lime forever.
I'm a fan of Soap Commander. First, one of the owners is a Veteran and I like to support Veterans. Next their soap is great.
My belief is that the quality difference between top of the line soaps, such as Klar, XPEC, Castle Forbes and quality artisan's such as Soap Commander has greatly decreased. The artisan's have really improved their soap quality.
Soap Commander also has multiple products with the same scent for those that like that.
I have their Endurance Soap, which is their version of Old Spice. I shaved with it recently and had great results.
Below average performance for me.
I am thinking of making an order and researched the product on line to find nothing but glowing reviews until I searched here at SRP and found this thread with some less than positive remarks. Can you guys explain what you mean by second tier or below average please? Is it not a dense lather? Hard to make the lather? Not slick enough? Post shave is dry? What don’t you like as much about this soap? I will hold off on the purchase for now.
Gentlemen,
I have not used these soaps and have no opinion on their quality. The one thing I have noticed about them, however, is how cluttered the label is. The tubs have writing all over them. Keep it is neat and uncluttered, is what I say.
Ive used SC quite a bit and find them to be great soaps that offer good slickness with outstanding scent. By no means are they the slickest soaps you will find but in terms of scent and variety of scents, they are tough to beat.
Also, they have outstanding customer service and are run by very good people. Every time I buy from them, they include a hand written note that always is different and always includes some comment thanking me for my patronage (which leads me to believe that its not just printed out by the thousands), not to mention they always include some sample size of aftershave for me to try.
Ive always found their soaps to be pretty hard and very long lasting. I shave every other day and find that I can usually get about 9 months out of their bigger tubs.
As has been said, theyre also veteran-owned, which may or may not matter to you. Its actually kind of a cool story, the owners' daught suffered from eczema, I believe, so they got started simply trying to find a way to make a soap that didnt irritate their skin and it grew into what Soap Commander is today. I personally always thought it was kind of cool that the names of all of their soaps are based upon qualities that make a good officer. Obviously, it doesnt speak for the quality of the soap but its kind of a cool sidenote.
To me first tiers are Ferraris and second tiers are Corvettes. Both are good and fast, but the first tier is sexier ( and usually costs more).Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel
To me, SC is a second tier as well. I have Good Will in regular rotation. It is a good soap, with some other soaps being better and a lot of other soaps being worse. The price is good as far as bang for the buck. I will buy their soap again when the current one runs out.
This is a very good soap.
Scents are very personal and I did enjoy some of the scents and not others.
For a veggie-based soap, it is quite good. However, I much prefer tallow-based ones.
You should give it a try as you may enjoy it. You never know until you do.
This makes sense and thanks for the analogy. To be honest I haven’t been disappointed with the first tier recommendations performance but when there are so many excellent soaps at a more fair price I tend to gravitate towards them. I placed an order for some Oleo based on Obie’s review and interview along with other member’s experiences. I am anxiously awaiting the delivery. The price is in a reasonable range which might detract from the “sexiness” of the soap but I am more concerned about the performance and would buy MWF or Tabac over more expensive soaps just because I haven’t found any one soap to out-perform them to the level of justifying the price. I have nothing against Ferraris but am more of a Chevy man anyways. :-)Quote:
Originally Posted by criswilson10
I do enjoy supporting a veteran family and appreciate the gratitude shared for veterans by the owners of the company not to mention the personalized customer service they are said to provide. It reminds me of great American businesses of the past.
I think I will place an order with Soap Commander as well as all of this is so subjective of personal taste and style.
Thanks Obie for your thoughts and honesty. I did place an order for some Oleo soaps as well. Great interview by the way. Very interesting read.Quote:
Originally Posted by Obie
Quote:
Originally Posted by evnpar
No offense! Please, educate me, on how a retired Navy "whatever", has anything to do with a quality soap? IMHO, it's a poor sales pitch! Obviously, it's catching on though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Badgerstate
I know this wasn’t directed at me but I’ll offer my opinion anyways. It has absolutely nothing to do with a quality soap. It has a lot to do with service to the country. I respect that and admire it but that is just me. Is it all just a sales pitch piggy backing on 20 years of service? Appealing to veteran supporters? Or is it someone standing up and trying to make a statement about what he believes in? Based on the attention to detail, excellent prices, and time spent addressing each customer individually (I placed an order and received a long personal email in response) I believe it is absolutely the latter but I guess you can form your own opinion.
I dont consider it to be a 2nd tier soap but I understand how some would view it that because its a very common soap and so readily available. I find its performance and scent to be 2nd to none. Theres really not much swag or coolness to it though. SC is just a standby and kind of an industry standard. With SC, you know that youre going to get a soap that performs well. I wouldnt agree that theres soaps that are slicker but many that are not.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel
It is nothing more than a sales pitch. Some people like supporting veteran-owned businesses and like supporting veterans when they can. Some dont care. Thats a personal decision.Quote:
Originally Posted by Neunerball
Same here, my friend. If it were a bad soap, I wouldnt buy it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel
I got my order of Soap Commander “Honor” last week and have spent a week with it. I don’t know what I did different but it was something good. Maybe the fact that I have a water softener for my well water. Idk but the soap was so slick I had a hard time stretching my skin and holding on to my razor. I loaded my brush for around 10-15 seconds and it was exploding with lather in the container. The scent is excellent and pretty complex. A fresh “blue” barbershop scent that reminds me somewhat of Adidas cologne. I test a soaps moisturizing ability by washing them off and not putting any product on for 15 minutes to see how my face feels. This soap was good in this department but not as good as MWF. I would say it was on par with Tabac or MDC for moisturizing.
Ease of lather: 10/10
Slickness: 9/10
Face moisturized: 8/10
Scent:9/10
The customer service was excellent also. I exchanged a few emails talking about the shipping, military service, and family. It was shipped the next day and included a free sample. After just a week of using it is hard to form a solid opinion but so far I really love the soap, packaging, customer service, and scent.
At $13.50/6oz plus a couple dollars shipping it is extremely affordable.
A great experience all the way around.
Having hard water can make a big difference. Ive got fairly soft water where I live and pretty much all soaps lather really well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel
These evaluations are always so subjective, let me summarize my situation: water is medium hard here compared to places I've lived, I've been wet shaving long enough to have it down, and to have enjoyed DE, DR and SR, but not nearly as long as many; my nose is unsophisticated and I've used around a dozen different soap manufacturers; I like to play mind games with myself (self talk, music, etc); I have a little money to spend selfishly, but not a lot, I'm pushing 50 and always had dry skin.
SC lather easily with my water, with either badger, boar, or synthetic. I have gotten 1 from a BST before that didn't until I bloomed it once and then it took off as well.
I heard an interview by the artisan about his intentionthat each soap be named after a positive male character trait, to inspire that person. I actually drank that kool-aid. Wed & Thurs sucked at work, intentionally picked Fortitude on Friday and when I get a whiff throughout the day remind myself that I have Fortitude myself to finish things well (yes I'm that hokie).
The soaps are hard, long lasting, and provided in large, 6 oz quantities generally, with a large enough tub to load easily for face lathering.
The scents are complex enough to be interesting to me and generally in my wheelhouse of preference.
I know my son has oily skin and prefers splashes, but for my skin the balls work great.
I like the Caties Bubbles, B and M, and several of the other standards, but SC was the first that made me seek out multiple different scents, and the one I sent to my uncle to get him back to wet shaving ( Renewal).
Sorry for the novel; it's not like I can ramble on about soaps like this to the kids. Enjoy your shaves.
You are absolutely right about the subjective aspect. What is most important for me(slickness and the aftershave feel) may not be to others. Some may look for a soap that is exclusive or “sexy” as has been talked about. Others may rank ease of lather or scent as all important. Some just use plain water. You may love MDC and think it’s the bees knees while others classify it as hype and over rated. One persons top tier is another’s 2nd tier and vise versa. I, like many others, found soap Commander to be a great soap while others have not. Same is true for MWF and Tabac will always be controversial due to the scent. There are so many excellent options out there now-a-days that you have a great range of choices unlike yesteryear where people were limited to the local offerings of say Williams or Arko. We are in a great time today to have so many options and opportunities.
Love this! I’ve said it a thousand times. When it comes to razors and honing it’s always “the shave test, the shave test”. But when it comes to soaps it’s always about the lather and how it lathers. It’s goodnto hear when someone talks about soap in terms of the shave test.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel
Oh I don't know about subjective and soaps. certainly the scent may be but but a top performing soap has to have certain qualities to do it's job properly. If it is deficient in any one area that's a defect. Maybe the problem is user related or water related but you can always mitigate the water with bottled water and with some practice you gain the skill to get good lather from any quality soap.
Of course if you are starting out with under-performing soap that has nothing to do with subjectivity. There are some who feel all soaps are basically the same and spending money for a top soap is a waste but I would venture a guess most of those folks have never tried a top soap.
It's like my friend who drives around in a Yugo and thinks it's the best value in the world. It's all he needs.