Foundation Soaps

This is inspired by the 'First Tier Soaps' thread. After years of buying, trying and evaluating soaps that worked for me, or did not, I always seem to gravitate to a couple of soaps. These soaps are what I call foundation soaps. If I had to strip my den down and rely on only a couple of 'Steady Eddie' choices, mine would be Tabac and MWF.

There are lots of great choices out there and many worthy artisans. My 2 soaps reflect what I choose when altering a variable in my equipment. If I try a new brush, I go straight to my puck of MWF. I'll know immediately how that brush stacks up against my others. If I get a new blade, or try a different hone, either MWF, or Tabac let me know how the new variables are affecting my shaving experience.

I know the properties of these two soaps inside and out. What do you choose when push comes to shove?

Tabac and Cella are my "Go To" soaps.
My $.02 Ken

Honestly, with the amount of fantastic artisanal soaps available, nowadays, it is hard to limit my soaps to just a few.
These are some of my favourites:
Mystic Water
Mike's
L&L Grooming
Jabonman/Eufros

This is an interesting premise. Pare down the variables to arrive at one standard by which brushes and razors can be judged. With all the soaps and scents that are out there, maybe it's for the guy who has tried just about everything. I'm still feasting, and still haven't tried many "classic" soaps like Tabac and MWF, but if I had to pare down the variables for testing purposes, I think it would boil down to two options right now, irrespective of scent: Haslinger and Stirling. And if it had to be just one, then Haslinger would get the nod.

I'm not saying that these are the best soaps, just that I have found them reliable and that I know them well enough to judge a razor's or a brush's performance by them. And come to think of it, I think I rated Haslinger as a "first tier" soap on the other thread.

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Originally Posted by celestino

Honestly, with the amount of fantastic artisanal soaps available, nowadays, it is hard to limit my soaps to just a few.
These are some of my favourites:
Mystic Water
Mike's
L&L Grooming
Jabonman/Eufros

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Well I'm living proof that I haven't the discipline to limit myself to just a couple of soaps. And I'm not advocating such a move. If you are comparing one brush to another, which soap do you use to make that comparison?

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Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

This is an interesting premise. Pare down the variables to arrive at one standard by which brushes and razors can be judged. With all the soaps and scents that are out there, maybe it's for the guy who has tried just about everything. I'm still feasting, and still haven't tried many "classic" soaps like Tabac and MWF, but if I had to pare down the variables for testing purposes, I think it would boil down to two options right now, irrespective of scent: Haslinger and Stirling. And if it had to be just one, then Haslinger would get the nod.

I'm not saying that these are the best soaps, just that I have found them reliable and that I know them well enough to judge a razor's or a brush's performance by them. And come to think of it, I think I rated Haslinger as a "first tier" soap on the other thread.

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Thanks for sharing. And that is the premise of my post! In fact, the reason Tabac was my first soap is because people kept mentioning it favorably on another shaving forum many years ago. I hope new users can gain some perspective and experienced straight shavers can share what works for them.

Spent most of my life shaving with only one soap/cream and one brush at a time. Then I was introduced to shaving as a hobby which is a whole other thing.

If I cut back, there would be Tabac, Arko and Palmolive shave sticks in my rotation. They just plain work each and every time for me no matter the type of brush used.

Bob

Mine are:

Dr. Jon’s
Stirling
WSP

I keep thinking I need to try MWF or Tabac, but my favorites all make enough scents to keep me occupied—especially those darn limited edition scents! Even if I don’t need another soap, I see the description and think “gotta have it!”

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Originally Posted by AZBronco

Mine are:

Dr. Jon’s
Stirling
WSP

I keep thinking I need to try MWF or Tabac, but my favorites all make enough scents to keep me occupied—especially those darn limited edition scents! Even if I don’t need another soap, I see the description and think “gotta have it!”

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Like Mikey says “ Try it, you’ll like it.” I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with either.

Tabac, Speick, and MWF. I would love to try some other soaps, but the practical side of me realizes I already have enough to last my lifetime without even considering the nearly full containers of XPEC and CF Lime.

Limiting oneself to merely 1 or 2 AD’s is such a struggle. ;)

CF lime for me. It works every time. Got 3 others too but that one is my go to when doing something new.

Tabac soap and Penhaligon's cream.

Gentlemen,
If I were to consider foundation soaps and creams, mine would be: Martin de Candre, Castle Forbes and Czech & Speake. To be fair, I should also add an artisan soap: Wholly Kaw.
On the other hand, Tabac and Mitchell's Wool Fat have been in the shave den for a long time. Even though not in the first foundation lineup, I can't see them disappearing from my shave den.

This thread made me think of many baselines from HHT to thumb pad test. Calibrate the test to your own availability, ability, and senses.

Right now for me by baseline/foundation is Cella. I like it and bought a kilo. It is going to be around for a while even after giving it half away!;)

I got a couple of new soaps to try at a meet this last weekend and how I judge them will be based on the Cella.

Tabac, LEA and Green Mountain Soaps

I would have to agree on your choices, for sure Tabac and MWF.

Since you have already picked those two, I feel justified in picking two more. I would go for Trufitt & Hill cream and D.R. Harris soap.

One of the things I've noticed about my own behavior over time is that I seem to try new soaps by promising artisans. Many of them are excellent and I enjoy the shaves with them. But time after time, after my infatuation with one of the latest and greatest abates, I survey my choices and always come back to the same few soaps. Now that might just be me, but I suspect many of you do the same.

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Originally Posted by CrownCork

Tabac, LEA and Green Mountain Soaps

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The Green Mountain. The lavender/grapefruit. If paring down I wouldn't need anything else.

• TGQ Desert Ironwood
• QED Anise & Lavender (sadly, no longer in production)
• TGQ Unscented (you have to have an unscented cake of good shaving soap -- some afterscents don't need to "stand on the shoulders of giants")

This is one of those "religious" discussions: Can we accept that Castle Forbes shaving creams are also "soft[er] soaps"? I vote "Yes", so let me add their Cedarwood and Sandalwood.

For me, would be, MdC, PannaCremma Nuavia (sp?) soaps, Olea Soapworks if I had to choose just three makers....

Next up, DR Harris, T&H, C&S, Castle Forbes, Penhaligon's...there are quite a few soaps/creams that have been around a long time that I can get pretty much perfect lather from each time...but if it had to be a single foundation soap, "There can be only one!" type thing....MdC Original.:)

When all the other soaps are gone, I will have:

Martin de Candre
Castle Forbes
Tabac
Czech & Speake

Martin de Candre original and Fougere would be my soap must haves if only two were allowed. I would add castle Forbes Lime and Taylor of Old Bond Eton if creams were included. I could shave quite comfortably with these.

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Originally Posted by JBHoren

• TGQ Desert Ironwood
• QED Anise & Lavender (sadly, no longer in production)
• TGQ Unscented (you have to have an unscented cake of good shaving soap -- some afterscents don't need to "stand on the shoulders of giants")

This is one of those "religious" discussions: Can we accept that Castle Forbes shaving creams are also "soft[er] soaps"? I vote "Yes", so let me add their Cedarwood and Sandalwood.

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In my mind, cream, croap and soap fall into the same category. I'm not quite sure why some folks upgrade, or downgrade a formulation because it is not a traditional puck of soap.

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Originally Posted by Midway

In my mind, cream, croap and soap fall into the same category. I'm not quite sure why some folks upgrade, or downgrade a formulation because it is not a traditional puck of soap.

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I don't think people up or down grade based on whether it is a cream, croap or hard puck. Those are just indicators of the consistency of the product. If you look at this thread http://straightrazorpalace.com/soaps...ps-creams.html there are some of each variety in the top tier.

Bob

I think soaps and creams accomplish their goals. I don’t really distinguish between them when selecting product to use for a shave. I have never bought in to the brush that is better for one than the other. They are just different loading and in bubble structure. Different, not better or worse.

There are too many outstanding soaps available today to limit oneself to just a few foundation soaps. If I had to only list a few it would be:

1. Czech & Speak/Valobra/AOS vintage soaps (all made by Valobra)
2. Klar Seifen
3. Mike's Natural Soaps
4. La Savonnière du Moulin

However, recently I've discovered three soaps that perform as well as any other soap that I've used:

1. Wholly Kaw LE donkey milk soaps
2. Oleo Soapworks
3. Grooming Dept

It's funny but the idea of "foundation" or "baseline" soaps crossed my mind recently as well. For me the baseline is good 'ol Mitchell's Wool Fat. This isn't to say that MWF is my favorite soap but that it offers a well-rounded set of attributes against which any other soap I buy tends to be measured.

That said, if I have more than a few soaps that I love (D.R. Harris, Stirling, Fine and Sudsy Soapery come to mind) but if I were told that I could only shave with one soap from here on out I would likely choose The Fat.

These kinds of posts - top 10, 5, 3, the only one - appear very often across the forums and if you look at the replies collectively, you will see all soaps and creams. I believe there's a reason why, it's because people have different experience levels and also have 'artificial' boundaries that they don't tell you in their replies.

For example, a number of people have said they'd never pay more than $15 for a soap, so when they tell you their top 3, whatever, they're telling you their top 3 under $15, but they don't post that bit of relevant information. Others are just beginning to experiment and if you creep your way up the soap ladder, a particular answer might include only tier 2 soaps because they have not tried a tier 1 soap yet. Others may give a technically good answer for a DE/SE but maybe not as technically good for a straight (and visa versa) and you don't know what they shave with. Not to mention beard and skin types.

I shave with a straight razor and have experience across the price spectrum. My three favorite soaps and creams are:

Valobra tallow/AoS/Czech and Speake
Martin de Candre
Savonnerie du Moulin

Castle Forbes
ABC
D. R. Harris

ABC is in my list despite it's price because my skin likes it, versus other creams. ABC is very concentrated so if you 'dole it out' you'll be surprised how long it will last. Everything else is at least a moderate buy in terms of price per shave. But if my skin did not love it, it would not be in my list because of the price.

There are no North American artisans in my list because even though a very few perform as well, they're typically softer and they go fast as has been mentioned above. It would be easy to spend much more in a year on artisan soaps than ABC with its $60-80 price tag. Most of the artisan scents also seem strange to me though some are quite pleasant, but you'd never mistake any of them them for a Floris or Penhaligon's scent.

SNM is not there either, not because it's not good, but because I am not a menthol/eucalyptus person. This bit of information does make a difference when someone else reads the reply!

Cheers, Steve

Gents,

After Obie's FTS thread, I got exposed to several good soaps and creams.
My foundation creams/soaps are Martin de Candre and Castle Forbes.
From the above listed, my favorite scents are: "Original", "Fougere" and "Lavender"
For my skin, climate and water conditions, I have not found anything that works that consistently well.

Cheers.

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Originally Posted by Steve56

These kinds of posts - top 10, 5, 3, the only one - appear very often across the forums and if you look at the replies collectively, you will see all soaps and creams. I believe there's a reason why, it's because people have different experience levels and also have 'artificial' boundaries that they don't tell you in their replies.

For example, a number of people have said they'd never pay more than $15 for a soap, so when they tell you their top 3, whatever, they're telling you their top 3 under $15, but they don't post that bit of relevant information. Others are just beginning to experiment and if you creep your way up the soap ladder, a particular answer might include only tier 2 soaps because they have not tried a tier 1 soap yet. Others may give a technically good answer for a DE/SE but maybe not as technically good for a straight (and visa versa) and you don't know what they shave with. Not to mention beard and skin types.

I shave with a straight razor and have experience across the price spectrum. My three favorite soaps and creams are:

Valobra tallow/AoS/Czech and Speake
Martin de Candre
Savonnerie du Moulin

Castle Forbes
ABC
D. R. Harris

ABC is in my list despite it's price because my skin likes it, versus other creams. ABC is very concentrated so if you 'dole it out' you'll be surprised how long it will last. Everything else is at least a moderate buy in terms of price per shave. But if my skin did not love it, it would not be in my list because of the price.

There are no North American artisans in my list because even though a very few perform as well, they're typically softer and they go fast as has been mentioned above. It would be easy to spend much more in a year on artisan soaps than ABC with its $60-80 price tag. Most of the artisan scents also seem strange to me though some are quite pleasant, but you'd never mistake any of them them for a Floris or Penhaligon's scent.

SNM is not there either, not because it's not good, but because I am not a menthol/eucalyptus person. This bit of information does make a difference when someone else reads the reply!

Cheers, Steve

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I pretty much agree with everything you've said here and it's echo's my experience.

Your list wouldn't be much different than mine in that the artisan soaps are fun, but IMO, in the end, very, very few hold up against the old school soaps you mention in both quality and longevity, which I thought was an excellent point.

The artisan soaps can be fun to play with, but I find the vast majority of them end up getting used once, twice, occasionally three times and then get forgotten about...

Great post....:D

Martin de Candre, any scent, is pretty much all that I would need.
It's what I use as a baseline to judge all other soaps.

Pete <:-}