Under rated soaps/creams

Hello All.. Hope all is well with everyone.. So after another great shave with an Ogallala shave stick it got me wondering why you hear very little about this company.. I personally get great shaves, great price, lots of shave stick options as I like face lathering and nice subtle scents... I won't call it under rated but more under appreciated?.. Anyway it appears it's been a while since a thread about under rated, under appreciated, or just plain not very well known soaps that you really like had been started I might as well see what you guys throw out there... So mine is Ogallala Shave Soaps .

For me under appreciated/under rated soaps and creams would include Arko shave stick, Palmolive shave stick and The body Shop's Macca Root shave cream.

Bob

Agree with Bob
Body shop macca root and Arko are extraordinary cheap and very good shaving soaps

I have to say Cremo. That stuff is amazing. A little goes a long way. I love their Cremo Cooling (Menthol). I've managed to get it really lathered-up with a decent brush. It's inexpensive, readily available, and lasts a very long time.

I just went through a phase of 70 hour work weeks. I had no time to enjoy my shaving den at all. My morning consisted of jumping out of bed, showering, and wet shaving as fast as possible with a DE. Every morning I reached for my tube of Cremo Cooling. Dab a bit on the brush, face lather, and 4 minutes later a clean shave.

Speick and Williams creams, really like Ogallala too.

Good idea for a thread. I wish i had something to offer, but ive been stuck on the top tier stuff for a while now. And have more of that soap than any one man needs, but i rotate thru it. Maybe ill buy s9mething that this thread comes up with to try. I just know that i dont like Tabac. Some do and some dont. Now i do like the cool glass jar it comes in. :)

Oh, i do have one for the list. Mama bears soap. I got two samples and found them to give a great lather and just enough slickness. Not overly buttery feeling like some.

Only nicer soaps I've used are Gentlemen's Quarter and Stirling Soaps, which I've enjoyed both of. Proraso creme seems to work well, but I learned I'm not a sandalwood fan.
I recently tried some small batch bar soap and was happy with the results!

The only one underappreciated brand that comes to mind would be Calani Seifenmanufaktur.

In my experience similar to Haslinger and Green Mountain Soap, but for me a noticeably better performer than the former and almost on par with the latter (which in my opinion is pretty awesome). I blame it on their webshop being exclusively in German.

Ah, maybe a second one: Green Mountain Soap.

I base this purely on forum activity, as both brands have been around for a few years and seem to be going strong, so they must have a following.

Best regards,
Pieter

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Originally Posted by JP5

Only nicer soaps I've used are Gentlemen's Quarter and Stirling Soaps, which I've enjoyed both of. Proraso creme seems to work well, but I learned I'm not a sandalwood fan.
I recently tried some small batch bar soap and was happy with the results!

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I've got nothing but praise for Stirling soap. I had heard that some complained about a funky odor and evidently the Tallow they use (? if I've got that right) was changed. I truly like their soap products. And the owner always seems to send me free samples when I order. Plus, their product lathers well, has interesting vibrant scents, and gives a great smooth shave in my experience.

Good thread guys. I've been using the soaps sold by Gentleman's Quarter. I like the scents and the ease in which they lather and no one else can ever do customer service as well as Colleen Hurley in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by TCMichigander

So mine is Ogallala Shave Soaps .

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I think the main reason that Ogallala flies under the radar is that their only scents are variations of bay rum. Not everybody likes bay rum scents and not everyone who likes bay rum scents like bay rum with a heavy clove note. Although I can get a decent lather from Ogallala, my skin begins to burn as soon as I spread it on my face. That does not happen with other bay rum soaps in my den. My guess is that it is the clove in Ogallala.

My Ogallala has lost its “zip” scent-wise, and I don’t find it that great at lathering. Sterling
I really like, and my wife likes their Executive Man scent...so I use it a lot. Arko is one of my favorites too.

Arko is the only underrated soap I’m familiar with. I seem to see the opposite, the overawed soaps seem to be everywhere. I always say, don’t get fooled by scent, packaging, or lather. Just like an edge, it’s all in the shave test.

Palmolive "Men" cream is a favorite of mine. Can almost dry shave after it works its way into the surface of skin. I had forgotten about it and just unearthed a tube, buried since the move. It is the "Classic" and it works well for me.
Similar to the old Proraso Green but a milder scent.

Many of the imported creams are great and fairly cheap also. Nivea Shave cream, as an import is nice, but the stuff we buy in stores is poor.
JMO, YMMV!
~Richard

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Originally Posted by Geezer

Palmolive "Men" cream is a favorite of mine. Can almost dry shave after it works its way into the surface of skin. I had forgotten about it and just unearthed a tube, buried since the move. It is the "Classic" and it works well for me.
Similar to the old Proraso Green but a milder scent.

Many of the imported creams are great and fairly cheap also. Nivea Shave cream, as an import is nice, but the stuff we buy in stores is poor.
JMO, YMMV!
~Richard

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The good ones do that. They seem to get right into the cells of your skin.

Everything by these guys: https://www.creightons.com/collections/male-grooming Too bad they forked St James of London into a separate line, and increased the price by 1000%. Used to be the very best deal money could buy. Now, it's just a very good shaving cream.

Shaving creams out of eastern Europe like Warz, or Lider.

Also, as mentioned by Pieter, Green Mountain Soap. I cannot say enough good things about this brand, and it blows all these newfangled "artisan" soaps out of the water - while being an actual artisinal product. If you have not tried it yet, you definitely should.

Underrated Hmmmm

Gotta go for a 3rd on the Macca Root shave cream

Honestly I still have a tiny bit of their original formula too that I liked even better

The Macca Root really excels on the conditioning of the skin, lathers and shave well too

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

The Macca Root really excels on the conditioning of the skin, lathers and shave well too

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Make that "+3 -1", please. I tried it (both old and new formulations), and I found that it dries out my skin like hardly any other shaving product. Which is insane, of course, given its list of ingredients. But there you are.

That said, it's $9.60 (on sale). Which is a lot, compared to Haslinger, Green Mountain Soap, or, as always, that stuff in tubes from Creightons. If you cannot get your hands on Warz, Lider, or Arko, Creightons is the best stuff a little money can buy. :)

Personally, I have never bought the Macca Root, they often do a buy two get one free promotion, my wife buys two things, I get one free..

So there is that, which makes the most sense ever "Happy Wife, Happy Life" and free is the best price I have found :D

Two creams not mentioned much and which provide superlative shaves are Nancy Boy and J.M Fraser's.

There is such a long list of excellent producing soaps and creams that are rarely talked about and therefore under rated that I hardly know where to begin. In no particular order:

Soaps:
1. Carthusia: I hardly ever hear anyone mention this outstanding shave soap from Italy, expensive but triple
milled and the 5.2 oz. puck lasts forever. One of the most invigorating scents of any soap I've tried. At
times I consider this my favorite soap, but I rarely have just one.
1. Nanny's Silly Soap: her soft soaps are always a joy to use, from England.
2. Joris: an excellent French soap sold by Plisson.
4. Provence Sante: another excellent French triple milled soap that lasts forever and costs less than $10.
5. by Luna: a very popular soap on the Spanish forums and by those who enjoy JabonMan Eufros soaps.
I think they perform as well as JabonMan vegan formula soaps and they will always be in my rotation.

Creams: There are many excellent creams, although they are discussed much less frequently and don't seem to be held in as high regard as soaps, and I think there are many creams that perform very well that aren't mentioned as frequently as the favorite creams:

1. Stone Cottage Soapworks: they recently came out with a new formulation that is just outstanding, and
definitely worth a try for anyone who enjoys creams. I recommend a sample pack to start with.
2. The Obsessive Soap Perfectionist: from England, well known for his soaps, but I also enjoy his creams.
They are somewhat runny compared to most creams, but perform very, very well.
3. Esbjerg: not unknown, but I rarely see these creams on SOTD or discussed.
4. Floris No. 89: The current formulation of their soap is worthless, but the cream is excellent and the scent is
hard to beat.
5. Al's Shaving Products: I'm always surprised when I don't see this cream mentioned more often.
6. Two creams that I enjoy but are no longer in production are Atkinson's from England, and Biotique, which
was a very inexpensive but excellent performing cream from India.

The shave I had this morning took me back a half century to when I started shaving and Palmolive shave cream was a commonly found item on store shelves.

I had some goodies come in a week or so ago and a tube of Palmolive shave cream Classic was in that order. Decide to interrupt my week of shaving with the Wilkinson shave stick to give the Palmolive a go. The scent was the same and so was the excellent lather. Very happy to see that this product has survived till now. Yes, the scent says "shaving" to me.

For me it is a truly underrated shave cream. In fact so underrated it has not been generally available in store here for a long time. That is a pity but thanks to the web that s no longer a problem.

Bob

When I think of "under-rated," I think of soaps and creams that punch way above their weight price-wise, but have sort of fallen by the wayside in our golden era of artisan/boutique/whatever you want to call them high-end soaps and creams that we all love to try. In no particular order:
*Any tube of Palmolive (Moisturizing Deluxe is my fave)
*Arko tubes
*Godrej Menthol Mist (now "Cool")
*And yeah, Al's was one of the 1st big boutique-level croaps that everyone loved-is he even still around?

Men’s Soap Co. is a very good value. Lotta bang for the buck

I’ll second (or third) Palmolive shave stick...was so cheap here in the UK and a great soap. I stocked up a few years ago when I read they were discontinuing so I haven’t bought one in a while, but they used to cost well under $1....