Thread: Osma Soap

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

And that shave test?

I’ve decided to shave with my soaps for a week straight at min to see what the face feels like with prolonged use. I’m still in “week BAUME.BE” lol, so it’ll probably be Friday or Sat before I shave with the Osma.

Originally Posted by earcutter

I’ve decided to shave with my soaps for a week straight at min to see what the face feels like with prolonged use. I’m still in “week BAUME.BE” lol, so it’ll probably be Friday or Sat before I shave with the Osma.

It’s a good idea. Use different razors in different stages of wear. Give it a chance to have good days and bad. Then make up your mind.

FWIW, this thread has caused me to haul out my cake of Osma, bloom it, then rub it lightly across my 72-hour beard before building things with a slightly loaded TSS in-house, walnut-handled silvertip badger brush. The initial lather resembled that which many others provide, a promised visual cloud to shaving by way of removal of the cloud. And yet the lather here is not that simple. The soap itself is most slippery in physical handling (I think this translates to "slickness" in straight-razor speak) and the lather, after about halfway into the first pass, starts to disappear. What to do then? The instinctive reaction is to add more lather; but really, this is where the slickness comes into play, as though one were shaving with an oil rather than a soap. Suffice it to say that the soap's presence, and moreover protection, is still there, even though the lather's protection cannot be seen. This is analogous to touch-ups with thinner lather or just water at the end, in that one can already start to concentrate upon the blade's edge contact with the hair itself at an intermediate stage. After a couple of passes like this, I really struggled for what I should add to it after a cold water rinse, the smell as mentioned being so great, and my face feeling so smooth. In the end, I just opted for the cold water rinse to remove any lingering alum trace.

Update # 1:

My first shave.

Man, talk about an interesting soap! I’ve alread spoken as to how I make my lather; on a moist puck, I place a fully loaded brush on and go hog wild until I figure it’s time to bring it over to my bowl.

Agian, I had no issue. I made the lather and then took a shower leaving the lather and brush in the bowl to float in hot water. After the shower it had thickened somewhat, not much.

Anyway, after my second pass I thought I should take a picture of my lather before I forgot completely.




That’s after two passes already!


I am not having any issue getting this to lather. None. But it is a “thin lather.” It’s not that thick reach into a layer or two of skin animal fat kind of lather. It feels really, really light. And yet, it works really, really well. The confidence a good tallow soap gives me to “bear down” on my razor, I get from this stuff too! It protects.

What else? Oh yeah, unlike some other reviews where they say using alum after proves worthless... well that might be true if you’re shaving properly. I was really pushing to see what the soap could do and when I rubbed the alum over “that spot” on my neck, there was sting lol.

Anyway, I just gave myself the closest shave I’ve had since trying the AdP the first time a little over a week ago. My face feels genuinely fantastic with a great mix of “dry” while still being hydrated.

If I could never use an aftershave splash or balm again, this would be my soap.

I’ll use it for a week and give my final verdict on it then.

UPDATE #2:

Interesting - you know that fresh after shaven face feel? 12 hours later I still have it. It’s being destroyed because I can’t stop touching my face but wow! I can’t think of another soap I’ve used that did that. Crazy.

FINAL UPDATE

So the week's up and I need to close this with either a solid yes, or a solid no - so here goes. So far when I've talked to other guys about this soap, I've called it "interesting." And it is just that! Interesting in an ever so good way!! Here is what I mean.

These week long reviews are great in that today I looked down at the dice beside my old DE, it said 5. Which probably means 7. 7 uses. For me, that's well past the time I need to replace... but I thought, hey why not. Now normally I wouldn't do this, especially with a soap that isn't all tallow, but in the name of science, why not.

The first pass... no, the first stroke told me the blade was too old, but it would shave all the same. And because Osma soap lather is liquid(y) compared to say a Wholly Kaw Tallow lather that's nearly as close to a solid as a liquid can be, I was concerned. But I didn't need to be! Interesting!! A lather that's creamy but still more liquid, can protect. And protect it did. Like a champ. I got a great shave!! And for hours after, I was still touching my face noting how soft it was.

And that's where this soap SHINES! We talk about soaps leaving you feeling good, this soap really, really conditions MY face. I LOVE this soap. But it is a little boring. The lather is ok, the scent is ok... it's all ok. But the sum of its parts are excellent.

The puck I got will last me a seeming lifetime. Will I replace it when it's done? You know, I might. Interesting is good. This stuff gives me an incredible shave. Heck, I might just use it again tomorrow in spite of the week being up. I like it that well.