Mühle Sea Buckthorn

Have you ever romanticized a soap or a cream from your past? Ten(ish) years ago, I bought Mühle’s “Sea Buckthorn” - and I loved it! The scent was fantastic!
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Ten years ago however, scent was probably one of the biggest factors in my loving on a soap. I didn’t have much experience honing or even making a lather for that matter, so judging a soaps virtues then would have been ... premature.

Anyway, because I love the scent so well, I bought the balm and got a bunch of the shaving cream sample packets (which would be great for travel if you liked it) to remind myself if it really was great or not.

Today is Saturday, I’ve got nothing pressing, so I’m going to step away from PdP 63 week long review for a day, and give it a shot!

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When I ordered the balm and packets, they (Mühle) sent me a scentless pre-shave, so I’ll try that as well.

I’m going to do something a little unorthodox (for me) for this shave. I’m going to use my R41 with a fresh Feather blade! If I get a great shave using that combo, then this stuff is golden.

Wish me luck!

I've used the soap in the past. I always had the feeling that the lather was just barely adequate in both cushion and slickness. Despite that I always got really good shaves with it.

Viscosity vs Cushion.

REVIEW:

Ok, I think this review might surprise some of you. Here goes.

First, the pre-shave. Wholly reverse engineer Proraso Batman! You’d be hard pressed to know the difference. I’ll say this, the Proraso “hardens” the whiskers on a level no one else seemingly can, but Mühle sure upped the ice! There was menthol “residue” to the end of the shave (three passes). Which you know, is ok by me.

The pre-shave seemingly did a great job because I didn’t get a single weeper on my first pass (or any pass) - but I was glad to have it because lathering the cream had me terrified. It seemed watery... and that new Feather blade seemed to loom promising to burn.

I decided to lather the cream before my shower to alow the cream to thicken. And I’m so glad I did. I was terrified. The lather just seemed so watered down! When I got out of the shower, it had thickened.

Anyway, the shave was great! The lather held up just fine! But know this, it’s not tier one stuff. It provided plenty of viscosity or glide, but the cushion was weak. I should have a BBS face, but I don’t. I have a damn fine one. Why? The glide was great, but there was no way I was going to push down that minuscule bit more to get BBS. The cushion just isn’t there.

After the shave, the Alum stung just slightly on the neck, but just slightly. It was a great shave! I threw on a little Fine splash, Le’Orange, then the Sea Buckthorn balm. My face feels great!

Before I go I have to address the scent. It’s a summer scent to me. It’s freaking awesome! It’s to me, mildly citrus with some ocean mixed in. I love it. My wife loves it too so, there’s that.

It’s not a teir one product, but it’s a fine product. Worth messing around with if you have the inclination. If you like the scent as much as I do, you will.

Incidentally, I shaved with Mühle Sea Buckthorn shaving soap only this morning and used the matching Sea Buckthorn lotion afterwards.

I had used Mühle soaps some years ago, but discarded them when we moved house.
On a recent trip to Germany I stocked up again because I like the rather subdued Sea Buckthorn scent and find the little porcelain bowls that Mühle sells for their soaps attractive.

The thickness of the lather depends on water hardness and type of brush and I find that I have to work a bit harder than with some of my regular soaps. Once the lather is right, I get nice shaves out of this soap and look forward to the unique, pleasant Sea Buckthorn scent.

Mühle and Edwin Jagger cooperate on several products and both sell Sandalwood and Aloe Vera shaving soaps that look identical. While Edwin Jagger is the only one of the two to sell a Pomegranate veriety, Mühle is the only one of the two to sell Sea Buckthorn shaving soap.
Hence if you should have tried Edwin Jagger shaving soaps it might give you an idea how Mühle shaving soaps perform.



B.

I love the scent myself! A good mid level performer!