Thread: Stirling shaving soaps from a woman's nose

Hello gentlemen. I just received 6 samples from Sterling soaps and thought I would love to get a woman's perspective on scent. As most of us know, description and other members review's are pinnacle in our decision to spend our hard earned dollars on a hope and a prayer that we ourselves will hopefully love but all too often put our expectations in the "under the sink tier" only to be rediscovered by our loved ones as they move us into assisted living. For twenty plus years I've been with the love of my life and as such decided her opinion means more to me then the opinion of you gents... No disrespect or bad will intended brothers. I put a small number on the lid to the right of the Sterling logo and also put a small piece of tape on the bottom and numbered them as pairs of 1 to 5 top matching the bottom. I then had my wife smell the samples and rate them according to #1 being the best and #5 being well... Not the best. After continually smelling the scents as if at an olfactory doctor: #1 or #2, #2 or #3 or about the same? Can I smell#2 again please. The results were in. Now... Being a professional Railroad Engineer I had to not only document my findings but also explain the control used to base our findings. La Toja has long been my wife's favorite scent but I felt I needed to use something from the Sterling family as a base. Enter Sterling Deep Blue Sea. I knew right away that we both would like this as it outshined/outsmelled the others in the shipping box upon opening. I believe I smelled this coming across the state lines before official USPS notification of arrival. Oh so nice. Masculine, fresh, strong yet takes you back to your boyhood. You've been to Iraq yet bathed in the Arkansas Hot Springs. You've loved, but never lost. This to us is the meaning of life. Much as TOBS Sandalwood or Fine American Blend is universally fulfilling, this Chanel spin has found itself among the ranks of Castle Forbes 1445 and MWF in slickness. At last... Here are my wife's rankings.

1 Dunshire
2 Hipster
3 Sandpiper
4 Stirling Gentleman
5 Stirling Spice

My wife and I did this with a number of samples. Our test procedure differed greatly though. I would just shave normally using the test sample while my wife was home. Some of the samples failed before I even got out of the bathroom!

Then after the shave my wife would give the nuzzle sniff test and give the thumbs up or down, or in some cases way up or way down. In my mind this is a much better test than just sniffing the soap.

I have damaged olfactory nerves, so my wife's nose rules. Even with the scents that I can smell and enjoy, I tend to get nose blind to after a few days. So it doesn't matter much to me if she nixes something that I think I like.

I work away from home. As a result I’m away just over half of most years. When I get new soap in my wife rates them. From there I choose what soaps are home soaps, which soaps are away soaps, from there performance dictates which are shaving soaps and which soaps get down rated to shower soaps. I’m happy to see others having similar multi person rating systems.

My wife loves Stirling Executive Man. We've been married almost 39 years. I bathe with it, shave with it, A/S splash with it and use the facial balm and body lotion. That's my wife's choice and I love her.

I also travel a lot. When I'm home I do as outlined above. When I'm traveling....

I’m mostly a fan of the citrus (grapefruit, lime, coconut lime) and the piacenza (quite a good Acqua di Parma Colonia knockoff). Many of the others are too strongly scented or the wrong scent for me. The coconut lime is a perennial favorite for me - thanks Rod!

Use a brush that can pick up harder soaps and you’ll be happy.

Great soap, and many thanks to Stirling!

Originally Posted by bluesman7

My wife and I did this with a number of samples. Our test procedure differed greatly though. I would just shave normally using the test sample while my wife was home. Some of the samples failed before I even got out of the bathroom!

Then after the shave my wife would give the nuzzle sniff test and give the thumbs up or down, or in some cases way up or way down. In my mind this is a much better test than just sniffing the soap.

I have damaged olfactory nerves, so my wife's nose rules. Even with the scents that I can smell and enjoy, I tend to get nose blind to after a few days. So it doesn't matter much to me if she nixes something that I think I like.

I ask my wife how she likes the scent. If she said she didn't care for it I wouldn't buy it again. Got to smell nice for your lady!
I used to wear Paul Sebastian (granddad wore it and I liked it) but my wife didn't care for it so it was retired.