Artisan Glycerine Soaps

This is my favorite set of soaps. Love them. All tend to give very close shaves. Most in my view aren't quite as protective as a good tripple milled soap, but sometimes the absence of cushion is more than offset by the need for fewer passes. And they tend to be made of good natureal stuff so my face feels good afterwards. My favorite is QED, but I like them all, and eveyone has their own favorites. I think the attachments to these soaps is very personal, partly because we can talk to the makers, and there are real people putting a lot of care into the product they put out and take a lot of pride in it - and the results are simply awesome.

1. QED

http://www.qedusa.com/+Photo+/QEDman.jpg

These are all (except for certain limited runs) 100% essential oil soaps. He uses incredible ingredients. Aloe, food grade cocunut oil, quality EOs and other great stuff. I actually find this to be very cushioning, I get great shaves, and the scents knock me out, and my face feels very moisturized afterwards. I have Wild Orange (my favorite), Lime, Sandalwood (much reknowned for having a very expensive pure sandalwood EO), Wild Rose (a limited edition fragrance oil soap) and lemon/cedarwood stick. The orange and lime are hands down two of my favorite soaps. Rich thick lather, great shave, face feels great, scent knocks you out - LOVE IT. My wife even said from across the room when I was using the orange - boy that smells good. They are a little more expensive than some glycerine soaps but well worth it to me.

2. HoneyBeeSoaps

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I just got to know these soaps. I have pina colada, old spice, bay rum and lavendar/rosemary/peppermint essential oil. Except for a few most of these have fragrance oils, but a handful are essential oil soaps. They have shea, which is nice. I find these are extremely easy to lather, give a very close shave, and feel very light and fresh on the face. And the scents are wonderful. I totally dig these. And they are pretty cheap.

3. MamaBear

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I only have the rosemarymint eseential oil shaving stick - it's awesome. It's a natural menthol like kicki. Lathers lushly and quickly, scent is just so refreshing and you get a nice close shave. Tons of scents to choose from, both fragrance oil and essential oil. Great company great product great shave great price great service - in a word, great.

4. TGQ

http://www.thegentlemensquarter.com/...havingsoap.jpg

I recently bought a five soap sample pack of these. They have a cult following on SRP - unscientifically they get the most love on this site of these soaps. I find they lather lushly and quickly, give a very slick close shave, and protect well. Probably the slickest lather among the glycerines. The scents kind of "get up my nose", so I suspect there is a common ingredient that doesn't agree with me. The scents are very complex and interesting - unlike the single note QED soaps for example. I find the scents very interesting and good, but don't like having them under my nose. But people that love these soaps should chime in, and as I say I may have a random ingredient sensitivity that is hampering my enjoyment.

5. Classic

I haven't used these in a while but liked (not loved) them. I bought the violet and coconut limes two or three years ago. I liked them, but not as much as the others. The soaps have a lot of clay in them, so they are VERY slick. The lather isn't that thick or cushioning, so you have to be careful, but you can get a very nice fragrant close shave from these. They got bashed unfairly on another site - I think they are quite good, but the other options are just better.

6. Ogallala Bay Rum

http://shavingessentials.net/Shaving...a/IMG_6844.jpg

These are awsome. Come in a variety of bay rum scents (bay rum, sandlewood bay rum, lime/peppercorns and bay rum, etc.). I have the basic bay rum. Smells great. Nice lather, but be sure to use enough water or it's kind of sticky [actually that's a good rule of thumb with glycerine soaps - they get sticky if you don't hydrate them enough, but this can get dry and sticky]. It has a lot of shea, so the face feels nice. Close protective shave, smell really good, very cheap. Nice. Great warm weather refreshing soap. The customer service is insanely good - they throw in tons of samples. I also asked why the bay rum AS I got smelled different than a version I'd gotten a sample of from a different vendor, and the owner said he'd changed the scent - and then he sent me a bottle of the old scent I'd liked so much FOR FREE, including free postage. So this is a great thing to buy.

Others I'd like to try:

1. SCS (Saint charles Shave)
2. SRD
3. Pirate Cove
4. Em's Place