Burts Bees Bay Rum Shave Soap& Van Der Hagen

Has anyone else used this stuff before? I have had a brick of it and using it for the last six months, and have a lukewarm impression of it. The aroma is there, but it is hard to pick up and is not a lasting aroma. Seems like it dries up if I leave it on my face for too long and then it provides little to no lubricity. I get a good shave with it if I dont dilly-dally around and think about what makes the grass grow (Blood! Blood! Blood makes the grass grow!:rock:) and just get down to business. No sense in throwing it away if it works well enough, but I cant wait to get back to using my PX brand. Van Der Hagen "Surrey Shave Soap." Comes in the green/white box and is frequently staged immediately next to the Van Der Hagen boar bristle shave brush. Anyone else have opinions on either one of these two soaps?

-Thomas
Sgt/USMC

Hadn't tried the Burt's but I've yet to be disappointed in anything VDH makes. It's an inexpensive classic that works well...

The VDH is a glycerine based soap while the Burt's Bees is tallow. Glycerine soaps melt when hot and tend to be a bit "softer" and easier to load on the brush. Tallow soaps do not melt with heat and feel "harder".

Sometimes you have to work a bit more at loading the brush with the "harder" soaps to get the same amount of lather built up. It could just be me but I find I need a little more water with a tallow soap, of course YMMV;)

Burts was pretty dissappointing for me... seemed to just foam up, then dissolve on the face. I use it for my shower bar soap now. (it does smell good).

I think the VDH glycerin (orange puck) works great and cost me $2. Hard to beat that combination