Thread: The Art of Shaving - Shaving Soap w/ Bowl

has anyone tried this? it is expensive kinda ?

I've not tried it personally, but I've heard very very good things about it. It's on many people's short list for best soaps. I believe it is tallow based which alot of people like. The sandalwood seems to be a popular scent. I smelled all of them in the store, and I personally liked the sandalwood the best, but I couldn't justify the cost. I also remember that, to me, from smelling the puck, the lemon smelled good, but was very lightly scented.

I think you can order just the refill puck without the wooden bowl if you want to try it out and save some money.

If you end up getting it, let us know what you think!

I've got the lavender and sandlewood in the rotation and love them. Tallow is the #1 ingredient. The lather and scent of both is top notch. On par with Tabac as far as the performance and shave I get when using these. Many will question the price w/bowl but will tell you that the bowl will fit GFT soaps as well as Penhaligons, etc...

Highly recommned this in any scent!

BTW, I believe Amazon is running a sale on the soaps as we speak.

Joeman

I've got the AOS Lavender... the scent wasn't quite my cup of tea to start as I'm a Lavender junkie and this one has a bit of an earthy scent to it..... darn near wet clay scent if you ask me. However, there is no question of it's quality... it's a top notch shaving soap and I use mine often. I have better smelling soaps but none that *shave* better than this AOS and even the scent has grown on me to the point that I actually enjoy iit.

Christian

I have the Sandalwood and Lemon. I like the AOS soaps and they are excellent performers. However, I am not as wild about the scents as many are. To me, the soaps have a clay-like smell with fragrance mingled into it. Not bad, but not as good scent-wise as Harris or Trumper. Amazon did have some great deals on the soap/bowl combo with them being 50% off. Certainly worth a shot if you can get them at that price.

AOS soaps are awesome. Just get the refill, and put it in an anchor hocking bowl or something like that. I have lemon and love it. I have unscented, and it's great mixed with kiss my face scented creams for superlather.

But if i could only keep one of my 25 or so soaps it would be my AOS lemon.

I've not tried the AOS soaps, but I have heard many many times that they are made by Valobra, and that the soap is, in fact, identical to the Valobra shave stick. If that is true, they 1.) they are worth the money--Valobra shave stick is a freaking AWESOME soap, and 2.) Get the valobra shave stick...it's cheaper.

I have several lavender soaps and creams and initially the AOS was my least favorite lavender scent. However, it has grown on me and is now my favorite. My point is, lavender scents range quite a bit IMHO and is also rather subjective. If you have an AOS store near by, take a whiff and see what you think. When I run out, I'll definitely go back for a refill. And if you don't want to shell out the price for the soap w/ bowl, just get the puck and use your own bowl, that's what I did. It's an awesome soap and I think it's worth the price.

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

has anyone tried this? it is expensive kinda ?

Hi there,

I have the art of shaving lavender soap, it makes pretty good lather although the smell is not that great. Over all I like it enough to keep using it but in a kind of "it gets the job done ok" as oppose to loving it.

As for the bowl you can find cheaper bowls in amazon.com. Starting at $5.99 you can get the Kingsley Shave Bowl. The KSB hasn't got the exact shape of the standard soap refill but the shape is close enough so you can push the soap in with no problem other than denting just a little bit the edge of the soap. This is the type of bowl that I use for most of my shaving soaps saving an average of $18.00 dollars per bowl.

I hope this information will help you!

Carlos

I have tried and am still using Art of Shaving Soap (in lemon scent).

In my experience scents do evaporate relatively quickly during regular use so for me that is not really a major point. I found this to be a good soap and I would recommend it. I believe they use a decent amount of glycerine in the soap, which I have found gives superior lubricity and shaving cream stability.

For me it does not have a 'wow' factor - just another decent shaving soap option.

I would describe shaving bowl as utilitarian and would later use it for my own blend made of shaving soap leftovers.

In terms of comparisons so far lubricity is very similar to Crabtree and Evelyn sandalwood soap on a good day.

As usual, use a good brush. I use warm tap water and always achieve decent results.