Thread: Barbershop brand soap?

Just scored some vintage mystery soap off of EBay (it came with a strop I purchased, and also included a well used brush that will be seeing some resto work as well...).

Anyhow, it (the mug anyhow, and the brush) say simply "Barbershop" on it, with the tagline "old time luxury".

I washed the puck off well, and then gave it a run through the cheese grater and milled it into the bottom of the mug. The slick feel, and the resulting test lather certainly make me think that this is a tallow soap. The scent is rather faint and neutral/soapy.

Anybody else come across, or know anything about this brand?

1st shave is tomorrow a.m.

I've seen it before and know it's been discontinued. A guy at TSD had a pile of the soaps he found at some antique place. He said he really enjoyed the performance but that's all I know about the stuff. Sharp looking mug, though.

I like that brush, it'd be just the ticket for the knot replacement I'm planning (Golden Nib Silver-tip knot goes in, Knot X goes in the bin). Any chance you'd be keen to on-sell? EBay doesn't ship to NZ/offer NZ membership, so I'm fairly restricted with regards to buying stuff.

yea its a company that produced generic inexpensive shaving stuff. probably imported from China. I actually have a scuttle and brush I got years ago. Its just sitting in my medicine cabinet now.

I have a puck that was part of a gift set that my FIL had and gave to me...it was about 40 years old, he said. It didn't have the mug, but I've seen that mug around a lot. I think I just read somewhere recently that maybe it used to be sold at JC Penney.... I used it once, and it was a great, old, tallow based soap - but had very little original scent, and pretty much just smelled like old soap...

Originally Posted by Truckman

I have a puck that was part of a gift set that my FIL had and gave to me...it was about 40 years old, he said. It didn't have the mug, but I've seen that mug around a lot. I think I just read somewhere recently that maybe it used to be sold at JC Penney.... I used it once, and it was a great, old, tallow based soap - but had very little original scent, and pretty much just smelled like old soap...

I've used the soap a couple of times, and it's just as you describe: great tallow soap, with a very faded scent.

It was not made in China, but certainly a rebrand of something else. Over on B&B they came across the soap as having come from a company called Franklin in NY.

I saw a "Barbershop" strop, and it looked like it was simply a rebranded Illinois. Decent stuff all in all it would seem. Not cheap knock-off, but not really standing on it's own two feet either (i.e.- outsourced all items)

Originally Posted by Truckman

I think I just read somewhere recently that maybe it used to be sold at JC Penney....

Yep, that's what I had read too. JCPenny must have been pretty big in shaving stuff in the day. A lot of old razors and blades, etc. are marked with their name.

Looks as if the Barbershop brand was from about 25 years back or so:

taitdesign©2009

Just scored some more, in a nice set with a matching boar brush.


And the soap smells nice and fresh on this one for some strange reason (no shrink wrap or nothin'). Nice scent.

Very similar to my FIL's set, except his was in brass instead of wood...I'll try to find a pic somewhere.... Unfortunately, the glue that holds the knot in the brush has given up and the knot comes out...a simple fix, I know. I just haven't gotten around to it...