found one review of it and it was positive... i also did a search and found a few threads that looked to have been deleted.. who uses this soap and what are your thoughts?
i was wanting to try the toasted almond..
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found one review of it and it was positive... i also did a search and found a few threads that looked to have been deleted.. who uses this soap and what are your thoughts?
i was wanting to try the toasted almond..
I go back and forth between this and mama bears with sometabac thrown in once in a while. The orange patchouli is amazing and my favorite of what I have tried. The mama bears is better when I remember to put salt in the softener and the GQ is better when I forget. That said it is still quite good in the soft water. Most of the scents are strong and will linger but I like that with artisan made soaps, not so much with the tabac. I can't imagine anyone regretting a purchase from GQ.Quote:
Originally Posted by vthomlinson
As with any product there are more than a few members that are less than pleased. I'm a bowl latherer and I can't get TGQ to lather in a bowl to save my life. Maybe it's the water in my area, who knows, but this is the only soap I own (out of many) that does this.Quote:
Originally Posted by DustinW
Well I started out as a bowl latherer and had similar issues but then I discovered face lathering and will never go back personally.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryan82
Actually face lathering is the only way I can get a good lather from TGQ soaps, short of using it for uberlather. For some reason when I bowl lather TGQ it doesn't matter how much I load the brush I can't get enough lather to make it more than 1 pass. My other soaps will make way more than enough for a 3 pass shave, and with a lot less effort.
I've tried all the lathering techniques - face, bowl, cold water, hot water - and have found using a bowl has worked best for me. To each his own and all that.
It might be the clay that is in it. Not very many of the soaps out there have it in there and it makes the lather a bit different.
Both me and my wife use TGQ's soaps (shave and bath). Like Ryan, I had trouble initially trying to lather in a bowl. I have hard water and that might contribute, but I've since taken to lathering on my face for all soaps. Now I use soaps to shave my face and creams to shave my head.
Colleen is a vendor here and I'm sure she'd answer any questions about the ingredients. She also has plenty of inexpensive sample sizes on the site which are great for trying out the various scents.
Being a face latherer I can't really say much right now about TGQ soaps and bowl lathering (I'll try it on my next shave this weekend and post back). What I can tell you is that of the 6 or soaps I've tried so far (MWF, TGQ, DR Harris, Shave Den, and a couple of others), MWF and TGQ are at the top of my list.
The more I use Colleen's soaps the more impressed I am by quality and duration of the lather I get.
thanks for the great feedback guys.. i face lathered for many years before getting into straight razor shaving.. but have been into creams lately and have been using a bowl.. i guess i'll just have to try the stuff out.
I've always had trouble with TGQ soaps, contrary to the majority of members that use it and love it. I've tried the sample soaps, the full size puck and the shave cream just to give it a fair shot. I too am a bowl lather'r and I have a water softner, which I thought may have something to do with it. Like Ryan, This is the one soap I absolutely have to uber.
It just falls flat in the lather dept. for me. I've tried over 100 soaps and creams at least. I do like TGQ's fragrances....
ok.. not sure if i'm going to get in trouble for taking my own thread off topic.. but what would you recommend for someone who wants an inexpensive soap that lathers well and really cranks it up in the fragrance dept?.. my two favourite scents are almond and bayrum..Quote:
Originally Posted by zib
I'm partial to SRD's soaps. They lather great and come in a variety of fragrances and the owners actually shave with straight razors...Bonus...
I also like Krissy's Tallow based soaps at Prairie Creations. She will custom make fragrances, or at least she used to.
I've had good results with Mama Bears too...
Now, you could try a TGQ sample pack, pretty inexpensive, You may like it, as I said, many of our members swear by it.
(opening caviat - Your Mileage May Vary):DQuote:
Originally Posted by vthomlinson
TGQ soaps have worked well for me in this area - maybe I've been lucky with lathering the soap. I did have trouble lathering one of the creams, but for the soap, I get a good thick lather lathering in my scuttle.
As far as the fragrance, this is what I really love. I even use the bath soaps so I can enjoy the scent even more. Some of the soaps smell good enough to eat! (To me, the toasted almond smells like those almond cookies you can get at some Chinese restaurants)
The bonus for me is that my nose gets a treat while I shave, but the fragrance doesn't overpower or linger on all day. In the case of the Bay Rum with sweet orange soap, I keep that going just a little longer with a splash of Dominica Bay Rum Aftershave - a nice combo.
My favorites are Highlander, Lime Margarita, Toasted Almond, and Desert Ironwood. Yours may be different - after all, perception of scent is a very personal thing.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so get a sample size and decide for yourself.
I've been testing samples of TGQ soaps this week--Honoki and Whiskey. I found that they both lather decently, but neither create mounds of lather. I haven't tried face lathering with them. Perhaps I should. Of course, most of the soaps I have use on a regular basis, such as Edwin Jagger and Erasmic, don't create mountains of lather in my shaving scuttle either. That doesn't bother me too much, though, because I like to combine my shaving soaps with creams to create superlather or add some glycerin to the mix to create uberlather.
The only soap that I have had much success with in creating a rich lather all by itself is Tabac.
Alright, just for the sake of following through on my promise to post back results of bowl lathering with TGQ soap, here's what I got with a brush load of Sandalwood-Vanilla in my Dirty Bird soap bowl (about 4" in diameter):...
For anyone who likes to test/judge lather with the 1" gap test, see pic 2 -- BTW this even with the lather just a tad too wet (being a face latherer, my bowl skills are just a wee bit rusty).
And FWIW, the water in my area is just a little on the hard side - enough to leave calcium/chlorine spots on a freshly washed car or glasses or shower head... but not enough to actually clog shower head with thick heavy build up -- hardness may be playing a factor for many folks.
Attachment 42675
Attachment 42676
I lather my TGQ right in the bowl on the soap itself. Thick. Creamy. Rich. I want to put it on my strawberry shortcake.
The best review yet! I love Colleen's handcrafted soaps, the utmost in quality in my book!Quote:
Originally Posted by leadduck
