Thread: Soap ID help (please)

Hiya,

Well, the soap mystery's solved. I woulda never thought the answer to this would be in such a totally unexpected manner, which made it kind of amusing.

The puck is made by Van Der Hagen........good one eh? Yeah, it's almost 30 years old, but VDH produced the stuff. Funny, I would have thought it to be much older, but nope.

After calling Atlanta Barber Supply for product info on who made the barber soaps they sell, I was directed the VDH site and (phone number). I called over there and the person answering listened nicely to my question about trying to get a little info on what I might have. She suggested speaking with the company founder if he was available for a chat. With that, she put me on hold for a few seconds, and then Mr John Van Der Hagen himself was on the line.

We talked for maybe ten minutes.....a very nice guy. Good sense of humor, which is always a plus. He was pretty sure the soap I had was one of his creations, and that the emblem was a 'S', which stands for Surrey. Turns out that Surrey was the earlier incarnation of VDH.

I sent him a few pics of the soap, plus I included my mailing address. John was nice enough to send out some assorted items, which is what the pictures are about in this post.

I received a package from VDH today, and have already melted one of the pucks for tomorrow's use (the one with shea butter and aloe). Heh, if you look close you can see the embossed letters not quite melted through. We'll see how this goes, since I can't recall ever trying a VDH product before. I know they usually get very good reviews, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

John said he made the old soap around 1981 without any tallow. I woulda bet money that stuff was in the mix, be he doesn't care to use that in his products. He mentioned the later soaps have been improved over the vintage stuff..........

Heh, thank God this search is ended. That was sorta bugging me for a while and is a medium monkey off my back. Sadly, there's another monkey waiting to take it's place.

Martin

Hiya,

The final follow up is a result of using the pink VDH 'Deluxe' puck these last three days. Heh, it's not the same stuff as the older Surrey version. It's actually a good soap though and maybe I'll review that sometime. Yeah, it also seems a good value for the cash.

Soooooo, I'm still confused but will fumble along and maybe get lucky. Sheesh, did I mention what a goofy 'hobby' this is?

Martin

Hiya,

Man, I was wrong about a bunch of things. Coincidentally, there was a recent thread going over at B&B about vintage Surrey soap. Good timing eh? Yeah, I learned some stuff about that company before VDH bought it. Heh, I'm still confused as to when the puck I have was made, but did buy a few pucks of some different older versions. No idea when these were made either.........sheesh.

This puck is beige and came wrapped in clear plastic. As you can see, it says Surrey on the top, and the scent is unlike the VDH soap I tried earlier. This stuff is a kick to use!

No, it's not as good as the small puck I already have, but it's still very nice. Smells a bit like a very muted MWF, and lathers like crazy. A very slick product, with excellent cushion and very good post shave skin care. It melts easily, so I'd imagine it's tallow free.

Well, I'm glad I found this stuff, even if I never end up finding exactly what I'm looking for.

Below is a pic of some VDH and the Surrey

Martin

Oh, zib? If you like, send me your mailing address and I'll get a half puck out to try. Sort of a thank you for pointing me in the right direction..

Martin