Thread: Looking to buy old school soap (p.160/tabac)

macpowa,

Here's a link to a Canadian site based in your side of the country: Fendrihan, Classic Wet Shaving Store. I know they sell Tabac, I don't know about p.160 though.

PS - They also sell MWF (sold as Kent), also highly recommended by me

I just bought a scuttle mug but need a supply of soap that fits it. I saw some Williams Shaving Soap in a Dept. store but the label had so many chemical names that it scared me. Are there "organic" soaps available or at least some that don't need a degree in chemistry to identify the ingredients?

Try here for P.160: http://straightrazorpalace.com/vendo...arber-com.html

Originally Posted by maineeagle

I just bought a scuttle mug but need a supply of soap that fits it. I saw some Williams Shaving Soap in a Dept. store but the label had so many chemical names that it scared me. Are there "organic" soaps available or at least some that don't need a degree in chemistry to identify the ingredients?

Some people here like williams, for me it was marginally better than using nothing. Some of the ingredients are listed in their chemical name, so it can be confusing, but some are loaded with harsh chemicals. I haven't used a scuttle but Shaving Lotions, Shaving Soaps, Creams, Lotions & Toiletries - ClassicShaving.com carries their own brand of shave soap specifically designed to fit a scuttle. I still use their soap in rotation, and would say it's a pretty good soap for the price. Minimal shock value on the ingredients list, and lasts about a month for me. If you go to Shaving Soaps towards the bottom of their list of soaps it says "Natural Products" what ever that means. That might be a start for you. Other soaps they sell are very good also, just not on the list.

Have you found your P160 yet? I just saw it this morning and I can find it again if you haven't.

Found this on ebay.

"Unfortunately, In 2010, Production of this luxury soft soap seized, but Italianbarber-dot-com was able to secure the last remaining stock from the factory in Bologna, Italy."

Italianbarber.com is domestic for you...I've got the kg of P160 from Joe, excellent product and price. I think he's quartering it now as well if you don't want the brick!

Originally Posted by macpowa

Hi,

I want to try those soap. I heard that those 2 soap are awesome. I look online and i did not find any store that sell p.160 soap. Did anyone know where i could find the p.160 and tabac soap ?

Thx alot

P.160 is on sale at www.italianbarber.com. There's a promotion now. Free shipping if you buy over $60.

I still have a puck of the original P 160, it's very soft, tallow based soap. No fragrance to speak of, very natual smelling...at least mine is...

Originally Posted by maineeagle

I just bought a scuttle mug but need a supply of soap that fits it. I saw some Williams Shaving Soap in a Dept. store but the label had so many chemical names that it scared me. Are there "organic" soaps available or at least some that don't need a degree in chemistry to identify the ingredients?

As someone with a science background I just wanted to address this since it's a comment I hear quite a lot (not just about shaving soaps).

The idea that because it's "organic" the product won't have these nasty things called "chemicals" in them is just PR hogwash .

Some or all of those "chemical names" you mention are likely in just about any soap you pick up... regardless of if it's listed on the label or not. They're all extremely common soap components and many of them are in fact just 'soap.'

Something to think about: Proper old school soaps made the old fashion way would have been made with animal fats and lye derived from ashes. Those ashes are packed full of cancer causing compounds that form any time you burn plant material (think cigarette smoke).

Is that a reason to never use such soaps? In my humble opinion no I think they're fine... but yet you still get folks running for the hills from anything produced and/or purified in a commercial/industrial setting and but insist that anything produced using old methods or not in a lab is somehow pure and safe or otherwise better. There is no such golden rule. One is not always better than the other.

In closing, this reminds me of an amusing conversation I had with a European friend a while back. Said friend cited the fact that the US "puts sulfites in wine" thus adding "chemicals" and making the wine unnatural. He said "over here we leave it natural and don't tamper with our wine as such." You can imagine my amusement when I had to inform him that virtually every bottle of wine has added sulfites, but American food labeling laws required US manufacturers to indicate that fact on the label. Since then I think the European laws have been updated and they too usually now say that the wine has sulfites added.




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Just to pick out Williams, since it was singled out, here is what all those ingredients do. The ingredients in Williams are not significantly different than most other soaps you'll find. With the exception of the lather enhancing agents and titanium dioxide (whitener) you'll find all these in so called "all natural" or "organic" soaps. You just might not see it spelled out on the label in such detail.

Potassium Stearate: Helps as a lubricant and keeps ingredients from separating. Typically purified from animal and/or plant sources.

Sodium Tallowate: A class of soap molecules made by treating animal fats with sodium hydroxide (aka lye). This is just a fancy name for the sort of thing people have been cooking up in soap kettles for centuries.

Sodium Cocoate: Same as the above soap molecules, but made with coconut oil instead of animal fats.

Water: Water

Glycerin: A byproduct of the above described soap molecule making process and present in almost all soaps. Can be purchased in pure form at any drug store and many shavers add additional glycerin to their lather.

Fragrance: Fragrance compounds

Sodium Chloride: Table salt

Titanium Dioxide: Food additive typically used to make things more white. (not likely to be in 'all natural' soaps)

Stearic Acid: Another soap molecule made from animal fats.

Pentasodium Pentetate: Acts as both a preservative and aids in boosting lather formation by binding up metal ions in your water. (not likely to be in 'all natural' soaps)

Tetrasodium Etidronate: Similar to the above, this helps increase lather formation and prevent separation of some of the soap's components which can leave a residue behind (aka soap scum) (not likely to be in 'all natural' soaps)