Thread: Please help! Please provide input on baseline!

I tried editing the topic on the other one but no luck so I'm reposting in a new thread. I'm still looking for baseline soaps as "the best soaps" for a comparison so I can make my comparison chart. Thanks again.

Below is the original post:

Hey all, I haven't really skimmed or searched to see if this has been done before. has anyone established a soap guide comparison?

If not I want to get input from everyone who's been shaving several years on soaps they'd rate the best. I plan to get these soaps and shave with them to see what you're talking about. My plan is to set up a shaving soap guide with brands being rated from 1 to 10, 10 being best overall. I'll have subcategories, according to the input I receive such as lathering up (how well, etc.) lather retention, moisturizing/drying skin, slip (how well it helps/prevents razor from gliding across skin, etc.) etc.

I'm not really interested in smell as that's generally a personal preference I'm interested in performance.

If this hasn't been done before could I please get suggestions from some shaving veterans on which soaps are 'best', how you would rate them from 1 to 10 over all, what subcategories you consider important and how you would rate each soap in each sub category?

I will then get a cake of each soap mentioned, shave with it for a week or 2 to get an idea of what you're talking about. These soap tests will be my "baseline". Then I plan to get samples of every soap out there and rate it accordingly.

The reason I'm doing this is because of some fellows here that use the DE's or Feathers (disposable blades) That swear up and down that a bar of dove or even dial essence soaps performs just as well as any cup soap out there.

So I decided to test it. However I want a baseline and some other soaps to compare them to.

Thanks for any and all input.

Originally Posted by FUD

If not I want to get input from everyone who's been shaving several years

Well, if 0.5 years counts as several years, then here goes...
if you're ruling out scent, then I say that either one of the Sue soaps are awesome lathering soaps both the mama bear and the SCS . These are some of my favorites!
Next, I'd say that Colonel Conk soaps are pretty good.
Lastly, I'd say that the Old Spice and Avon soaps are nice.
Burma Shave, Williams and Colgate will do the job, but are much more functional, nothing fancy, but still nice.
In summary, Sue soaps = 10
Colonel Conk soaps = 8
Old Spice, Avon = 7
Burma Shave, Williams, Colgate = 5
Burts Bees = 2 (only this high because the scent is very nice)
Hopefully, some more experienced shavers will add to this.
-Fred

To clarify, I'm not ruling out scented soaps. I'm just not using the scents as a deciding factor in the quality of the soap, as scents are largely just essential oils or chemical fragrances. If a good soap happens to be scented that's fine but It's not a qualifying factor in good versus bad. Am I making any "scents" .

Also I'm interested in "what" makes the soap a 10 versus an 8. for this I'd need sub categories. i.e. Lather quality and properties, moisturizing effect, slip quality, "tingly" qualities (eucalyptus soaps, menthol soaps, etc.).

Glen F

Once again, in my limited experience...

Mama Bear soap (10 out of 10) is the best lathering and lubricating soap in my group, easiest soap in my collection to make awesome lather with. No noticible drying or moisturizing effect. This owner will do what ever is necessary to please the customer, including learning to ship internationally and making new scents.

SCS soap (10 out of 10) is just as nice for building quality lather, but it's not quite as lubricating as Mama Bear soap. Possibly a slight moisturizing effect. This soapmaker will also go out of her way to please the customer.

Colonel Conk soap (8 out of 10) builds an awesome lather, has pretty good lubricity, but the soap doesn't last very long. I think I'd read that this is due to it being a soft soap. I have both amber and almond. I'm not sure but I think one is glycerine and the other is not, but both perform the exact same. There is a slight drying effect from this soap.

Avon and Old Spice (7 out of 10) are no longer made so my opinions may be skewed by the age of the soap. Both build a good lather, both are pretty good lubricators. Both leave a face feeling neither dry nor moist. Old spice lather lasts for a long time, the Avon soap lather doesn't seem to last as long. Since these soaps come from large company's that found other more profitable endeavors, customer loyalty is not a priority.

Burma Shave, Williams, and Colgate (5 out of 10) build nice lather. All three have very little lubricating effect. All three have lathers that seem to disolve very quickly allowing a shaver to only lather up "area's" of the face instead of the entire face. All 3 seem to dry the face out but not so bad that a cream aftershave can't overcome the effects. I'm not sure about the history of Colgate, but the other 2 have been around for a long time. Even in the day and age of canned creams, these companys are still making an old reliable product.

Burts Bees (2 out of 10) takes forever to build any lather at all. There is no lubricity. Most of the lather is gone before the brush hits your face. No noticible drying or moisturizing effect.

The other soap I forgot to talk about was Em's Place soap. I would rate this at an 8 with the Colonel Conk soaps. It builds a nice lather, but it takes some time to get there. Lubricity is pretty good. Some drying effect.

Hope this helps a little bit. To date, I haven't tried any of the more expensive English soaps. I know you've been at this for longer than I have, but these are my observations.
-Fred

Does this include shaving creams, hard soaps, glycerin soaps or all of the above?

I've used soaps from the Gentlemans Quarter, both the creams and the glycerin soaps, and both are great.

Trumpers, T&H and Taylors are all great.

Porasso seems to be an old favorite, although the cooling is a bit much for me.

The body shop cream for brushes is quite good.

The AOS (sandalwood) is good. I've not tried the other types.

You do realize that there are dozens of soaps to try, and that several companies may use a different recipe for a different scent, adding or subtracting more or less that just scent. this means that to be effective you would need to try an entire product line. Some of these soaps are 3-4$ and some are 20-30$ per tub, tube or bar. This may end up taking some serious time and serious cash! Good luck!



Matt

Originally Posted by shavethebadger

Does this include shaving creams, hard soaps, glycerin soaps or all of the above?

You do realize that there are dozens of soaps to try, and that several companies may use a different recipe for a different scent, adding or subtracting more or less that just scent. this means that to be effective you would need to try an entire product line. Some of these soaps are 3-4$ and some are 20-30$ per tub, tube or bar. This may end up taking some serious time and serious cash! Good luck!

Sorry for the late response. I didn't receive the usual email notification for some reason.

I'm initially going to do cake soaps (both hard soaps and glycerin soaps) as creams are a different puppy all together.

yea I expect it to take some time. I'm just trying to get the baseline currently. With any good test of existing products/conditions you need a current standard to start from. While I have sensitive skin I don't get the irritation from most facial soaps that a lot of sensitive skin people do so I won't be able to effectively rate soap irritability as some will.

I could just start with my own soaps since I haven't even found a good glycerin soap that compares to my own, mine provide excellent lather, lubricity, whisker softening, and I have salt saponified soaps for sensitive skins that haven't been beat yet but that would put all of you at a disadvantage if I decide mine are best overall . Besides that may be just a bit biased, just a tad