Thread: Five Favorite Hard Soaps

Since there was already a list for favorite shave creams, I thought I would start a list for favorite shave soaps. I am limiting this list to hard soaps that come in puck form. Shave sticks and soft soaps can form a separate list.

For me this is a moving target but as of now, my five favorite shave soaps are:

1) Mitchell's Wool Fat: I have hard water and it took a little while to find the sweet spot. Now that I have found it, this is the best shave soap I have ever used in terms of protection and skin conditioning properties. I think I could use a shard of glass and still get a BBS shave.

2) Vintage Trumper Tallow Shave Soap: Why Trumper discontinued this product is beyond me. I find it far superior to their current production vegetable based shave soaps. Creamy rich lather with great scents.

3) Penhaligons Tallow Shave Soaps: While most people prefer the English Fern, I find that the Bleinheim Bouquet works better for me. May be because of my hard water. In any case, they are both excellent soaps with outstanding scents.

4) D R Harris Shave Soaps: Along with Mitchell's Wool Fat, the D R Harris shave soaps are the best current production shave soaps in my opinion.

5) I Coloniali Shave Soap: My favorite vegetable based shave soap by a mile. The lather is extremely slick and the scent unique.

What 5 soaps make your list?

For now:
Mama Bear <very nice soap, here I go buy more of
The rest not in order of ranking
Calani <smells good and is best described as good
Crabtree & Evelyn <I have a lavender soap, smell delicious
Proraso <Works pretty easy
Cyril R. Salter <Delicious

Since I have only used 3 Hard soaps I can only give my opinion on those.

Cade is now my first choice when it comes to refill pucks love the scent and I can create a nice lather that lasts 4+ passes if necessary and for a non-triple milled soap it is lasting a long time ( 3 months of straight use and it isn't even half gone yet )

Mama Bears would be next as it also lathers well and the scents I have ( Rosemary Mint and Ginger ) are great.

last and the only reason it is on this list is because it was my first puck is Williams ( the new stuff not the vintage ) I hate the smell and the only reason I have kept it is I hate throwing useful stuff away.. I use it primarily with creams to make an "uber" lather just to use it up. Though since it was only a buck I may end up just pitching it so I don't have to look at it any longer.

1.) MWF
2.) SRD Soaps (Any, but West Indies Bay and vanilla Bourbon are just
awesome)
3.) Cella
4.) Mama Bears (+1 on Rosemary Mint)
5.) Arko

pre de provence: this soap is all about luxury.. it can't be beat..

provence sante green tea: such a relaxing soap.. definitely nice when doing a cool water shave. for some reason i smell the tea better when the lather is cool.

institut karite: overall just a good product.. not as enjoyable as the top two, but still nice to use.

burt's bees bay rum: this was one of my first shave soaps and i will always love it.. the scent is perfect for me and i was heartbroken when they discontinued the line.

soaptopia's almond: this is one soap that really doesn't keep a stable lather.. you pretty much have to uber it or shave in under 5 minutes... the reason i'm placing it as my number 4 is due to how slick it is and how well it moisturizes my face.. it also has the most enjoyable almond scent i've come across.

mwf: this is a soap that works.. i don't really notice a scent and it does an okay job of conditioning my face.. it's kinda like a heineken for me.. it gets the job done.. but i'd prefer a stella.

Tabac
MWF
L'Occtaine (If you haven't tried this, you need to)
SRD (Bulgarian Rose Otto )
Prairie Creations

1. MWF
2. Bulgarian Rose SRD
3. Escentials Himalayan shave soap
4. Velobra or TOBS if you call Velobra a soft soap
5. Tabac

BullGoose,

For me:

1) Cella (soft soap !)
2) P160 (ditto)
3) Tabac
4) MWF
5) DR Harris

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

My 5 favorites (in no particular order)

1. MWF
2. Arko shavestick
3. Speick shavestick
4. VDH Deluxe
5. TSD Coconut Lime Verbena

Genlemen:

My five favorite soaps — in no particular order — are the following:

1. Mitchell's Wool Fat

2. Provence Sante Verlaine

3. Mama Bear

4. Truefitt & Hill

5. Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet

Regards,

Obie