Lately I have concluded that my hand reaches for soaps that have a fragrance I like. Most of us own a lot of soaps/creams that provide excellent lubrication and slip and this goes for me too: barring a few exceptions, my rotation includes 15-20 soaps which are excellent in performance and have a fragrance I find enjoyable.
I had read about Synergy soaps and many of my friends had commented that their fragrance is usually strong and distinctive. Being a soapmaker myself, I had to try, so I choose three of these but today I am going to write about the soap that was created in cooperation with Razorock, specicially "The Beach".
The first thing I noted upon receiving the soap was definitely its size. The diameter of the tin is the same as Stirling's - a whopping 13.2cm (5.2in) and it is filled to the brim with soap!
The whole thing weighs 330gr and it seems to me that even with daily shaving, this puck is going to last a very long while!
The next thing I noted is its consistency. From what I understand, this is not a melt-and-pour soap, i.e. not glycerine based. However, it is very smooth (as if it has been poured in a very liquid state) and appears to be semi-transparent. Rather odd looking, I haven't come across any other similar shaving soap.
Perhaps this is due to its ingredients: it neither contains tallow nor additional stearic acid. A shaving soap needs to have a high concentration of stearic acid (that is contained in tallow and hard oils, i.e butters). This artisan has achieved a good performance by using kokum, shea, cocoa and mango butters, which are considered very expensive ingredients in soap making. The label also writes that the butters are organic.
So far so good, but neither the size nor the pure ingredients of the soap are its defining properties. What matters is its shaving properties and whether it provides a good shave.
So here goes.
Scent
The correct term would be scents. It has a strong, complex scent that reminds me of sunscreen, but not necessarily the sunscreen I am familiar with. It has the scent of coconut and it is generally a sweet scent. I can't understand whether it is a chemical or natural scent. Whatever it is, it is quite strong! I shaved with it last night and I could still smell the scent under the aftershave (and I used a strong vintage aftershave - Yatagan).
Lather
Despite having doubts about the soap (due to the lack of tallow and additional stearic acid), it performed excellent. Thick and slick lather (SOC boar with Italian lathering) that was adequate for three passes. I usually do a test after applying lather: I remove the lather from my lips and smear the lather between my fingers to check for slip. The slickness of the Beach was excellent.
Slip and lubrication
Both were excellent, I found no problem during the shave and I also did a third pass with quite an aggressive razor (Gillette Old Type), something which I am not accustomed to. My face was well lubricated after the shave and I was pleasantly surprised: my face didn't need an aftershave, but I applied some nonetheless.
Conclusion
This soap is one of the best I've tried. I am still not sure about the scent (but SWMBO likes it so there it is). My opinion is that the soap is excellent and I wholeheartedly recommend it. Just expect it to be strong-scented and I would advise that you should smell it before buying, especially for people with a sensitive nose.
The only shortcoming is that it's hard to find and European retailers charge more than double than what it costs in the USA.
Nevertheless, this is definitely now in my permanent rotation and I look forward to testing Frostbyte and their Gillette stick.
HTGAM/Razorock "The Beach"
Soaps, Creams, as(l/b) etc...
- dimitris
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- Εγγραφή: 08 Μάι 2012, 09:04
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