Ariana & Evans New Base "Kaizen"

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TheChrisC

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I think I'm the same Chris. I was ok with Club Baccara and The Big Top in K2 and Kaizen respectively, but Turkish Coffee burned the worst of any soap I've ever tried. I had to wash it off. Like you I've had to move on about 5 or 6 of the new base soaps so its too much of a gamble buying new A&E soaps.

I'm preferring more PAA lately, never had a problem with soaps burning.
That’s the frustrating part, like yourself I have scents that are fine for me and scents that aren’t. The big issue becomes the gamble now, because I just don’t know what will burn and what won’t. I’d rather just bin the idea of buying new scents from them than risk that.

I’ve only tried one PAA soap pre-CK6, which was the Halloween bay rum and pumpkin scent. Soap was great, splash burned really badly sadly.
 

The Gentleman

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I have no problem with irritation from any soap, but so many of the american artisans soap smells too much. The scent can be wonderful right out of the tub or a few shaves, but I get tired of most of them. K2 is probably the best base I've tried but it's very few A&E-scents that I really like. Barbiere Sofisticato is wonderful. Zingari Man is my favorite soap brand right now. Absolutely stellar performance and nice mild scents.
 

J-B-M

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This is timely that it comes to the top of the board now. After many years shaving with more traditional brands I have recently been dipping my toe into the world of artisan soaps and was thinking about giving A&E a trial in Asian Plum as I am keen to seek out well regarded bases. But I have had strong reactions to soap scents in the past (Cella and C&E Nomad both burned like hades) so I think I might have to pass.

I am going to try a couple more brands of artisan but TBH I am coming to the conclusion that in terms of performance, the emperor has no clothes - for me nothing so far competes with Palmolive, Haslinger or something like 3P in terms of cushion and slickness.
 

TheChrisC

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This is timely that it comes to the top of the board now. After many years shaving with more traditional brands I have recently been dipping my toe into the world of artisan soaps and was thinking about giving A&E a trial in Asian Plum as I am keen to seek out well regarded bases. But I have had strong reactions to soap scents in the past (Cella and C&E Nomad both burned like hades) so I think I might have to pass.

I am going to try a couple more brands of artisan but TBH I am coming to the conclusion that in terms of performance, the emperor has no clothes - for me nothing so far competes with Palmolive, Haslinger or something like 3P in terms of cushion and slickness.
A&E is an elite base for sure, performance-wise it's fantastic (the Kaizen base particularly, and as @Stonec0ld says the Kaizen 2 or K2 base is supposed to be even better) but without wishing to be bad to the guy, Peter makes these soaps in his kitchen. I don't think they go through any certification in terms of testing with chemists etc, though I may be wrong on that. So it's something to be aware of, that his soaps CAN cause reactions and, in truth, his are the ones I've reacted to the most by far.

Shavers seem to want increasingly strong scents, I see it all the time on forums and Facebook etc, and that's absolutely cool if that's what they want but then people tend to lament that our EU or UK soaps aren't as strongly scented. There's a reason for that, and it's to do with allergens and amounts of ingredients you can put in things.
 

J-B-M

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Shavers seem to want increasingly strong scents, I see it all the time on forums and Facebook etc, and that's absolutely cool if that's what they want but then people tend to lament that our EU or UK soaps aren't as strongly scented. There's a reason for that, and it's to do with allergens and amounts of ingredients you can put in things.
Absolutely - I do enjoy the scents of some of the soaps I have tried but to be honest it isn't really a priority for me in a shave soap. Instead of buying two imported artisan soaps for £50 with shipping I could (well, not anymore I guess) pick up a couple of sticks of Palmolive for £2 that will probably out perform them, then spend the difference on some nice EDT samples. I get a better performing soap to shave with and a more sophisticated scent to wear during the rest of the day that almost certainly won't give me a bad skin reaction.

All this said...I am still tempted by this Kaizen base. It seems to get a lot of respect!

Edit: I guess the downside is boring SOTD images. I usually don't bother photographing my shave because who wants to look at a photo of a palmolive stick or haslinger puck every morning?!
 
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celestino

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Edit: I guess the downside is boring SOTD images. I usually don't bother photographing my shave because who wants to look at a photo of a palmolive stick or haslinger puck every morning?!
You could always get creative with your backgrounds, and even go outdoors. It is quite a fun and challenging exercise. :)
 

J-B-M

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You could always get creative with your backgrounds, and even go outdoors. It is quite a fun and challenging exercise. :)
God I would love to go outside. Alas I am back on crutches after 6 months of knee problems so at the moment that ain't happening. 🙁
 

CobraX

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In all honesty, I have been steering away from A&E soaps for a while now. Last time I used one (Uno) was on the 4th of December. While Uno didn't burn like crazy or anything, it did leave my skin feeling slightly uncomfortable. Can't remember that happening in the past. The 3 brands I mainly use nowadays are Barrister and Mann, Stirling and Zingari Man and they all have their strengths. Barrister and Mann is great for complex and lovely scents, Stirling is super slick and very easy to use and Zingari Man has a really nice lather structure and milder scents (at least some of them).
 

TheChrisC

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In all honesty, I have been steering away from A&E soaps for a while now. Last time I used one (Uno) was on the 4th of December. While Uno didn't burn like crazy or anything, it did leave my skin feeling slightly uncomfortable. Can't remember that happening in the past. The 3 brands I mainly use nowadays are Barrister and Mann, Stirling and Zingari Man and they all have their strengths. Barrister and Mann is great for complex and lovely scents, Stirling is super slick and very easy to use and Zingari Man has a really nice lather structure and milder scents (at least some of them).
Great choices too. I reacted to only one Stirling, which was Sharp Dressed Man. This stuff can absolutely happen with almost any brand as everyone’s skin is so different but sometimes the gamble becomes too much.
 

CobraX

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Great choices too. I reacted to only one Stirling, which was Sharp Dressed Man. This stuff can absolutely happen with almost any brand as everyone’s skin is so different but sometimes the gamble becomes too much.
With Stirling I think my skin didn't really like Barbershop and Satsuma, although I should try Barbershop a few more times to be sure.
 

pimple8

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I have also reacted to Stirling Barbershop, I tried it 4 times. Hate when that happens on a scent you really like.
It does happen occasionally with some scents. Luckily there are hundreds of others.
 

Levi

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Did anyone else bought an A&E soap lately? A month ago I’ve bought Barbiere Sofisticato but the soap doesn’t look right, it’s really soft and impossible to load my brush from the jar. The texture looks grainy to. First I thought it was due to the hot temperatures it turned soft but it cooled down the last two weeks and it remained the same.
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