D
Deleted member 1881
Guest
Equipment:
Yaqi Matte Black Scalloped Razor
Personna Med Prep #3
Yaqi Sagrada Familia 24mm Tuxedo
L'Oreal BarberClub Balm Cedarwood
I would like to share so badly this review with this special soap. 6 days of growth.
I scooped out some soap, more than I needed and placed it in a bowl. I started loading with a drier brush, when I realized the thirst of this soft soap. The more I added, the better it was developed into a cloudy, shiny cream. Never got heavy or pasty, but could handle water addition just like B&M Excelsior. Ok, maybe not so thirsty, but enough.
Scent of this one is Peppermint based with a hint of Cedarwood in the background, reminded me of a fresh paint gloss for some reason. Strong directly off the puck, mild on the face, with a medium cooling effect, very pleasant.
1st Pass: After dialing it in, as I was doing semi-bowl lathering, I made a shiny, yogurt type lather, with no air bubbles at all. Felt rich and steady during the pass, glide very good, not overly slick, but I will explain later why this wasn't important for me. The hairs were softened to the point that the razor, wouldnt stop anywhere and took easily all the hairs like they weren't even there. Residual slickness was there, and did not allow the Med Prep to catch my skin.
2nd Pass XTG: More water to the lather, was incorporated like nobody's business. Wow, this beast is nothing like a US artisan soap. Starts airy and with the correct water ratio, gives you what you want. Very easy to make it shave ready, especially with a bowl. The exact opposite from the US soaps, that start heavy and want hours of water addition to start the shave. This one can be drowned if you overdo it, but it's not easy to reach there.
The soap was so creamy, not heavy at all and allowed the blade to come very close to the skin, while offering incredible cushion & protection. That's why I didn't care about the slickness, it wasn't overly slick in order to let the razor take the hairs and not go over them. It is a different soap from the others I have and I could compare the explosion of the lather with Southern Witchcrafts, one of my favorite soaps. It was a persistent lather with no gaps and the coverage was superb even with so much water. Never went drippy.
3rd Pass ATG: There I tried the impossible; add even more water. It shallowed it like a burned field. Now I had an even slicker lather and the cushion still there, no cuts, no grabbing, the Med Prep is way too sharp. It never betrayed me, no matter what I did. I tried to clean my problem area under the chin and I couldn't feel the blade cutting. Easy BBS there.
Fantastic 3rd pass, no irritation, the sound of the razor was scary though. Risky blade/razor combo.
Touch ups: I told everyone that I am always honest when it comes to a soap review, so I decided to reach the ultimate level of over shaving to see what this one can tolerate. Well, it is obvious that @Brianh knew what he did when testing this formula. The lather was now on my hand and placed the leftover on the face. Like a velvet cream, offered great glide and I took easily the remaining hairs. My chin was so close that I couldn't believe my mirror. I only saw blood on my left cheek after 6 times of buffering onto already shaved skin. Either my technique became perfect or this soap is extra terrestrial. I'm not sure about the first one.
All in all, a damn fine soap for my taste, nothing to jealous from the US tallow based artisan soaps. It is easily in my top5 now.
Next time I will start with more water and load from the tin, because I had some pieces of soap in the bowl, even with the enormous water addition I did. A very thirsty soap, for a reason.
Post shave, neutral, not dry, to tightness at least in the first minutes after the shave. Then I put the balm that complimented the soap.
Congratulations Brian. My hat is off to you sir. Well worth the waiting and thank you for resending the package.
PS @Tortuga here you are, hope you enjoy it.
Randy
Yaqi Matte Black Scalloped Razor
Personna Med Prep #3
Yaqi Sagrada Familia 24mm Tuxedo
L'Oreal BarberClub Balm Cedarwood
I would like to share so badly this review with this special soap. 6 days of growth.
I scooped out some soap, more than I needed and placed it in a bowl. I started loading with a drier brush, when I realized the thirst of this soft soap. The more I added, the better it was developed into a cloudy, shiny cream. Never got heavy or pasty, but could handle water addition just like B&M Excelsior. Ok, maybe not so thirsty, but enough.
Scent of this one is Peppermint based with a hint of Cedarwood in the background, reminded me of a fresh paint gloss for some reason. Strong directly off the puck, mild on the face, with a medium cooling effect, very pleasant.
1st Pass: After dialing it in, as I was doing semi-bowl lathering, I made a shiny, yogurt type lather, with no air bubbles at all. Felt rich and steady during the pass, glide very good, not overly slick, but I will explain later why this wasn't important for me. The hairs were softened to the point that the razor, wouldnt stop anywhere and took easily all the hairs like they weren't even there. Residual slickness was there, and did not allow the Med Prep to catch my skin.
2nd Pass XTG: More water to the lather, was incorporated like nobody's business. Wow, this beast is nothing like a US artisan soap. Starts airy and with the correct water ratio, gives you what you want. Very easy to make it shave ready, especially with a bowl. The exact opposite from the US soaps, that start heavy and want hours of water addition to start the shave. This one can be drowned if you overdo it, but it's not easy to reach there.
The soap was so creamy, not heavy at all and allowed the blade to come very close to the skin, while offering incredible cushion & protection. That's why I didn't care about the slickness, it wasn't overly slick in order to let the razor take the hairs and not go over them. It is a different soap from the others I have and I could compare the explosion of the lather with Southern Witchcrafts, one of my favorite soaps. It was a persistent lather with no gaps and the coverage was superb even with so much water. Never went drippy.
3rd Pass ATG: There I tried the impossible; add even more water. It shallowed it like a burned field. Now I had an even slicker lather and the cushion still there, no cuts, no grabbing, the Med Prep is way too sharp. It never betrayed me, no matter what I did. I tried to clean my problem area under the chin and I couldn't feel the blade cutting. Easy BBS there.
Fantastic 3rd pass, no irritation, the sound of the razor was scary though. Risky blade/razor combo.
Touch ups: I told everyone that I am always honest when it comes to a soap review, so I decided to reach the ultimate level of over shaving to see what this one can tolerate. Well, it is obvious that @Brianh knew what he did when testing this formula. The lather was now on my hand and placed the leftover on the face. Like a velvet cream, offered great glide and I took easily the remaining hairs. My chin was so close that I couldn't believe my mirror. I only saw blood on my left cheek after 6 times of buffering onto already shaved skin. Either my technique became perfect or this soap is extra terrestrial. I'm not sure about the first one.
All in all, a damn fine soap for my taste, nothing to jealous from the US tallow based artisan soaps. It is easily in my top5 now.
Next time I will start with more water and load from the tin, because I had some pieces of soap in the bowl, even with the enormous water addition I did. A very thirsty soap, for a reason.
Post shave, neutral, not dry, to tightness at least in the first minutes after the shave. Then I put the balm that complimented the soap.
Congratulations Brian. My hat is off to you sir. Well worth the waiting and thank you for resending the package.
PS @Tortuga here you are, hope you enjoy it.
Randy
Last edited by a moderator:
