Current state of hard soaps

[LostInCincy]

I hate to start a new thread that so closely follows what can be found in old ones, but I thought it might not be the worst time to ask what the state is of some old favorite soaps that may or may not have become less desirable than they once were. I know this topic gets old, but it helps to put a point of reference to the hundreds of older threads that may or may not still be accurate based on what's on the market.

As best I can tell, hard soaps, particularly those from England, went through a bit of a transition in the last five years. Some have either changed for the worse or have stayed more or less of the same quality. In reading many old threads, this is the impression I've gotten. Believe me, I know not everybody agrees and that I'm speaking in very broad terms. I prefer to leave specifics up to those who have experiences and can speak to the reality of where things are:

D.R. Harris: Still tallow-based, still excellent.
Truefitt & Hill: Has become seriously lacking of its former glory, even when it was palm oil based and stellar.
Trumper: Has definitely changed, but is still more or less a quality product.
Art of Shaving: No longer tallow-based or made by Valobra. Not nearly as good, and many people have since chosen to use Valobra soaps directly.
L'occitane: Still very good and preferred by some

This list is not nearly complete, but you get where I'm going with it. What do you think, do I have this more or less correct? Am I missing anything? I have always preferred creams, but I hit soaps from time to time, especially in the summer. I'm curious to hear what people have to say.

Thanks,
Dan

[CMur12]

Hi Dan -

As far as I know, Mitchell's Wool Fat hasn't changed. Also, as you pointed out, Valobra hasn't changed; you just can't obtain it in AoS guise any longer.

- Murray

[LostInCincy]

Of course, how could I forget about MWF. Tabac, as well?

The impression I get is that a number of people didn't like the AOS scents. I personally hated the Sandalwood, but I found the Lemon just fine and the Lavender was one of my favorite and top performing soaps. I'm not sure if there's an existing soap of the same quality that has a true Lavender EO scent. But that's the way things go!

[CMur12]

Dan, as far as I know, Tabac soap hasn't undergone any changes either.

There are a number of truly outstanding artisan soaps (true soaps; not the old melt-and-pour type) that use EO scents. I don't much like lavender, so I haven't really explored that. (I've been going after natural citrus scents.)

I actually have an unused cake of the old Valobra-made AoS soap in lavender, as I stocked up on AoS soap when I heard that P&G had bought the company out. I really didn't like the last cake of AoS lavender that I used, as it was too strongly scented for me. I would happily swap it for a couple of Valobra Shave Sticks or a new cake of the new Valobra Unscented.

- Murray

[Gareth]

Dan, this is the main reason why I stopped using soaps almost entirely several years back - you just couldn't rely on the replacement puck being up to scratch.

As I start to get back into this again, I will watch this thread with interest. I'm planning to stop by Trumper's and Harris' next month when I'm in London so will pick up a soap in each to try.

Gareth

[Mr.Max]

I can say that the Harris hard soap are still top notch. Ditto for tabac and mwf. I think this thread is a good idea because I've been wondering about trumpers soaps myself. I haven't bought any in quite some time because I got burned on a cake of the coconut oil, and a cake of the sandalwood. Neither would make shave-quality lather, and I've been hesitant to buy any more.

[brothers]

Here are some good current hard soaps:
Penhaligons
Valobra
Taylor of Old Bond Street

[jww]

Don't know that Harris has gone through a reformulation, but I do find them very, very good.

The merits of the age-old formula for The Fat continues to be lauded by many members ...... this woolfat evangelist included.

[kronos9]

I'm very pleased with my puck of LEA, a tallow hard soap. That, along with DRH and Tabac, numbers in my top soaps.

[ask4Edge]

These tallows (still) perform very well, IMO:

D.R.Harris
Czech&Speake (Valobra-made)
Tabac

Don't know that Harris has gone through a reformulation, but I do find them very, very good.

DRH Sandalwood soap - which debuted at end of 2014 - contains tallow, but is a bit different from the rest of their offerings, in terms of base composition.
Otherwise, it's been 5+ years since DRH has gone through reformulation (they all still contain tallow).

Penhaligons...
Taylor of Old Bond Street

How would you compare these to DRH, in terms of latherability?

[brothers]

Penhaligons...
Taylor of Old Bond Street

How would you compare these to DRH, in terms of latherability?

Penhaligons - 6.5
TOBS - 6.0
Harris - 6.0
Bottom line for me is these three have survived to fight another day, but the competition in the shaving soap market is ferocious and business is booming. DRH starts out sudsy, but with a heavily loaded brush and a lot of effort building the lather, the resulting lather is good; I get little or no slickness, and that's highly important to me. It is a fact that there are dozens of better performing soaps today, most of which didn't exist just a few years ago. The English soaps have a lot of sentimentality attached to them, with the aura of classical tradition and bygone classic fragrances. Many new wet shavers who are dominating the market don't seem to give a fig about that kind of stuff.

[ask4Edge]

Thanks for the breakdown, Gary!
I see DRH more like a 7 or 8 though, but that’s just me.
In any case, current DRH is nowhere near as good as earlier iterations, like when tallow was its first ingredient, or other soaps, such as, tallow formulation Trumper, Pen’s tallow, etc., imo. I’ve been getting great results with my C&S lately though; I see that one as a 9.

[CMur12]

C&S is still made by Valobra, right?

- Murray

[ask4Edge]

C&S is still made by Valobra, right?

Yes, fortunately.
My personal favourite is No.88, but the (mild) scent of the Valobra stick is rather nice - better than their other (in-house) shaving soap scents, imo.

[LostInCincy]

Thank you, everyone, for the responses. This is exactly what I was hoping for.

Did I get it wrong in my original post? Has anyone had success with Trumpers soaps purchased in the last year? I used their first non-tallow version years ago for a while with great success. I'd hate to think they haven't righted the ship.

[brothers]

All reports seem to show that GFT introduced one reformulation after another, each one more dismal than the last, until the present time I suppose they're happy with the worst soap ever. Personally, I'll be d***** if I ever buy another one without documented proof that it's been corrected. Trumpers' has duped me for the last time.

[fallingwickets]

Well, i see our resident antitrumperite is out and about again hahahahahaahahahahahaahahaha.

I use trumper products, find them to be the gold standard of soaps and have no issues with the pucks they are sending out of their 'factory' Also, more shave nerdier gents than me are still big fans...where is gordon hiding anyway?????

In a nutshell...gft=huge lather success

clive

[brothers]

Perhaps those who are curious about the GFT soaps should buy some and share their opinions.

[Mr.Max]

I'm not doing it again.

[jww]

I'm not doing it again.

I've never owned GT soaps, and when I was about to buy some a few years back just after the first reformulation, I took advice from SMF and am glad I did.