SMF

For reasons still to be determined, I bought a bucket of b&m oceana latha.

Have any of you gents tried this? Im curious to know what you think about it.

My first and only shave with it was terrible.....more of an operator problem than the soap itself. I'm a very *dry* latherer and I think that this soap needs a lot more water than I like to use. Once you add water, the lather is decent if a wet lather is your cup of tea. The scent is nice too.

besides the dry lather issue, another reason that this isnt getting a second chance ( even if it were a decent lathereing soap to begin with) is because of the 'oily' residue it left on my brush after rinsing. Gross! In all my years of using a brush I have never felt anything like this before. here is the ingredient list taken from the amazon web page (I can't for the life of me read the small print on the container....getting old lOL):

Ingredients: Aqua, Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate, Glycerin, Potassium Cocoate, Sodium Cocoate, Fragrance, Argania spinosa (Argan) Oil, Butyrospermum parkii (Shea) Butter, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Lactate, Tocopherol Acetate

reviews across the www are very high for this soap, which is one of the reasons I didnt hesitate ordering

clive

I have five latha soaps, including Oceana. They lather very easy and provide me with close comfortable shaves. I sometimes use a drier lather, but I watch the scuttle closely for clues of a thirsty soap. B & M does not seem as thirsty as Stirling.

Clive, I wonder if all the oil in it causes lathering issues.

Chris

Chris, it could be the oils......most interesting to me ( and see Mik'es post above as an example) is the positive reviews about the lather Along the lather road, rumour has it that this company has another line of product that falls into my experience with lathering, but the 'latha' line is their 'pro' (upgraded, new and improved) equivalent .....so maybe some of the other stuff got put into a 'latha' containers by mistake??? Thats my conspiracy theory for the time being hahaha

clive

fallingwickets wrote:. . .Thats my conspiracy theory for the time being . . .

Hey, you never know so it's good to keep an open mind!

Chris

fallingwickets wrote:...My first and only shave with it was terrible.....more of an operator problem than the soap itself. I'm a very *dry* latherer and I think that this soap needs a lot more water than I like to use. Once you add water, the lather is decent if a wet lather is your cup of tea. The scent is nice too...

A. It's a very thirsty soap that needs lots of water and it helps to bloom it beforehand

B. the "residue" is merely the tallow/lanolin leaving your skin better off than before.

B&M is absolutely top shelf soap. There is none better IMO & only a few equal. If you want to use it correctly you will need to change your method.

fallingwickets wrote:the 'latha' line is their 'pro' (upgraded, new and improved) equivalent

The Latha lineup is more of a budget friendly option that's lanolin free (some people report allergies to lanolin).

The upgraded base, named glissant, is available in most of the current options with the rest of the "white label" soaps being aimed to be switched over this fall.

Lastly, the Barrister Reserve line, Cool, Classic and Spice which are B&M's take on Floid Blue, Gillette Sunup and Old Spice respectively, are a new, different base as well.

Hope this helps!

The Latha lineup is more of a budget friendly option

thanks for setting the record straight....comments made in other corners of the www suggested otherwise.

As an aside, I for one am not a fan of 'tiered' product. Cars are bad enough

clive

I once owned a tub of the original, and the scent was one of the limited edition representing some other forum. The lather was great but the fragrance wasn't my cup of tea.