Plisson Shaving Soap
Plisson Shaving Soap
A couple of weeks ago I picked up a refill at my well stocked local B&M. The soap is 100 g all palmate soap, no stearates listed, made in England and cost the same as a Harris soap. It lathers up easily and gives a very good lather, similar to Trumper's, maybe slightly richer. The scent is a very discreet floral that makes MWF very loud, and is more herbal than MWF. To my nose quite unnoticeable once lathered up, I'd recommend this soap for those who prefer very lightly scented or unscented soaps.
I also had a look at the soap-in-a-tin and was disapointed that the tin is in fact cardboard (like the tins whisky bottles come in), especially considering the increased price. I feel Plisson should just sell the soap-in-a-tin as a refill.
I also had a look at the soap-in-a-tin and was disapointed that the tin is in fact cardboard (like the tins whisky bottles come in), especially considering the increased price. I feel Plisson should just sell the soap-in-a-tin as a refill.
Eric
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I had the Joris soap which is the same stuff and thought it was good stuff. I got it a Colonial Drug as well as a few of hard to finds. The packaging was adequate as the price was only $18-$20 if I remember correct. The scent just wasnt for me though. Now the bowl Joris sells to match the soap is just simply an amazing piece of work. Burl wood I believe but expensive as hell.
Shawn
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I got a puck of Plisson shaving soap as a gift from my sister's trip to France. I used it for a week or so to get to know it. Its strength is its skincare; gentle and left my skin feeling great. Performance wise it's mediocre, but seems to do better when its consistency is on the creamier side. I rarely nick myself but felt like it lacked cushion when made slick.
The scent reminded me of Institut Karité. Powdery and a little floral.
Made in England.... by Creighton's? Just guessing here.
The scent reminded me of Institut Karité. Powdery and a little floral.
Made in England.... by Creighton's? Just guessing here.
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- fallingwickets
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Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
I finally gave this a try. The scent is ok....the lather is absolutely without a doubt the worst ever. Total disappointment, and considering the cost ( i think it was around $70 with or without shipping...memory escapes me) the disappointment is made worse. Also, you can't even rest a brush on top of the lid, because duh, its round!! One last item....ingredients might be similar, but there is NO WAY this is the same as plisson. My plisson soap explodes with latherI have the joris too, but have never used it....the bowl sits of my pseudo DrP shelf!
clive
de gustibus non est disputandum
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Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
Clive, back when this thread originally posted, Joris was really a great soap. Not much scent wise, but hey, it lathered great. However, these days, I have taken to the Prorasso Green tub, a soft soap if you will, and a Tabac.
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Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
Ugh! Another good one seemingly sundered.
Chris
Chris
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Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
sundered? The joris soap I have must have been bought pre 2011 (in not sure how pre, but i had it when this thread started) and that is the soap I am saying is beyond bad. When was joris considered good? plisson on the other hand is, to this day, very competitive, latherwise anyway
clive
clive
de gustibus non est disputandum
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Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
Clive, Joris was excellent back in the day.
My first experience with it was about 2003 when a shop in Texas was closing. It sold European goods and at the time they were selling things off at a discount. It spread across the various forums that they had this soap called "Joris" and it was excellent. I think it was Sam who PM'd me on the old Straightrazorplace Yahoo forum and told me to snag a cake before they were all gone. I did. And it was everything that was said about it. I used that cake daily until it was gone and I loved every shave with it. The scent, to me was quite pronounced though others would classify it as subdued. Something in it stood out and made the scent prominent with me, though not offensive at all, but quite pleasant.
I liked it so much that when I bought my first Plisson HMW brush from Atkinson's I ordered two cakes of it. That was 2005.
The cakes I received were different. Though they lathered well the lather was not the same as the old cake I had. This was about the era that all famous shaving soaps were going veggie from tallow. I noticed and even emailed the company looking for a confirmation that it had been reformulated. They dodged the question and never responded to any follow ups. From my personal experienced it's been reformulated. And if that is the case then they may have continued to reformulate (a function of the manufacturer, probably) until it matched soaps like the dreadful Penhaligon's English Fern that was so panned. But I don't know. I still have those two cakes from 2005. The magic with them wasn't quite what it used to be so I never really used them that much. One is nearly pristine while the other is half used.
Every now and then I pick it up and use it for nostalgia's sake and the shave is good, real good, though the lather is not the same as my pre-reformulation Taylor's English Lavender.
Trumper's shaving soap seemingly went through similar reformulations and corrected the problem as best as possible. But as far as Joris is concerned I am not aware that they have done the same.
What may be interesting is that about a year or so you couldn't even buy Joris, even from Plisson, even though the Plisson cake was still available. I don't know what this means but it may be significant in that they may be discontinuing the soap? Hopefully not and they correct the problem as it was an outstanding soap at one time.
Chris
My first experience with it was about 2003 when a shop in Texas was closing. It sold European goods and at the time they were selling things off at a discount. It spread across the various forums that they had this soap called "Joris" and it was excellent. I think it was Sam who PM'd me on the old Straightrazorplace Yahoo forum and told me to snag a cake before they were all gone. I did. And it was everything that was said about it. I used that cake daily until it was gone and I loved every shave with it. The scent, to me was quite pronounced though others would classify it as subdued. Something in it stood out and made the scent prominent with me, though not offensive at all, but quite pleasant.
I liked it so much that when I bought my first Plisson HMW brush from Atkinson's I ordered two cakes of it. That was 2005.
The cakes I received were different. Though they lathered well the lather was not the same as the old cake I had. This was about the era that all famous shaving soaps were going veggie from tallow. I noticed and even emailed the company looking for a confirmation that it had been reformulated. They dodged the question and never responded to any follow ups. From my personal experienced it's been reformulated. And if that is the case then they may have continued to reformulate (a function of the manufacturer, probably) until it matched soaps like the dreadful Penhaligon's English Fern that was so panned. But I don't know. I still have those two cakes from 2005. The magic with them wasn't quite what it used to be so I never really used them that much. One is nearly pristine while the other is half used.
Every now and then I pick it up and use it for nostalgia's sake and the shave is good, real good, though the lather is not the same as my pre-reformulation Taylor's English Lavender.
Trumper's shaving soap seemingly went through similar reformulations and corrected the problem as best as possible. But as far as Joris is concerned I am not aware that they have done the same.
What may be interesting is that about a year or so you couldn't even buy Joris, even from Plisson, even though the Plisson cake was still available. I don't know what this means but it may be significant in that they may be discontinuing the soap? Hopefully not and they correct the problem as it was an outstanding soap at one time.
Chris
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Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
Oh, and I forgot to mention, that back when Joris was excellent the reverse was true regarding it's performance vis a vis the Plisson soap. Joris was considered superior to the Plisson soap almost universally on the various forums. The Plisson soap was even panned as having terrible lather compared to the Joris. It was even said that they had distinctive scents which were different from one another. I've never tried the Plisson soap because of this.
Then there came a period when they were considered nearly indistinguishable in scent as well as lather. This is just from what I read as I had no experience with those formulations. But I did notice the change in perception at the time.
Now I can't say what the state of things are between them. But if the reports are true then Joris ain't what it used to be otherwise folks would be raving about like they did twelve-plus years ago.
My suspicion is that Plisson acquired Joris and used it's formula for the Plisson soap then reformulated the Joris to make it inferior. Who knows except for the folks at Plisson.
From what I remember Joris used to be it's own brand with it's own soap and brushes. A French firm that competed directly with Plisson.
Chris
Then there came a period when they were considered nearly indistinguishable in scent as well as lather. This is just from what I read as I had no experience with those formulations. But I did notice the change in perception at the time.
Now I can't say what the state of things are between them. But if the reports are true then Joris ain't what it used to be otherwise folks would be raving about like they did twelve-plus years ago.
My suspicion is that Plisson acquired Joris and used it's formula for the Plisson soap then reformulated the Joris to make it inferior. Who knows except for the folks at Plisson.
From what I remember Joris used to be it's own brand with it's own soap and brushes. A French firm that competed directly with Plisson.
Chris
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Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
Chris that's a good recollection of things. It's for this reason, with all the reformation, that I just use Trabac soap, the Proraso soft soap in the green tub, or some artisan soaps
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Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
Sam, thanks.
Good stuff you've chosen. If the Germans and the Italians can hold on to their heritage there will be plenty of good shaving goods for a long time.
I will be eternally grateful to you for suggesting to me the Joris way back when. That old formula cake of it was just the bees knees. Better to have had one than none at all.
As an aside I was tempted to shave with one of those old 2005 cakes of Joris. But I just couldn't veer from the Taylor's. It makes the lather that the Joris and so many others once did.
One day.
Chris
Good stuff you've chosen. If the Germans and the Italians can hold on to their heritage there will be plenty of good shaving goods for a long time.
I will be eternally grateful to you for suggesting to me the Joris way back when. That old formula cake of it was just the bees knees. Better to have had one than none at all.
As an aside I was tempted to shave with one of those old 2005 cakes of Joris. But I just couldn't veer from the Taylor's. It makes the lather that the Joris and so many others once did.
One day.
Chris
Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
Some of the old fuddy duddy soap makers are (literally) vegetables on life support with a bad or worse prognosis. This is no way to run a company, and they don't care about shaving soap, obviously. Regardless, a number of new shaving soap small businesses have been born and are busy at war with one another to see who survives and who craps out. This means we have Canadian, Australian, UK, and USA soap makers in addition to the Germans and Italians to get our good stuff from, for who knows how long they might last. Miraculously, many of the new guys and some of the old guys are using good old fashioned tallow in their recipes. It's a dog-eat-dog niche industry, with no guarantees.
Gary
SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
well dandy and rake is tallow isnt it? Not one my favourite latherers, that's for sure. Also, I'd love to mainstay an artisanal soap maker that blows it out of the park.....so far, and way toooooo many credit card swipes later, I havent come across one. I'm still going to be buying / trying the hyped 'made in a basement' type soap, but for the most part I will be doing my part to keep the vegetarian ancients in businessand some of the old guys are using good old fashioned tallow in their recipes.
clive
de gustibus non est disputandum
Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
DRH also isn't one of my favorite lathering soaps. Far from it actually. I just give them extra credit for the fact they still claim to be using tallow even if it doesn't actually perform like one.fallingwickets wrote:well dandy and rake is tallow isnt it? Not one my favourite latherers, that's for sure. Also, I'd love to mainstay an artisanal soap maker that blows it out of the park.....so far, and way toooooo many credit card swipes later, I havent come across one. I'm still going to be buying / trying the hyped 'made in a basement' type soap, but for the most part I will be doing my part to keep the vegetarian ancients in businessand some of the old guys are using good old fashioned tallow in their recipes.
clive
Gary
SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
Clive and Gary you're making me go back. I rather thought that Dandy and Rake was an excellent soap (my cake is old). You've given me a bug and now I'm going to dig it out and see what I can glean.
Now where in the hay is it? . . . I've got to dig.
It may be moot due to age but I'll let you know what my impressions are.
Chris
Now where in the hay is it? . . . I've got to dig.
It may be moot due to age but I'll let you know what my impressions are.
Chris
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Re: Plisson Shaving Soap
Chris, i would be glad to mail a few pucks for you to try, but mine are all of recent vintage.
clive
clive
de gustibus non est disputandum