SMF

No staining with the soap, the cream may as it is to my memory a very deep, dark red.

Esoteric83 wrote:No staining with the soap, the cream may as it is to my memory a very deep, dark red.

Thanks "E...."

I enjoy the scents of most of the Trumpers soaps but have found them inconsistent from batch to batch. I have one total failure and that was a Violet puck I got from around 2008. It was garbage. Ivory would blow circles around it. Anyways I have a first generation Eucris that works fine but not great, a rose that is amazing, and a limes that is very damn good. They all perform different though which shouldnt happen with a commercial product such as Trumpers.

I will still continue to use their creams but my soap days are over. Especially with all of the amazing artisan soaps out there.

Over the years I have bought and used around three dozen pucks of Trumper soaps. Only the Eucris had questionable performance when compared to the others, but even it was quite adequate. The others all performed as advertised. To be blunt, even the modern Trumper soaps are known and acceptable performers. Can one say the same for soaps made in someone's kitchen?

Chris

drmoss_ca wrote:Over the years I have bought and used around three dozen pucks of Trumper soaps. Only the Eucris had questionable performance when compared to the others, but even it was quite adequate. The others all performed as advertised. To be blunt, even the modern Trumper soaps are known and acceptable performers. Can one say the same for soaps made in someone's kitchen?
Chris

I don't see why not. I have used some very impressive artisan soaps.

- Murray

Doesn't really matter where it is made...if it works, it works.

Julian, This is a difficult question, and one that has been kicked around a number of times over the years at SMF. I think that I was the first to notice, back in '04 or so, that my D R Harris's Best Badger brush had turned a reddish brown hue over time. During this period I was using the old Taylor's Rose cream a lot and that seemed to be the cause of the discoloration. My then new Plisson EW was beginning to turn color also so I stopped using the rose cream with that brush. Shortly thereafter another member posted pictures of his Kent BK brush that was taking on a blueish tint from Harris's Lavender cream. And since, other members have noted the same problem with more heavily colored creams, like most of the rose versions, or Trumpers Violet or Harris's Lavender. However, other members have been using such creams for years along with their light tipped brushes and report no problems whatsoever. So, it would seem to been some combination of the highly colored creams along with certain waters that create this problem. Unfortunately, the only way to find out for sure if it would be an issue where you live is to actually try it and see. These days, for rose creams and the like, I just use my Simpson D2, which has dark enough bristle that it doesn't really show.

Regards,
Gordon

The problem with 'artisan' soaps, from my point of view, is that they are not hard/triple milled so the lather is never as heavy or concentrated as I like it. Triple milling can not be done by home soap crafters so there is a limit to how 'good' their shave soaps can be. Now, not everyone requires, or even prefers, lather the way that I like it, so all this may not be an issue for some. For me, however, all the artisan shave soaps I have tried have not done the trick. I just quit messing with the whole genre years ago now. In truth, I've largely stopped 'experimenting' with all this stuff at this point. I know what works well for me and I tend to stick with those products.
Regards,
Gordon

bernards66 wrote:Julian, This is a difficult question, and one that has been kicked around a number of times over the years at SMF. I think that I was the first to notice, back in '04 or so, that my D R Harris's Best Badger brush had turned a reddish brown hue over time. During this period I was using the old Taylor's Rose cream a lot and that seemed to be the cause of the discoloration. My then new Plisson EW was beginning to turn color also so I stopped using the rose cream with that brush. Shortly thereafter another member posted pictures of his Kent BK brush that was taking on a blueish tint from Harris's Lavender cream. And since, other members have noted the same problem with more heavily colored creams, like most of the rose versions, or Trumpers Violet or Harris's Lavender. However, other members have been using such creams for years along with their light tipped brushes and report no problems whatsoever. So, it would seem to been some combination of the highly colored creams along with certain waters that create this problem. Unfortunately, the only way to find out for sure if it would be an issue where you live is to actually try it and see. These days, for rose creams and the like, I just use my Simpson D2, which has dark enough bristle that it doesn't really show.

Regards,
Gordon

Gordon..Thank you for this reply..Southern California water is not very nice to shaving brushes in my experience..

Best regards,

Julian

I'm with Dr. Chris and Gordon on their assesments of the quality of lather from "artisan" vs. traditional triple-milled soaps. And to take it one step further, I'm a decided proponent of the tallowate -based versions wherever they're available. That's why I'll spend $$ on AOS lavender soap; damn the value argument!
Like Gordon, and probably Dr Chris,I've tried numerous times with the artisans and while I'm an advocate of the innovative, entrepreneurial spirit of the little guys, there are some things they just can't master or replicate.
Of course there are some pretty crappy triple-milled soaps out there, so don't take this as a blanket endorsement of all such offerings, but when the best of the artisan offerings are up against the best of the big guys triple-milled stuff, IMHO, there is no close competition!
jr/john

+3

Trumper Violet soap this morning, with a Simpson Polo 8 and the usual Friodur SS 8/8. Exquisite. If you can't lather this you should take up a new hobby!

Chris

drmoss_ca wrote:Trumper Violet soap this morning, with a Simpson Polo 8 and the usual Friodur SS 8/8. Exquisite. If you can't lather this you should take up a new hobby!

Chris

Lathered Trumper's Sandalwood soap this weekend and had the same results, though I will add that the cushion was not as good as my normal stearate based Taylor's and therefore the cut was a little closer than normal but the shave was still exquisite.

My cake of Sandalwood is a tad old though and lathered with distilled water so take it with a grain of salt.

Chris

So I will chime and echo much of what Gordon has said. For me, the artisan soaps are out of court because of my glycerin allergy (and I suspect the scenting ingredients irritate me in some instances).

The triple milled soaps are my daily preference because they give me my best lather. Highly personal, but IMHO they do produce a superior lather.

Chris

I've had a few pucks of Trumpers soaps. Yes, I can lather it. Do I have soaps that lather better? Doesn't matter. Do I have soaps that lather worse? What do you think?

Let me say this . . . I recently bought a puck of Violet and a puck of Rose from Trumper. I also bought two pucks of Institut Karite soap, then I shredded it all up with a fine tooth cheese grater, keeping the Violet separate from the Rose, and then thoroughly blending half a puck of Karite with half a puck of Violet, same for the Rose.

This gave me two full size pucks of each and now they smell just like Trumpers Violet and Rose and the all-veggie lather they generate meets my expectations and I perceive it as a satisfactory lather. Being hard soaps and pressed down hard, they promise to last me a very long time.