Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Soap
Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2025 3:52 pm
Good afternoon, gents.
Although I use Martin de Candre Fougere and a couple of Italian soft soaps more than anything else these days, I still keep on hand several English triple-milled soaps, and I keep an eye out for what those soap formulations look like. For instance, Salter and Harris, which are excellent tallowate soaps at present, seem to be undergoing a formula change (to a different, and purportedly still excellent, tallowate base). T&H seems to have two different veggie formulae, both well thought of, although I've used neither.
At any rate, there's a shift happening right now wherein a lot of classic big hitters in shave soap - Tabac, Speick, Floris, among others - are adopting a common base with Potassium Stearate as the first ingredient and Potassium Laurate (lauric acid being a primary constituent of coconut oil and a driving factor in providing structure to soap lather) as another big piece of the recipe. Here's the complete ingredient list of the new-ish TOBS Sandalwood soap with this new formulation:
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, POtassium Laurate, Sodium Laurate, Glycerin, Parfum, Palm Kernel Acid, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Tetrasodium Iminodisuccinate, Linalool, Coumarin, Geraniol, Eugenol, Limonene, Cinnamal, Citronellol, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide).
This recipe isn't too far off of the old TOBS soap formulation. Here's a lavender soap formula from the early 2000s:
Potassium Stearate, Potassium Palmate, Sodium Cocoate, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Aqua, Glycerin, Parfum
(Fragrance), Sodium Chloride, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77007 (Ultramarines), Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasoidum EDTA,
Tetrasodium Etidronate
Laurate may as well be Palm Kernelate, meaning in a sense, TOBS shave soap is coming home to its old and very well-regarded iteration. Different scent ingredients, of course, but given that I love the TOBS Sandalwood scent, I had to order a puck. It's incoming now, and I will post a pic of the lather and report on performance as soon as I can.
I can say that Tabac's initial post-tallowate recipe was middling, but the newer veggie version, which uses this exact base, is outstanding, and most folks would know no difference from the outstanding veggie version if they were to test them side-by-side. So I'm quite excited about this. Because the turnover is ongoing for TOBS, it's hard to know what you'll get from some vendors. I ordered a puck from Maggard, which lists this new formulation. They also have the soap in a bowl, which lists the previous formulation (see below):
Potassium Palmate, Sodium Palmate, Potassium Pal Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Aqua (Water), Parfum (Fragrances), Palm Kernel Fatty Acid, Sodium Chloride, Pentasodium Pentatate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Linalool, Courmarin, Geraniol, Limonene, Cinnamal, Citronellol, Benzyl Benzoate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Citral, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide).
All of that to say, maybe we're seeing a turnaround in the quality of these large-scale production milled soaps. Following an overwhelming surge in artisan soaps that lather really well through the primary use of stearates, this is overdue.
I'm hoping to get that puck from Maggard in the next few days, so I shall try to post early next week with more information. Now let's get a TOBS lavender in this scent, and then maybe Trumper will start cranking out soaps with a similar potassium stearate-focused base. A man can dream, after all!
Although I use Martin de Candre Fougere and a couple of Italian soft soaps more than anything else these days, I still keep on hand several English triple-milled soaps, and I keep an eye out for what those soap formulations look like. For instance, Salter and Harris, which are excellent tallowate soaps at present, seem to be undergoing a formula change (to a different, and purportedly still excellent, tallowate base). T&H seems to have two different veggie formulae, both well thought of, although I've used neither.
At any rate, there's a shift happening right now wherein a lot of classic big hitters in shave soap - Tabac, Speick, Floris, among others - are adopting a common base with Potassium Stearate as the first ingredient and Potassium Laurate (lauric acid being a primary constituent of coconut oil and a driving factor in providing structure to soap lather) as another big piece of the recipe. Here's the complete ingredient list of the new-ish TOBS Sandalwood soap with this new formulation:
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, POtassium Laurate, Sodium Laurate, Glycerin, Parfum, Palm Kernel Acid, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Tetrasodium Iminodisuccinate, Linalool, Coumarin, Geraniol, Eugenol, Limonene, Cinnamal, Citronellol, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide).
This recipe isn't too far off of the old TOBS soap formulation. Here's a lavender soap formula from the early 2000s:
Potassium Stearate, Potassium Palmate, Sodium Cocoate, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Aqua, Glycerin, Parfum
(Fragrance), Sodium Chloride, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77007 (Ultramarines), Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasoidum EDTA,
Tetrasodium Etidronate
Laurate may as well be Palm Kernelate, meaning in a sense, TOBS shave soap is coming home to its old and very well-regarded iteration. Different scent ingredients, of course, but given that I love the TOBS Sandalwood scent, I had to order a puck. It's incoming now, and I will post a pic of the lather and report on performance as soon as I can.
I can say that Tabac's initial post-tallowate recipe was middling, but the newer veggie version, which uses this exact base, is outstanding, and most folks would know no difference from the outstanding veggie version if they were to test them side-by-side. So I'm quite excited about this. Because the turnover is ongoing for TOBS, it's hard to know what you'll get from some vendors. I ordered a puck from Maggard, which lists this new formulation. They also have the soap in a bowl, which lists the previous formulation (see below):
Potassium Palmate, Sodium Palmate, Potassium Pal Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Aqua (Water), Parfum (Fragrances), Palm Kernel Fatty Acid, Sodium Chloride, Pentasodium Pentatate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Linalool, Courmarin, Geraniol, Limonene, Cinnamal, Citronellol, Benzyl Benzoate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Citral, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide).
All of that to say, maybe we're seeing a turnaround in the quality of these large-scale production milled soaps. Following an overwhelming surge in artisan soaps that lather really well through the primary use of stearates, this is overdue.
I'm hoping to get that puck from Maggard in the next few days, so I shall try to post early next week with more information. Now let's get a TOBS lavender in this scent, and then maybe Trumper will start cranking out soaps with a similar potassium stearate-focused base. A man can dream, after all!
