A Few Words About The Newest Grooming Department Soaps....

Ok, I just stumbled upon this thread and figured I'd comment as my name was mentioned a few times.  While I can't tell anyone what will be the absolute best soap will be for them I can share my own experience.  I do oversee a soap sample passaround on another forum and I've tried most of what's out there with the exception of some newer ones.  I started the passaround several years back as I'd been searching for the best 10 to 12 soaps on the planet.  I stated out buying as many soaps and samples that I could get my hands on.  Once I had quite a few I started trading samples with other forum members.  I'd try anything I hadn't tried before and after trying about 600 or so I narrowed my shave den down to about 120 soaps.  It's grown and shrank several more times and now it's around 70 consisting of a handful of vendors.   I consider myself to be very, very selective at this point.  I have also helped several artisans out with testing and feedback of their new formulas and I feel that at this point I likely have more experience than most when it comes to shaving soaps.  I don't agree with many of the ratings I see on the YouTube videos and I'm left wondering what people are thinking when I watch some of them.  

As far as being unbiased goes in the passaround the most important rule is that the reviews are honest.  I consider myself a very honest and straightforward person and my reviews reflect my accurate opinion of the soaps I try.  I've seen some people blindly praise one vendor and bash everyone else and frankly I don't understand that at all.  I do know a lot of the vendors through the passaround, most are exceptionally kind, but how a soap performs has nothing to do with how nice the artisan is.  I call it how it is.  In reviewing a soap for me the scent and the price are not weighed in the performance.  What scents some people like and don't like don't effect the performance.  Sure I like some scents better than others but I've found my opinion on a particular scent can change as well.  What I like you may not and vice versa.  As far as price goes, again it has no impact on performance whatsoever.  A Corvette does not perform better than a Ferrari because it cost one sixth the price.  maybe it makes it a better value but it doesn't make it perform any better.  I've seen some reviewers rate a soap higher because it was less expensive.  Again, not a reason for that as far as I'm concerned.   I don't get a bunch or free stuff and I'm not compensated for sharing my opinion.  I have no desire to post YouTube videos in an effort to garner attention and I have nothing to gain monetarily by sharing my opinion, I do it only to help others out in the forums.  

So having been through several soaps I'd be happy to share my favorites with you.  

1. Grooming Dept - to me this is currently the very best soap ever made and has been since it's introduction.  There are several formulas and they are all excellent, outstanding in fact.  Even the older formulas.  The scents are often inspired by high end colognes.  Scent wise some are outstanding and others might not be for everyone.  None are boring though.  This soap has a exceptional ability to hold a ton of water allowing it to stay very slick throughout the shave.  Where it really shines though for me is in the post shave qualities.  After using this soap for just a few days you'll notice your skin change for the better.  After a week or so you'll find your skin in the very best shape it's been in since you were a newborn.   In my opinion this is what makes these soaps better than everything else out there and why I reach for it more frequently than any other.  

While this is a Grooming Dept thread I'll share some thoughts on other soaps as well for comparison purposes.  

2. My second favorite soap is Tallow & Steel.  This one gets knocked by many for the scents though I've found that after using them several times the scents do grow on you and get better and better with additional uses.  Unfortunately many sniff the tub and skip it or give up on it way too early.    This soap, like Grooming Dept, changes my skin for the better rather quickly.  A bit less so than Grooming Dept but a week or two of using Tallow & Steel will significantly change your skin for the better.  It's what I'd consider an exceptional soap.  

3. Lisa's Natural Herbal Creations (new Premium version) - this is another that displays some excellent post shave qualities.  Not quite as much so as Grooming Dept and Tallow & Steel but it's still very impressive and deserving of a very high rating.    

In using these three soaps most often I've found that my skin is in exceptional shape.  Since my skin retains the benefits from these soaps this makes the other soaps that I use in between much better as well.  To grade a soap properly it requires a bit of work on my part.  To accurately and thoroughly test a soap I have to dry my face back out for several days using something like Tabac to get it to a normal dried out state then use the test soap for a week or two noting if and how my skin changes from day to day.  If I don't do it this way then I'll give the test soap a higher rating than it deserves.  I likely take testing a bit farther than many others do as it's only when I do that I can get an accurate assessment of a soap.  There are tons of really good shaving soaps out right now but only a few that are truly exceptional.    

My shave den consists of Grooming Dept and Tallow and Steel (for the most part).  Others I've found that are excellent and tier 1 for me are  PannaCrema, Wholly Kaw Donkey Milk,  B&M Reserve Line, Sudsy Soapery and Declaration Grooming.  We're talking top 1% of the over 600 soaps that  I've tried here, so it's certainly no small task to outshine 590 plus other soaps.  These are all soaps made by some of the best soap makers on the planet.  It's very difficult to find any fault with any of them but they don't get my skin as moisturized and healthy as the others listed above do.  You'll find that they are exceptional but they only take my skin so far.  I've been using up what I have from these vendors and replacing them with soaps from Grooming Dept, Tallow & Steel and to a lesser extent Lisa's Premium.  In doing so I've been using many of these soaps up from start to finish and confirming my earlier findings.  My skin is not in the same state as it is when I use Grooming Dept soaps daily.   I don't rate these other tier 1 soaps as high as my top three because they don't get my skin to the same point as my absolute favorites do.  I do expect that they'd rank in everyone's tier 1 though.  

While not tier 1 soaps for me I also always have Martin de Candre and Le Pere Lucien on hand as.   I do use a water softener at home (highly recommended) but when I travel LPL and MdC are my go to soaps as they'll lather effortlessly in the very worst water the planet has to offer.  

Maybe I put more value than others do in what a soap does for my skin but try using a Grooming Dept soap exclusively for a couple weeks straight and watch what happens.  I'm sure you'll be impressed.  

Anyway, just my thoughts, so maybe not representative of what others think.  Hopefully, they were worth the time it took to read them.

dayum...600 soaps!  good work on your part.

how come there isn't a passaround on DFS??!!?!?  In fact, I have a bunch of samples of items since I'm always the last person on the DFS passaround stop when a vendor sends us a product to try out.  I'd be more than happy to send them to you if you want to organize something here.  I simply don't have the time for it.

Came here to comment on what andrewjs18 just said dfoulk has been doing an amazing job managing the pass-around boxes on B&B. I have benefited greatly from his efforts.

I'd love to see pass-around boxes on DFS. I don't like samples and would be happy to offer an entire of 6-8 GroomingDept soaps in on box to pass around.

that'd be a killer pass around box - see if we can get other soap makers and such to contribute to the box and pass it around!

dayum...600 soaps!  good work on your part.

how come there isn't a passaround on DFS??!!?!?  In fact, I have a bunch of samples of items since I'm always the last person on the DFS passaround stop when a vendor sends us a product to try out.  I'd be more than happy to send them to you if you want to organize something here.  I simply don't have the time for it.

Came here to comment on what andrewjs18 just said dfoulk has been doing an amazing job managing the pass-around boxes on B&B. I have benefited greatly from his efforts.

I'd love to see pass-around boxes on DFS. I don't like samples and would be happy to offer an entire of 6-8 GroomingDept soaps in on box to pass around.

that'd be a killer pass around box - see if we can get other soap makers and such to contribute to the box and pass it around!

Pretty much what I've been doing on the other forum. Many vendors have donated soaps for the passaround over there. I'd consider doing something similar here as well if there's enough interest. Prob try to narrow it down a bit though and be more selective as the other one has four medium flat rate boxes with over 100 soaps to try in each one. Many of the guys there have done the passaround several times as it's a bit overwhelming. I'd rather narrow it to a couple boxes of really, really great soaps.

Came here to comment on what andrewjs18 just said dfoulk has been doing an amazing job managing the pass-around boxes on B&B. I have benefited greatly from his efforts.

I'd love to see pass-around boxes on DFS. I don't like samples and would be happy to offer an entire of 6-8 GroomingDept soaps in on box to pass around.

that'd be a killer pass around box - see if we can get other soap makers and such to contribute to the box and pass it around!

Pretty much what I've been doing on the other forum.  Many vendors have donated soaps for the passaround over there.  I'd consider doing something similar here as well if there's enough interest.  Prob try to narrow it down a bit though and be more selective as the other one has four medium flat rate boxes with over 100 soaps to try in each one.  Many of the guys there have done the passaround several times as it's a bit overwhelming.

wow, that is a lot. how many soaps do you think you could fit within a large flat rate box? they also have the longer flat rate boxes that are designed for board games, I think, that may hold a lot of soaps.

ps, everyone should use pirateship.com for shipping items, even flat rate boxes get a discount!

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Is there much of a difference between the GD formulas? Primus, Janus etc. Also, i'm curious to know which formula is the one you're referring to throughout this last page or so.

I would expect a wide range of views about the bases, but there are important differences to me.  To paraphrase Will Rogers, I never met a GD soap I didn't like.  OTOH, I do have clear favorite at this point, that being the Lusso base.   

I believe Frenchy and BPman had Naranja de Sangre in mind but I am not sure, so you will have to ask them.  Besides, I don't know what base Naranja de Sangre is, and I do not see it on the GD site at this time.

Ok, I just stumbled upon this thread and figured I'd comment as my name was mentioned a few times.  ...

It's very nice to hear from you David.  Thanks for weighing in.

that'd be a killer pass around box - see if we can get other soap makers and such to contribute to the box and pass it around!

Pretty much what I've been doing on the other forum.  Many vendors have donated soaps for the passaround over there.  I'd consider doing something similar here as well if there's enough interest.  Prob try to narrow it down a bit though and be more selective as the other one has four medium flat rate boxes with over 100 soaps to try in each one.  Many of the guys there have done the passaround several times as it's a bit overwhelming.

wow, that is a lot.  how many soaps do you think you could fit within a large flat rate box?  they also have the longer flat rate boxes that are designed for board games, I think, that may hold a lot of soaps.

ps, everyone should use pirateship.com for shipping items, even flat rate boxes get a discount!

Currently each medium box has around 100 to maybe 120 of the the Maggard's sample containers (the clear ones with the white screw top) each full of soap. In most cases it's not beneficial to send full tubs. For several reasons like sanitary purposes. Another consideration is that the boxes hold a lot less soaps and if a box goes missing then all of the soap from those vendors is gone. I have had two boxes from the sample passaround and one Nuavia passaround go missing so far so it does happen. When this happens if it's samples then I just refill and label some more containers. The other issue is that people start taking samples from the full tubs. As far as sending a larger box with even more smaller samples goes it's kinda overwhelming with over 100 and if the boxes keep stalling then I end up babysitting them. So it's good to limit the time each person has each box. I've found that the medium boxes work well in this regard.

With the sample boxes, the users remove the soap they need for their shave and lather in a separate bowl. Most of the boxes contain a cheap plastic salsa bowl and some have vendor donated brushes that they can use as well if they choose to do so. Manufacturers usually send be between four to maybe eight tubs of soap that I use to refill the sample containers as they become empty. Some have even sent their entire line. Between rounds I refill the sample containers or sometimes I can include a refill of something that's running low when I send more samples to a box from time to time. If a sample is running low there's enough to smell and there's usually something else from that vendor in the same formula that the user can choose to try to gauge performance. Each user gets each box for a week to ten days to try whatever they'd like but the samples stay with the box. Once you send the box you have you get the next one sent to you and so on.

So from a vendor perspective, they like it because all of the soap they donate gets used by potential customers one shave at a time. So it's not a try it and keep it type of thing. The potential sanitary issues are avoided (aside from the brushes that they can choose to try) as the samples are removed and lathered separately. I have gotten a very positive response from the majority of the vendors I've asked to participate. Most are more than happy to get the opportunity as there aren't a lot of outlets to promote their products aside from a positive review that someone posts here and there. Users are required to post reviews and share thoughts about the soaps that they try or any other soap in the passaround thread. As long as the reviews are honest and respectful is all that I ask. We're not all going to like the same things all the time after all.

What Mohammad is proposing is a bit different and I've agreed to do this for him on the other forum as well, is to include a fifth box over there with just full tubs of Grooming Dept soaps as they seem to lather a lot better in the tub. I'd oversee that here as well if it's something you guys would be interested in doing. Kinda like I did with the PannaCrema Nuavia soaps there. The negative to this is that a box might contain only 15 to maybe 20 soaps instead of a much larger selection. Also the sanitary thing can be a factor as some are squeemish about using a used soap. I was planning on convincing Mohammad to send me a few more soaps from each new release to keep adding to the box so that we could end up with a 20 soap Grooming Dept passaround box.


Anyone interested?

My apologies to Mohammad and the thread owner as well for sidetracking this thread a bit. I'll likely take this conversation into a new thread some time in the next few days once I get a bit more organized and we'll see if there's any interest.

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Is there much of a difference between the GD formulas? Primus, Janus etc. Also, i'm curious to know which formula is the one you're referring to throughout this last page or so.

I believe Frenchy and BPman had Naranja de Sangre in mind but I am not sure, so you will have to ask them.  Besides, I don't know what base Naranja de Sangre is, and I do not see it on the GD site at this time.

I’m using Before The Fire and Island In The Sun

There is a huge delta between GD formulae in my experience. All are good but I like to use Lusso for summer, Donkey Milk spring and fall and Mallard winter. Beef and lamb tallows are mixed in mainly spring thru fall but the hydrating properties for me align best seasonally like German beers

David, apologies for involving you in this.  People asked on what basis my judgements were formed and felt compelled to cite you. Your credentials are unimpeachable and more importantly you set criteria separating performance from personal preference.  Surely some will question your reflections and well proferred empirically based advice; for the grief they will direct your way, I apologize profusely.

...So having been through several soaps I'd be happy to share my favorites with you.  

1. Grooming Dept...

2. My second favorite soap is Tallow & Steel...

3. Lisa's Natural Herbal Creations (new Premium version)…

I thought (at least in the past) your No. 1 favorite was PannaCrema?


Let us split hairs if we may for a moment and let us eliminate scent as well as any post shave "face feel" so as to get a level playing field. I say this as I think that far too many of us fall prey to our lust for sensual cravings, myself included. My top three or four would be the same regardless as although I treasure a beautiful fragrance, I ultimately judge for the quality of the shave, i.e., glide, cushion & to a far lesser extent ease of lathering. The latter mainly due to the fact that I only use synthetic brushes which accentuate this tremendously.

Would your list change?