A serious question on Soap/Cream Reviews

Turn off comments and someone starts a forum post about how so and so is afraid to have comments because they don't know what they're talking about and blablabla...

It's the Internet. At what point will did you realize that things are not 100% true? Seriously, if that is your expectation, than your expectations are too high.

You want honest negative reviews? Go buy a sample of everything you can, post every negative review you can. Have at it. If it is so important that the Internet be completely honest and accurate, do your part. That's all there is to it.

Make sure you post all your negative reviews on all the big forums, just to get equal exposure with the happy reviewers out there...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The way I see it is this....if only positive reviews are published, then if you don't see many positive reviews....the soap is probably crap.

The way I see it is this....if only positive reviews are published, then if you don't see many positive reviews....the soap is probably crap.

And that is probably a very fair assessment, unless it is a brand new artisan, fresh on the scene. In which case...either take a chance or wait a few months. You know there are plenty of people that want to be first on the bandwagon...

I never take shave reviews to heart. Yes, I use them as a guiding factor, but they don't make my decisions for me. Especially in wet shaving, the competition for market share is so high, it's a fairly safe bet that if an artisan is surviving, they are making a quality product. Better and worse always exist, no matter what product you are holding in your hand, so really...how useful is someone else's opinion?

I'd rather have a discussion about the soap with someone I have at least a virtual relationship with, than read a hundred anonymous reviews...

I'd rather have a discussion about the soap with someone I have at least a virtual relationship with, than read a hundred anonymous reviews...

Agreed. I'd also say that the one-liner "reviews" do exist however you'll likely only find them in commerce environments that also support the posting of reviews.

Typically, unless someone makes a regular habit of constructing reviews, I find most only focus on sharing products they feel have positive merit. Still don't necessarily take these to heart but do find them interesting.

As Chris said, I have a handful of community members who's opinion I both trust and typically aligns with mine: they have influence on my buying habits and will likely inspire me to try something if not already on my radar.

There are multiple things going on here.

First, perhaps the innocent, those seeking advice, sees some  youtube "celebrity" have many reviews of soaps/razors, they might think they actually have experience, and can form a judgement of what they like or do not like. Then it turns out they don't even bother to post about the subpar stuff.

Second, there are no independent testers, like consumer reports. There are general trends. If 90% of people like something, chances are its good. If 10%, chances are its poor. A good example of this is the movies. NOTHING can be more YMMV than people's tastes in movies.  So there are full-time newspaper, and now Internet, movie critics. This is no different than "soap critics". They told you what was good or bad. But ...   I don't like those movies they like -... hmm, YMMV. And they HATE the movies I like. Some Oscar movies I hate. Some I like.

Yahoo has movie ratings, Here is a rotten tomatoes 19% of audiences liked it https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fantastic_four_2015/. Chances are, I probably won't like it, unless a fan of comic books. Then you will wonder what's wrong with all the other people.

Waiting to hear reviews of some soaps will never happen. Count all the reviews of Panama Boellis.

The loser here is the consumer seeking knowledge. Maybe there should be a Rotten Tomatoes type system since its all YMMV. That will never happen because this is so very niche. So the consumer loses again. Sad.

grim

B&B has a rating section, but it isn't easy to find and not many people take the time to use it.. People can rate various factors for software & hardware, give feedback and post pics. You look up the item you wanted to review, if someone had done one already, you add to it. It shows independent member ratings by each poster and then an overall rating.

http://badgerandblade.com/reviews/showpr...ick&cat=40

http://badgerandblade.com/reviews/showpr...ick&cat=41

I know that this thread is a bit older but I like the question so I figured I'd share my thoughts.

I've tried a hell of a lot of soaps (well over 400) and I've tried some really bad ones but surprisingly not as many as you might think. I've found about 5 soaps that I'd consider exceptional excelling in many areas, A good amount of excellent soaps that excel in a particular trait, a hell of a lot of very good soaps that don't have any obvious flaws, and a few pathetic attempts at soap making that deserve to be called out for their actions.

The worst of the worst are the ones are the ones you've never heard of that are being sold on EBay or possibly Etsy, or the majority or soaps you find at the local flea bazar. These have a tendency to not lather well at all making it a fight to get a usable lather. I have no problem sharing my thoughts about these but I can't seem to remember the names of the makers and most no longer are selling soap anyway. They're out there if you look hard enough and most aren't worth the effort it takes to write a negative review as they'll be gone soon anyway. It's a rare exception that a well known maker makes a very poor soap but there are examples. Truefitt & Hill makes a very poor excuse for a high priced shave soap as I haven't been able to get a decent lather from this soap no matter what method I've chosen. I should have used it in the shower but instead I passed it on to someone else so that they can struggle with it as well.

I also see lots of threads from new people asking for advice on what soap to buy. What I see here are the ones you'd expect to be mentioned, DR. Harris, Proraso, and the other more popular brand names. I'd consider both of these soaps to be average offerings. I know that DR. Harris has a dedicated following but for me it's only an average soap. I see these threads and think that there are a hell or a lot better soaps out there than these. But the people that have tried six soaps will list their two or three favorites from what they've tried. They're just trying to be helpful after all but they may as well have asked "please give me a list of average soaps". I'll offer up some better recommendations but they'll see Proraso listed about six times, so it must be great, and buy that over my much better suggestion. They should have phrased the question more like "From people who have tried over fifty soaps what are the best ones you've found". But they never do, so Proraso is what they buy.

I also suspect that you don't see many bad reviews because honestly most of the soaps made today just aren't that bad. Some are better than others but there have been enough decent soap recipes posted recently that most attempts at soap making yield a decent very enjoyable product. It must be very easy to make a very good soap but very difficult to make an exceptional one. This holds true with the really bad ones as well as they come along about as often as I find an exceptional one. It must take a total disregard of the recipe or an exhaustive search to find the worst ingredients available in order to yield an extremely poor soap. Most people can follow a simple recipe and produce a pretty decent shave soap.

Making an exceptional soap takes a lot of effort and a good amount of knowledge. Making a really poor soap takes an equal amount of effort in the opposite direction.

I wrote a negative review and didn't get lambasted.http://shavenook.com/showthread.php?tid=30639 Post 71

I wrote a negative review and didn't get lambasted.http://shavenook.com/showthread.php?tid=30639 Post 71

I don't see how "...top 5% of all soaps on the market today." and "No better soaps on the market today" is a negative review...

Hard to lambaste somebody over a scent preference...

What I see here are the ones you'd expect to be mentioned, DR. Harris, Proraso, and the other more popular brand names.   I'd consider both of these soaps to be average offerings.

I forgot to mention there is one commercial entity that seems to get universal panning and that's Eucris soap. Seems like few people can get it to lather.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eohxPTOhbw