A serious question on Soap/Cream Reviews

I got B&M
Beauldelaire
Hallows
Lavanille
Seville
Rhapsody
Cheshire..cream?

Since you seem to prefer fruitier scents, I'd be happy to send you a jar of Latha Sandalwood, which features currant quite prominently and may be more to your liking. Most of what you received is among our rather "out there" main catalog. If you hate it, that's cool, but you might be pleasantly surprised.

Anyway, I don't want to derail the thread any further, so I will bow out. @"gregkw1", if you are interested, shoot me a PM on the subject. Everyone else, enjoy the rest of your week.

Absolutely outstanding customer service and a very generous offer. Really excellent soaps as well.

B&M  has earned my respect because of the performance and scent of their soaps.    The customer service ain't too shabby either.

I did not enjoy my only experience with B&M, and I was willing to live without a second effort. It is because of Will's exceptional customer service on this forum that I am undoubtedly going to purchase from his Latha product line, and try again. He has earned his second chance, and I am all too happy to give it to him...

B&M  has earned my respect because of the performance and scent of their soaps.    The customer service ain't too shabby either.

I did not enjoy my only experience with B&M, and I was willing to live without a second effort. It is because of Will's exceptional customer service on this forum that I am undoubtedly going to purchase from his Latha product line, and try again. He has earned his second chance, and I am all too happy to give it to him...

I have not tried the Latha line yet...but I can recommend the Glissant formula.

B&M  has earned my respect because of the performance and scent of their soaps.    The customer service ain't too shabby either.

I did not enjoy my only experience with B&M, and I was willing to live without a second effort. It is because of Will's exceptional customer service on this forum that I am undoubtedly going to purchase from his Latha product line, and try again. He has earned his second chance, and I am all too happy to give it to him...

I have not tried the Latha line yet...but I can recommend the Glissant formula.

My rough experience was with Night Music. At Will's recommendation, I am going to try the Latha line, as he seemed to think it would be better suited to my preferences...

Some of Will's soaps are "love it or hate it" scents but the soap has always been an excellent performer for me.
The biggest risk for me is the scent because I know that, without a doubt, the excellent performance is going to be there.

Even then, the scent I don't care for will be someone else's favorite, so they certainly aren't bad scents just ones that are meant for different people. Find the one that's right for you and you'll be a very happy man.

Customer service is and has always been exceptional.

I did not enjoy my only experience with B&M, and I was willing to live without a second effort. It is because of Will's exceptional customer service on this forum that I am undoubtedly going to purchase from his Latha product line, and try again. He has earned his second chance, and I am all too happy to give it to him...

I have not tried the Latha line yet...but I can recommend the Glissant formula.

My rough experience was with Night Music. At Will's recommendation, I am going to try the Latha line, as he seemed to think it would be better suited to my preferences...

I'd be happy to make a recommendation regarding scent, if you'd like. Shoot me a PM and we'll hash it out.

I have not tried the Latha line yet...but I can recommend the Glissant formula.

My rough experience was with Night Music. At Will's recommendation, I am going to try the Latha line, as he seemed to think it would be better suited to my preferences...

I'd be happy to make a recommendation regarding scent, if you'd like. Shoot me a PM and we'll hash it out.

Awesome! PM has been sent!

Max (vtmax) has stated he believes B&M and CRSW are overrated.  While I cannot speak to the latter, as I have never tried them, the Barrister_N_Mann were absolutely eye openers to me as to what artisans can achieve.  A friend sent me two (Cheshire and Rhapsody) as gifts and, honestly, for me it showed what all around quality could be.  As far as I'm concerned, some of our best artisans can easily compete with the big boys.

Is either of us wrong?  Absolutely not.  There are too many variables as to what an individual may or may not like in how a soap or cream performs or what he can tolerate on the skin to the very personal subject of scent.

As to reviews, as long as they are honest, discuss salient points, and do so in a cordial manner, then there definitely need to be both positive and negative reviews.  Very often a reviewer will touch on both the pros and cons in a single review.  When negatives are brought to the fore in a polite and honest way, they can only help the artisan.  As an example, I praised Barrister and Mann's new packaging when I received my Cologne Russe shaving soap.  I loved everything about it but I had one minor nitpick.  I could not see the weight of the product anywhere on the tub.  I thought I might have missed it and had to go on the B&M site to see the weight.  Will came back and posted, thanking me for my review and being very honest in stating that he hadn't noticed the omission until I pointed it out.  He assured us that the correction would be made on other labels before they were printed and on the Cologne Russe labels once the old stock was gone.  That is exactly how a negative can be turned into a positive, in my opinion.

So, Max (and others), you and I shall have to agree to disagree about Barrister and Mann's products but both of us have a point and that is just as it should be.

Max (vtmax) has stated he believes B&M and CRSW are overrated.  While I cannot speak to the latter, as I have never tried them, the Barrister_N_Mann were absolutely eye openers to me as to what artisans can achieve.  A friend sent me two (Cheshire and Rhapsody) as gifts and, honestly, for me it showed what all around quality could be.  As far as I'm concerned, some of our best artisans can easily compete with the big boys.

As far as I'm concerned, our best artisans are the big boys.

My original post was in April before finishing trying hundreds of soaps. My question was simple “the one thing I noticed over and over again, is that frankly NOBODY say anything negative, or much negative, about anything.  It’s rare. Almost every product is highly rated, highly regarded, etc. etc. etc.  That is not real life. If everything you encounter is perfect or near perfect, then chances are you haven’t tried enough products or your bar is set low. …So what is going on here?”

Maybe I should alter that to say “rarely in forums, blogs, or youtube reviews”  I don’t care what the product is, there is good stuff and average stuff and bad stuff whether it be washing machines, tires, or soap. Consumers pick up on this, maybe from consumer reports, maybe from user reviews.  Prior to testing hundreds of soaps I expected a normal curve. I got one shifting towards the high side but still, half of what I tested I would never buy.This is real life. Just saying something is usable is true. But I ranked “against each other”.

Just think about this in your own city/town. Think about the restaurants. YMMV is a crutch. NOTHING is more YMMV than individual tastes in food  and atmosphere. Now rank the restaurants in your area from 1 – n. You can be sure some you will rank at the top, many average, and some you would NEVER go to. This is life. You “could” eat in any of them, but you know very well that in you mind, some are just poor and some are just great, and most are average – TO YOU – YMMV.

There might be many reasons from this from fearing the ire of fanboys to not wanting to hurt soap makers. I find this a bit strange as this is not how things work “in real life”. There are big companies, small companies, and mom and pop shops in many industries. So think about it. If someone asked you your opinion on the best TV, the best pair of winter gloves, the best golf clubs,  the best car brand, the best (whatever interests you), then you would probably have an opinion of the good brands, the average brands, and the poor brands. ALL of them might be usable. ANY TV you buy might work, but it might not be the “best” TV.

And finding good and bad reviews of about any product is easy to find, except in this hobby. Which brings me back to ... why? For the "celebrities" fear of fanboys? I just don't get it. They just are rare and the "usability" and YMMV arguments don't wash as they exist for many other interests as well.