A serious question on Soap/Cream Reviews

As far as the vtmax thing goes, we all experience these products differently and we can all share only our own experiences. I've read many reviews that I haven't completely agreed with, so nothing new there for me. We're all entitled to our own opinion for what it's worth, and in some aspects I do see what he's getting at. They aren't the best he's tried. They aren't the very best I've tried either but I do rate them a bit higher myself. Do take note that I haven't read all of the reviews he's written, so maybe there's something more there that I'm missing.

For me an outstanding soap is one that excels in just about every category. I'm looking for over the top slickness and excellent moisturizing capabilities. Scents are important but secondary to performance. Outstanding soaps are hard to find as I've only found a few to be standouts and deserving of my highest ranking. These are the soaps I'd highly recommend to someone looking for the best soap available. They excel in just about every aspect. These are the soaps I'm constantly looking to discover.

Outstanding soaps for me are:
1. PannaCrema Nuavia - this is the best I've found so far.
2. Sudsy Soapery - not too far off from PannaCrema at a much lower price.
3. PannaCrema Nuavia - Like nuavia, slightly slicker but a bit harder to lather.
4. Midnight & Two - another excellent soap but the price scares some away. The lavender (Provence) scent is excellent.

I haven't tried Tallow & Steel or Phoenix and Beau yet but I have high hopes for them.
Obsessive Soap Perfectionist was toward the top of my excellent category, but not outstanding for me.

I find CRSW to be an excellent soap. It's not as good as my absolute favorites but it's certainly above average for me. Their scents are all quite nice and performance is excellent. Soaps like Martin de Candre, Strop Shoppe SE w/tallow, and Valobra would be toward the top of this category. Barrister & Mann is another excellent soap but it's not in my top ten. The biggest complaint I have about Barrister & Mann is the scents being love it or hate it. I pretty much have to try a sample before buying it because the scents are too risky for me. Performance wise they are very solid, so no complaints there. Some scents like Seville are appealing to the majority so that's a good one to try to see if you like the soap but most aren't this way. The Latha line is pretty tame scent wise and a safe bet as well. Nocturne and Bay Rum I'm fond of while ROAM I dislike quite a bit.

There are a lot of really great soaps out that don't have any obvious weaknesses and might even excel in a category or two. Being in my outstanding category is like the top 1% of all of the 400 plus soaps I've tried so falling into excellent status for me isn't a terrible thing by any means. I'd consider these (B&M, CRSW) soaps excellent, no obvious faults and possibly excelling in some aspects. For most people who haven't tried hundreds of soaps these might be the very best soap they've experienced so far. Certainly better than the average offerings (such as Proraso, DR Harris, etc) but not as good as the very best I've found. This is where I'd rank B&M, firmly in the excellent category as something I'd have no problem recommending. I haven't tried the newer B&M offerings (I'd like to) so if they are better than the older offerings I wouldn't know. I'd rank the newer CRSW offerings toward the top of my excellent category.

 Being in my outstanding category is like the top 1% of all of the 400 plus soaps I've tried so falling into excellent status for me isn't a terrible thing by any means.

...For most people who haven't tried hundreds of soaps these might be the very best soap they've experienced so far.

Exactly. One can only comment based upon one's experience. If you've never owned a Ferrari, then you can't comment on it. If you've never owned a boat, then you can't comment on the boating hobby. If you don't play golf, then you can't intelligently discuss it. I'm not going to talk about straight razors because I don't use them. And of course here, if your experience is limited to say 50 soaps, then compared to others its severely lacking and Product A might be the best you ever had, but pales in comparison to Product B.

 Being in my outstanding category is like the top 1% of all of the 400 plus soaps I've tried so falling into excellent status for me isn't a terrible thing by any means.  

...For most people who haven't tried hundreds of soaps these might be the very best soap they've experienced so far.  

Exactly. One can only comment based upon one's experience. If you've never owned a Ferrari, then you can't comment on it. If you've never owned a boat, then you can't comment on the boating hobby. If you don't play golf, then you can't intelligently discuss it. I'm not going to talk about straight razors because I don't use them. And of course here, if your experience is limited to say 50 soaps, then compared to others its severely lacking and Product A might be the best you ever had, but pales in comparison to Product B.

Have you ever done a youtube soap review?   If not, how can you comment on it?    Have you owned 400 soaps (or even say 50, which is a crapload)?   If not, how do you know that soap reviewers are wrong?

Now about B&M.   I’ve said nothing about it. I don’t know nor care about any drama of any vendors, its not my business. But I’ll say this about Lavanalle. I think I tried maybe 7 different B&M soaps. Lavanalle was one of my favorites of the group. OK Dickens smelled the best because I wanted to eat it. But the color?  My water bowl looked a murky color that I had a hard time getting by. Every time I looked down from rinsing …   I'm sorry, it could have been the best thing ever made but Maybe change the color?  Just an opinion on color.  

This is one thing I don't understand. I was speaking with a soap maker the other day (not Will at B&M) about a bunch of stuff and he mentioned to me that someone complained about the color of his soap. This was a total surprise to me that anyone even cared the slightest bit. My response was "What the hell difference does it make what color it is?" As long as it doesn't impact the performance of the shave I couldn't care less if it were, brown, green, blue or purple. It makes no difference to me at all.

The one exception I can think of is GFT released a Violet soap that some have stated would stain their brush. I tried it anyway and didn't experience the staining myself but I only used it one time. So, I guess I don't want a soap that'll stain my brush but other than that I don't care what color it is.

So I'm wondering why the color of a soap even matters, it's just soap.

I can answer the color question, at least from my perspective...

I dislike brown soaps. The reason is simple...living in California, under heavy drought conditions, I limit my water usage. I don't rinse my razors under running water, I fill my sink, and I rinse my razors in the standing water. When using a very dark brown soap, the water looks, quite literally, like toilet water. I tleaves me the impression that I am rinsing in a toilet AFTER my morning constitutional, and it can be off-putting.

Now...since the first time I noticed this, I have used several brown soaps, and I have gotten over my distaste for the toilet water impression, but despite the fact that I can use it without being completely grossed out, it does still make me shake my head and grimace a little bit when I see it. It's not enough to make me stop using a soap that I enjoy, but it is enough to make me wonder why they wouldn't just try to change the color so that wouldn't happen...

Just a little anecdotal reasoning for why color might be important to someone...

Any soap containing certain ingredients like vanillin will turn the soap brown naturally. I don't think they intentionally make it a different color unless it's a soap like MLS The Kraken that has blue swirls in it.

I can answer the color question, at least from my perspective...

I dislike brown soaps. The reason is simple...living in California, under heavy drought conditions, I limit my water usage. I don't rinse my razors under running water, I fill my sink, and I rinse my razors in the standing water. When using a very dark brown soap, the water looks, quite literally, like toilet water. I tleaves me the impression that I am rinsing in a toilet AFTER my morning constitutional, and it can be off-putting.

Now...since the first time I noticed this, I have used several brown soaps, and I have gotten over my distaste for the toilet water impression, but despite the fact that I can use it without being completely grossed out, it does still make me shake my head and grimace a little bit when I see it. It's not enough to make me stop using a soap that I enjoy, but it is enough to make me wonder why they wouldn't just try to change the color so that wouldn't happen...

Just a little anecdotal reasoning for why color might be important to someone...

Thanks for the response.

For the particular vendor I was speaking to they use different clays that have slightly different properties. Some of the clays are different colors and they choose different ones based on the soap they are making. Could they change the clay, sure but they match the ones that they choose for a reason.

As far as water goes, I rinse my razor under running water. I don't leave the water on during my shave and I only turn it on when I need to rinse something off, so it's on and off very briefly. So as far as who's using more water between you filling up your sink and me turning it on and off, I'm not sure.

Any soap containing certain ingredients like vanillin will turn the soap brown naturally. I don't think they intentionally make it a different color unless it's a soap like MLS The Kraken that has blue swirls in it.

Yea, I grasped that, which was very beneficial in helping me get over my offense at the color of the rinse water. Vanilla is one of my favorite scents, no matter what it is in, so I had very little choice...get over it or don't use my favorite scent... I got over it lol...

As for the water usage, I have a very small sink... In seriousness though, using a straight I rinse after just about every stroke. It's easier to fill the sink than it is to turn the water on and off after each stroke. Call it part environmental and part lazy lol... I'm good with that


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Part of what I love about soaps like Night Music and Lavanille is because they're a deep, rich brown color in the tub and the lather rather beige. It's neat, it's different. And of course, the scent. But most soaps, despite their color - make white lather. So yeah, color doesn't bother me in the least.

Now about B&M.   I’ve said nothing about it. I don’t know nor care about any drama of any vendors, its not my business. But I’ll say this about Lavanalle. I think I tried maybe 7 different B&M soaps. Lavanalle was one of my favorites of the group. OK Dickens smelled the best because I wanted to eat it. But the color?  My water bowl looked a murky color that I had a hard time getting by. Every time I looked down from rinsing …   I'm sorry, it could have been the best thing ever made but Maybe change the color?  Just an opinion on color.  

This is one thing I don't understand.  I was speaking with a soap maker the other day (not Will at B&M) about a bunch of stuff and he mentioned to me that someone complained about the color of his soap.  This was a total surprise to me that anyone even cared the slightest bit.  My response was "What the hell difference does it make what color it is?"  As long as it doesn't impact the performance of the shave I couldn't care less if it were, brown, green, blue or purple.  It makes no difference to me at all.  

The one exception I can think of is GFT released a Violet soap that some have stated would stain their brush.  I tried it anyway and didn't experience the staining myself but I only used it one time.  So, I guess I don't want a soap that'll stain my brush but other than that I don't care what color it is.  

So I'm wondering why the color of a soap even matters, it's just soap.

The color of the soap matters to me. My Meißner-Tremonia Strong 'N Scottish is a baby-poop brown color and stains my towels.  
BTW, it doesn't lather white.