Barrister and Mann

For anyone who has experience with Nocturne I would be curious to hear your impressions of that scent.

B&M Nocturne soap and bonus DFS aftershave review.

I just got my sample of Hallows soap and aftershave in the mail from Maggards. I happened to see it was live for sale a little before the official pre-order opened up for Hallows, so I jumped on ordering it and thankfully it came quickly.

This is my first time smelling/using Hallows. I remember it from years back but never tried it. Hard to describe but definitely has a Fall scent to it - I really enjoy it. The scent is not as strong in the soap as in the aftershave - it really comes out nicely in the aftershave after it is applied. Like with most B&M products, it is one thing to smell out of the container, it is another to smell after the lather is worked up or after the aftershave is applied.


I definitely recommend it! Will, excellent job! Now I need to decide what I'm going to pre-order. Depending on the opinion of SWMBO, maybe it will include the EdT.


Now if Will would just bring back the Night Music aftershave...

For anyone who has experience with Nocturne I would be curious to hear your impressions of that scent.

B&M Nocturne soap and bonus DFS aftershave review.

I agree, although I'll give Nocturne a slightly darker autumn than DFS LE.

After spending the last year trying nearly every soap that people have been raving about and some of the top European soaps, I've come back to B&M because I had not tried the Reserve line soaps. I use the AC SE razors and find that you need a really slick soap because of the drag from such a wide blade. I also like a lot of cushion. I have to say that this one whips up really easily and is incredibly slick and protective. What I really like is that it easy and quick to lather does not require a lot of work to get the right soap to water ratio. I might be late to getting around to this one, but I'm glad that I did.

I agree that the Barrister and Mann soaps, even the white tub generation, are still excellent soaps and hold their own (at least) against anything out there.

Barrister and Mann was my first true artisan soap (sorry but Ogallala doesn't count as artisan in my book) - in Bay Rum and it really was love at first shave. If you go back in time on Barrister and Mann's merchant thread you will see that at one time there was a siginificant amount of interaction between the artisan and founder of B&M Will Carius and the rest of the membership both as shaver to artisan and shaver to shaver or even just person to person - its true that we sometimes forget but artisans are people and shavers just like the rest of us. Sadly things have changed and we don't see as much involvement from Will (or many other artisans/merchants as well) anymore. Its partly just a time thing, a busy artisan doesn't have enough time in the day and partly its other factors that lead to reduced access and interaction. For whatever reason though, its made it a little less enjoyable and to be honest, I don't think we'll have that kind of access again. I may be wrong, but it just seems that in the early days of the wet shaving movement (or whatever you want to call it) there was more personal interaction and to be fair, more excitement too. Who can forget those early Hallows releases? Pandemonium (good name for a soap) - it was sweet when you were able to snag one and obviously a disappointment when you weren't. Some folks got seriously bent about it though, which, aside from being a little entertaining from my perspective, caused a ton of grief for the artisans and in some part contributed to where we are today. Life goes on, maybe its just the natural maturation of the business of wet shaving.

I took a bit of a detour there when all I wanted to say was that I agree with Nuki Man that Barrister and Mann rocks.

Marko, he still interacts on reddit, r/Wetshaving to be specific. Not a ton, but definitely a lot more than here. In fact right now he's in the process of testing a new soap base with members there. There's a thread he started where people who have received a sample can post their thoughts on it.

Marko, he still interacts on reddit, r/Wetshaving to be specific. Not a ton, but definitely a lot more than here. In fact right now he's in the process of testing a new soap base with members there. There's a thread he started where people who have received a sample can post their thoughts on it.

I was just about to mention this.

Yeah, I knew that. I don’t really spend any time on other forums. There’s only so much time. That might be the reason for artisans and merchants too. If you got limited time you spend it where you get the most bang for your buck. That might be just a numbers game.

Yeah, I knew that. I don’t really spend any time on other forums. There’s only so much time. That might be the reason for artisans and merchants too. If you got limited time you spend it where you get the most bang for your buck. That might be just a numbers game.

I've been having many of the same thoughts, Marko. I believe, in large part, what we're seeing is the evolution of social media (which, defined broadly, includes B&B). There was a time when forums like this were the only game in town for hobbyists (whether shaving, railroad pocket watches, Vespas, or any of my other quirky interests). As the number of participants (and forums) proliferated, the household name forums (Reddit, Facebook, etc.) stepped in. Understandably, vendors are drawn to the maximum number of eyeballs, which migrate to household-name social media platforms. I haven't looked at the relevant data, but I suspect that vendors can extend their reach much more efficiently through mainstream social platforms than through niche forums. I hope I'm wrong. The forum norms and societal expectations are much more civil and genteel than those found generally on mainstream platforms.

Good points CCity and it makes perfect sense. If you have limited time and resources you're going to spend them where and in the manner that you get the greatest exposure and the greatest potential for return. I was in no way being critical of any artisans in my post above but was rather making an observation and because I am not active on FB or B&B or Reddit where those artisans may be more active, from my perspective they've dropped off the face of the earth. I know they haven't its just I don't see their activity and yes, thats my choice and I can live with it.