Former soapaholic: What soap next?

My penance for being addicted to buying more soaps than I could use in this century is using up one soap at a time. Currently that soap is DR Harris Marlborough, which has a hefty ring around it and is not long for this world.

I've done this before, but I'd like to let the citizens of this fine board help me decide what soap to tackle next.

• Martin de Candre
• Pre de Provence
• L'Occitane Cade
• DR Harris Arlington
• Provence Sante
• C&E Sandalwood
• C&E Sienna
• Ralph Lauren Safari
• AoS Sandalwood (tallow, x6)
• AoS Lemon (non-tallow)
• Williams (Vintage)
• Institut Karite
• Valobra stick
• La Toja stick (x2)
• Sir Irisch Moos stick

Some notes. I just used one of the AoS Sandalwood pucks up last year so I'd like to wait to tackle that one. I'm also excluding a cream, KMF unscented, which is pretty old (parabens in the formula!) but I use it when I'm light on time since it doesn't need to be lathered.

I also try to be seasonal. Theoretically we are coming up on spring but it's snowing this morning.

The Cade! Do the Cade! Please! (Oh, and I like your choices)

I would say MDC or PDP. Can’t comment on l’Occtade but the others I feel you would get bored too quickly with them. Even MDC you would probably get bored with. Great soap but they are very basic in scent. Performance is wonderful and will last you as long as 5 other artisan soaps combined.


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Are any of them creams? If so, I say tackle the cream.

You're talking to the right group. We're all going to have to atone for our excesses at some time, in some way. But looking over your list of soaps, I'd say your burden is light. I'd be happy to lather up almost any of those pucks. But for starters, I'd recommend L'Occitane Cade. The scent works well at any time of the year, and the soap works well when you use it day after day after day after day. The only time I've had problems with Cade was when I let it dry out for months at a time. Then loading proved difficult and the lather came out thin and fleeting. I've had great results with both a boar and a synthetic brush provided I loaded it with abandon, approaching every lather like it was my last. One other word of caution: the puck really lasts forever. Start with it tomorrow and you'll not see the bottom of the tub until August ... 2050.

• Martin de Candre - save for a season when the snow's not flying. In cold weather it can be drying.
• Pre de Provence
• L'Occitane Cade
• DR Harris Arlington - you just did Marlborough, so save this for next year.
• Provence Sante
• C&E Sandalwood - C&E makes some of my favorite bath soaps, but the current shave soaps are among the three worst pucks I've ever lathered.
• C&E Sienna
• Ralph Lauren Safari
• AoS Sandalwood (tallow, x6) - wait a year or two since you just did a puck of AoS Sandalwood.
• AoS Lemon (non-tallow)
• Williams (Vintage) - great soap, but can you stand to wake up each morning to this non-scent?
• Institut Karite
• Valobra stick - sticks work when I'm on the road, but at home they lack a certain elegance that I've come to expect from wet shaving.
• La Toja stick (x2)
• Sir Irisch Moos stick

Ha, I've actually done the Cade before - but that was about five years ago. It took a while. Seems like the vote is going that way, but I don't mind, it's a good soap and I have some of the aftershave to go with it.

What I've used up, if it matters: QED Lime, Proraso cream, Arko stick, Tabac, Cella, RazoRock XXX (original formula), Haslinger Marigold, Godrej cream, Acca Kappa cream (RIP), Old Spice cream, Penhaligon Endymion, RazoRock Fresco, QCS Esquire, RazoRock Caprician Lemon, Cade, Coates Sandalwood, Calani Oriental Plum, Speick stick, AoS Sandalwood, Coates Rose, Calani Dubai, Coates Lavender, Coates Tea Tree, NY Shaving Company Elizabeth Street, Coates Lime, Palmolive Stick, Dr. Dittmar, TOBS Mr. Taylor, MWF, Mike's Orange-Cedarwood-Black Pepper, Coates Almond, Mike's Pine-Cedarwood, AoS Sandalwood, EJ Sea Buckthorn, uncountable number of samples.

Cade shave soap has sparked some interest. How does this compare to Mike's, Wholly Kaw, etc. which I already have?

Cade has a nice scent. It's from juniper wood, not berries, so it's pretty unique. I think of it as a cool weather scent, probably more like fall than spring.

I think it is a tricky soap. Last time I used it, the only brushes that always had luck with it were exclusively boars. A Semogue 1305 made a better later than my Rooney Finest. Mixed hairs had some success. It loves water, and as Bouki said, prefers being used every day to being a once-a-month soap.

If you manage to dial it in right, you get a nice lather, but there are plenty of soaps that aren't nearly as finicky.

I'll cast my vote for MdC. I have about 14 soaps in my rotation (and growing), but nothing gives me the shave that MdC does. I also don't know about it being drying because I wash my face and moisturize after shaving.

RL Safari