Grooming Dept

To satisfy my curiosity about what Ruds rated as a 100 score soap, I spent the last three mornings shaving with Declaration’s Milksteak base.  Then this morning, I switched to Grooming Dept’s Vegan Base Valencia.  I was really impressed with how much slicker GD’s Vegan base was than  Milksteak.  I also preferred the post shave feeling of GD’s soap.  In my opinion, GD’s soap would rank higher than the Milksteak.

I agree. I ordered both MOI and Dirtyver in Milksteak. The base is definitely excellent but if I had to choose, I would take ANY Grooming Dept soap base over Declaration Grooming Milksteak.  **not to mention I struggle with the scents coming from DG**

Looking forward to Aion!

It’s hard to share notes on even one soap with other folks. A good friend who’s opinion I fully trust said that one soaps post shave was superior to another brand for him whereas my experience was the opposite. One of the main differences was that he has a water softener and I don’t.

Here is Oregon I have very nice soft water. I recently travelled to Florida to visit family and the water there is very hard. The water is so hard that they need to buy a new hot water kettle every year because it quickly becomes encrusted in calcium deposits. The soaps I used in Florida performed vastly different in the hard water. I can easily see where people around the USA have different reactions to the performance of their soaps due to water differences. The next time I am in Florida, I will buy a gallon of distilled water and use it to soak my brush and lather with.

I’m still firmly in the camp that the GD soaps I use still provide the best shave and post shave of any soap I’ve tried. I have been enjoying using the new Dec base and while I agree it is a notch above the original Bison formulation in every metric it has not inched out the donkey base or the duck base for me.

Count me a GD fanboy. That Lusso unscented is great albeit the weird texture from the tub, it lathers into something special and the postshave is like a super soft wax coating protecting my face.

I wonder what the Aion is like? Has anyone here been a tester for it?

To satisfy my curiosity about what Ruds rated as a 100 score soap, I spent the last three mornings shaving with Declaration’s Milksteak base. Then this morning, I switched to Grooming Dept’s Vegan Base Valencia. I was really impressed with how much slicker GD’s Vegan base was than Milksteak. I also preferred the post shave feeling of GD’s soap. In my opinion, GD’s soap would rank higher than the Milksteak.

You are not alone in this assessment. While the milksteak formula is better in every regard to previous Declaration soap bases, it isn't any better than Mo's offerings.
I've only watched 2 or 3 of Rud's videos and I find I need to take whatever he says with a huge grain of salt. His persistent flat monotone voice makes the videos unwatchable and he uses the term "elite" WAY too often. :|

I’m still firmly in the camp that the GD soaps I use still provide the best shave and post shave of any soap I’ve tried. I have been enjoying using the new Dec base and while I agree it is a notch above the original Bison formulation in every metric it has not inched out the donkey base or the duck base for me.

Same! Although for me, any GD soap with lamb tallow on the label is my #1 soap base of all time.

I did 4 consecutive shaves with Milksteak. Then I shaved with Excelsior, which I really like. I preferred Milksteak. Today, I used T+S and discovered it was a draw. I think T+S performed better, but Milksteak had a better post shave feel. Once the weather stabilizes, I am going to compare Milksteak to various GD bases (donkey and mallard, at least). It’s going to be tough to top the donkey base for me, but we’ll see what happens.

By the time I finish the comparisons, Aion should arrive. I’m going to give it a solid week of shaves and see what I think.

To satisfy my curiosity about what Ruds rated as a 100 score soap, I spent the last three mornings shaving with Declaration’s Milksteak base.  Then this morning, I switched to Grooming Dept’s Vegan Base Valencia.  I was really impressed with how much slicker GD’s Vegan base was than  Milksteak.  I also preferred the post shave feeling of GD’s soap.  In my opinion, GD’s soap would rank higher than the Milksteak.

Ruds ALWAYS underrates GD. Who knows...maybe they doesn’t work for him....or perhaps something more sinister?
Anyway....all ratings are YMMV as we see....

I totally agree with the underrated thing.

I did 4 consecutive shaves with Milksteak. Then I shaved with Excelsior, which I really like. I preferred Milksteak. Today, I used T+S and discovered it was a draw. I think T+S performed better, but Milksteak had a better post shave feel. So it was a draw. Once the weather stabilizes, I am going to compare Milksteak to various GD bases (donkey and mallard, at least). It’s going to be tough to top the donkey base for me, but we’ll see what happens.

By the time I finish the comparisons, Aion should arrive. I’m going to give it a solid week of shaves and see what I think.

I'd like to see those comparisons.