I am taking a break from chasing the dragon.

Yup, olschoolsteel , I hear you.  I've been thinking the same thing lately.  Its like I'm coming out of a fog with a hangover looking at all the soap and stuff I have and thinking...Where did all this stuff come from?  Am I crazy? Probably.  Its been fun and I don't think I've actually hurt anybody but I think its time for a breather.  Once the rest of those packages arrive I'm done, no more.  I mean it this time.  No, really.

Um hum.

I am going to take a picture of my stash. (Should make a lotta shavers breathe a sigh of relief.

One final point from me. I certainly don't think there is anything wrong with being down the rabbit hole and enjoying it.

This rabbit hole can be quite expensive if one allows it to become so, but there are other hobbies that are way more expensive like collecting cars, watches, guns, knives, electronics, or musical equipment.

Its not that I have a soap hangover and am now doing the Saturday morning walk of shame back to my bathroom mirror.

I look at it like a trifecta, a 3 prong realization of things that hit at once. Take my original post and distill it down to these;
1) Price creep. (Once on the hook with a favorite maker, I feel like I am slowly being milked for ever higher prices, while the next promises to be better)
2) What was once good, isnt anymore, but wait the next is way better. (I thought what I bought was the best AND unique. But its not, the next scent/base obsoletes the previous best)
3) What I have really is good, but I probly cant get the same scent/base in its current form because it has been discontinued. (You know, because it isnt good enough anymore)

It really becomes a endless cycle of purchase, use and resale to catch the next release. With ever increasing prices. But in reflection, there are soapers that aren't, under the auspices of new scent profile creation/soap base breakthroughs, make a product(s) that is outstanding, and doesnt leave the luxury/economy wet shaver out in the cold. It is entirely possible to have a wonderful shave with an intoxicating scent that isnt a soapers rendition of the essential oils used by Julius Ceasar, with moon dust for glide.

The best way to find a good soap is to try a plethora. When a good maker is found, I shouldnt have fallen into the hype that the next best soap is REALLY the next best soap. A good soaper makes good soap. The next best soap is only incrementally better. And I would say small increments at that. When economy soaps from the same maker are discontinued so the only soaps to buy are the high dollar seasonals and LEs really drums away the average wetshaver.

My buying habits will change based on the selling habits of the soap makers. I wont fall for the latest sales pitches that promise to make my shaves any better than I can get now. If a soap is obsolete before I can finish the tub, maybe I shouldnt have taken the bait in the first place. Thats on me. But not anymore. That dragon can fly free without pursuit from me.

I will use the soap that was good at the time I bought it, and will stick with the soapers that continue to make the same good soap their customers have come to enjoy and want to repurchase again at a later date.

One final point from me.  I certainly don't think there is anything wrong with being down the rabbit hole and enjoying it.

+1 And that's all that matters, isn't it?

Its not that I have a soap hangover and am now doing the Saturday morning walk of shame back to my bathroom mirror.

I look at it like a trifecta, a 3 prong realization of things that hit at once. Take my original post and distill it down to these;
1) Price creep. (Once on the hook with a favorite maker, I feel like I am slowly being milked for ever higher prices, while the next promises to be better)
2) What was once good, isnt anymore, but wait the next is way better. (I thought what I bought was the best AND unique. But its not, the next scent/base obsoletes the previous best)
3) What I have really is good, but I probly cant get the same scent/base in its current form because it has been discontinued. (You know, because it isnt good enough anymore)

It really becomes a endless cycle of purchase, use and resale to catch the next release. With ever increasing prices. But in reflection, there are soapers that aren't, under the auspices of new scent profile creation/soap base breakthroughs, make a product(s) that is outstanding, and doesnt leave the luxury/economy wet shaver out in the cold. It is entirely possible to have a wonderful shave with an intoxicating scent that isnt a soapers rendition of the essential oils used by Julius Ceasar, with moon dust for glide.

The best way to find a good soap is to try a plethora. When a good maker is found, I shouldnt have fallen into the hype that the next best soap is REALLY the next best soap. A good soaper makes good soap. The next best soap is only incrementally better. And I would say small increments at that. When economy soaps from the same maker are discontinued so the only soaps to buy are the high dollar seasonals and LEs really drums away the average wetshaver.

My buying habits will change based on the selling habits of the soap makers. I wont fall for the latest sales pitches that promise to make my shaves any better than I can get now. If a soap is obsolete before I can finish the tub, maybe I shouldnt have taken the bait in the first place. Thats on me. But not anymore. That dragon can fly free without pursuit from me.

I will use the soap that was good at the time I bought it, and will stick with the soapers that continue to make the same good soap their customers have come to enjoy and want to repurchase again at a later date.

Well said! I'm right there with you. I believe I've found the 3 or 4 brands that I like the most and I'll be sticking with those for the time being.

They've got moon dust in shaving soap now?! Where do I get it? Everything you're describing olschoolsteel is a conscious part of a marketing plan by the soap makers to increase or at least maintain sales. If you look a couple of years back in the B&M thread, Will discussed the challenges of staying relevant and in the front of mind of shavers. If you just stick to your regular old lineup, no matter how good it is, you will be eclipsed by the competition with the next shiny thing. Thats why the limited editions and the seasonals are popular, they create buzz and interest in the brand. There's nothing wrong with improving the base although I believe that a soap maker's best base should be their only base but with variations in various factors even that is subjective. Its up to us as the buyers to decide whether we want to go all in with the marketing or not. Some of us will because we "need" the latest greatest LE, or we want to support our favourite artisan or because a newer version actually is better but its still up to us to step away from the buffet line when we've had enough.

As an aside, whenever I read about the various clays added to shaving soap for slickness I think of my days as a roughneck on drilling rigs when I was just out of high school - mixing drilling mud was one of the tasks and it was mainly comprised of bentonite (clay) that came in 100 lb sacks. The stuff was as fine as wheat flour and mixed up slick as you want. I'm familiar with the smell and taste of the stuff because you would frequently get a face full of the stuff when working on the drilling floor making connections especially if the driller was in a hurry and he made you break the joint before the mud column had drained out of the pipe. I sometimes get that smell when I use a high clay soap.

I am going to take a picture of my stash. (Should make a lotta shavers breathe a sigh of relief.  

I did this a while back. Only one person ever saw the picture. I know there are those who have much more in their stashes than I do. Yet I still didn’t quite know what to do with that picture… (Maybe I’ll take one a year later and compare the two.)

olschoolsteel, I enjoyed reading your thoughts, among the many other fine points in this thread.

It’s just too much fun and enjoyable to stop. Everyone has their vice I guess. BTW if Mikes were the only soap left on the planet to use for the rest of my days...I would be a happy man!


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