Mike's Natural Soap

andrewjs18
We do get down there a fair amount.  My wife sings opera professionally and she performs pretty regularly with the Philadelphia Opera company.  I just tag along for the ride and enjoy the city.  In my opinion Philadelphia is one of the best!

Hi Merkur Man , my wife sang with Calgary Opera for 15 years Alto /Mezzo-Soprano - I've taken in many performances from the comp (cheap) seats.  I'll never forget the first time I went with the comp tickets to get some opera glasses.  They had all these nice little sets of opera glasses lined up on the table and the attendant asked to see my tickets.  When I showed him the tickets he reached under the table and handed me a pair of field glasses.  Yes that last row is a long way from the stage.  My wife is retired from singing now and I have to say I miss the constant presence of singing in our lives.
Marko

Hi Marko, Funny to meet another singer spouse! My wife is also a Mezzo-Soprano.  I had never seen an opera before we met, but I have to admit I think I'd miss it a bit if she wasn't doing it anymore.  Although, she is currently downstairs at the piano working hard to memorize her next role, so if you asked her right now if she'd miss opera if her career was over I bet she would say she could happily leave it behind.  Boy oh boy do they ever work hard to learn all that music!

We just caught Barber of Seville here in Austin a few weeks ago- fantastic! Envious of you gents that have such talent in the family.

On topic, Mike's is a soap that I have yet to try. Might need to change that after the move though.

USPS says I will receive the 3 new Mystic Water soaps at the office shortly. I say this because I have come around to these two artisan soaps again. Mike's and Mystic. We'll see how Michelle's new soaps perform but I can't imagine better soaps out there. Mike's Lime was like Nathan's video this morning and I am still thinking about it!

I see he has Hungarian Lavender in stock this AM as well as some others in either tin or bars. The bars are wonderful to just press or grate into a wide jar...same perfect soap base!

Mystic and Mike's are my two primary soaps these days as well. They are both world class performers in my book. Good luck trying to deduce your favorite of the two, that is no easy task!

Yeah Maggard's is about 75 miles away from me. Not exactly around the corner, but considering its one of the very few shaving stores in the country, its pretty damn close. If it was too much closer though I'd probably be spending a lot more money on shaving gear than I already do. So there are pros and cons depending on how you look at it, lol.

And Red Tipped Cobra, something I realized at the meet-up sniffing as many soaps as I could while I was there, is that A LOT of soaps smell the same, even if they have different scent profiles listed. Its really a crap shoot sometimes. I like to get an idea of scent strength though. I don't want to buy a soap with a specific scent if I can barely smell it. It kind of defeats the purpose.

Anyway, I'm drifting off topic here so yeah, Mike's is a great soap. While I do enjoy some straightforward simple scents, it would be nice if he came out with some new stuff with a little more complexity wouldn't it?

I'm about 100-110 miles from Pasteur's Pharmacy in NYC. Still, I'd love to have something closer to sniff everything before buying it!

I actually really enjoy the straightforward scents...to me, it makes it easier to know what to expect - assuming you have experience with the scents in question.

andrewjs18
We do get down there a fair amount.  My wife sings opera professionally and she performs pretty regularly with the Philadelphia Opera company.  I just tag along for the ride and enjoy the city.  In my opinion Philadelphia is one of the best!

very cool. the Philadelphia Opera company used to be one of my wife's clients.

Brad Maggard said in this interview with Mantic59 that 95% of their business is done online. I find it incredible that his accountant (if he has one) advised him to take on excess overhead with the burden of a brick & mortar store. It takes a huge pop. base such as NYC or Chicago to support one of these & even then I wouldn't do it. You reach far more people online IMO.

they're in Michigan..I doubt their costs are so high that it cannot be covered from their sales from the store, whether online or walk-ins. plus, as someone else mentioned, it's nice to separate personal space from business space.

Hi Merkur Man , my wife sang with Calgary Opera for 15 years Alto /Mezzo-Soprano - I've taken in many performances from the comp (cheap) seats.  I'll never forget the first time I went with the comp tickets to get some opera glasses.  They had all these nice little sets of opera glasses lined up on the table and the attendant asked to see my tickets.  When I showed him the tickets he reached under the table and handed me a pair of field glasses.  Yes that last row is a long way from the stage.  My wife is retired from singing now and I have to say I miss the constant presence of singing in our lives.
Marko

Hi Marko, Funny to meet another singer spouse! My wife is also a Mezzo-Soprano.  I had never seen an opera before we met, but I have to admit I think I'd miss it a bit if she wasn't doing it anymore.  Although, she is currently downstairs at the piano working hard to memorize her next role, so if you asked her right now if she'd miss opera if her career was over I bet she would say she could happily leave it behind.  Boy oh boy do they ever work hard to learn all that music!

We just caught Barber of Seville here in Austin a few weeks ago- fantastic! Envious of you gents that have such talent in the family.

On topic, Mike's is a soap that I have yet to try. Might need to change that after the move though.

kwsher you haven't tried Mike's?! How can that be? I can recommend his Vetiver which is one of the best straight up vetivers I've tried and also Mike's Bay Rum is nice.

I can vouch for Mike's now. This is what I was able to get:

Hi Marko, Funny to meet another singer spouse! My wife is also a Mezzo-Soprano.  I had never seen an opera before we met, but I have to admit I think I'd miss it a bit if she wasn't doing it anymore.  Although, she is currently downstairs at the piano working hard to memorize her next role, so if you asked her right now if she'd miss opera if her career was over I bet she would say she could happily leave it behind.  Boy oh boy do they ever work hard to learn all that music!

We just caught Barber of Seville here in Austin a few weeks ago- fantastic! Envious of you gents that have such talent in the family.

On topic, Mike's is a soap that I have yet to try. Might need to change that after the move though.

kwsher  you haven't tried Mike's?!  How can that be?  I can recommend his Vetiver which is one of the best straight up vetivers I've tried and also Mike's Bay Rum is nice.

I know, right? The mild hurdles to get and timing have just never allowed the stars to align. I'd love to get some of the Vetiver but every time I have thought to look, not available even for pre-order. One of these days...

Thanks for the tips on scent Marko !

In addition to his excellent soaps, Mike is an outstanding Gentleman! Responds to emails quickly and very professionally. Goes extra 500 miles for his customers!

We just caught Barber of Seville here in Austin a few weeks ago- fantastic! Envious of you gents that have such talent in the family.

On topic, Mike's is a soap that I have yet to try. Might need to change that after the move though.

kwsher  you haven't tried Mike's?!  How can that be?  I can recommend his Vetiver which is one of the best straight up vetivers I've tried and also Mike's Bay Rum is nice.

I know, right? The mild hurdles to get and timing have just never allowed the stars to align. I'd love to get some of the Vetiver but every time I have thought to look, not available even for pre-order. One of these days...

Thanks for the tips on scent Marko !

I hear you, its all a matter of timing. I check periodically and pull the trigger if I see anything I want. Us retired guys are able to spend perhaps a bit more time knocking around online than you working stiffs . I have one of his Barbershop scents on the way and I''m looking forward to that. Also have the aforementioned Vetiver, Bay Rum and Pine and cedar wood which, as the name says, is a very woody smelling soap. I've also tried a few of his bath bars and they're a nice soap too.

Barbershop, Orange/Cedarwood/Pepper, and Lemongrass/Eucalyptus. Not to keen on the scent of the last one, but the soap is fantastic.

Barbershop, Orange/Cedarwood/Pepper, and Lemongrass/Eucalyptus. Not to keen on the scent of the last one, but the soap is fantastic.

Lemongrass & Eucalyptus is a very unique scent. I'd classify it as a somewhat medicinal lemon scent. While it is most definitely not a favorite of mine I do still enjoy it, but that took a about 1 week worth of shaves before I started to like the scent.