New Stirling Satsuma

I never understood the comments like those by Steve56 that straight razor shaving called for a different lather and soaps that worked well with DEs and SEs were not necessarily great for SR shaving.

UNTIL I started shaving with a straight razor!

I find some soaps that I had put aside as being 'nothing special' work fantastically well with a SR. Tabac comes to mind, as does Martin de Candre.

Lathers that I used to crave for their volume and shine when shaving with DEs and SEs still look great, but there are other soaps that don't produce as 'pretty' a lather that work much better with a straight. And I've come to a new appreciation of creams, which I hardly ever used with a DE.

Yet I have to say that I enjoy the Stirling soaps, along with their aftershaves and balms. Solid performance all around. Are there are soaps with better post-shave feel?  Sure: Grooming Dept and Nuavia come to mind. Better glide? Yes  'Prettier' lather? Yes.

But the Stirling soaps preform very well in all of those categories and are an unbelievable value for the price. If I were not shaving with a SR exclusively to learn how to shave with them (I'm about 150 shaves in), Stirling would be in the rotation more often.

I never understood the comments like those by Steve56 that straight razor shaving called for a different lather and soaps that worked well with DEs and SEs were not necessarily great for SR shaving.

UNTIL I started shaving with a straight razor!

Uh, it is a beautiful experience to figure these things first hand, isn't it?

I also didn't understand the importance of a great++ pre shave routine. For my DE/GEM shaves, I can't really feel the difference between a quick splash of water and a nice warm shower.

But with a SR (specially refreshed by me --> not so great an edge), the difference a good prep (shower, hot towel, or even lengthy wash) can make is humongous.

My Satsuma shave soap, bath soap and aftershave arrived today. This is now my favorite orange scented product and I am crazy happy. Rod Lovan has created a world class product and has really outdone himself with this one. It is so hard to find a really good orange scented product with orange as the top note, like Satsuma. Spices are there, but in perfect harmony with the orange. Shave soap is typical Stirling, great performance. If you like orange, you have to give this one a try (especially the aftershave).

Looks like your a very happy customer x3 !!! Thanks for letting us know. My next Stirling order will have Satsuma in it.



Happy Shaving !
49erShaving