PAA General Thoughts?

Chris, I so very much agree with you about this.  While I use Amazon I want to say "shame on you" to them for the way they have corrupted their review system.  Some products have nothing but compensated reviews, which to me are invalid (sorry about that NeoXerxes and others who are compensated for reviews but that is how I feel).  Amazon reviews by star rating are now shown by percentages instead of numbers and reviews are listed by "Top" reviews instead of by most recent.  The only way to change that is to go into the reviews and change the setting, and it must be done for each product.  All of these ploys weaken the review system in Amazon, in my opinion, and if PAA is pulling shenanigans like removing negative reviews then that is even worse than what Amazon is doing.  (Please notice my stressing of "if" because I do not know whether or not this is being done.)

As to David's original post, I have never tried a PAA product but based on the very balanced posts I have seen here I would be inclined not to.  The products seem to get mediocre to good reviews, from what I am seeing here.  There are no really bad reviews but no great ones either.  There are so many other artisans who seem to be thought of more highly based on product, price, or both that I don't feel the need to give these a try; I don't think I am missing something extraordinary.

Hey Freddy,


I did not know, that NeoXerxes is compensated for reviews ?

This information is very interesting for me to hear, and could explain why he was banned from that other shaving forum - or perhaps I'm wrong ?

I have followed and enjoyed NeoXerxes top list of shaving creams and soaps, but always find it a bit weird, that he seems to always support PAA, when the brand is up for discussion..........  

Hi Claus,

Peter (NeoXerxes) cleared that up here and in a PM to me.  He is almost never compensated for his reviews.  If he has not been compensated then it will be a straight review.  However, if and when he is compensated in any way, including being given a sample of the product to review, he will clearly state that in his review.  By all means, continue to read his reviews.  They are informative and classy and being upfront about letting his readers know if he is being compensated for the odd review, we can read them with confidence.  I, in no way, meant to denigrate Peter or his reviews and I apologize for the misunderstanding.

Take care,

Freddy

Thanks Freddy,

At one point some people accused me of schilling or made a claim, that I was paid by Shavemac to talk positively about their brushes.

I just enjoy Shavemac brushes. No more, no less.

So I can understand Neo Peter's frustration if indeed he is NOT supported by any brand with products or payment.
We will never know the truth to that story on the other forum, but still it's an interesting subject.

To get back on topic, I own two CrownKing brushes Suave synthetics 24 mm and 26 mm with the Plisson like fibres and they both performs great, on par with my KONG from Stirling.

When I read that Forbes article, my eyes opened a bit and I also began to smile.

Not sure many of the YouTube review guys are aware of that they are talking to a fictive persoanna called Douglas Smythe, when they attemnd the Shaving meetings and get togethers.

Not sure a Gent like PaulH Films knows he is talking about a cartoon like character, when he uses his donated PAA shaving soaps.

Also read a posts from a guy, who actually honestly believed he had a friendship with Douglas Smythe, and had written several PM's back and forth with Douglas.
Once he did find out, that Douglas was fake, he took it to heart. He never did realize, that Douglas is just a marketing figure, that Erik uses as his front person in the company.

In the Forbes article, Erik openly admits, that Douglas Smythe is a fiction figure, that he created to profile the company and the shaving forums, to create buzz around his company.

I can certainly understand why some people disagress with this business model, but you also have to acknowledge what Erik does - tries to create buzz around his brand to sell some shaving soaps in a market, that is flooded with competition.

I have and will probably never buy any of the PAA products, but my two Crown King suave brushes are staying in my den for a while.....

Douglas Smythe, Colonel Sanders, Ronald McDonald, I'm indifferent -lots of artists writers and actors use pseudonyms and nobody is giving them grief - Mark Twain, Marilyn Monroe etc.

I have several HTGAM soaps and aftershaves and like them. I've got a couple of PAA soaps and they're OK - I find that there are other better products on the market at comparable prices so I don't use PAA all that often. This morning I did use the HTGAM non-alcohol Bay Rum AS followed by the Bay Rum balm and it was a great finish to the shave I'd had with LASSC Santa Monica Bay Rum soap. Its International shave like a pirate week in my house, arrrr

To the OP
Why dont you see reviews on PAA products? Under Smythe's old marketing platform, his legion of fake aliases made the product reviews for him, calling into question every favorable review on the product.
Why dont you see any reviews on PAA products? Because you now have to question every positive review as a possible shill account made solely for the purposes of propping up PAA.
Why dont you see any reviews on PAA products? Because it turns into a giant Sh!tstorm.
I dont use PAA products. I dont use glycerine melt and pour soaps with EO or FO added that was carved out of giant bulk blocks and resold at a huge price increase.
Previous HTGAM used hyped and fake ingredient lists to sell their soaps that were proven to be utterly false.
Credibility of the soap maker is what is the true question here.
If I owned DFS site wouldnt allow Erik/Doug to be a member here.
BUT, Andrew is doing something special here.
So, my participation in this site supports PAA to at least interact here. I defer to Andrew's insight and long term goal to unite us all. Maybe allowing Erik/Doug to participate here is a figurative extended olive branch to mend fences and move on.
I'd take that deal.
Still, PAA wont see any purchases from me.

In the immortal words of Bill Billichick

I dont use PAA products. I dont use glycerine melt and pour soaps with EO or FO added that was carved out of giant bulk blocks and resold at a huge price increase.

This is the type of misinformation that I don't get though. You really think that PAA/Crown King is a glycerin melt and pour? I don't, but I'm pretty sure soaps like Yeti Snot are. So what makes you think that PAA/Crown King are? Just curious.....

I dont use PAA products. I dont use glycerine melt and pour soaps with EO or FO added that was carved out of giant bulk blocks and resold at a huge price increase.

This is the type of misinformation that I don't get though. You really think that PAA/Crown King is a glycerin melt and pour? I don't, but I'm pretty sure soaps like Yeti Snot are. So what makes you think that PAA/Crown King are? Just curious.....

I don't know about him using a melt and pour base, but it's not in dispute that he crafted an ingredients list for marketing effect. That was end of me being a customer. I had already ordered a puck of Cavendish, and never ended up using it. Great, I wasted another few minutes of my life on this guy.

I dont use PAA products. I dont use glycerine melt and pour soaps with EO or FO added that was carved out of giant bulk blocks and resold at a huge price increase.

This is the type of misinformation that I don't get though.  You really think that PAA/Crown King is a glycerin melt and pour?  I don't, but I'm pretty sure soaps like Yeti Snot are.  So what makes you think that PAA/Crown King are?  Just curious.....

I don't know about him using a melt and pour base, but it's not in dispute that he crafted an ingredients list for marketing effect. That was end of me being a customer. I had already ordered a puck of Cavendish, and never ended up using it. Great, I wasted another few minutes of my life on this guy.

Well I just thought it was interesting because I have melt and pour glycerin soaps. The two I have from them aren't glycerin melt and pour. I get people not liking the guy for whatever reason, but the misinformation/completely made up stuff always blows me away lol.

This is the type of misinformation that I don't get though.  You really think that PAA/Crown King is a glycerin melt and pour?  I don't, but I'm pretty sure soaps like Yeti Snot are.  So what makes you think that PAA/Crown King are?  Just curious.....

I don't know about him using a melt and pour base, but it's not in dispute that he crafted an ingredients list for marketing effect. That was end of me being a customer. I had already ordered a puck of Cavendish, and never ended up using it. Great, I wasted another few minutes of my life on this guy.

Well I just thought it was interesting because I have melt and pour glycerin soaps. The two I have from them aren't glycerin melt and pour. I get people not liking the guy for whatever reason, but the misinformation/completely made up stuff always blows me away lol.

I think it was an older formula, maybe from the Synergy days that was suspected of being a melt and pour.

I don't know about him using a melt and pour base, but it's not in dispute that he crafted an ingredients list for marketing effect. That was end of me being a customer. I had already ordered a puck of Cavendish, and never ended up using it. Great, I wasted another few minutes of my life on this guy.

Well I just thought it was interesting because I have melt and pour glycerin soaps.  The two I have from them aren't glycerin melt and pour.  I get people not liking the guy for whatever reason, but the misinformation/completely made up stuff always blows me away lol.

I think it was an older formula, maybe from the Synergy days that was suspected of being a melt and pour.

I have seen pictures of the layered soaps from the Synergy line from PAA, and as such, I decided to research it. There is plenty to read at the link below, where Leisureguy takes the high road and gives PAA the benefit of the doubt, and the chance to prove he is not guilty of sneaking glycerin M&P soaps into the middle of a layer of homemade soap. A couple respected artisans jumped in with their opinions and believed it was indeed two different soaps, one being M&P. I have to confess that I agreed with the artisans. Well, Smythe kept his word and posted a 25 min video making an entire batch of Synergy soap, which is not Melt & Pour by the way, it's merely a glycerin based soap. The video clearly shows the layer forming when pouring the soaps into tins. There are other factors at play such as the AC blowing overhead, timing of the pour, air bubbles from the stick blender, etc. I gotta give it to Smythe though, he made the video to stand up to the accusations, and then cancelled the line. At the same time he was making PAA which was not a glycerin soap and thus did not have this problem. In the video you can see how large his warehouse is and how many soap making supplies and ingredients he has, thus I think it's safe to assume he doesn't need to use M&P. The link to Reddit and the Youtube video by Smthe are below.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wicked_edge/com...s_shaving/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flE0sRNu...e=youtu.be

Yeah, I never looked into that accusation. Wasn't one that bothered me. The ingredients listed in order of hype was what bothered me. I just could not imagine any of the respected artisans that I enjoy as I got into the hobby, pulling stunts with their ingredients list. In my mind, as an artisan soap maker, your ingredients would be sacred.