Member
Cold River Soap Works (CRSW) is an American artisan based out of Baldwinsville, NY. Their soaps are handcrafted in small batches using only the finest ingredients. While CRSW is not among the most featured artisans in “shaves of the day”, their soap is of high quality and performs amongst the favorite artisans in the wet shaving community. Larry Jones, the owner, is passionate about provided a quality product with a luxurious and classy feel to the entire experience. CRSW can be purchased directly from their website.
As always, I will provide my complete honest review and I have not received any compensation or preferential treatment for my review. This is strictly for the community to use as a tool in making informed decisions. Most importantly, these are my opinions and mine alone. If you do not like them or disagree with them, I respect that and ask that you do the same.
Packaging:
CRSW Puro Fesco comes in a metal tin with a screw top metal lid. While I am not a fan of metal tins, this would be my choice for metal tins. This tin is similar if not identical to the metal tin used by Bufflehead Soap Co. The label on the tin is waterproof and contains the company name and slogan. It is unfortunate that the soap name is not present on the label. This makes all of the soaps look the same with the exception of the limited edition seasonal offerings. While the overall presentation is classy and elegant, the lack of complete information lowers the packaging appeal for me, else it would be a perfect score. Packaging score 9/10.
Lather:
Puro Fresco performs wonderfully. With a standard load of the brush, the cushion and slickness provides for a great shave. The lather is voluminous and luxurious and provide great protection. The slickness is very good too. As with most soaps containing tallow, lanolin and silk protein, the slickness can be dialed in by adding water to provide a slickness desired for the razor of choice. The post shave feel is beautiful as would be expected. Lather score 9.5/10.
Scent:
Puro Fresco is “Clean and fresh. Light notes of bergamot, lemon, and ginger enveloped by rose, nutmeg and geranium sitting on a base of musk and wood.” This is one of the most unique scents I’ve encountered to date. It is a winner for late spring and early summer, but for me it will be used all year round in my rotation because of it’s uniqueness and vibrant scent. The scent strength is medium both from the soap puck and once lathered on the face. Scent score 9.5/10.
Price:
At $16.50 for 4 oz of soap, this is soap comes in at $4.13/oz. The ingredients list is Raw Organic Goat Milk, Food Grade Tallow, Stearic Acid, Kokum Butter, Shea Butter, Glycerin, Coconut Oil, Fragrance, Castor Oil, Lanolin, Avocado Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Vitamin E, Tussah Silk Protein. Given these quality ingredients the price score 9/10.
Bottom Line:
As mentioned above, Cold River Soap Works doesn’t get as much attention in the community as other artisans, but the soap performs as good as many of them. The shave Puro Fresco provides is wonderful and I always look forward to using this soap as it comes up in my rotation. Because of the scores above, CRSW Puro Fresco rates out at a 9.38/10.
As always, I will provide my complete honest review and I have not received any compensation or preferential treatment for my review. This is strictly for the community to use as a tool in making informed decisions. Most importantly, these are my opinions and mine alone. If you do not like them or disagree with them, I respect that and ask that you do the same.
Packaging:
CRSW Puro Fesco comes in a metal tin with a screw top metal lid. While I am not a fan of metal tins, this would be my choice for metal tins. This tin is similar if not identical to the metal tin used by Bufflehead Soap Co. The label on the tin is waterproof and contains the company name and slogan. It is unfortunate that the soap name is not present on the label. This makes all of the soaps look the same with the exception of the limited edition seasonal offerings. While the overall presentation is classy and elegant, the lack of complete information lowers the packaging appeal for me, else it would be a perfect score. Packaging score 9/10.
Lather:
Puro Fresco performs wonderfully. With a standard load of the brush, the cushion and slickness provides for a great shave. The lather is voluminous and luxurious and provide great protection. The slickness is very good too. As with most soaps containing tallow, lanolin and silk protein, the slickness can be dialed in by adding water to provide a slickness desired for the razor of choice. The post shave feel is beautiful as would be expected. Lather score 9.5/10.
Scent:
Puro Fresco is “Clean and fresh. Light notes of bergamot, lemon, and ginger enveloped by rose, nutmeg and geranium sitting on a base of musk and wood.” This is one of the most unique scents I’ve encountered to date. It is a winner for late spring and early summer, but for me it will be used all year round in my rotation because of it’s uniqueness and vibrant scent. The scent strength is medium both from the soap puck and once lathered on the face. Scent score 9.5/10.
Price:
At $16.50 for 4 oz of soap, this is soap comes in at $4.13/oz. The ingredients list is Raw Organic Goat Milk, Food Grade Tallow, Stearic Acid, Kokum Butter, Shea Butter, Glycerin, Coconut Oil, Fragrance, Castor Oil, Lanolin, Avocado Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Vitamin E, Tussah Silk Protein. Given these quality ingredients the price score 9/10.
Bottom Line:
As mentioned above, Cold River Soap Works doesn’t get as much attention in the community as other artisans, but the soap performs as good as many of them. The shave Puro Fresco provides is wonderful and I always look forward to using this soap as it comes up in my rotation. Because of the scores above, CRSW Puro Fresco rates out at a 9.38/10.
Ruds - Worcester, MA
