Member
Over time I have come to appreciate a good shaving soap like a good wine, in some respects my love of wine tasting I think has helped me appreciate a good soap prior to even lathering it up and using it.
For those that don't know the art of wine tasting it is quite a simple one, one I learnt over the last few years. Basically you pour the wine, you observe its structure and colour, you swirl and smell it and then you take that first mouthful, larger than your average mouthful. Filling your mouth with the tastes, smells and textures, after swallowing you take note of the after taste and the longevity of mouth feel. Once this is done you relax and enjoy the wine for what it is.
This process has stirred a strange connection with shaving soaps and has made me appreciate them more as works of art rather than just soap. For instance, when I first receive a soap, I observe the packaging and if it well finished I expect this of the soap. Once the lid has been removed I will take a quick second to look at the make up of the soap and I may peruse the ingredients. Next I will take a few big intakes of the scent through my nose and see what I can detect, in most cases instantly I will know if this soap is going to be for me but if you throw a spanner in the works such as some of the Barrister and Mann scents you have a real job of picking out many complex notes. I will bloom the soap prior to using it and give it another whiff, I will try to detect any change in the scent and pick out maybe more notes that were not apparent at first. Once lathered I will put it on my face for the first time I will let it sit a minute, I will observe any changes that take place and without thinking grade the quality of the lather. I will then settle and enjoy the shave - or maybe I won't! Last but not least the post shave is an important time to reflect on the performance and gauge the quality of the post shave feel.
My taste in wine very much reflects my choice in soaps. French wines bore me, they may taste good but the labels and dominant one grape varieties do not excite me. Wines from exciting regions like Paso Robles in California arouse me with bold scents and mixes of grape varieties and just down right outrageously cool label designs. Mitchell's Wool Fat is just like a French wine it maybe a cracking soap but it's boring, I like the outgoing scents of the new artisans with strong aromas and just as good if not better performance than the old world soaps.
It's sometimes strange the connections we make! So, what connections have you made? Please share or if your a normal person and not slightly mad like me then I hope you enjoyed my strange connection.
For those that don't know the art of wine tasting it is quite a simple one, one I learnt over the last few years. Basically you pour the wine, you observe its structure and colour, you swirl and smell it and then you take that first mouthful, larger than your average mouthful. Filling your mouth with the tastes, smells and textures, after swallowing you take note of the after taste and the longevity of mouth feel. Once this is done you relax and enjoy the wine for what it is.
This process has stirred a strange connection with shaving soaps and has made me appreciate them more as works of art rather than just soap. For instance, when I first receive a soap, I observe the packaging and if it well finished I expect this of the soap. Once the lid has been removed I will take a quick second to look at the make up of the soap and I may peruse the ingredients. Next I will take a few big intakes of the scent through my nose and see what I can detect, in most cases instantly I will know if this soap is going to be for me but if you throw a spanner in the works such as some of the Barrister and Mann scents you have a real job of picking out many complex notes. I will bloom the soap prior to using it and give it another whiff, I will try to detect any change in the scent and pick out maybe more notes that were not apparent at first. Once lathered I will put it on my face for the first time I will let it sit a minute, I will observe any changes that take place and without thinking grade the quality of the lather. I will then settle and enjoy the shave - or maybe I won't! Last but not least the post shave is an important time to reflect on the performance and gauge the quality of the post shave feel.
My taste in wine very much reflects my choice in soaps. French wines bore me, they may taste good but the labels and dominant one grape varieties do not excite me. Wines from exciting regions like Paso Robles in California arouse me with bold scents and mixes of grape varieties and just down right outrageously cool label designs. Mitchell's Wool Fat is just like a French wine it maybe a cracking soap but it's boring, I like the outgoing scents of the new artisans with strong aromas and just as good if not better performance than the old world soaps.
It's sometimes strange the connections we make! So, what connections have you made? Please share or if your a normal person and not slightly mad like me then I hope you enjoyed my strange connection.
Oli AKA Windsor Citrus
Surrey, UK.
Surrey, UK.
