Soaps that burn your face!

I was under the impression that this was my case as well. Today I got reactions from Meissner Tremonia pots of milk, got it from Eufros Citricos and MW coconut (sentitive is great btw) and been getting them from Cade, which was my only soap for a looong time. I don't expect cheapo FO from those but I guess you never know.

Lots of artisan soaps that seem like they use low quality fragrance ingredients tend to burn my face, since I have very sensitive skin. For me the skin burning seems to be related to an allergy to cheap fragrance ingredients - there seems to be a correlation between my allergenic reactions and how cheap a fragrance smells (I have the same issue with perfumes). This is one reason why I try very hard to get samples before purchasing the full sized products.

I'd bet that for most people the "burning" issue is related to the use of low quality fragrance oils, or simple allergies to specific ingredients.

I was under the impression that this was my case as well. Today I got reactions from Meissner Tremonia pots of milk, got it from Eufros Citricos and MW coconut (sentitive is great btw) and been getting them from Cade, which was my only soap for a looong time. I don't expect cheapo FO from those but I guess you never know.

Who knows? It's obviously impossible to attribute causation with 100% certainty since we don't have access to the ingredients sourcing information. As I mentioned, in many cases it could be mere allergies rather than inferior oils. But speaking from my own experience, it is usually the cheap fragrances that give me allergic reactions. It might be different for you.

I haven't tried MW Coconut, but had no issues (thankfully) with Citricos or Messier Tremonia.

My list is growing unfortunately. So far, these have been face burners (in order of most to least):
Soap Smooth Bruyere
MW Sweet Briar ( I love this one)
TTFFC Forged
B&M DFS LE
Maggard Razors London Barbershop

For what it's worth, technique has affected my perception of a soap causing burn or irritation. When I tried face lathering, I noted that two soaps had a bit of irritation. So I planned to ditch them. When I started DE shaving, I decided to keep a journal to note how the shave went and to record what I did that may have an effect for good or bad. I noted that that these two soaps were face lathered with a new badger brush, about a week into my face-lathering initiation. My first face lathers were with my Pro 49 boar. I decided to go back to bowl lathering, and used a Maggard synthetic. No irritation! This leads me to suspect my technique and a new brush.

On the other hand, I have had soaps that cause irritation. Using a second or third time with burn or tingle means it is done for me.

I had an bad experience with Dr.Jon's Hex shaving soap. It was a fine soap but I think I am allergic to one of the ingredients in it. It turned my face red when I shaved with it. I just passed it to a friend. He doesn't have the bad experience I had.

I was under the impression that this was my case as well. Today I got reactions from Meissner Tremonia pots of milk, got it from Eufros Citricos and MW coconut (sentitive is great btw) and been getting them from Cade, which was my only soap for a looong time. I don't expect cheapo FO from those but I guess you never know.

Who knows? It's obviously impossible to attribute causation with 100% certainty since we don't have access to the ingredients sourcing information. As I mentioned, in many cases it could be mere allergies rather than inferior oils. But speaking from my own experience, it is usually the cheap fragrances that give me allergic reactions. It might be different for you.

I haven't tried MW Coconut, but had no issues (thankfully) with Citricos or Messier Tremonia.

"Low quality" is a pretty nebulous term and not something you can really use to describe these things, especially on the criterion that they "smell cheap," which means basically nothing (for instance, I've heard people describe Knize Ten as "cheap and adolescent," which it's definitely not). My guess is that you're probably allergic to something in the fragrance, whether it's cheap or not; if I had to make a prediction, I would guess high-powered laundry musks like ethylene brassylate and dihydromyrcenol, especially because said ingredients tend to impart a weird metallic tang to fragrances and are used to create the "fresh" impression so common in modern masculine scents.

For what it's worth, technique has affected my perception of a soap causing burn or irritation. When I tried face lathering, I noted that two soaps had a bit of irritation. So I planned to ditch them. When I started DE shaving, I decided to keep a journal to note how the shave went and to record what I did that may have an effect for good or bad. I noted that that these two soaps were face lathered with a new badger brush, about a week into my face-lathering initiation. My first face lathers were with my Pro 49 boar. I decided to go back to bowl lathering, and used a Maggard synthetic. No irritation! This leads me to suspect my technique and a new brush.

On the other hand, I have had soaps that cause irritation. Using a second or third time with burn or tingle means it is done for me.

I also noticed that the burn wasn't as bad if I used a synthetic brush instead of boar and used more painting strokes and less scrubbing. To me though, it's not worth walking on eggshells to use a soap so these will be PIFed soon.

Barrister_N_Mann I agree to some extent, but I'd argue that with experience you can tell which fragrances likely use quality ingredients and which do not. Lots of fragrance reviewers, including those ranging from Kafkaesque to Turin/Sanchez, might agree.

For me, it's the ones that smell cheap that always give me the biggest allergic reactions. I'm suspicious of the IFRA push towards synthetics, as in my experience it is the synthetics (usually cheaper) which give me the most problems. I've never had an issue with a Roja Parfums fragrance for instance, but have had many allergy problems with fragrances in the sub-$50 range.

In any case, this is obviously an allergy issue. For me though it's the ones that "smell cheap" that tend to correlate with allergy problems. Not everyone has that issue, so I suspect that I am particularly sensitive to some synthetics that are used at the low end of the market. It could be anything of course - this is just a hypothesis, and it could very well be those ingredients you mentioned.

Barrister_N_Mann I agree to some extent, but I'd argue that with experience you can tell which fragrances likely use quality ingredients and which do not. Lots of fragrance reviewers, including those ranging from Kafkaesque to Turin/Sanchez, might agree.

For me, it's the ones that smell cheap that always give me the biggest allergic reactions. I'm suspicious of the IFRA push towards synthetics, as in my experience it is the synthetics (usually cheaper) which give me the most problems. I've never had an issue with a Roja Parfums fragrance for instance, but have had many allergy problems with fragrances in the sub-$50 range.

In any case, this is obviously an allergy issue. For me though it's the ones that "smell cheap" that tend to correlate with allergy problems. Not everyone has that issue, so I suspect that I am particularly sensitive to some synthetics that are used at the low end of the market. It could be anything of course - this is just a hypothesis, and it could very well be those ingredients you mentioned.

My point is that fragrances that "smell cheap" are possessed largely of synthetic musks in those categories, hence the idea that they are the culprit.

Barrister_N_Mann that makes sense to me - great observation! And of course it isn't a perfect correlation, since some expensive fragrances like Green Irish Tweed (which I enjoy but am slightly allergic to) have high doses of dihydromyrcenol.