Soaps you've hated this year

Caties Le March Du Rasage- irritated my skin
PAA Beach, Chocolate Bourbon, Coconut Bay Rum- burnt my skin
Cella Red Container- container is too small
Stirling Haitian vetiver (can't remember the name)- I tried to love it because the lather was great but my nostrils were taking a brutal beating from the scent.

I love catie's Bubbles.... the only soap I really don't like that much because of the scent is Arko but I still use it

I love catie's Bubbles.... the only soap I really don't like that much because of the scent is Arko but I still use it

you're not alone in hating the scent of arko. to me, it smells like citronella candles!

Saponificio Varesino. Thin airy lather with poor slickness & no cushion. I know many love it but it's a complete dud for me.

Really surprised that you think Catie's isn't that slick - especially the new formula.  Personally, I put it up there with B&M and MLS.  Must be my water (hard) and how I lather.  

Hate is a really strong word.  Like I hate shitty drivers.  How I feel towards those shitty drivers doesn't match my dislike for certain shave products.  That said, here are the soaps I didn't care for:
- CFG Midnight Stag - couldn't hang with the scent
- DR Harris Rose - didn't perform very well, scent was terrible
- Antica Barbieria Colla - didn't perform very well,  don't like sweet almond scents
- L&L Grooming After the Rain (vegan formula) - performance and scent was meh, looking forward to trying the improved bison tallow formula
- WK Vetivertal - my tub mind as well be unscented ...

Caties Bubbles to me has come up short on numerous occasions.  Firstly, I had a few tubs that the scent was about a 1 or 2 out of 10 as far as strength.  I had to literally stick my nose ON the soap to smell it.  Secondly, I received several tubs last year that were goo.  Goo can be ok if its like a cream and it lathers right up but this was not the case.  No matter what I did with it, I ended up with a face full of little soap pebbles and goo that I had to go back over, pick the pieces off of my face and try to salvage lathers.  Finally, when Caties got all aspects of consistency/scent strength correct, no matter what I did, I could never get the kind of performance I wanted out of it compared to a Soap Commander, Reef Point, B&M, etc.  I tried this in numerous different ways.  Too much water, no where near enough water, tip dipping, etc. I finally got to the point where I went at Caties with a synthetic that had all water out of it and I added water drip by drip by drip.  It would never get slick enough for me and eventually, I would push the lather past its threshold into losing cushion so then I'd have a no cushion/no slickness lather.  Now don't get me wrong, Caties is SUPER easy to lather when the consistency of the soap is firm, but getting the lather slick enough for me was impossible.  It always left me with a dragging razor and additionally, piss poor post shave feel. My shaves with Caties were never as good as the aforementioned artisans no matter how hard I tried.

I hated the purchases of Proraso, Cella, and Arko...not because these soaps are terrible, but because they are not great.

But then I went on a winning streak and purchased great soaps like Nuavia, Sudsy Soapery, Pure2O, B&M and Saponificio Varesino.    I didn't know about these soaps until I did some research and exchanged PMs with a couple of experienced shavers.   Whoever says that ignorance is bliss should have his face shaved with a rusty blade.  

Out of proraso, Cella and Arko, Cella is definitely my favorite.  Proraso, although nice smelling and great feeling, just lacked in performance for me.  Arko I'll detail below.

I love catie's Bubbles.... the only soap I really don't like that much because of the scent is Arko but I still use it

you're not alone in hating the scent of arko.  to me, it smells like citronella candles!

Arko was a scent I just could not stand shaving with.  Its like industrial Ivory with a splash of lemon juice and man, it brings that scent in SPADES. It'd be one thing if it was lightly scented.

Elvado - I received two these in a "soap lot" purchase. One was unscented and I can't remember the other. Neither one would lather for me. I tried several times including changing the brush, the amount of water, etc. Never could get anything decent to shave with.

Fortunately, they came in nice little plastic tubs that I use for refill pucks

...piss poor post shave feel.

LOL! Great use of alliteration.

TOBS Rose & Eton College = Face burn. Still trying to figure out the ingredients that caused it.

TOBS Rose & Eton College = Face burn. Still trying to figure out the ingredients that caused it.

TOBS products are the only mass market products which have ever burned my face. TOBS Sandalwood and Grapefruit creams respectively turned me into a human beet. Every single other product from overseas, from Cella to Proraso, DR Harris, etc caused no issues. Even Tabac with its scent strength of 29 on a scale of 1 to 10 caused no issues for me.

Even Tabac with its scent strength of 29 on a scale of 1 to 10 caused no issues for me.

Wow. LOL. I think I can smell it through the internets.