Stirling Soap AMA, March 18th, 2017

Hi,

I was curious why you decided to sell 5.8 ounces of shaving soap in those green jars. Also, one of the first things I do when a get a new green jar of your soap is to take a plastic spoon and smooth out the top. I don't like the lumpy presentation, but it's an easy fix. Maybe you'd consider a way to have a more level surface as the soap sets up. Regardless, you make an enjoyable product.

I like being able to provide value to my customers. While most other artisans will put 3.5 to 4 ounce jars of soap, we went for nearly 6 at a lower price than they charge for 4. It is just one aspect that I feel sets us apart.

As for the top of the soap, that is just the nature of artisan soap. It's hot poured into the jars and then we bang the bottoms of the jar on a towel on the table to tamp down the soap as far into the jar as possible. We could have a custom plate made to press the soap down and even put an imprint into it after the soap has cooled and hardened, but I just don't see the value in doing that. It doesn't help the performance of the soap, but it would add cost due to the time it would take to pull each jar and press it down after it has cooled.

Thanks for the excellent badger brushes. I have the 26 and 24 fan. Compares to those 3X the price. Hopefully a silvertip is on the horizon.

Thank you very much. I couldn't be more pleased with how those turned out. We did quite a bit of sampling and testing to get what we those right.

I've been resisting doing a silvertip so far for a couple of reasons. First, all of cash is tied up in the expansion and the new razor handles and I don't think it would be prudent to have any more debt at the moment. Second, 3-band silver tips are difficult to do right. Due to the super fine hairs, meaning the diameter of the hair shaft is small compared to a 2-band finest silvertip, you have to pack in far more hairs per unit area to achieve a good density. This leads to some shedding initially. Even from a good 3-band, you're going to have some shedding, maybe quite a bit. We comb all of our 2-bands and synthetics before boxing them up to remove as many loose hairs as possible, but with a super packed 3-band silvertip, it would be a bit more difficult to get them all. I do hope to grow enough to be able to make it happen at some point though.

I can attest that the 2 bands have had zero shedding and continue to improve with use.

Who are your favorite past and current Cardinals players? Do you sell a balm with a good amount of menthol?

Who are your favorite past and current Cardinals players? Do you sell a balm with a good amount of menthol?

I grew up watching Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee. I still have my Ozzie jersey I got when I was 5. Right now, I'd have to say Yadi. My dog is named Yadi. Even though he spurned the Cardinals for more money, I still look back fondly at the decade Pujols spent with St. Louis. I consider him the best hitter of my lifetime.

The Glacial Lemon Chill is the balm with the most menthol. It's difficult to do hyper-mentholated balms. They tend to just break down and get runny, or you have to put so much emulsifier in there that you compromise the performance of the balm.

A big thanks to Mandy and Rod for putting out such good products at such value.

Really solid soaps, AS, balms-I've turned several of my friends who are new wet shavers, and start them with a Stirling soap and a Stirling Synthetic brush and every last one of them have no issues with lathering, and are amazed at what a real lather feels like.

Speaking of brushes, the 26mm 2-band and the 24 mm 2-band fan are truly amazing values. I have many high-end brushes, and these are remarkable performers, and for the price unbeatable.

A small thing, but I really appreciate how carefully you shrink wrap the order when you ship it.

So, big thanks and kudos.

What's the biggest request you get for new products? With the new stainless handles, are you thinking of a stainless head as well?

Congrats on the workshop expansion! Does that expansion mean one or both of you have been able to quit your day job and run Stirling full-time?

A big thanks to Mandy and Rod for putting out such good products at such value.

Really solid soaps, AS, balms-I've turned several of my friends who are new wet shavers, and start them with a Stirling soap and a Stirling Synthetic brush and every last one of them have no issues with lathering, and are amazed at what a real lather feels like.

Speaking of brushes, the 26mm 2-band and the 24 mm 2-band fan are truly amazing values. I have many high-end brushes, and these are remarkable performers, and for the price unbeatable.

A small thing, but I really appreciate how carefully you shrink wrap the order when you ship it.

So, big thanks and kudos.

What's the biggest request you get for new products? With the new stainless handles, are you thinking of a stainless head as well?

You are very welcome! I guess we must be one of the few companies that shrink wraps orders when we box them up. It really helps prevent damage while in transit, and I think it looks more professional than just throwing things in a box to rattle around like some other company does *cough* Amazon *cough*

We get scent requests on a near daily basis. We obviously can't do them all, or even the majority of them. I do look up every request though and try to find it if Mandy and I are out shopping so that I can smell it and find out if it is something that i think would have enough mass appeal to make a production run of it. Outside of scent requests, we get so many requests to do shampoo bars. We've been working on them for some time, but we won't have the time or space to finish them until we get the expansion finished.

We are working on stainless heads, but it's far more difficult and expensive than we anticipated. I know there are plenty of people who question the prices of someone like James at Wolfman razors, but let me go on record as saying that I think he undercharges. The amount of work it takes to get a head that is an efficient shaver, while still being made in such as fashion that the razor will outlive the owner is a feat in itself. Then when you consider the finish of the razors, it's unreal. For comparison's sake, we put the first batch of our razor handles up at $35 and $50 for grade 3 and 2 respectively. We will lose money on them at those prices. It takes an unreal amount of time to take a machined piece of 316 stainless and sand and buff it to a mirror finish. The follow up is likely to be "Why do it then?" Well, the first batch is being sold at a loss to hopefully get them into the customer's hand quicker and hopefully generate buzz if they are well received. The 350 we have being polished right now will then go up to the normal price, which still is a minimal markup. As my quantities that I am having machined increase, I can get the price lower and they will be more profitable. If they don't sell well or if customers don't like them, we'll likely just discontinue them and put those funds to use for other projects.

I don't really have a question. I just want to take the opportunity to thank you for providing such tremendous value to all of us. Your brushes, soaps, and splashes all sit at the top of my rotation, and even at bargain prices your customer service has always been top notch. In my opinion, you set the bar for both quality and service. Well done!

I guess to be official...have you ever considered looking into offering shavettes or straight razors? I know straights would likely run a fair bit higher than your other products but what about a Stirling branded shavette? I'd be all over that!


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Congrats on the workshop expansion! Does that expansion mean one or both of you have been able to quit your day job and run Stirling full-time?

Thank you! We've actually been doing Stirling full-time since October of 2013. Mandy was working for Defense Contractor in IT and her position was cut due to some Pentagon spending issues in September of 2013. In October of 2013, I left the Army after 12 years on active duty to work on Stirling full time and try to turn it into a successful company.

Hello Rod. I wanted to thank you for all that you do for the wetshaving community.

Are you going to release a Glacial MITA along with the others you mentioned? I've tried your standard MITA and though I love the scent, I would love for it to have more menthol.

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