Tabula Rasa Here Today Gone Tomorrow

Many years ago before the dozens of new artisanal soaps and creams there were two soaps that were highly in demand.  The Los Angeles Shaving Soap Company and Tabula Rasa.  Every mail order house stocked them.  The first tub of Tabula Rasa (TR) I purchased was from Lees Shaving in New York which is now out of business.  It was $29 a tub.  This was before Steam Punk was introduced.  Then the price went up to $31 a tub and I ended up with 5 of the TR soaps.  Many people I believe lost interest in the soap because they did not understand how to make a lather; it requires a lot of water.

I posted a reply #15,506 on the “What soap/cream did you use today?” and I indicated that Maggard had discounted all of their TR soaps.  On Tuesday I went back because I wanted to order Steam Punk and it was not only sold out it was deleted from their site which means it’s gone for good and maybe all of their TR will not longer be available when it is sold out.  

I did a little research to find Steam Punk and found a company called Grown Man Shave who are selling TR soaps discounted to $15.75 a tub.  I stocked up.  It is a shame that soaps like Tabula Rasa, I COLONIALI, etc have either been discontinued or no longer available to purchase like TR.  And, something tells me XPEC is on the way out.  Check out Grown Man Shave; if all of the TR is gone write them an email because they may be willing to reorder.

there were two soaps that were highly in demand.  The Los Angeles Shaving Soap Company and Tabula Rasa ... Many people I believe lost interest in the soap because they did not understand how to make a lather; it requires a lot of water.

The problem is people prefer LEs and SEs now. People are addicted to marketing. Almost everything in the wet shaving is based on this way.

I remember steampunk back when it was a TSN LE soap. I thought it smelled awesome.

Is it the LE/SE trend? I wonder if some of it is how good other soap vendors are at "viral" marketing, and the sheer number of soap vendors out there. It's not a business I'd want to enter nowadays.

It's a shame, there are so many soap vendors that I've heard good things about but have gone out of business since I basically stopped buying soap in an attempt to use up the den.

I really like Tabula Rasa’s shaving … foam. (?) Always a good lather, nice shave, and enjoyable scents. It’s sad to see that the brand is not being imported anymore, or what would be even worse, possibly discontinued. A few years ago, lots of buzz around the brand, yet here we are…

Just recently I stated on another thread that a lot of the manufacturers (mostly artisans) definitely seem to be marketing geniuses, because there is always some new thing waiting just around the corner, whether it be a limited edition, special release or just a new product or scent. Keeps the hobby interesting, but also makes it a little crazy at times.

A friend bought a discounted tub approx. a year ago and gave some to me. It's OK, but frankly I think Sudsy Soapery is a better non-tallow soap and let's face it that the TR MSRP was way overboard for the USA as well. There are several new makers that make better soap for far less money. The Free Market has spoken.