Tatara Honour Soap Passaround - Words Matter

Tatara Honour Soap Passaround

Apologies for the delay in posting as we experienced a catastrophic health occurrence last fortnight.  Had avoided posting until we knew the final tubs forthcoming but somebody started posting on this subject so....

Have been working with Tatara on the development of their first soap product for the past year being sworn to secrecy regarding any communication.  However, received the first puck about a week and half ago; holding off on posting as we negotiated a few tubs for a DFS community passaround.  We are definitely receiving at least 2 tubs of Honour, while hoping for upto 5 to facilitate rapid regional shipping.  Should we receive 2 tubs, they will be split between the East and West Coasts of the US to facilitate rapid shipping without resorting to the expense of Priority Mail yet entailing 2-4 days dead shipping time between users.  In the event we get 3 tubs, we will add a MidWestern tub, shortening the dead shipping time to 2-3 days without resorting to the expense of Priority Mail.  Should we get 4 tubs, we will send a tub to Canada for our Northern brothers entailing an expensive initial charge but facilitating an active base having an opportunity to enjoy this product. If we get 5 tubs, will add a Southern tub bringing almost all participants to 2 day dead shipping times between trials.

Honour:

  

2.a. c1300 – Quality of character entitling a person to great respect; nobility of mind or spirit; honourableness, uprightness; a fine sense of, and strict adherence to, what is considered to be morally right or just

2.c. c1742 – Allegiance to a conventional standard of behaviour among a particular group of people; a code of honour

My thoughts having been involved in the development:

Wish it was possible to suggest there a hero story regarding saving the day from imminent failure but the Tatara guys are the best branding shaving company encountered despite being engineers (and damn fine ones at that).

From the outset of the soap product development, as from the first Masamune, they crafted every aspect of the product to be somehow more traditionally Japanese than if it were actually traditionally Japanese.  

Packaging: 

Anybody having visited or lived in Japan, knows that the presentation of a product carries at least as much significance as the actual product.  The role of packaging, which may be the most critical element of Japanese culture, was decided, and properly, from the outset.  The paper box has a gravatas that even those customers of the most expensive Italian soaps will notice and appreciate.  It is simple but, as with proper stationary, one can feel the difference between notes sent by somebody practical using functional stationary and notes sent by somebody loving and valuing words using stationary evoking a tactile experience that enhances the message.  While I realize many in the West scoff at such things as wasteful, Honour is the difference between a transitory society and one built on permanence which has been reflected in the decreasing frequency of the daily usage of the word 'honour' as the West declined from its preeminence in the 19th century.  Honour, in Western vernacular, has now come to infer something conveyed upon a person, typically from having been purchased or otherwise exchanged.

Inside is a beautifully executed tub, presenting the nai (錵) finish a signature of Masamune swords and Tatara finishes subtly laser etched on the upper right corner in keeping with tradition.  There are a few soap manufacturers using metal containers but none encountered are as elegant leaning either more practical with gripping provisions, ornately finished in homage to classic antiquity of Europe or ultramodern.  My leanings favour Eastern design generally and Japanese particularly.  

Product:

Scent: The Tatara team took great pain regarding the scent, not just for popularity's sake but also to remain true to the traditional Japanese values that define their branding.  This scent evokes a Japanese ceremony with its subtle complexity yet being on the stronger end of what Japanese culture would define as publicly polite in a nod to its primarily Western customer base; it is beautifully subtle by Western standards - what other artisans strive to achieve with Asian scents but somehow just barely miss.  It is relaxing in a way that no Western spa blend of lavenders, mints and chamomiles, with their intent to project and overwhelm other environmental olfactory cues, delivers.  Tatara claims scent notes of aquatic, musk, vetyver, cedar and amber; suppose they are indeed there but the interplay is vastly different than what have come to expect from such a pyramid with the results decidedly Asian in nature and very much Japanese from my memories.

Performance: The performance is right there with top soaps of today - AionSkincare, Dragonsbeard, Los Jobones de Joserra and whollykaw despite being vegan.  While having a strong preference to animal fat soaps and badger brushes, am ALWAYS looking for cruelty free alternatives; the best vegan soaps from the aforementioned artisans have mostly delivered on that hope but, unfortunately, to date, have yet to find a synthetic brush that makes the cut.  Possessing amongst the most sensitive and damaged skin encountered online, am quite particular regarding soaps, favouring cushion over glide unless straight shaving where glide is far more critical.  Honour was able to be lathered towards cushion or glide depending on the shaver's preference, performing with equal aplomb in either preparation.  The finish was what I term sheer, which is to state rinsing easily and completely with a simple splash and not requiring a cleanser to rid remnants from the pores.  The postshave was quite good and could be felt throughout the day albeit just a microstep below AION, ETHOS, Los Jobones de Joserra and Wholly Kaw while remaining above the rest of the most regarded soaps currently available.

Conclusion:

As with all things Tatara, this product is a tasteful tour de force.  It opens like Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No1 and fulfills EVERY promise made until the conclusion leaving one wanting to experience it repeatedly.  The packaging, scent and performance are masterfully combined to create actual synergies and, as with Eastern culture, it has staying power.  Where most soaps are of their time, suspect shavers will be using Honour with great reverence for years to come - it is, in many respects, eternal.

Passaround:

Please PM your name, address, text and email if you wish to participate.  Only ask that you do a minimal yet meaningful review posting in this thread as this not an expensive razor and that you send to the next person via USPS (NOT Priority Mail and sans insurance).  Further, for those concerned, your personal issue is shared with NOBODY - not even Tatara - and is maintained on a standalone Excel spreadsheet NOT on the cloudis jus.

Wonderful post. Very thoughtful and complete. Thanks for taking the time


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This soap looks to be a winner.

Especially considering it from a hardware firm. They really are quite talented.

In all fairness though, would think our soap artisans have a substantial leg up focusing on software. What they have done to advance the state of the art in soap making and postshave skin recovery has been miraculous.

This is definitely up my alley as I only use vegetarian/vegan based soaps. The only disadvantage to that is I can't compare it to any tallow based soaps as I have never used one. This looks like a good formula and it contains a lot of common ingredients you see these days in shaving soap. Tallow or otherwise. I am looking forward to this passaround as it it is squarely in my wheelhouse.

I am looking forward to this passaround as it it is squarely in my wheelhouse.

Me too, if I was in US.
I'd love it in EU too.

I am looking forward to this passaround as it it is squarely in my wheelhouse.

Me too, if I was in US.
I'd love it in EU too.

I saw your thread on this. I feel it is a touch on the pricey side for 3.4 oz (Maggard has it for $27.45), but I do also understand International shipping and import costs, etc. I'm also not against spending some money if I really like something and the quality is there. So, we shall see!!!

I am looking forward to this passaround as it it is squarely in my wheelhouse.

Me too, if I was in US.
I'd love it in EU too.

I saw your thread on this. I feel it is a touch on the pricey side for 3.4 oz (Maggard has it for $27.45), but I do also understand International shipping and import costs, etc. I'm also not against spending some money if I really like something and the quality is there. So, we shall see!!!

Maggard has it for 25 Euros more or less converted to USD.  I don’t see a mark up based on shipping. 

If anything you are saving money this way.

I received the Tatara soap today.  Luckily I was in need of a shave so I wasted no time.  

The soap itself - soft and easily scoop-able as you can see my actual lather from the exact scoop which was a little less than an almond size.  

The scent is Japanese, very similar to what I recall from my stays in Yokohama.  It’s just a fantastic, clean scent that is not like anything I have smelled in a shave soap. 

It has very good slickness, with good post shave and cushion for a non-tallow soap.  

Would I buy one, for the scent alone I would consider one.  I like it better than PAA CK-6 by a lot when I look at non-tallow soaps.

I will get a few more shaves in and report back to see how it does over several shaves and different water to soap ratios.

The scent has legs, here we are 3 hours later and I can still enjoy the light fragrance.

That is my take. It amazing