The best shaving soap for skin care?

After trying well over 100 soap formulas, these are the ones I like best. They leave the skin moisturized and conditioned for hours. In the case of Kaizen 2e, Mallard, and Omnibus, the postshave will last a full 24 hours which I love. The others listed can still be felt after 16 hours, but do not make it to the 24 hour mark.

Grooming Dept Mallard (2021 release). The Kairos, Lamb Tallow, and Nai formulas are also excellent.
Ariana and Evans Kaizen 2e with emu oil. The Kaizen and Kaizen 2 formulations are excellent, but not as good as 2e. Be careful of A&E scents.
Barrister and Mann Omnibus- Grab a tub of Nordost while it is available seasonally. I have found that orange is less likely to trigger sensitivities than lemon, lime and grapefruit.
Zingari Man Sego formula
Wholly Kaw Siero formula
Declaration Grooming Milksteak formula
House of Mammouth Tusk formula
Oaken Lab V3

Ethos Grooming Essentials produces a great soap. It is suitable for those with sensitive skin. However, IMHO it is designed to be used in conjunction with the Ethos Skin Food. By itself, the post shave feel of Ethos soap is not as good as I would hope. If you can afford the combination, I am sure it will be superb.

After trying well over 100 soap formulas, these are the ones I like best. They leave the skin moisturized and conditioned for hours. In the case of Kaizen 2e, Mallard, and Omnibus, the postshave will last a full 24 hours which I love. The others listed can still be felt after 16 hours, but do not make it to the 24 hour mark.

Grooming Dept Mallard (2021 release). The Kairos, Lamb Tallow, and Nai formulas are also excellent.
Ariana and Evans Kaizen 2e with emu oil. The Kaizen and Kaizen 2 formulations are excellent, but not as good as 2e. Be careful of A&E scents.
Barrister and Mann Omnibus- Grab a tub of Nordost while it is available seasonally. I have found that orange is less likely to trigger sensitivities than lemon, lime and grapefruit.
Zingari Man Sego formula
Wholly Kaw Siero formula
Declaration Grooming Milksteak formula
House of Mammouth Tusk formula
Oaken Lab V3

Ethos Grooming Essentials produces a great soap. It is suitable for those with sensitive skin. However, IMHO it is designed to be used in conjunction with the Ethos Skin Food. By itself, the post shave feel of Ethos soap is not as good as I would hope. If you can afford the combination, I am sure it will be superb.

Oaken Lab is one you dont hear too often... At least not compared to the others. I feel like it came out of the blue, quietly. It is good to hear some support for it's quality. I may have to try it sometime.

How are they, scent wise? Complex or more standardized? Do they tend towards strong or weaker strength?

After trying well over 100 soap formulas, these are the ones I like best. They leave the skin moisturized and conditioned for hours. In the case of Kaizen 2e, Mallard, and Omnibus, the postshave will last a full 24 hours which I love. The others listed can still be felt after 16 hours, but do not make it to the 24 hour mark.

Grooming Dept Mallard (2021 release). The Kairos, Lamb Tallow, and Nai formulas are also excellent.
Ariana and Evans Kaizen 2e with emu oil. The Kaizen and Kaizen 2 formulations are excellent, but not as good as 2e. Be careful of A&E scents.
Barrister and Mann Omnibus- Grab a tub of Nordost while it is available seasonally. I have found that orange is less likely to trigger sensitivities than lemon, lime and grapefruit.
Zingari Man Sego formula
Wholly Kaw Siero formula
Declaration Grooming Milksteak formula
House of Mammouth Tusk formula
Oaken Lab V3

Ethos Grooming Essentials produces a great soap. It is suitable for those with sensitive skin. However, IMHO it is designed to be used in conjunction with the Ethos Skin Food. By itself, the post shave feel of Ethos soap is not as good as I would hope. If you can afford the combination, I am sure it will be superb.

Happy Holidays to all

Possessing arguably the worst skin and highest sensativity about, having been under Derm care since a child, can partially concur in having also tried hundreds of soaps. However, to date, have yet to experience a pleasurable painfree shave, at best have arrived at uneventful shaves. Am decidedly not a hobbyist shaver; my face so disfigured from injuries, magnified by the impossibility to grow a fulsome beard to hide it from public ala Lincoln, am forced to shave to mitigate public horror. Were it possible, would never shave again, ever period.

Far and away, the ETHOS soaps work best for me. Tibu Sibuni being slightly better than soaps containing extracts. While agree that combined with the Skin Food, hyaluronic Acid and Serum they are enhanced as a cohesive synergistic whole but even in a soap vacuum, ETHOS is clearly the best available at the moment if one possesses actual skin issues versus those perceived.

B&M omnibus is outstanding and clearly the new number two soap and like Wholly Kaw Siero, the number three soap, has the benefit of being run professionally without glitches nor drama by Will and Sri respectively.

Grooming Dept, especially the Nai base is also outstanding, only suffering as Mo has suffered health issues.

A&E is also quite good and emu is an advancement. Declaration is right there too and am quite partial to Scott as a decent human being.

The other soaps, without shedding aspersions simply do not work for the level of damage and sensativity of my skin period. Tried and retried them.

In my situation, cannot continue using soaps that don't work as it results in intense pain and ruddiness for days. Truly envy those buying soaps for scent as scent is pleasurable but am dealing with a completely different criteria than the overwhelming majority. That stated, consider that if the soaps cited work for me, how well they will work on more normal skin. Perhaps it may even be possible for some to cut back on the expensive skin products bought.

Happy Holidays to all

To you as well Dan!

Grooming Dept, especially the Nai base is also outstanding, only suffering as Mo has suffered health issues.

I am very sorry to hear that. I hope he has a full and speedy recovery.

In my situation, cannot continue using soaps that don't work as it results in intense pain and ruddiness for days. Truly envy those buying soaps for scent as scent is pleasurable but am dealing with a completely different criteria than the overwhelming majority. That stated, consider that if the soaps cited work for me, how well they will work on more normal skin. Perhaps it may even be possible for some to cut back on the expensive skin products bought.

A very interesting thought. My skin sensitivity is rather high and I don't foresee any soap doing it all for me. However, I can see the merit of the idea and I absolutely agree, some folks would certainly be able to skip the post shave with these higher end soaps.

In fact, dollar for dollar, it might be more cost effective if that were something they were looking for. Cool idea for sure.

Mohammad of Grooming Dept has been in stable health since Novermber. He made soaps for the website release. He is trying to get Mallard soaps out to the various vendors. His efforts have been hampered by supply chain shortages with some of the soap ingredients and packaging materials being on back-order. That is going to affect many of the artisans.

He does have plans to produce more Nai soaps in the coming year. I have encouraged him to develop another scent as I already have Aion and Otium. Neither of those scents made it into my list of favorite scents.

Oaken Lab is one you dont hear too often... At least not compared to the others. I feel like it came out of the blue, quietly. It is good to hear some support for it's quality. I may have to try it sometime.

How are they, scent wise? Complex or more standardized?  Do they tend towards strong or weaker strength?

Oaken Lab was a surprise for me as well. It is made in Indonesia, but the artisan has Western roots. Ruds Shaves gave the V3 base a shave score of 99, so I had to try it. I was pleasantly surprised when, according to my evaluation, it made my super-elite list.

The scents are described on the Oaken Lab web site. They tend to be moderately complex, which for me is a good thing as it means that no single scent note is likely to be strong enough to cause sensitivities. I have two of the soaps. In general, I am not a big fan of barbershop scents. However, Batavia Barber is quite nice and has become my favorite barbershop scent. I also like Sanctum.

Oaken Lab is one you dont hear too often... At least not compared to the others. I feel like it came out of the blue, quietly. It is good to hear some support for it's quality. I may have to try it sometime.

How are they, scent wise? Complex or more standardized?  Do they tend towards strong or weaker strength?

Oaken Lab was a surprise for me as well. It is made in Indonesia, but the artisan has Western roots. Ruds Shaves gave the V3 base a shave score of 99, so I had to try it. I was pleasantly surprised when, according to my evaluation, it made my super-elite list.

The scents are described on the Oaken Lab web site. They tend to be moderately complex, which for me is a good thing as it means that no single scent note is likely to be strong enough to cause sensitivities. I have two of the soaps. In general, I am not a big fan of barbershop scents. However, Batavia Barber is quite nice and has become my favorite barbershop scent. I also like Sanctum.

Wonderful. Thanks for the response. I'll probably give them a try soon. Always good to find a hidden gem out there.

Unlike when I first started wet shaving there is tremendous choice available today. Quality ingredients are very expensive for an Artisan soap maker, especially if they are avoiding synthetic scents. Woman’s skin care is decades ahead of men, and IMHO a soap alone will not deliver everything you need for total skin care. I would recommend trying samples of many of the Artisans mentioned. Personally I prefer simple scents, being an Asthmatic, complex scents may cause a reaction and then I don’t know what triggered it.
For me, after using many brands, ETHOS is the primary artisan I use. It needs a very small quantity of product to produce a great lather, provides cushion, glide and residual slickness and never leaves my face feeling tacky or greasy. The post shave products are made of exceptional ingredients and leaves my face feeling soft without being greasy.
The other products I use are Shannon soaps and Mitchell’s Wool fat, but I still use ETHOS post shave products with them. When my skin is doing well I do like to use Prorasso green products, but it only works well as an occasional shave for me.
I do disagree with a comment above that complex scents are better for sensitivity as most allergist will recommend staying with simple products to define what causes the sensitivity.

Like many others I have used dozens (probably nearly a hundred but not too much more) of soaps and post shave products over the years. The average facial skin is not uniform at all and has areas or dryness and oiliness with other “problem” regions. I guess it can be classified as “average” only when it can easily be managed. I suspect I am fortunate to be average in this regard.

Also Mark is correct in pointing out that simple scents are likely less problematic for those of us with allergies or sensitivities. I back this up from my own personal experiences and discussions with my heath care people over the years. It is also reasonable to say that natural ingredients (although likely more expensive or limited) may be less likely to cause whatever skin sensitivities or allergies but that doesn’t mean all non-natural ingredients are “bad”.

I’ve used some of the “big” names previously meantioned including A&E, Ethos, GD, HolyBlack, MdC, Pannacremma etc with variable success. For me, as I have said before, Ethos provides the full package as even using the soap alone and without the skin splash my skin is left well hydrated for several hours - the complementary skin splash/food only enhances and improves the post shave experience.

Any scent even a single less complex one can be a “problem” by irritating the skin or not be pleasant to the user or their significant other. As the appreciation of scent is highly subjective it may explain our bounty of soaps available within our community. Personally thete are certain scents (cough cough tobacco) that I will avoid no matter how well that soap works for me.

But if you are looking for a shave soap with or without a post shave product for sensitive skin Ethos have worked great for me so far. As a fringe benefit my soap collection have become more manageable to the immense satisfaction of my other half.

"I have encouraged him to develop another scent as I already have Aion and Otium. Neither of those scents made it into my list of favorite scents."

Love Aion. In fact, so favoured that it was used as a room freshener for months when finished beta testing.