What soap/cream did you use today?

Siliski's soaps [...] make a 2oz trial size. IMO, two ounces is a good business idea... its a half a tub, not a 2-3 shave sample. I'd imagine, with daily use, that trial soap would last a month and a half, maybe two.

mrdoug: Yup, 2 ounces of soap is all a shaver really needs nowadays, and Siliski's samples fit the bill perfectly.

Other soap cookers also offer large trial sizes. Mystic Water's 1/2 ounce samples give 8 rich shaves, and Stirling's 1 ounce samples, which are drier than MW's, last close to a month. Seems like Crown & Crane also offer 1 ounce samples. In each case, there's enough soap to enjoy the scent while it's still fresh, and while you're plowing through these mini-pucks, it's nice to get the sense that you're actually using something up. I'd rather have 50 fresh soaps that eventually disappear than 10 great tubs that will see me grow old and flaky before they're all lathered.

Same with fragrances. I used to buy the 100 ml bottles thinking it was a better bargain. In fact, these big flasks just sit on the shelf most of the time, and I lose interest in them before I get to the bottom. I've decided that 30 mls is the ideal size for an eau de toilette.

Vetiver v. (Le Père Lucien) cedar & vetiver

This is a good time of year for a shave. Winter dries our skin and summer makes it sensitive. But spring hits the happy balance of cool air and low humidity that gives your epidermis the confidence to wrangle with a demanding lather. That's when I like to bring out the soaps that give the closest shaves, the French vegan lathers that can be short on cushion but long on slickness and scent.

Now is when I go on a spree with Le Père Lucien. Their soaps give me a skintight shave every time. The blade nuzzles my hide without doing any damage, provided I use a light hand. A three-pass shave lasts 10 hours or more. Part of that longevity is due to the Shea butter, which LPL uses now in all their premium soaps. It kicks in an hour or so after the shave, so it's probably still a good idea to be generous with the moisturizer right after you put your razor down.

Javan and Indian vetiver oils, along with cedar, give LPL Vetiver a woody fragrance. But here's something odd. The vetiver in my sample was much stronger than the vetiver in this full tub. In fact, this big puck smells mostly of cedar. The vetiver doesn't lend more than a certain heavy earthiness – not exactly what I was expecting, but pleasant enough all the same. It will be interesting to see how the scent in this new tub develops in the next couple of weeks.

Still, I prefer soaps with original labels... The nice, organized, pristine look... lol. Thus, we need more vendors to take notice and start offering these.

At this point, I think we need a thread of soaps / companies offering smaller  (2oz or 3oz) soaps.

I wholeheartedly agree! I never thought it would be a big deal to me, but over the course of the past year or so, every time i order from Maggard, I will pick up 1 or 2 of the PETG jars. I've found that I really like that consistent look.

B&M Bay rum

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Declaration Grooming Dirtyver
This is a spicy and, I assume, vetiver centered soap. I assume only because with DG's vague scent notes you can only guess. Created in the newest DG Icarus base toward end of last year, this soap came and went quickly from the DG website. I ordered a sample from Maggards, sniffed it and immediately ordered the full puck and aftershave because I really became enamored with the scent. I am glad I did because it stopped being available very soon thereafter. The performance is stellar with nice creamy lather providing seamless lubrication and a nice post-shave feel.

So now I join Bouki in the vetiver world for today's shave though I do not have the sophistication of his palate to be able to determine the derivation of the type of vetiver used in Dirtyver.

One of the things I dislike about our goofy hobby is ever-chasing the newest razor, soap, brush. I did it for awhile and had a lot of fun, so those that are still chasing the rabbit, keep those reports coming. That said, in my chase I never found products that were better than the ones I already knew. Stepping off the merry-go-round has been good for me. One soap maker that seems to often get overlooked is Wet Shaving Products of Arizona. This mornings shave was WSP Ol' Kentucky and why anyone would need better,performance from a soap than this one provides is beyond me. The scent is a reasonably stout 7/10 and it'll linger post shave for an hour or two. Scent is a wonderful (to me) cologne-type with a base of sandalwood which, although not the only actor on stage, supports the overall accord. They claim the top note is bourbon but I sure don't get "boozy" like with some liquor infused soaps. To me this one smells like a cleaned up gent ready for a day with his beautiful lady. This is one of the more cushioning and slick soaps I own. I prefer the formula T over the Rustic but both are top notch.

WSP really does make a nice soap with great scents and their aftershaves have great duration/quality. I particularly like Olympus and am still evaluating Tobacco. I even have a couple of WSP's badger brushes and they function quite well.

I too am in the process of stepping back from the constant purchase of new soaps and aftershaves. I have found my supply far exceeds my needs. So unless a new soap or other product is a special case, I am not going to pull the trigger on a purchase. That said, I have such a nice and varied array to choose from, it is a real pleasure to spend a little time each evening choosing the products I will use the next morning. One of life's little pleasures is deciding what setup I will use the next day.

Wickham 1912 Magnum

Harrods by Floris shaving soap (tallow)

Tabac used to get a lot of love on the forum but has been supplanted by the newer offerings. That said, Tabac is still a soap that others are compared to (i.e. Easy lather like Tabac or slick like Tabac). Suffice it to say Tabac is not a classic by accident. It loads and lathers easily in all sorts of water types. It's slick all day. The scent is said to be polarizing but I'd say if you don't like Tabac your nose is broken! Haha. I swear Tabac smells like THE MAN.