What soap/cream did you use today?

I’ll start by saying I don’t like to write bad reviews, but sometimes they are necessary. Whether it’s to give the artisan feedback or to properly give consumers a better picture, we all owe it to each other to give honest feedback. I’ve never jived with any of Barrister and Manns soaps. His bases have just never wowed me. I saw some great reviews of his newer base and the scent dubbed Taiga. So I figured I’d give it another shot.

The scent notes for Taiga are pine, balsam, and cedar. Having quite a few woodsy soaps I figured I’d pull the trigger. But was a bit hesitant, after trying tallow and steels boreal and smelling grizzly wintergreen chewing tobacco I sent that on its way. So, Taiga smells….. just like Pinesol. Yup, the cleaning supply. If you enjoy the smell of Pinesol then this soap is for you.

The soap base in my honest opinion, is overpriced. It lathers, but you can say that about 95% of soaps out there. Residual slickness has never been there for any of the B&M soaps I’ve tried. I tell this by shaving the top half of my face first and then when moving to the neck area I skin stretch from the top. With B&M, it’s a squeege effect for all the bases I’ve tried. There’s simply no slickness left after the pass.

I’ll start by saying I don’t like to write bad reviews, but sometimes they are necessary. Whether it’s to give the artisan feedback or to properly give consumers a better picture, we all owe it to each other to give honest feedback. I’ve never jived with any of Barrister and Manns soaps. His bases have just never wowed me. I saw some great reviews of his newer base and the scent dubbed Taiga. So I figured I’d give it another shot.

The scent notes for Taiga are pine, balsam, and cedar. Having quite a few woodsy soaps I figured I’d pull the trigger. But was a bit hesitant, after trying tallow and steels boreal and smelling grizzly wintergreen chewing tobacco I sent that on its way. So, Taiga smells….. just like Pinesol. Yup, the cleaning supply. If you enjoy the smell of Pinesol then this soap is for you.

The soap base in my honest opinion, is overpriced. It lathers, but you can say that about 95% of soaps out there. Residual slickness has never been there for any of the B&M soaps I’ve tried. I tell this by shaving the top half of my face first and then when moving to the neck area I skin stretch from the top. With B&M, it’s a squeege effect for all the bases I’ve tried. There’s simply no slickness left after the pass.

Used an old sample of Beaudelaire last night reflecting how much better is the Omnibus base but surprised at how good B&M legacy bases lathered too. 

Is it ETHOS...no but quite good.  As of this moment, the Omnibus is the second best soap base encountered.  Maybe the difference of perspective comes down to my skin being so severely damaged that base properties far outweigh scent.  Rarely care regarding scent but if the base great AND the scent well executed...well then, it special and rare. 

THAT is a fantastic pairing.  Going to try that with the super dark sample Pete sent (have had 3 samples sent, ranging in colouration from dark brown and resinous to khaki and gritty)

THAT is a fantastic pairing.  Going to try that with the super dark sample Pete sent (have had 3 samples sent, ranging in colouration from dark brown and resinous to khaki and gritty)

What other differences, if any, do you notice from one sample to the next?

I’ll start by saying I don’t like to write bad reviews, but sometimes they are necessary. Whether it’s to give the artisan feedback or to properly give consumers a better picture, we all owe it to each other to give honest feedback. I’ve never jived with any of Barrister and Manns soaps. His bases have just never wowed me. I saw some great reviews of his newer base and the scent dubbed Taiga. So I figured I’d give it another shot.

The scent notes for Taiga are pine, balsam, and cedar. Having quite a few woodsy soaps I figured I’d pull the trigger. But was a bit hesitant, after trying tallow and steels boreal and smelling grizzly wintergreen chewing tobacco I sent that on its way. So, Taiga smells….. just like Pinesol. Yup, the cleaning supply. If you enjoy the smell of Pinesol then this soap is for you.

The soap base in my honest opinion, is overpriced. It lathers, but you can say that about 95% of soaps out there. Residual slickness has never been there for any of the B&M soaps I’ve tried. I tell this by shaving the top half of my face first and then when moving to the neck area I skin stretch from the top. With B&M, it’s a squeege effect for all the bases I’ve tried. There’s simply no slickness left after the pass.

Always good to see a dissenting opinion.
For me, their best bases were the original white tub (hear that a lot) and Reserve (which was very underappreciated, although that's because it was sometimes finicky like MW, but superb if the lather was done right).
I've had decent shaves with Omnibus, but not life-changing... opinion could change, since I've only used it once or twice. Can't say I pay a ton of attention to residual slickness with anything though, unless it's noticeable.

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