What U.K. soaps or creams do you own

I heard a artisan makes the Castle Forbes to start with then it is mass produced under their quality control. How true this is I don't know. I personally prefer artisan soaps but mass produced creams are great as well.

Very interesting @"rogue13"! I was not aware of that.

In any case, for me the quality of being "artisan" or "mass produced" is completely irrelevant. I want performance first and foremost, and that is essentially the only quality that I value. On that point, Forbes performed better for me than most other creams. If those other creams were artisan and Forbes was mass produced, it wouldn't alter my opinion in the slightest lol. I don't quite understand why people would have a preference for artisan over mass produced products (when taking performance out of the equation), but to each their own! lol

Hi NeoXerxes, I agree with you I value quality & performance but the real reason I prefer artisan is mainly because its hand made & their personal effort they put into it.

I can understand that @"rogue13"! I also appreciate that effort and craftsmanship, however my priority as a consumer of these products is raw performance.

I have a couple of OSP soaps and I find them to be excellent performers, only knock is that the batches I have (sandalwood/bay rum) are a bit lightly scented for my taste.  also have several TOBS, GFT, D.R. Harris, Cyril Salter, wyckham soaps and creams and I like all of them although I think the Salters win on scent and they lather like mad.

I've got some German soaps, Tabula Rasa, Meisner Tremonia, some Italian soaps, TFS and RR, a French soap Le Pere Lucien, lots of American soaps B&M, Mike's, CB, MW, MLSW, CRSW, HTGAM/PAA, some Aussie soaps, Shaver Heaven and even a couple of Canadian soaps.  There are a few continents unrepresented in my soap stable but so far I've not found any South American, Asian or African soaps to round out my collection.  If you know of any let me know. I'd also be interested in soaps made in places close to either poles!
Marko

India is in Asia and they have godrej soap and creams. I'm trying to get soaps from as many nations as possible. Well budget soaps.


I only have one uk soap/cream. Tobs almond cream. It performs really good.

I'd like to try an Indian soap/cream - have you tried the Godrej? Whats it like?

Very interesting @"rogue13"! I was not aware of that.

In any case, for me the quality of being "artisan" or "mass produced" is completely irrelevant. I want performance first and foremost, and that is essentially the only quality that I value. On that point, Forbes performed better for me than most other creams. If those other creams were artisan and Forbes was mass produced, it wouldn't alter my opinion in the slightest lol. I don't quite understand why people would have a preference for artisan over mass produced products (when taking performance out of the equation), but to each their own! lol

If the performance was comparable I'd go for an artisan over a mass market, however, I certainly have no time for a poor performing soap, artisan or mass market. Its got to be good. Its like fair trade coffee - if its inferior coffee I won't buy it just because its fair trade. If its good coffee (i.e., all things being equal) sure I want the farmer to get a fair price but he won't get my business based only on "fairness". Thats just more marketing mumbo jumbo - what do we do with this truly awful coffee? I know! Lets call it fair trade and it'll sellout!! Brilliant.

I have a couple of OSP soaps and I find them to be excellent performers, only knock is that the batches I have (sandalwood/bay rum) are a bit lightly scented for my taste.  also have several TOBS, GFT, D.R. Harris, Cyril Salter, wyckham soaps and creams and I like all of them although I think the Salters win on scent and they lather like mad.

I've got some German soaps, Tabula Rasa, Meisner Tremonia, some Italian soaps, TFS and RR, a French soap Le Pere Lucien, lots of American soaps B&M, Mike's, CB, MW, MLSW, CRSW, HTGAM/PAA, some Aussie soaps, Shaver Heaven and even a couple of Canadian soaps.  There are a few continents unrepresented in my soap stable but so far I've not found any South American, Asian or African soaps to round out my collection.  If you know of any let me know. I'd also be interested in soaps made in places close to either poles!
Marko

India is in Asia and they have godrej soap and creams. I'm trying to get soaps from as many nations as possible. Well budget soaps.


I only have one uk soap/cream. Tobs almond cream. It performs really good.

I'd like to try an Indian soap/cream - have you tried the Godrej?  Whats it like?

I've used the soap once so far. It preformed pretty good. Lather was thinner then some other soaps, but good and may improve with more using. Good enough to be in my rotation The smell is unique. It comes in a 50gram blue puck either in a small tub or wrapped in paper(mine were in tub) I got two for 8.99 shipped from India on Amazon. Pretty sure most that was the shipping lol

I want to try the cream next, but need to research which color to try.

Quite right Marko, that's what I was trying to get at . Performance is the ultimate metric, and while I might admire the efforts of an artisan, that admiration does not influence my perception of its performance.

I know of 2 relatively new artisans from the UK that are getting rave reviews!!! OSP Soaps and Phoenix & Beau Soaps. Both are using tallow and butters, which is a good trend for UK soaps, as most uk soaps before those were plain soap without any moisturizers.

Some excellent ones, IMO:

- D.R. Harris hard soaps (better than their creams)
- T&H and Trumper creams (better than their soaps)
- there is much performance variability across TOBS’ offerings, but if you ask me Jermyn Street Collection is their best
- St. James of London is another great Creightons-made product, though, personally, I (marginally) prefer the other Creightons (i.e.: T&H, Trumper)

The nice thing about Creightons creams, I find, is they rinse ultra cleanly from the face, and hardware (compared to other creams, as well as soaps); I've noticed less soap residue on everything.

Probably the best soap I’ve ever used was a UK product: tallow-version Trumper. Even their first non-tallow version was very good; I can't say the same for today's Trumper soap though. Hopefully, their next iteration (whenever that is) will be an improvement.