Who are your Top 10 Artisan Soapmakers?

I've not tried many of the soaps you've all mentioned.
Interesting lists you've all got.
This is the kind of resource I find valuable to help me decide what to explore next along the journey.  


Quite a bit I use vintage soaps like Yardley's or Old Spice and larger brands such as Castle Forbes or sometimes Proraso white.

Recently have been using Dr. Selby's. Not sure that's an artisan product, but it has been a pleasant surprise.

In no particular order my tops not including vintage, bigger brand, or niche products ($$$) would be;

Mike's
Mama Bear
CRSW
RazoRock
Stirling

I haven't really been bitten by the artisan soap bug ever.
With so many to try, I'm honestly a bit intimidated by the vast selection out there.

I've got hard water, and had a couple of bad experiences early on in my explorations outside of Barbasol foam and drugstore pucks like VDH.
I quickly discovered vintage soaps and went down that rabbit hole as they all seemed to work well for me.

I believe part of my aversion to boutique products early on was due to lack of selection at the time I dipped a toe into the water. Say 2009 - 2010.
That along with not spending time reading others' opinions and input contributed to me boxing myself in for several years. I've only recently tried a few of the currently available artisan products I see being widely held in high regard online. Have been mostly happy with the handful of products I've tried lately.

I tend to use one or two products exclusively until they're used up in a relatively tight rotation when it comes to soaps and aftershaves. For that reason I don't see myself ever having the depth of experience or broadly relevant input to discuss software in a meaningful way as much as I do hardware. I'm more enamored with the razors, blades, and brushes side or wet shaving.

I have but one face to shave and one wallet to spend from.

if you have problems lathering soaps, try blooming them before use by adding a small amount of water to the top of the soap a few minutes before you lather it.

In no particular order:
Stirling (probably favorite performing)
PAA 3.0
Mikes
Razorock/Italian Barber
B&M
Caties Bubbles

1. Mystic Water
2. Nuavia
3. Jabonman/Eufros43
4. Mike's
5. Cold River
6. Barrister & Mann
7. Shannon's
8. Haslinger
9. Le Pere Lucien

Has Mystic Water changed anything over the last year or 18 months or so? I ask because I always enjoyed the scents but found it super finicky to lather. It's one of the few soaps that I've gotten inconsistent results with (probably some error on my part). I like to think I'm doing things the same way each time, but with Mystic I've gotten a good lather followed by a subpar lather. I'm just wondering if it's worth revisiting or not.


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I tried it again after having problems a few years ago with the lather falling flat. I have been getting better lathers, but I have to load the hell out of it and lather twice as long as other soaps.
I get a great post shave from it, but to me, it's not worth all the extra work.

Who are your Top 10 Artisan Soap makers when you consider all things.... Cost, Packaging, Customer Service, Reputation, Performance & Scent.  

I'm still in the processing of figuring my list out but I'm interesting in seeing what you folks think.  


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1A. Nuavia (based on one shave - my first shave today with the rossa, also own the blue - best soap I have ever used)
1B. Savonniere du Moulin (on par with Nuavia shaving performance wise, but presentation and scent lets it a bit down, still enjoy the scent highly, but the two Nuavia scents are on niche fragrance level)
2. Tabula Rasa (very very close to being number one, because you have so many scents to pick from and performance is AMAZING)
3A. Le Pére Lucien
3B. Savon de Volcans Bon Berger (if presentation was better, I would rate this soap in Top 2)
4. Barrister & Mann
5. Saponificio Varesino
6. Cold River Soap Works Select v1 (have yet to own v2, own 10 x v1)
7. Klar Seifen (is this an artissan ?)
8. Haslinger (best value soap out there)
9. Martin de Candre
10. Caties Bubbles

Honourable Mention: MWF (Best post shave feel ever), Baume.Be & Esbjerg ( two best artisan creams I have ever owned)

Still have notes tried Mystic Waters and Mike's Natural

Fantastic post CHSeifert!