Post by SharpSpine on Dec 9, 2013 17:55:45 GMT -6
First a little information about Tiki Bar Soaps. This artisan is a lady named Amanda based out of Alabama. She holds a PhD in chemistry and has recently been working with some traditional shaving enthusiasts to create not only a couple great shaving soaps (vegan and tallow formulas), but also accompanying scents. The soaps are not listed yet on her FaceBook page, website, or even on her Etsy page. However, if you are interested then she will take orders via email and through FaceBook message (this is how I contacted her and she was great about answering all of my questions). I will post current cost as well as projected cost once released at the end of the article.
I choose to go with the vegan formula in the “Woody” scent. She also currently has an herbal scent. Her projection is to offer 6 different scents once she has them nailed down and I believe that you will be able to choose either the vegan formula or a tallow based formula. This vegan formula came about by one shaving enthusiast giving her the ingredient list to Martin de Candre and asking her to make something similar. Here is the ingredient list from the label of the vegan shave soap I received…
Ingredients: Saponified stearic acid & coconut acid, vegetable glycerin, fragrance.
Her description of the “Woody” scent is as follows:
“It is a blend of fragrance and essential oils. Bay, cedar, patchouli, ozone, pipe smoke, molten lava.”
The soap is a soft soap and comes in a puck form resembling a thick hockey puck. I was easily able to press it into a container that I also picked up with my order. Each puck is approximately 5 ounces of soap.
Initially the bay scent was the strongest note that my nose picked up on. However, as I have let the soap stay uncovered the bay has calmed down to place nicely with both the cedar and patchouli. My favorite aspect of the scent right now is the ozone. It makes me think that I’m in the forest where a big rain is just about to happen.
With the soap pressed in the container I loaded my brush (badger, 2-band) directly on top of the soap. I loaded for about 25s with a damp but not dripping brush. I proceeded to face lather and the lather that built was creamy from the onset. This soap practically refuses to turn into an airy mess. Once the lather was built it provided superior glide and excellent cushion, the two most important characteristics of a lather for me. The consistency of the lather did remind me of the MdC lather which the Tiki soap is based off of. However, the Tiki offering is not as concentrated as MdC and thus needs to be loaded more. I also think that the Tiki soap is a bit harder to find the right soap/water ratio with. The mere fact that a soap can lather easily without becoming airy/foamy in my very hard water is a commendation on its own. I will continue to shave with this soap non-stop for several more shaves to dial everything in and then I will give it a proper review with pictures too, of course. As of now I can just say that this is an excellent artisan soap that we all will be hearing more about in the near future.
Now for the brass tacks…
Current pre-release cost: $6 per puck; additional $2 for a screw top tub (2 pucks can easily be pressed into a single tub, there is plenty of room)
Projected cost after release: approximately $10 per puck
Disclaimer: I purchased this soap myself along with 6 of her bath bars and even a facial mask for my wife. She did surprise me with an extra bath bar too. As she finalizes her scents I expect that I will be ordering more.