Post by fram773 on Jun 26, 2014 13:35:37 GMT -6
Ease of lathering: 8/10-- This is a hard soap so it requires more loading time to pick up enough product. On my face it requires more swirling around to develop the lather. Not as hard to load as some triple milled soaps I've used though.
Lather quality: 8/10--Decent stability and what I love most about the lather is that it is extremely dense and creamy but without being greasy or slimy. This is absolutely paramount as I refuse to use a a greasy soap no matter how good it is. It is a very good looking lather with no airiness. I would have thought this had tallow. I am only giving a 8 because it only has decent and not great stability.
Cushion: 7/10-- Like all veggie soaps this one falls flat in this area but still very close to a tallow soap when using a dense lather.
Slickness: 8/10-- Good slickness at watery, medium, and ultra dense lather.
Beard softening: 10/10-- This is the soap's greatest strength. This is mostly the same as Gold Dachs but with some allergens removed. According to the included literature it is the same as Rivivage. This soap is said to have a very high PH which enables superior beard softening effects. Thus the GEM blade cut effortlessly.
General skincare: 7/10-- One of its interesting unadvertised traits is the skin lightening effects this soap gives. I thought I was imagining it the first time I used it but more usage confirmed it. My face seemed to glow bright. BUT I'm tossing this up to the super high PH. It was probably dissolving the top layer of my skin off. Considering this soap has improvements to the formula to remove irritants and the lack of scent I am blaming the PH for the burn on my face it gives me. The burn comes up only after shaving for a long time. Post shave feel is good and it leaves my face clean feeling yet not dry. UPDATE- more usage has made my face adapt to the soap and now I experience absolutely no burn.
Scent: 9/10-- Nice mild powdery citrusy scent. The scent is practically non existent but this is the way I like it. I'd rather have a too weak scent than a too strong scent as I have sensitive skin and the strongly scented soaps just smell of cheap perfume.
Price: 6/10--You can pick this up for $10 a cake (70g) from Royal Shave or $15 with the container. Yes the soap is tiny, but it is hard and it is said to last 80-100 shaves or around 3 months. This is pretty much in line with what a much larger soft soap such as Cella will last.
Packaging: 6/10-- It is made of recycled aluminum. Typically these types of containers are made of steel but not this one. Thus this container will not rust. The container is pretty big and deep compared to the puck which I love as it gives plenty of swirl room so lather doesn't overflow out the sides. The label on top is waterproof. I'm giving the container only a 6 because of its other flaws. Like that the inside is covered with some kind of white enamel. This is probably because aluminum can leech. When closing the container it leaves a white powder on the threads because of this enamel. It is also a lot harder to close compared to steel containers. So much so that I just let the lid sit unscrewed upon the container. The container is also not the prettiest- it has a rough industrial look and the bottom is pockmarked. There is a fancy (but expensive) rosewood bowl you can buy with it though.
Packaging: 9/10-- Rosewood bowl. Very classy. The wood has no logo so it can be used for other soaps if you wish. The 70g soap does not fit perfectly though and for that I take off one point. The bottom of the bowl is not flat-- the soap is.
Would I buy again: Maybe- Proraso Red has always been my go to for beard softening and this soap is just as good in this area but it surpasses Proraso in slickness and cushioning.