Phoenix and Beau: Menthol soap testers required

I used the latest sample this afternoon. Again, very nice shave. Good slip & glide but I had some problems getting a decent lather. Seems like the water/soap ratio sweet-spot is pretty narrow. Not enough water and you get a slick paste, too much water and the lather collapsed. I need to practice with this to get the mix right.
Very clean/fresh scent with just the right amount of cooling. Not enough to make my eyes water, but very refreshing.
 
Purbeck said:
Many thanks for the sample. Just cold water shaved with it.
Some thoughts. Firstly it doesn't like cold water lathering , it was hard work and only started to become anything like the quality of usual p&b when it was warming up. My wife hates the smell of the sample but likes the post shave scent, strong mint tones coming through. One for the summer. I did a three pass and touch up shave and the cooling certainly grows throughout. The final cold water splash was like putting my head in an ice bucket. During the shave however I would like it a touch colder. Not a lot or the final pass would sneak into uncomfortable rather than refreshing.
The good news though is I have zero irritation. I will try a hot water shave also to see if any irritation occurs but so far, excellent and almost cold enough....
Click to expand...
Hot water shave with cold water splash afterwards. Same set up as my cold water shave. Much closer and no irritation at all however there was barely any cooling this time. Lathering was easy with hot water, post shave feel great and the usual superb performance in shave. Needs more cooling for sure. Nice scent and lasts well.
 
Another member kindly sent me his V3 sample of this, and I got to try it a couple of times so far.

I'm a P&B fan, and I have the Obsidian, Spitfire and Citrus Royale soaps from them. I'm also a cold-water shaver. I struggled to get a lather I was happy with from the sample, compared to the other soaps from P&B I have, but I'm not sure if that's just a question of the surface area of the sample being quite small. I will try again with less water.

I have no experience of menthol soaps, apart from green Proraso which I didn't really think about until now. I'm interested in trying a menthol soap, and most of the good ones seem to be non-UK products, so I'm definitely very interested in Denali for that reason alone.

However, based on my experience so far, I would describe the sample as a minty soap, and not as mentholated as I had hoped. It's possible I am a latent menth-head, as yet not fully out of my minty cocoon. If I was told that the Denali release was going to be much stronger than the sample, I'd definitely buy it because I love the P&B performance generally. If it's as weak as the sample, I probably won't buy it.

Hope that helps.
 
Received my sample from Mr_Smartepants yesterday.

Having just shaved with Denali, here are my thoughts. The scent I'd describe as minty, menthol like with a hint of eucalyptus in there. Really attractive smell which grows on you. Lathering wasn't as easy as the other P & B soaps I have. Nonetheless the lather did build after a short while though and there was plenty throughout the shave. When I first applied to my face the Menthol really hit me. For me though, the menthol feeling wore off very quickly and further into the shave I didn't feel much of a hit at all. Good slickness and cushion throughout as expected with P&B soaps. Post shave feels moisturised. The scent disappears very quickly though.

Look forward to seeing what's done with the final product.

Alex.
 
Thanks @Wahzy for the final version I have chosen to go with menthol crystals as opposed to menthol essential oil. This affects the soap in two ways; firstly it makes it noticeably cooler :cool:. As is common with properly mentholated soaps it also alters the consistency of the lather in that it has more plasticity and is much denser. I find I like to use a touch more water than I normally do with my other (PB) soaps in order to get it how I like.

Sarah is finalising the design of the label and I'll share here once it's ready :).

Kindest regards,

Kerry.
 
I received a sample of Denali V2, from Holyzueus. The scent was rather insipid for me, with a very light mint and menthol hint, with no depth or body to it. Lathering was easy and produced a rich, creamy lather with excellent slickness and cushion on a par with my other P&B soap. Post shave was exemplary leaving my skin feeling soothing and moisturized, disappointingly for me was the lack of menthol feel - I am not a menthol head
 
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