Phoenix&Beau: My vegan & tallow shaving soaps [testers required]

Scratch said:
I've just had my first shave with my soap sample (tallow). This is a completely honest review but please bare in mind that I'm not as experienced at this as most if not all others here.

Bowl lathered.
Razorock 24mm Plissoft.

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I left a small piece of the sample to bloom in a bowl for 10 minutes while I showered and it lathered up very quickly with no problems at all. I would say it took 20-30 seconds to achieve the above and I aint no ping-pong champion if you know what I'm saying. :) Lovely.

Applying the lather to the face was easy. It went on with no problem and I face-lathered it a bit more to make sure it fully covered the hair growth and to get it quite thick as I like my lather (and because I love the feeling of this brush :)). Once applied, it stayed with no dissipation at all.

On to the shave...

Wilkinson Sword Classic.
Gillette 7 O'clock green.
3 passes (WTG, XTG, ATG).

Each pass went without a hitch. Protection was great, it felt very safe indeed and I never felt that I had to be particularly careful at all during the shave. Slickness was great also, even my plastic Classic razor was gliding along effortlessly, even when re-going over an area of wet but lather-less skin. In fact, my face and hands still feel extremely slick now, so I'd say post-shave feel is excellent too.

In the short time since I started DE shaving I've been lucky enough to try a selection of different soaps thanks to a very generous PIF which was offered by a member of this forum. I can honestly say without a shadow of doubt, that this soap is at least as good, if not better, than any that I've tried. If it was available to buy, I wouldn't hesitate to use it in my rotation. Fantastic job.
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Thanks @Scratch that's a great review. Thanks for taking the time and I'm really chuffed you enjoyed the tallow :)
 
Post shave experience with the Tallow Test Soap...Simply Awesome...Best ever...My skin is Beaming...Just a Wee thought from a Laymen here...Don't knacker this up with a Scent that will detract what you have achieved here...That is to say a lot of strongly scented stuff can cause irritation...I would be happy with this stuff the way it is....:D

Billy
 
Nrahuf said:
Hi sorry if I missed this - but do you have a website where we can check your soaps out?
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Hi @Nrahuf as yet no. I'm still gathering the collective wisdom from folk here on TSR. If these are to be my final versions of soap my next step is to research puck size and puck material, e.g do folk want plastic or something more special, i.e. glass, etc.

As soon as my website is live I'll make it very obvious via TSR. Many thanks for your interest. Keep an eye out for my soap.

@Fergiebilly all noted and fear not, I'll have an unscented soap included in my range.

Kerry.
 
The tallow is in my top 5 (soaps) performance wise for sure, but im having to ignore the scent, obviously it is scentless but reminds me of plasticine, which isn't great. Hopefully a fragrance will mask this and still allow it to perform superbly. Only time and testing will tell :)

I wouldn't mind a plastic container for price and practicality, however, glass would look much better. Please make the holding tub have a wide mouth.
 
Nishy said:
The tallow is in my top 5 (soaps) performance wise for sure, but im having to ignore the scent, obviously it is scentless but reminds me of plasticine, which isn't great. Hopefully a fragrance will mask this and still allow it to perform superbly. Only time and testing will tell :)

I wouldn't mind a plastic container for price and practicality, however, glass would look much better. Please make the holding tub have a wide mouth.
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All noted @Nishy many thanks
 
My views on the tallow soap:
The tallow smell took me back to when I used to work as a chemist. The chemical factory I worked at used to make various metal stearates, so the smell took me back to molten stearic acid. Not unpleasant to me at all.
The soap was fairly soft and pressed easily into a plastic tub. Lathering was so easy. Wet brush, squeeze out, loaded the brush for about 10-20 secs. Bowl lathered in my v1 bowl, adding small splashes of water till I got the consistency shown. It sure is a thirsty soap.
Shave was excellent and really comfortable with loads of cushion. The slickness really impressed me, and my skin felt really protected and soft afterwards.
It'll be interesting to see how this develops. Congrats Kerry on a really impressive soap.

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Electrif said:
My views on the tallow soap:
The tallow smell took me back to when I used to work as a chemist. The chemical factory I worked at used to make various metal stearates, so the smell took me back to molten stearic acid. Not unpleasant to me at all.
The soap was fairly soft and pressed easily into a plastic tub. Lathering was so easy. Wet brush, squeeze out, loaded the brush for about 10-20 secs. Bowl lathered in my v1 bowl, adding small splashes of water till I got the consistency shown. It sure is a thirsty soap.
Shave was excellent and really comfortable with loads of. The slickness really impressed me, and my skin felt really protected and soft afterwards.
It'll be interesting to see how this develops. Congrats Kerry on a really impressive soap.

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Thanks for the review @Electrif I'm glad you enjoyed the soap.

Kerry.
 
Just used the tallow version and its very good! I wont comment on the scent for obvious reasons.

I loaded for roughly 30 secs and I thought I loaded enough but for my 2nd pass I had to reload so next time I will bloom the puck before hand.

Really thats the only thing that went 'wrong'.

The glide was great, the slickness was great, the post feel is great.

If I wanted to go over an area quickly all I had to do was wet that spot and shave away without any irretation.


Kerry this is great stuff. I love tallow based soap and this will fit well in my collection.

I finished the shave with some Boots own Witch Hazel gel and some old spice aftershave.

Thanks again for letting me test it and it will be the vegan soap next.
 
Stuart said:
Just used the tallow version and its very good! I wont comment on the scent for obvious reasons.

I loaded for roughly 30 secs and I thought I loaded enough but for my 2nd pass I had to reload so next time I will bloom the puck before hand.

Really thats the only thing that went 'wrong'.

The glide was great, the slickness was great, the post feel is great.

If I wanted to go over an area quickly all I had to do was wet that spot and shave away without any irretation.


Kerry this is great stuff. I love tallow based soap and this will fit well in my collection.

I finished the shave with some Boots own Witch Hazel gel and some old spice aftershave.

Thanks again for letting me test it and it will be the vegan soap next.
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Thanks @Stuart glad you enjoyed and yep, the soap is a thirsty one; it isn't adverse to a good blooming.

Kerry.
 
I kicked off with the tallow version today, having been too hungover to shave yesterday, it was tested with a good spiky growth.

My initial impressions were that the soap had an almost croap like texture and the smell was inoffensive and neutral. I followed my usual face lathering routine and initially it struggled to lather properly, but once it was up and running a very good performer indeed. Glide and post shave were absolutely top notch.

Tomorrow I will vary the mix a little and see if I can improve the lathering
 
Just time for a brief post. I used the tallow this morning and found that, with my very soft water, it delivered an effect I had thought to be an urban myth. I had to look to see if there was a blade in my razor! The first WTG pass simply showed NO resistance to the blade. I have never encountered this before. Shave was completed with no problems at all and a (deliberate) strong ATG pass produce no irritation nicks or damage. The vegan I would buy, the tallow I have to have! Post shave feel is just right for my slightly dry skin.

Superb soap. I hope by the time I use up my sample, I'll be able to buy a replacement.
 
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