Van der Hagen Scented Luxury Shave Soap

[longplay]

Sounds Dutch, but isn't. My thoughts:

It's fair to say that this falls at the budget end of the cost spectrum, despite the ‘luxury' name, so maybe it should be judged on that basis.

The fragrance is described as a “subtle, floral scent” and I'd say that was fair. I found it fresh and pleasant, when I could detect it, which wasn't often.

I struggled to produce lather loading for my usual amount of time, — several times I had to go back to the puck to re-load or simply loaded for longer at the start.

Slickness was decidedly average and I picked up nicks on most of my shaves. Post shave feel wasn't great either, with my face left dry.

That said, it did the job and while it appears to have struggled my standards are pretty high. It's usable, it produced a lather (which some products I have tested haven't managed) and I was able to get a reasonable shave, but rarely more than that.

That's about all I can say in its defence though. There are better soaps out there, even at this price point.

Full review here.

 

[Bezoar]

your lucky then, all the van der hagen soaps I have tried never lathered, just made a slimy mud. and the scents were always nauseating.

 

[Seattle]

You picked up nicks on most of your shaves and you feel it was the soap?

 

[Bezoar]

soap can make shave go bad. the times I did try vdh slip[ery mud lather, I don't remember nicks or cuts but I remember lots of irritation.

 

[longplay]

@Seattle Er, yeah. For a review I shave five times, with five different blades, from new up to four uses, all in an effort to level out any issues with me being bleary-eyed or something else being off in a particular shave.

Occasionally my cack-handedness accounts for a nick, but I've done it enough times now that (generally) it'll be a lack of protection from the lather. Which is the product's fault.