Hard Shaving Soaps

Created: 2020/4/28 :: Modified: 2023/4/24

Here are the hard soaps I've had experience with. I think most are triple-milled. All are wonderful, but favorites are highlighted like so.

Saponificio Varesino
Italian. Sophisticated scents. Expensive, but lasts so long, it may be budget-level by the time you finish the tub and realize how many shaves you got out of it. Usually vegan, I think.
Mitchell's Wool Fat
a legend. Sheep tallow, as is obvious. Clean linen scent. Some find it hard to get right, for some reason. Side note, from what I can see on the web, there may have been a bad batch produced around 2019 maybe, that did not lather easily, even for experienced Mitchell's users.
Fine Accoutrements Classic Pucks
Hard, triple-milled pucks, discontinued around 2020, with strong scents, usually. One of my all-time favorites. Slickness rivals the best, IMO.
Tabac (by Maurer & Wirtz)
A legendary tallow soap for many years, in terms of performance, giving super slick and creamy lather. In the early 2020s, M&W decided to change it to a vegan formula. I've heard good reviews on it, but have not tried that formulation myself.
The scent is very polarizing, and is what makes some people hate this one, though.
The description from Amazon: "a blend of lavender, citrus, and warm florals". I agree with the "warm florals", but I don't really pick up the lavender or citrus much at all.
I get a soapy, powdery, and lightly floral scent in the beginning. Maybe that soapiness helps to give it a classic vibe. But get farther into it and I pick up the notes that are slightly woody, spicy, and peppery. I also smell an undercurrent of musk that has been there much of the time, and seems to especially show itself mid-shave and later.
Omega Via Barberia
I think from the same company that makes shaving brushes, the puck I have of this soap is very large, inexpensive, and gives a very nice, slick, creamy lather. Comes in a few scents.
Cyril Salter
An inexpensive, basic soap that still performs very, very well. Light, classic, lavender scent on the hard puck I have.
DR Harris
Brittish maker that may be the last large old-school holdout, who has not outsourced their hard soaps. Great scents and performance.
Haslinger
Very good performance, with a decent selection of fairly light scents.
Klar
Another pricey European one. But even at full price, probably still a bargain when you see how many shaves you get from it. Scents are nice, and I just find something interesting about this German soap that's been around for a very long time.
Fitjar Islands
A quality European soap. Norwegian, I think. Several scents. Tried Slatteroy and it smelled like lemon furniture polish to my American nose. I enjoyed the Havn scent from a cream sample I've tried, so Havn is on my To-Get list for the hard puck now.
Golddachs
European, I think. Smallish pucks, contoured to an almost round-bottom soap container, mild scents, but very nice lather. Maybe German, because "dach" apparently means "badger" there.
Pre de Provence No. 63
Not as rich of a lather as the others, but offers good slickness, is very inexpensive, quad-milled, and vegan. This soap has two excellent pros: 1) the scent ... is the star if you like warm-spicy, and 2) the value... this puck will provide many many lathers.
Razorock What the Puck
Triple-milled soaps that had decent scent strength, but whose lather was lackluster in my first impression. Light and cheap feeling, not creamy... though slick enough to do a nice shave job. However, you can sometimes catch them on a cheap sale, so they might be good bang for your buck in that case.
L'Occitane - Cade
Great scent, though perhaps light, in this hard soap. It's well-loved brother, the Rich Cream, has been discontinued. An oud-like scent maybe? It is fairly slick, but doesn't get creamy and luxurious like most of the others here.
Williams
Like MWF, a legend. And many don't know how to lather it well, either. Slickness rivals any in the top-tier, though it is more work to get there, and it can often be found for less than $2.
Before 2005 or so, the formula had more tallow, and it was able to provide a creamier lather that was easier to work up.
Update: Sadly though, this long standing soap has been discontinued by Combe, it's most recent maker. Many of us got the news early in 2022.
Valobra
great-performing hard soaps, but basic scents. They've been discontinued for a while, though.