Hard Shaving Soaps
Created: 2020/4/28 ::
Modified: 2022/3/15
Here are the hard soaps I've had experience with. I think most are triple-milled. All (except RR, the last one) are wonderful.
- Saponificio Varesino
- italian. sophisticated scents. Expensive, but last so long, it may be budget by the time you finish the tub.
- 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 pucks, discontinued around 2020, with strong scents, usually. One of my all-time favorites. Slickness rivals the best, IMO.
- DR Harris
- Brittish maker that may be the last large old-school holdout, who has not outsourced their hard soaps. Great scents and performance.
- Valobra
- great-performing hard soaps, but basic scents. I think they've been discontinued though.
- 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. - 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.
- Cyril Salter
- An inexpensive, basic soap that is super cheap, too. Light, classic, lavender scent on the hard puck I have.
- 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.
- 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.