[SOAP] - Nanny's Silly Soaps

beardybrewer · 29-01-2014 3:05pm #1

I thought I'd start a new thread on Nanny's Silly Soaps where we can ask questions, discuss, and review this soap.

http://www.nannyssillysoap.com/

I'm rotating between the Arabian Nights soft and Eucalyptus & Tea Tree and Ice & Slice olive oil varieties. I've been consistently getting big, slick lathers with a medium wet brush. I'm really impressed with these soaps, perhaps someone more qualified can give a review. I know one of you had the hard soap variety which I'd be curious about.

I've keeping an eye on the latest offerings and noticed they now offer a Bay Rum variety. Anyone given it a go?

Gran Hermano · 29-01-2014 5:01pm

I have probably tried around 100 different soaps and creams over the years and Nanny's has been my main go to soap/cream for a long time. I tend to use one of her soaps or creams for 5 out of every 7 shaves. (No harm mixing it up a couple of times a week!).

Current rotation of Nanny's includes
olive oil cream - ice & slice
Original cream - lemony lime with goats milk
Hard soap - coriander and bergamot
Hard soap -- tea tree and eucalyptus

I particularly like the citrus scents (essential oils) and the creams with goat's milk but they are all great.

Its me its nanny · 10-03-2014 1:46am

Hello gents,
Well you can guess who I am, I hope! I grew up Northside for the most part, prior to which Cork and O'Meath, and prior to that, the accident of birth which occured in England. And of course as you can see, now back in Blighty.....that's a whole other story.
My username is a bit of a joke with me and my oldest grandson; I've forced him to watch Kate Bush singing Wuthering Heights on Youtube (trust me, I've suffered in return). God help the lad, when my time has come, every sound outside the window on a windy night, he'll be expecting to hear me singing 'It's me, it's Naneeee, I've come home now'.
Anyway, back on topic. Shaving soap; I don't know if either of you have tried my Olive oil soap? If there was a sign of the cross as shoved towards a vampire emoticon, I'd put it right here. Yes, the conceived wisdom is that any shaving soap with olive oil in it is bound to be hopeless. My take on that was that actually, olive oil in soap is pretty slimy....which I thought might be a good thing, if properly put together. So I've done my best with that.So I've currently got two shaving soaps on the site, being the original recipe and the olive oil recipe.
I know people get peed off with so much of my stuff being out of stock. So, I'm working towards, during the coming year, downsizing the number of scents. And also possibly, tweeking the original recipe to make it even better, and just doing that. And, if possible, wider containers for the soap. I know the blue jars aren't ideal for direct loading.
If either of you have any scent preferences, let me know. But please excuse slow response from me; I think I set up an account before with my preferred email address. Suffice to say.; forgot the login details, so have had to start afresh with email address I don't often check. Anyway, you know where to find me.
Good to touch base again Gran Hermano, I think we met before in a foreign land. And thanks Newkie, for starting the thread. Bejaysus, there's no anonymous in Ireland.

beardybrewer · 14-03-2014 1:32pm

Welcome to the forum!

I have both croap varieties and tbh I don't recollect a difference between the regular and olive oil varieties. From memory they are similarly slick, although I've never tried a back to back comparison. I mainly opted for the olive oil variety due to the tin. I find the new tins great, they are the smallest diameter I'd go if you want to be able to load soap directly from the container. They are also certainly attractive and practical so I can stack them.

I think it's a great idea to consolidate your offerings to a consistently available popular few. Still, experimenting is fun so not to say you couldn't have a special section for limited run or seasonal soaps.

Keep us informed of your latest developments. You certainly have fans here in Ireland.

Gran Hermano · 14-03-2014 1:58pm

Just noticed this with Newkie's bump.

Nice to see you over here Nanny, and indeed we have met before elsewhere ;-)
I'm still mixing up your selection of soft olive and regular and hard soaps in my rotation, tend to use the range at least 3-4 times a week at the moment.

As for the olive oil, you safely dispelled the myth that olive oil wouldn't work in a shaving soap!
I find it works equally well. Scent wise I am a fan of the lemon and lime varieties, in particular those with goat's milk.

If I may be bold enough to suggest a new scent, what's your thoughts on a liquorice/anise with or without menthol?

beardybrewer · 14-03-2014 6:27pm

That reminds me, I really need to try her hard soap. I really love her EUCALYPTUS & TEA TREE. The CEDARWOOD AND VETYVER sounds very interesting as well.

Thing is, I have too much in rotation already. My SSAD resistance recently imploded with 4 bay rums on the way. Being a fan, I'm curious to try Nanny's as well. But the description,

nannyssillysoap.com wrote:

Scented with fragrance oil, this is a pleasing soapy balsalmic scent. I'm not getting rum, just maybe a hint of spice; but a nice scent all round.

really undersells it to me. I'm worried it's a generic scent where I want to capture Sunburyboy93's Barbershop Bay Rum in a hard tallow soap.

Its me its nanny · 20-03-2014 10:58pm

Evening guys. Sorry for slow response, I forgot to subscribe to the thread...
Newkie, I had a sample of Sunburyboy's splash, and I have to say that the scent I have is nothing like it. I don't go for the hard sell with my products, so I'm as honest as I can be in the descriptions. I will continue to look for a better Bay Rum scent, and if you notice the description getting noticeably more enthusiastic in the future, you'll know I've found a better one.
The new tweeked recipe has had just one tester try it so far, and he liked it as much as my original recipe, which he slightly prefers to the olive oil recipe, as he feels it gives slightly better cushion. He felt that the tweeked recipe was a more abundent latherer, so that's good, although he did have a problem with getting some bits of soap in the brush which were slow to dissolve, even though he direct loaded. So I will have to tweek it some more to see if that aspect can be improved.
I'm planning on ditching the blue jars that I sell the original in, and moving to a larger jar with approx. 10cm diameter, which should be far more convenient. The new jars will hold 150g, which will be more than currently, and they also cost more than the current jars. So price hike for sure. They are the widest squattest jars I can source, and pretty ideal to use I would say. They will also have a good 1.5cm clearance at the top even when new, so should be much less messy to use.
I'd be interested in your thoughts on paying approx £10-£12 for 150g in more convenient container. I know people like to buy lots of different scents for variety... On the other hand, the price of ingredients has gone up, like everything else, and I need to make more on each transaction. Always did, for that matter.
Gran Hermano, my thoughts on aniseed are basically, yuk. But each to their own. I have some unscented soap in the OO recipe at the moment, so if you would like me to make you some up, let me know. I don't think it is something I would stock regularly.....although maybe if I called it Ouzo, it might appeal to those with fond memories of Greek holidays.
Tell you what; I've got one of the proposed new jars filled with a lightly scented lavender (essential oil) in the old recipe. I haven't listed it as I want to put up several scents in the new jars when I have them (just bought a few to check them out so far), and also, when that happens it might be with a tweeked recipe. So 1st one to email me through the site gets it. But I would ask that the lucky winner post here about their thoughts on the jar, and whether it is good to go. I might even throw in a 50g jar of newest experimental recipe with that, as I think I need more than one f/b on that.

I await an influx of up to two emails.:)

beardybrewer · 21-03-2014 12:24pm

Bay rum is a funny one as it has so many die hard fans it's impossible to live up to everyone's expectations. I will indeed continue to keep a close eye on site.

One tester? You certainly need more! And Irish testers too, no beating around the bush being overly polite here. :P

I'm thrilled to hear the blue jars are going. I quite liked the olive oil recipe tins but the new 10cm tins sound even better (like Mike's which are the best tins I've seen).

Regarding price, I think in combination with your strategy to consolidate your offerings in conjunction with improved packaging and larger quantity you have a sound strategy. It would be difficult to decide if there continued to be 15+ offerings to choose from if the price were doubled. Sometimes less is more.

Glebee · 21-03-2014 12:29pm

I'm intrigued with this product. Have to try it out. Problem is too much soap not enough time. Any recommendations where to start. Not looking for at the hard soaps...

beardybrewer · 21-03-2014 12:42pm

You won't be sorry, it's a high quality soap and one of the best in my rotation. I'd recommend the olive oil recipe as it comes in a nice stackable tin wide enough for direct loading. As for the scent that's up to yourself. Personally I love Eucalyptus & Tea Tree, reminds me of being in a spa in Santa Cruz. Well worth trying, especially before the price goes up!

Its me its nanny · 21-03-2014 8:12pm

Hi guys,
Well Newkie was straight in there like a seasoned gannet, so he gets the large jar (it's a jar, not a tin) of lavender original recipe, and a small test jar of the new recipe.
2nd and 3rd were OldRio and hitemfrank, so they both get a small test jar of the new.
That's all I've got for the moment. Looking forward to hearing what you make of the new recipe, but bear in mind it's not finalised yet, and I can seek to improve if necessary.

Gran Hermano · 21-03-2014 8:15pm

Excellent, look forward to their feedback and reviews.
Am confident you'll add a few more fans to the fold.

Glebee · 21-03-2014 8:50pm

Guys might be a silly question but what's the difference between essential oil scented and fragrance oil scented????

Gran Hermano · 21-03-2014 8:57pm

Glebee wrote: »

Guys might be a silly question but what's the difference between essential oil scented and fragrance oil scented????

Essential oils are derived from a natural product, orange essential oils are made from oranges. Fragrance oils are synthetic where chemist recreate the smell.

Its me its nanny · 23-03-2014 9:45am

Hi guys,
I went to my message box today to get the addresses of the three of you who are going to test the latest soap, and lo and behold all my messages are gone, and instead I go this message 'In an effort to combat spammers and nuisance posters, some non-essential features (visitor messages, signatures, etc) have been disabled for users with less than 25 posts.'
So could I trouble you all to please send your details to me at nannyssillysoap@yahoo.co.uk ? Sorry for the inconvenience.

Its me its nanny · 23-03-2014 10:28am

Stranger and stranger....after browsing around the boards for a while, my messages have reappeared, and I have written down all the addresses fast, for fear they go again.

Glebee · 25-03-2014 12:26pm

Site not letting me pay by Paypal, dont think know where the problem is??

Its me its nanny · 25-03-2014 11:28pm

All sorted now Glebee, I'll be posting your order tomorrow.

Glebee · 06-04-2014 6:06pm

newkie wrote: »

You won't be sorry, it's a high quality soap and one of the best in my rotation. I'd recommend the olive oil recipe as it comes in a nice stackable tin wide enough for direct loading. As for the scent that's up to yourself. Personally I love Eucalyptus & Tea Tree, reminds me of being in a spa in Santa Cruz. Well worth trying, especially before the price goes up!

Picked up the olive oil Eucalyptus & Tea Tree soft along with a few samples.
The scent is lovely but have to admit im getting it very hard to lather. Have to use a combo of bowel and face to get a decent lather. Maybe im missing something??? Only tried it a couple of times though, switched back to mitchells and that lathers fine..

Gran Hermano · 06-04-2014 6:39pm

Try taking a small pinch of soap and adding to the bowl/mug with a small amount of hot water. Let it soak for a minute, decant and lather.

beardybrewer · 07-04-2014 11:18am

I always face lather. I let my brush soak < 1 min, shake but not squeeze mostly dry, 50-60 swirls, face lather, dip tips of brush and quick spread that extra water, face lather, repeat until the lather is built up. So I start fairly dry and keep adding a touch of water until I build up the later. With some soaps you know them so well you can have your brush at the right level of hydration. For others, start dryish, and build it up. I find Nanny's the be pretty hard to mess up.

hitemfrank · 07-04-2014 2:03pm

I've used the sample I got from Sharon for a week now and will get my opinion on it posted either tonight or tomorrow.

Its me its nanny · 08-04-2014 9:45am

Glebee wrote: »

Picked up the olive oil Eucalyptus & Tea Tree soft along with a few samples.
The scent is lovely but have to admit im getting it very hard to lather. Have to use a combo of bowel and face to get a decent lather. Maybe im missing something??? Only tried it a couple of times though, switched back to mitchells and that lathers fine..

I'm sorry to hear of your difficulties Glebee; I have been told that 'less is more' with the olive oil soap, and that very little is needed. With bowl lathering, with the oo soft soap and the original soft, they are not soft enough to treat as a cream. So if you chuck a blob in a bowl and start lathering away, there is a risk that the soap breaks up into pieces and hides in the brush, not actually getting lathered. One way to prevent this is to smear the soap onto the bowl so that it is stuck on. I haven't tried Gran Hermano's method, but if it works for him hopefully it should work for you. The soap should work fine even in very hard water areas. I hope you'll give it another try and see if you can get better results, but do let me know if nothing at all works.

I'm looking forward to hearing f/b on the new experimental recipe, which will be very useful in guiding me on how I go forward with that. I'm fully expecting that it will need some tweeking, so don't hold back guys.

hitemfrank · 08-04-2014 11:22am

So after using the sample of the new recipe cream for a week I'm happy to give my opinions on it.

Lather: The sample jar isn't really big enough to load the brush directly from. It is a sample jar after all. Once I took some of the cream and put it in the bottom of a bowl and lathered that way it was better but still not great. Next I tried just putting the cream directly on my face and lathered that way, as I normally face lather. This is what gave me my best results. It just seems I needed to use more of the soap to get better results.

The lather was pretty thick and provided plently of protection.

Scent: The scent I received was Gardenia Royale. A floral scent and not one I would normally buy as I'm not a fan of floral scents. This scent reminded me a lot of gubblegum. Scent is a personal thing and I thought this one was ok but nothing special.

Price: I can't comment on the price too much, as this was a free sample, but if the full version of the soap was listed at the same price as Sharons other soaps (about £7) then I would say it was more than a fair price.

As I was testing out a new recipe of soap/cream, the lather is really the important part of the review. The scent is something easily changed. I dont know eactly what the new jars Sharon has are like so I can make any judgement on them.

Overall I quite like it. At first I found it difficult to get a decent lather from but I figured it out in the end.

Its me its nanny · 08-04-2014 9:32pm

Thanks for the feedback Hitemfrank. I won't say what good and bad points I was expecting, as I don't want to say anything that might affect the two other testers, especially Newkie who should be able to compare it to my original and olive oil recipe. I'd be interested in whether you have any comments on glide and after shave skin feel. And thanks for your time in trialling this.

hitemfrank · 08-04-2014 10:08pm

My skin felt fine after using it - it didn't dry it out at all. As far as glide is concerned I can't say I noticed any real difference between it and Mitchells Wool Fat that I used today, but I don't think I've found a soap yet that have had issues with glide (as long as it actually produces lather that is).

OldRio · 11-04-2014 1:44pm

I was sent the Gardenia Royale shaving soap about 10 days ago for a trial.
Some thoughts on the product.

Lather Really really good. The jar was a small sample jar and therefore a little difficult to work the brush in BUT a little soap goes a long long way. Very quick to load brush and a thick creamy lather. Good protection.
I had a phone call one morning mid shave. Face still lathered. Bloody annoying. Anyhoots went back to shaving and lather had not dried on skin.

Glide Very good. Tried a number of blades and all felt fine. (Blades gave the result I was expecting) I used a pre shave on a number of occasions with the same results.

Scent A very mild flowery smell. Could/Should have been stronger. Not one I would normally choose.

Price At £6.00 for 100g. Very reasonable and good value.

Skin feel following shave Grand. No issues to report.

In all honesty very happy with the product. Excellent.

beardybrewer · 11-04-2014 5:39pm

So a couple days back I spent an hour doing test lathers. I lathered up the original, olive oil, and new recipe each 3 times.

Original: long lasting, good volume, light and fluffy lather. Paints on nicely, easy flow through, good cushion, good glide.

Olive: long lasting, good volume, light and fluffy lather. Paints on nicely, easy flow through, good cushion, slightly tacky slip. I'm guessing it's the olive oil but it's never stopped me from having a good shave. There is still enough glide to shave in short, overlapping strokes so I don't believe it gets in the way of good technique. Besides, this was the only way to get the tins.

New: thirstier, well lasting, good volume, marshmallow-like lather. Just to squish it between your fingers you can imagine the cushion is stepped up a notch. Glide is roughly the same?

I have to admit, I detest florals but I manned up and finally endured a shave. So again, I think this soap is a little thirstier than the original which threw me a little at first. I may well have put too much on my brush so it took me a while to work up a lather and strike the right balance. The soap really scooped up into the bristles readily, is it softer or just the container? Regular dialling in stuff. It really was chewy and thick compared to the Aero-like quality of the original. The shave was with a new Voskhod blade which I thought would be fairer than a new Feather. I didn't discern any extra cushion like I thought there might be and glide was ok. I can't say how much my prejudice against the scent contributes to a just an okay shave that day. To be fair, I'd have to try it for a week to dial it in and try different blades but with that scent I'm not willing to. Luckily my wife loves it so her legs will get a treat.

Can anyone else who has the new and original recipe add more? In summary, over 5 lathers (some bowl, 1 face), I thought it was a little thirstier, thicker, discernible cushion on par with original despite consistency difference, a bit less glide.

*** I just want to point out, I'm talking about subtle differences between 2 good soaps and the new recipe is not finalized yet!

Its me its nanny · 12-04-2014 1:34pm

Thanks both for the very detailed feed back. The scent is no problem, and glad your wife likes that anyway Newkie. If I get to the stage of offering it for sale, I will have several scents. I will make some more tweeks when I get time, and will certainly add extra glide.
I think Newkie is the only one who has tried my other soaps to compare, so when I make another tweeked batch, I'll make sure to trial it with more people who can make that comparison.
Thanks again all for your time and efforts.

I am currently in the process of transitioning from the blue jars in which I always packaged the original recipe soap to putting that in the aluminium tins in which I have so far only packaged the Olive oil soap. I hope this will be an improvement, as the blue jars have only a 7cm diameter, whilst the tins have 8cm. Also, the tins look classier. I will also be doing some of the original recipe in the larger 150g tubs; that doesn't look as nice as the tins, but gives plenty of room to operate. At the moment I just have a few original recipe listed in the tins, but more will be listed soon.

Glebee · 19-04-2014 10:38am

Still trying to get a decent lather with this but having no luck. Both bowel and face lathering are giving me the same results of a thinish lather no matter how dry I start it off. Maybe its the olive oil recipie being harder to manage. I have to original sample that I have not had achance to try yet so that will tell a tale, Maybe its just not for me:(

Its me its nanny · 22-04-2014 10:03pm

Gleebee, could you please email me with the batch number so I can do a test lather against other soap from the same batch. You mention starting off dry; I have been told that only a very little of this soap can be used with a relatively large amount of water, to get the best lather. I have been told that its performance is counter intuitive in that regard. I have sold many hundreds of these soaps, many to repeat customers who would certainly have let me know if it was a poor performer to the extent that you describe. So I am mystified as to what the problem is, but if it is a problem with this batch then I need to know. If there is a problem with the batch, I will certainly replace your purchase.
Please email me so we can reach a happy conclusion. If you can lather MWF without problems, then there certainly shouldn't be any with this.

[SOAP] - Nanny's Silly Soaps

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