Clarkes of Dublin - Shaving Soaps

gavmcg92

Hi all,
Just wondering if any of you have tried these soaps out or if you had heard anything about them?

Here is their site. Looking to pick up their rosemary and sea salt soap.

Found it thanks to these lads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okmXROv-_EM

hitemfrank

The style of the packaging and soaps reminds me suspiciously of The Handmade Soap Company. Their shave soap is no longer available on their website which adds to my suspicion.

Hopefully I am completely wrong and these guys make a quality soap unlike the other I mentioned. If you try out the soap let us know how it performs. If you haven't taken a chance with it by the end of January I'll give it a go and report back.

gavmcg92

hitemfrank wrote: »

The style of the packaging and soaps reminds me suspiciously of The Handmade Soap Company. Their shave soap is no longer available on their website which adds to my suspicion.

Hopefully I am completely wrong and these guys make a quality soap unlike the other I mentioned. If you try out the soap let us know how it performs. If you haven't taken a chance with it by the end of January I'll give it a go and report back.

Are the Handsome Soap Company Irish? What was the issue with their soaps?

hitemfrank

They are Irish. From Meath if memory serves correct.

It was a really unstable lather that would start to break down almost immediately after you finished making it.

I actually did some testing for them on an improved version after I put up a review on here a few years ago. I told them that the improved version, while more stable wasn't ready for bringing to market. It was brought to market anyway and is now gone it seems.


I've looked back at the old design of the handmade soap co and I might have been a bit quick on the draw. They are slightly similar but not overly so. I remembered details a bit different than it looks like they actually were.

Either way I'll try out this soap toward the end of January if no one else has by then.

gavmcg92

Purchased this yesterday, with a good bit of hassle. Bloody hate paypal! Such a pain to use. Why can't they use visa verification like a lot of shops.

Either way, I will be letting you know what I think about it when I get it and try it out.

Another little interesting bit of info. My order number was 40. Wonder if that is for 2016 so far or did they reset it a while ago.

hitemfrank

Lets hope it a good Irish made shave soap. I've tried 3 so far and only had success with Dr K shave soap.

hitemfrank

Any update on the soap gav?

gavmcg92

hitemfrank wrote: »

Any update on the soap gav?

Pretty embarrassing stuff frank... was looking at that one cedarwood shaving soap and assumed that they were all shaving soap. So I went for the rosemary as it sounded nice.

Now I have a block of lovely hand soap!

hitemfrank

Haha that's great.

I had a look on the site the other day and they didn't have shave soap listed anymore. I'll keep an eye out for the shave soap on the site over the next few weeks.

gavmcg92

hitemfrank wrote: »

Haha that's great.

I had a look on the site the other day and they didn't have shave soap listed anymore. I'll keep an eye out for the shave soap on the site over the next few weeks.

Went back when I noticed but just like you, I couldn't find it on their shop. Have to admit though, they were lovely to deal with. First package went missing and they sent me out another as soon as I let them know. That one also took its time and so they wanted to pay me back for it. Told them that I would rather they keep the money as I wanted to support a local crowd.

hitemfrank

I sent these guys an email about the shave soap - just asking when it will be available again.

No response as of yet.

hitemfrank

Still no response to the email I sent on the 12th, so I've tried on a second email address on their site. Hopefully I get a reply at some point.

hitemfrank

I've been told more shave soap should be ready in about 3 weeks.

Here's hoping it's good.

gavmcg92

hitemfrank wrote: »

I've been told more shave soap should be ready in about 3 weeks.

Here's hoping it's good.

Thanks for the update frank.

Mongfinder General

gavmcg92 wrote: »

Thanks for the update frank.

I got a shave soap in Tesco made by Palmolive. To be fair it takes a little while to lather but it gave me the smoothest shave I've ever had. It was only 60 cents a stick

mynameis905

Mongfinder General wrote: »

I got a shave soap in Tesco made by Palmolive. To be fair it takes a little while to lather but it gave me the smoothest shave I've ever had. It was only 60 cents a stick

Welcome to the secret club of Palmolive wet shaving. That little green stick is hands down one of the greatest shaving soaps on the planet. The price seems to be going up though, my local chemist have it on sale for €2 and it apparently costs up to $15 in the States.

hitemfrank

Well production of Palmolive was stopped in the UK so it's going to cost more now that it'll have to be imported from Germany.

Michael G

hitemfrank wrote: »

Well production of Palmolive was stopped in the UK so it's going to cost more now that it'll have to be imported from Germany.

It can still be found in independent pharmacies and Euro shops.

hitemfrank

Yes indeed, but those shops will have to pay higher shipping fees so you can expect that to be passed on to the customer.

It's still going to be a good price forbthe quality of it though.

Mongfinder General

mynameis905 wrote: »

Welcome to the secret club of Palmolive wet shaving. That little green stick is hands down one of the greatest shaving soaps on the planet. The price seems to be going up though, my local chemist have it on sale for €2 and it apparently costs up to $15 in the States.

15 bucks? Holy ****.

Orion

The barber I used to go to for a hot towel shaves uses Palmolive tube cream. And I've heard so much about palmolive on this forum and another that I figured I'd have to give it a try. So picked up a stick in Hickey's for €2 today. I'll give it a try in the morning. Never used a shave stick before - mostly use tubs of cream.

mynameis905

Let us know how you get on Orion. My local chemist has the Palmolive cream so I might give it a go also.

hitemfrank

Clarkes shave soap is in stock again on Irish Design Shop but not on their own web shop.



I said I would try it out and report back (at the start of the thread) so hopefully I'll be able to give my opinion of it by next week.

curiosity

Orion wrote: »

The barber I used to go to for a hot towel shaves uses Palmolive tube cream. And I've heard so much about palmolive on this forum and another that I figured I'd have to give it a try. So picked up a stick in Hickey's for €2 today. I'll give it a try in the morning. Never used a shave stick before - mostly use tubs of cream.

mynameis905 wrote: »

Let us know how you get on Orion. My local chemist has the Palmolive cream so I might give it a go also.

I love using the palmolive stick, but found the cream to be really drying.

hitemfrank

I'll try do a proper write up tomorrow about the Clarkes shaving soap, but first indications are not good.

hitemfrank

This is my second time writing this review as the boards beta ate the other one. So this time it might be a bit shorter than last time.

The Good:
The price of €6.80 for 5oz of soap is decent - it's 3 cm thick so it should last a while. Also the fact that it's Irish made is a plus for me as I want more Irish made shave soaps. DR K shave soap and Nanny's Silly Soap (made in England by an Irish lady) are the only good ones I've tried. Another positive for me is the presentation of the soap and packaging.



The handwritten note by the Irish Design Shop is a nice touch also but I guess you won't get that if you order direct from the makers. Maybe you would get something similar, I don't know.

The Bad:
First bad point is the ingredient list.



Olive oil as the first ingredient isn't a good thing from my experiences. Soaps using it never seem to produce stable later and this isn't any different unfortunately. It's loads onto the brush okay but breaks down quickly after lathering it on.



After only 90 seconds it's already broken down some (middle to right pictures).

The Indifferent:
I'm totally indifferent on the scent of this soap. It doesn't really smell of much which if you are looking for a cederwood and seaweed scent you will be disappointed. I was always more concerned about the performance than the scent so this doesn't bother me.


TLDR: It's not good enough really.

mynameis905

That's disappointing hitemfrank. Did you ever try the olive oil based soaps from Nanny's? I always get her original recipe but I know she has an olive oil based range also.

hitemfrank

mynameis905 wrote: »

That's disappointing hitemfrank. Did you ever try the olive oil based soaps from Nanny's? I always get her original recipe but I know she has an olive oil based range also.

Yep and it's great. Olive oil is about 3rd or 4th in the ingredients if I remember correctly. Stearic acid is first on the list and you will find it high on the list of most good soaps.

hitemfrank

If anyone wants to try out the Clarke's shave soap for themselves, let me know and I'll send it to you.

mynameis905

Hi Hitem, I wouldn't mind giving it a go. I have a ton of new soaps at the moment including some Barrister & Mann Lavanille so happy to send you a few samples in return.

hitemfrank

No need for samples - I've far too many soaps to work my way through before I even think of other soaps. PM your address and I'll send you the soap.

beardybrewer

mynameis905 wrote: »

I have a ton of new soaps at the moment including some Barrister & Mann Lavanille so happy

You're going to have a job topping B&M. Top-tier stuff. I swap around daily but go to B&M for my guaranteed good shave. Lavanille, in particular, is a lovely spring scent.

hitemfrank

Just checked out the ingredient list for B&M and it looks impressive. The first 4 ingredients include 2 types of stearate and 2 types of tallow.

Looks like it should be a top notch soap.

mynameis905

beardybrewer wrote: »

You're going to have a job topping B&M. Top-tier stuff. I swap around daily but go to B&M for my guaranteed good shave. Lavanille, in particular, is a lovely spring scent.

I went for the Lavanille. Performance is incredible and I find the scent nice but completely overpowering. Shaved with it last night and my face and hands still reek of the stuff.

beardybrewer

There's a few North American artisans who boast a stronger scent. I guess I would put Lavanille at a 7 or 8. A few of his scents are cologne-like which stick around for a few hours. His other fougeres and a select few like Leviathan fall into this category. I really enjoy it but I like strong scents. He offers lots of scents that don't linger and are more like a 5 or 6 in strength compared to Lavanille. Now you know the performance is good you can circle back and get some samples to find scents that appeal to you. On the plus side you'll have no trouble selling Lavanille.

mynameis905

Tried the Clarkes of Dublin soap this morning and I have to agree with hitemfrank, it's pretty disappointing. It actually lathers up ok and the slickness isn't too bad but the lather dissipates very quickly and offers pretty poor cushioning for the shave. Used a very mild razor (Gilette Tech) but my face was pretty red after the shave.