Stirling Soap Company

[Nick the Knife]

Guys,

Happy to have this thread evolve into a general chat thread on Stirling's products HOWEVER in the interim I was wondering if anyone had feedback on any of Stirlings soaps they either LOVED or HATED?

Have some expiring credit at a USA freight forwarder and essentially anything posted from the US will be free when using this.

Stirling's products are one of the main ones I feel are decent value without a sale on and our peso back down against the USD.

Am considering:
- Ozark Mountain
- Sharp Dressed Man
- Frozen Tundra
- Cocoa Forest
- Bonaparte
- Port-Au Prince

Thanks in advance for any feedback on their scents/products you might have.

Cheers. NtK

 

[filobiblic]

Am considering:
- Ozark Mountain
- Sharp Dressed Man
- Frozen Tundra
- Cocoa Forest
- Bonaparte
- Port-Au Prince

I'm sorry but I'm not very good with scents.

I have:
Sharp Dressed Man
Classic scent. I have a sample of the aftershave as well. It's lovely. My favourite of the Stirling I have.

Bonaparte
Strong and earthy.

Port-Au Prince
Very fresh, pine-y.

All these scents (and the Stirling scents in general) are very strong.

I recommend the aloe Vera & witch hazel based balms as well.

@alfredus will have some more input here.

 

[borked]

My order has just been confirmed as shipped

 

[stillshunter]

Only have the Tuscany (thanks @filobiblic ). An nice Mediterranean scent, a decent lather but needs more loading than other soaps - well is the case with the Tuscany anyway - but is tolerant of water levels. Can dry out after five minutes or so.

Personally, I feel there are better and worse soaps out there.

 

[Adam]

Cant comment personally (yet) but reviews say its the slickest soap on the market but you dont get the thickest lather.

I have the below on order in sample size
1203Barbershop - Shave1
1204Bay Rum - Shave1
1231Sharp Dressed Man - Shave1
1232Stirling Clubman - Shave1
1229Sandalwood - Shave1
1240Texas On Fire - Shave1

A bit offtopic, but how good is the USPS traking (on my Stirling soap)


December 30, 2014 , 10:43 am

Departed



Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Your item departed a transfer airport in Metropolitan Area, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA on December 30, 2014 at 10:43 am. The item is currently in transit to the destination.

December 28, 2014 , 10:49 pm

Departed

Los Angeles, UNITED STATES

December 27, 2014 , 8:01 pm

Departed

Miami, UNITED STATES

December 27, 2014 , 4:48 pm

Arrived

Miami, UNITED STATES

December 27, 2014 , 7:45 am

Processed Through Sort Facility

ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)

December 25, 2014 , 4:18 am

Departed USPS Facility

MIAMI, FL 33112

December 24, 2014 , 6:51 pm

Arrived at Sort Facility

ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)

December 24, 2014 , 5:21 pm

Arrived at USPS Facility

MIAMI, FL 33112

December 23, 2014 , 12:32 am

Departed USPS Facility

FAYETTEVILLE, AR 72701

December 22, 2014 , 10:11 pm

Arrived at USPS Origin Facility

FAYETTEVILLE, AR 72701

December 22, 2014 , 4:52 pm

Departed Post Office

BOONEVILLE, AR 72927

December 22, 2014 , 4:08 pm

Picked up by Request

BOONEVILLE, AR 72927

December 22, 2014

Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS

 

[Nick the Knife]

Ah thanks for the replies and feedback.

I must have read every thread on Stirling the last few months. Characteristics that repeatedly pop up are polarising strong scents, slickness and extra loading needed.

TBH I am not uber sold on them as who i should order from, I mean the last thing I actually need is more soap BUT this credit will essentially cover the postage costs......haha so i feel compelled to order something. Logical? Not really...

Also considering Soap Commander and Shannons. Or possibly anorder of a few makers from Maggard's....

Any thing else from the US thats compelling value? Bummer i missed any post-Xmas sales etc.

 

[filobiblic]

I agree with all statements above: Slick, good range of scents, but require extra loading. It's cheap and so good value for what it is.

Soap Commander is getting a lot of love recently. But then again, they have a great setup with the bath, men's and women's ranges all linked. Also nice packaging as well as a husband & wife team.

If you're after artisan soaps, then Maggards have samplers of Strop Shoppe, Barrister & Mann and their own Maggard line up. They are also stockists for: Seifengglatt, Catie's Bubbles, Tiki soaps, Etc.

There really are so many to choose from... Unfortunately you did miss the sales. [emoji21]

 

[filobiblic]

Thanks in advance for any feedback on their scents/products you might have.

Have you bought your Stirling yet?

Here's another soap artisan who has soap on sale at the moment: Dr Jon's Handcrafted Shave Soap.

He's only new to the scene (as in this month!) but his ingredients are top notch, his scents are a little different to the usual and his packaging looks fantastic! I've ordered some myself since I can't go past those great looking retro-inspired labels.

The 20% off sale is only because he changed the company name a week after launch and so wants to get rid of all the old labels. (I think it changed from "Dr Jon's Shave Soap" to "Dr Jon's Handcrafted Soap"... At least the dedication to details tells you something about the bloke who runs this business.)

 

[Nick the Knife]

Hi Filo,

Thanks for the reply - no I haven't decided on anything yet.

You know it's funny that you suggested that soap maker as I spotted his 20% off sale via his thread/section over at YKW. His ingredients seem reasonable - you're a tad easier going than myself to call them top shelf as IMHO there's none of the real top tier stuff that goes into B&M, CRSW, Mikes etc - but it's solid.

I did give it all a good peruse prior to seeing this as your suggestion but there's not a lot of reviews of his products for me to want to jump into bed with them just yet - you floozy you are! ;-)

At present I'm prolly leaning towards a few soaps from Shannons (or possibly Stirling but less than originally thought) - either that or getting nothing and seeing if someone else here wants the credit - also watching the soap lot sales over YKW etc.

I've basically got until the end of month so I'll keep my eyes out for anything interesting but all ears for suggestions too.

 

[filobiblic]

Nothing like starting the trends now is there?! [emoji6]

Ummm, end of the month is...well, it's today (and tomorrow for US purchases).

I look forward to seeing your buys. (Those CRSW of yours were a great buy!)

 

[Nick the Knife]

Oh sorry I meant the end of JAN...yes, otherwise it'd be a very rushed choice!

Ah don't hold your breath there's a realistic chance I don't get anything as I already feel somewhat over-run with my soap rotation.

The CRSW ended up working out at around $AUD17 per 4oz unit delivered - which with the dollar's plunge etc does look good now. I think they had 30% off at the time I bought? Hence it was a brand I'd never heard of that I jumped in and bought 6 soaps from....well after some crammed reading up on them.

The essentially free shipping does bring the 4oz unit cost (if used as a benchmark) down from this significantly - thats even with the AUD's fall - hence I'm somewhat loathe to let it go through to the keeper, but we will see.

 

[filobiblic]

You can always PIF it to someone or is that too hard?

Yep. Even the cheapie Razorock or HTGAM/PAA soaps end up being around that price. So you did well NtK. It'll be a bargain for us all when you end up trading/selling off the ones you don't want or can't use. [emoji13]

 

[Nick the Knife]

Oh I think it'd be easy enough to PIF if it came to that.

Haha oh thats right, we're yet to negotiate anything so I'll let you underestimate my powers of persuasion.

 

[stillshunter]

Here's another soap artisan who has soap on sale at the moment: Dr Jon's Handcrafted Shave Soap.

Is it my imagination or does the lather here advertised by Dr Jon's look a little lack-lustre....

Maybe I'm not hip or too old-fashioned but I like my lather more like this...

...or God forbid even like this third-world stuff

 

[filobiblic]

You don't go to hairdresser with the best looking hair do you? I always go to the one who cut their hair!

 

[Nick the Knife]

Eeks that Dr Jon guy looks a tad freaky to me.....I'm getting overtones of Freddie Kruger coming through with some midnotes of general weirdo!!!!!

I mean really who the heck wears that kind of hat (of course a long sleeve shirt and tie are very normal for any discerning wetshaver!) when shaving!!!???!!! Obviously thats really poor form and everyone knows you're meant to wear a Fez!

And yes you're 100% correct, if you're selling a shaving soap you'd actually want to see some lather - thats a HORRIBLE choice of photos by the vendor who IMHO has a product that smells like it's trying to be too cool for school and is likely to be all sizzle and no steak.

 

[filobiblic]

And yes you're 100% correct, if you're selling a shaving soap you'd actually want to see some lather - thats a HORRIBLE choice of photos by the vendor who IMHO has a product that smells like it's trying to be too cool for school and is likely to be all sizzle and no steak.

Now, now... Let's all be nice to Dr Jon. We all can't look as spiffy as your avatar Mr NtK. (Why do you think I have scooters for mine?!)

Here's a video review to show you that - why, yes! - that's real lather!!! Wow! Real shaving lather!!! Who would have thought!!??

 

[Nonick]

I read it's a soft soap? How soft? And what ones did you get filo?

 

[Nick the Knife]

I read it's a soft soap? How soft?

The trade winds have blown us off topic but you'll get that.

I read it's very soft - more like a cream - I saw a pic somewhere (as again somewhat oddly the vendor has no actual shots of his product! Which is kinda odd as I've never known a fancy lid design to make a shave any better!!!) and it looked very much like what @Anthony is getting from his soaps.

 

[filobiblic]

The trade winds have blown us off topic but you'll get that.

Meh! You get that around here...

Perhaps we ought to start a new thread for the soap we like to talk about but no one actually has. [emoji4]

I read it's very soft - more like a cream - I saw a pic somewhere (as again somewhat oddly the vendor has no actual shots of his product! Which is kinda odd as I've never known a fancy lid design to make a shave any better!!!) and it looked very much like what @Anthony is getting from his soaps.

I think the video above shows you what it's like - a very soft soap. Softer than @Anthony 's Shaver Heaven soft soaps. This is more like a cream than a soap. So @Nonick you'll be all over this like a rash...