Soap Review: Shave Stick Showdown – Palmolive Menthol vs Valobra vs La Toja

[Mong.]

Soap Review: Shave Stick Showdown – Palmolive for Men vs Valobra vs La Toja

*The Palmolive isn't menthol

This is a sampling of European shave sticks. Two were brought back as a gift from Italy, another was a bonus in an order. I've been learning to face lather recently with varying degrees of success, and now I'm expanding my education to include using a shave stick. I'm going to work through each of these three sticks, using each three times in a row. Each will be accompanied by the Simpson Duke 2 once, the Omega #45 once, and a random brush of my choosing for the third attempt. I'll use the iKON SB razor, and my choice of sharp blade.

I chose La Toja for my first attempt with a shave stick. Trying not to elevate the process to rocket science, I dipped the end in warm water for a few moments then rubbed it on my face and rock'n'rolled. After a decent scrub I had an okay lather, but I had too much water in my brush which lead to lather running out the bottom of the knot. I then compounded my mistake by not hydrating the lather on my face enough, so it dried a little before I finished my first pass. I scrubbed up good to resurrect the second pass, solid improvement. Slick and comfortably protective. The scent is pleasant but unobtrusive. My skin felt nice post-shave, but not any better than Proraso or TOBS.

Second shave was better, I switched to the Duke 2 and a Tech to accompany. Despite the blade feeling quite average, the lather was a slight improvement. Still a little too wet making it very slick, but once again better in later passes. I wouldn't say La Toja explodes into lather, but it does build pretty quickly and it did hold together pretty well for the amount of water I put into it. A forgiving soap is good sometimes. Two shaves without any irritation, so that speaks well of the level of protection La Toja provides.

Third shave was the best so far. I seem to have found a decent balance between water and soap, and I'm getting to grips with how wet the brush should be to start off. The Omega #45 is great for this, lots of surface area and plenty scrubby. So far, I'm mighty impressed with how user friendly La Toja is. It lathers easily and provides good protection. Seems like a good choice to have started off with it, as it's provided a great baseline for further comparison.

Up next...Palmolive for Men.

 

[SmallYetDeadly]

Palmolive should romp it in. It's the only one 'for MEN" :laugh:

Good stuff mong. Looking forward to the comparo. I like a good shavestick and face-lather

 

[Mong.]

Haha! I've heard good things about the Palmo, so I have high expectations. I'll give it a go tonight or tomorrow morning.

 

[Pjotr]

All of them provide excellent lather none more so than the Valobra. Scent, which in my book is almost more of a determining factor, leaves the la Toja as the only one out of those three I use. I'll leave you to judge the Palmolive but wet carpet dosn't even come close to Valobra. Actually I've got an old tired doggy mat that when wet resembles the scent fairly accurately.

 

[Mong.]

I was slightly delayed but I tried the Palmolive stick tonight. My first impression is that it lathers and performs quite similarly to the La Toja. I found it slightly easier to build up lather density at first, but it also seems to want more water and so it dried up a little during my first pass. I'm still struggling to properly hydrate the soap on my face. My second passes have been exceptional, but I'm finding that the lather on my face is drying out while the lather in my brush is running out the bottom of the knot. I tried to compensate for this by adding more soap to my face, but I think this is actually the problem. I think my amount of water and my method is sound, but that there's just too much product on my face to absorb liquid. Thus, my neck (which gets a bit of extra scrub and a little extra water for extra slickness) seems to be okay, and my face dries out. Next time, I'll try with less soap and see how I go. It doesn't help using a big knot such as the Omega #45. I'll give the Blobby Foo a go, I think it'll excel.

As far as the Palmolive goes, it's hard to compare with the La Toja because it seems to offer much the same. It lathers fairly easily which is good for me. The slickness I enjoyed with La Toja isn't quite there, but I think it has improved cushion/protection against the blade. Barely any difference as far as moisturising/post-shave goodness is concerned. I didn't get much menthol, to be honest. Not much in the way of cooling on my skin, the scent is clean and soapy. Nowhere near the menthol skin freeze of the Palmolive Menthol cream. The Palmolive stick is harder than the La Toja, next time I'll give it a quick soak in water to soften it up a bit more.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with my shave stick trial so far. I'll reserve judgement on the Palmolive, but both offerings so far have been really good. The yellow Gillette blade I've been using has had it's day now, so next shave I'm going to mix it up a little with the GEM Featherweight and the Blobby Foo. I'm interested to see how the floppier brush goes.

 

[Pjotr]

...........The Palmolive stick is harder than the La Toja, next time I'll give it a quick soak in water to soften it up a bit more...........

If you do that you'll only end up with more, not less, on your face. I almost exclusively use sticks and it's surprising how little you really need. And there is an art to loading just the right amount in to your stubble. Too much and you'll have gobs of it in your brush and it still won't be the right consistency on your face which is basically what appears to be happening to you. Too little and it'll be watery or there's not enough in the brush for a second or third pass. Although neither snenario is what you're after, I prefer the latter. It's easy to load a bit more soap whereas it's just messy having to deal with too much of it. The problem also compounds itself as you're trying to get more water on to your face with a brush that's completely saturated with soap so you end up with watery soap running down your brush handle and not much water getting to your face. Exactly what you're experiencing. I only lightly rub a stick in and the amount of soap is barely visible.

The ultimate test is using a Wee Scot brush as it just holds enough for an additional pass and a half. All this doesn't really matter too much if you use a bowl because there's a huge buffer capacity. A brush doesn't give you that. Face loading and lathering is the most economical way of using soap.

 

[Drubbing]

I was slightly delayed but I tried the Palmolive Menthol stick tonight. My first impression is that it lathers and performs quite similarly to the La Toja. I found it slightly easier to build up lather density at first, but it also seems to want more water and so it dried up a little during my first pass. I'm still struggling to properly hydrate the soap on my face. My second passes have been exceptional, but I'm finding that the lather on my face is drying out while the lather in my brush is running out the bottom of the knot. I tried to compensate for this by adding more soap to my face, but I think this is actually the problem. I think my amount of water and my method is sound, but that there's just too much product on my face to absorb liquid. Thus, my neck (which gets a bit of extra scrub and a little extra water for extra slickness) seems to be okay, and my face dries out. Next time, I'll try with less soap and see how I go. It doesn't help using a big knot such as the Omega #45. I'll give the Blobby Foo a go, I think it'll excel.

Wrong way IMO. You've too little soap, and too much water to start with. Your drowning the soap before it can make up a lather.

Just like bowl lathering, you've got to add water in a you go, not try and guess how wet the brush needs to be..

 

[Mong.]

Thanks for the advice fellas. I soaked my brush before starting to lather, so next time, I'll start with much less water. Drubbing, did you soak the Blobby before using or just wet it and go? I think it will help me out a bit, the big knot in the Omega retains a lot of water and I didn't shake it out enough. The Blobby will be a bit easier to manage.

PJ, I'll have a go with less soap next time. Your description is pretty much what happened, so it seems I need to adjust my technique and build up slowly rather than trying to fly out of the gate with lots of soap and water.

 

[SmallYetDeadly]

Sounds like you have the gist of it now Mong

A bit of soap and a damp brush that you dip the tips several times while building the lather is the go.

Cool thoughts on the Palmolive...I'm not sure it is supposed to be menthol though? Battling to get much slickness indicates a bit much soap to me too. The palmo should be pretty dern slick when it's had a good drink of water. TBH though I often run my lather a bit on the "cushiony" side for the first pass and get it slicker on each subsequent pass. I usually have a few days growth on when I shave though so an everyday shaver would probably want slick straight out of the gate as there is less reduction to do.

I would say though that a shave stick thread needs alot more ARKO! to be considered as a refeence

 

[Mong.]

Woops, you're right about it not being menthol, SYD. I was mixed up with the cream, which is also mighty good.

I'm not an everyday shaver either, so cushion first and slickness later is probably the way to go for me too. Slickness on my second pass (XTG) seems to keep my middle neck area happy, which has always been the trouble spot. While I am still getting a bit of dryness, every shave is an improvement and I haven't really run into any irritation so far, so I'm nitpicking for perfection really. It's probably also fair to say that if I was getting lather like this a year ago, I'd have thought it was Christmas. I'm really impressed with the sticks, and the extra brush scrub seems to make a difference. Goes to show the value of good prep, I guess.

I do have an ARKO! stick, but I've been resisting opening it. I have the soap in the tub which I like, but the scent gives me a headache so I left that open at dad's house for a while. :cheesy:

I might try and make my way through all the available shave stick options as money permits. Lea/Erasmic/Speick, Arko/Derby/GZB. Oh, to be a rich man...

 

[Drubbing]

Thanks for the advice fellas. I soaked my brush before starting to lather, so next time, I'll start with much less water. Drubbing, did you soak the Blobby before using or just wet it and go? I think it will help me out a bit, the big knot in the Omega retains a lot of water and I didn't shake it out enough. The Blobby will be a bit easier to manage.

PJ, I'll have a go with less soap next time. Your description is pretty much what happened, so it seems I need to adjust my technique and build up slowly rather than trying to fly out of the gate with lots of soap and water.

I treat all brushes the same, it's simpler and it works.

I soak and squeeze gently. Shaking isn't reliable, as different types, sizes and density's release water differently, some will lose too much, others too little. Squeezing leaves them damp.

The Blobby is easy to work with, it aerates easily and will get things started quicker.

There's never any problem using too much soap to begin with. The worse that can happen is it takes more water and longer to lather up, and you've some left over.

 

[Mong.]

Second attempt with the Palmolive stick. I took your advice Drubbing, and started by squeezing the Blobby and working up slower. This time, I didn't use enough soap initially, but my lather was much improved and didn't dry out on my face. The Blobby is a more appropriate size for face lathering than the big Omega, and while it performed well, it was a bit floppy on the face. That's a feeling thing, and not reflective of the Palmolive. As far as the Palmolive goes specifically, it's thirstier than La Toja and thus, can be made a little more slick without breaking up. I like that sometimes, and it helped with the very aggressive combination of iKON SB and Feather blade today. This combo is about as harsh on the skin as I can get, and the Palmolive provided enough protection to leave my face smooth and irritation free. That speaks very highly of it, in my view.

I don't expect much to change as far as characteristics are concerned with this Palmolive stick. It has one more shave to go, and I'm going to finish it off with the Duke. I think the Duke will be great, the size and density seem to lend itself well to face lathering in general. I'll be on to my final stick, the Valobra, at the start of next week. I'm looking forward to assessing it's performance, and I have a clothes peg on standby in case the scent is really as bad as Pj says.

One other thing has become abudantly clear throughout this comparison. I really need to get a smaller boar like the Omega 10066.

 

[Drubbing]

One other thing has become abudantly clear throughout this comparison. I really need to get a smaller boar like the Omega 10066.

Should a god knot. Probably the samne as in the 10005 and 11137 which jsut have nicer wooden handles. I've got both and they're excellent.

 

[Mong.]

I've just had my third and final shave with the Palmolive stick, and it was the best so far. Drubbing's method of squeezing out the brush seems to be working for me, and I'm a bit more familiar with the water-holding characteristics of the Duke 2 than the Blobby Foo, so I had high expectations for this shave. I wasn't disappointed, as familiarity and a heavier loading of the face with soap combined to give me a brilliant shave. Now that I've gotten the soap-water ratio right, my lather is denser and more protective. I'm using a Feather blade with the iKon SB; an aggressive combination that would put any soap or cream under pressure to provide protection. I've had two irritation free and close shaves, which is a strong reflection of what the Palmolive is good at.

So, what are the current points of difference between La Toja and Palmolive? Well, the Palmolive has been consistently more slick for me. This helps the blade glide across the skin a little better, but it does sacrifice some cushion. The level of protection is high, but the density and volume provided by the La Toja is slightly greater. For me, I'd opt for Palmolive with a sharper blade because a smooth glide across the skin provides me with a level of protection against nicks and cuts. If I was using a less sharp blade, such as a Personna Red or a Derby/Shark, I'd opt for the La Toja, as the density and cushion would shield me from the slight roughness and diminished glide of those blades. As far as my personal preference at the moment goes, I like the La Toja slightly more, but there's a fairly miniscule difference between them. They both provide a similar lather, and the ability of the user probably makes up much of the difference. La Toja smells nicer though.

Valobra stick is up next in a few days. I'm ready to do battle with the scent, and I'll stick with the Feather/SB combo and the Duke 2. I'm going to substitute the Omega #45 for the unbanded #49 Pro, and the Blobby is going to be substituted for the Colonel X2L.

 

[Mong.]

Last but not least, the Valobra stick. I had prepared myself for an onslaught of vile stench based on Pj's comments, so I approached the box with trepidation. I unwrapped the paper surrounding the stick, and prepared myself...

Total disappointment. Fairly regular soapy smell was all that I encountered, and it was by no means unpleasant. I'm not one to be put off by scent much, so the Valobra is unobtrusive to my senses. The stick itself is between the La Toja and Palmolive for hardness, with La Toja being the softest of the three. I readied the Colonel and squeezed it out, set the Feather for a third effort in the iKon SB, and began to rock'n'roll.

Best shave yet. Best shave for a long time, and I've had some damn good ones recently. On my first impression, Valobra has moved high up into my list of best performing shaving software. It's not completely responsible for this great shave, but it excelled in two key areas:

1. Glide and cushion;
2. Moisturisation and skin care.

Valobra took more work to produce a thick and even coverage of lather than it's two competitors, and I did find that I created a few patches of inconsistent lather. Overall, however, I was surprised at the exceptional glide I experienced from the Feather blade and the skin protection that the Valobra provided. La Toja (IMO) creates a denser, more voluminous lather that provides a good "shield" against the blade but sacrifices slickness. Palmolive provides a thinner but slicker lather than helps the blade to glide along the face, but lacks for cushion. Valobra is less voluminous than La Toja, but it is slicker and has better cushion than both La Toja and Palmolive. In my opinion, it surpasses the competitors for the quality of lather provided. I didn't find La Toja or Palmolive to provide any noteworthy post-shave moisturising, so in that regard, the Valobra is a clear winner. My skin felt soft and well conditioned. I'm extremely impressed, this soap has ticked all the boxes I require. I need protection and slickness to balance out sharp blades, and I need moisturisation. Valobra gave me both, and it did it well.

I'm going to have two more shaves with the Valobra, so that I can use it with a boar and with a different badger. I'll then go back to the La Toja and Palmolive once each, and we'll see if my opinions on them have changed. Every time I use a shave stick my quality of lather improves, but my consistency is evening out. I still prefer loading from a puck, but I'll certainly take a shave stick from now on when I'm travelling. Stay tuned for the gripping conclusion folks, I might even throw the ARKO! stick into the mix as an honorary competitor.

 

[Lynchy]

Totally agree!

I love my Valobra and think it actually smells good IMO.

Loving the reviews! Good job.

 

[Pjotr]

Last but not least, the Valobra stick. I had prepared myself for an onslaught of vile stench based on Pj's comments, so I approached the box with trepidation. I unwrapped the paper surrounding the stick, and prepared myself...Total disappointment. Fairly regular soapy smell was all that I encountered, and it was by no means unpleasant. I'm not one to be put off by scent much, so the Valobra is unobtrusive to my senses. .........

........I love my Valobra and think it actually smells good IMO..........

There's nowt so queer as folk!

 

[Lynchy]

There's nowt so queer as folk!

We all have our vices

 

[Pjotr]

We all have our vices

......obviously clamped tight over your nostrils!

 

[Mong.]

Second outing with the Valobra. It was a quick one-pass shave, and the only change in hardware was that I used the Duke instead of the Colonel. Same high quality lather, same surprising slickness. I don't know whether I should necessarily be attributing the glide I'm getting to the soap. I've just had my fourth shave with a Feather blade, and aside from some irritation where I pushed my luck going ATG last shave, it's been excellent. From a neutral perspective, it might just be the combination of a sharp and smooth blade and a reasonable soap rather than the soap itself being exceptional. Either way, the Feather has started to become a little rough, and I'm going to switch blades next so the Valobra will get a test. I might even have another go with the dreaded Merkur blade.

I still feel that the Valobra leads the pack out of these three soaps. It takes a little more work, but it's no accident that my last two shaves have been my best yet. When I go back to the La Toja and Palmolive, I'm going to switch up the razors and go with something mild and a less sharp blade. I want to see how much protection these soaps really offer, so a less sharp blade in the Krona will put that to the test.