Stirling Soap Company

[Nick the Knife]

Ok been a tad lazy/jaded so I have the reviews for the final 3 SSC soaps to go up.....

SOAP REVIEW - SSC Bonaparte


SSC's DESCRIPTION:

You will never be the Emperor. The proletariat will never tremble in your presence. Nobility won’t acquiesce to your every demand. Kings will not offer you their daughters. Don’t let that stop you from smelling like royalty. Historically based on the tastes of Napoleon, this is the strongest essential oil soap we offer. A very powerful blend of Thyme, Rosemary, Bergamot, Lavender, Petitgrain, Lime, Lemon, Orange, Grapefruit, Ylang Ylang, and Tangerine. (Essential Oil)

TEXTURE: This was up there with the firmest of the SSC soaps, I'd have been far happier if they'd all been like this one - much more user friendly, think Proraso-ish.

SCENT: Ummmm look it's not a bad scent, I don't mind it BUT this to me comes across like a rank amateur had tossed together a few scents and then just kept tossing more stuff in an an attempt to get a more improved result. It's a real mish-mash and like a few other SSC soaps I come away feeling that LESS would have been MORE.

SSC seem to imply there's atleast 11 ....thats right ELEVEN different E.O's in there and to me I think they could have gone with 1/4 to 1/3 of that and gotten a superior scent. Again I must clarify that I don't find the scent offensive or bad but it's almost nondescript by it's overly complex nature....if that makes sense.

Others had said that they found this to be the strongest and most robust of the SSC scents, I did not find this to be the case and in fact almost the contrary - I found it pretty subtle and it didn't linger on you overly long after use.

Don't recall the missus was overly impressed with it - it's more summer oriented, could easily be used under a wide range of citrus or herbal-inspired colognes/AS.

LATHER: The lather was actually a tad lesser than the other SSC soaps but that might be because I used a different brush with it (Muhle STF v2).

OVERALL: Ah definitely a soap I would not have ordered - it's the definition of OK but can I ever see myself thinking,"Hmm I really want to give that Bonaparte a go!" NO......it's a good artisan soap but there's significantly superior soaps in the SSC range and IMHO this one just doesn't differentiate itself on any meaningful basis.

 

[Nick the Knife]

Next one I've used over the past week....
SOAP REVIEW - SSC Cocoa Forest


SSC's DESCRIPTION:

"What do you do when you guzzle down sweets? Eating as much as an elephant eats. What are you at getting terribly fat? What do you think will come of that?"
Hey, Wonka. It's the 21st Century and Augustus Gloop is no longer stuffing chocolate down his gullet. He's a grown man and he's whipping that chocolate into a creamy lather and using it to shave his chiseled jaw. Now tell your condescending Oompah Loompas to shut up and get out of the way. You're blocking the mirror. Made with cacao absolute, vanilla, fir needle, cedarwood, allspice, cypress, and ground cardamom seed. (Essential Oil)

TEXTURE: One of the softest SSC soaps I received - VERY sticky and tricky to get into it's container - have to be careful when loading not to get too much.

SCENT: Now I loved the idea of this scent BUT the forest side is just a bit too dominant. Whilst it's in the jar you can get quite a bit of the cocoa but once it's lathered you lose that completely and its essentially just a Fir/Cypress/Cedar scent. I think they need to beef up the cocoa in it and also bring a bit more sweetness to it perhaps with a tad more vanilla. It's an interesting scent and has a lot of promise but to me it has the feel of a bit of an experiment that wasn't perhaps trialled or tested quite as much as they could have. Again this is not to say that it's a bad scent or unenjoyable but I think they've just missed the mark of something that could have been VERY good.

The missus didn't really like it but I think if you're not used to Nth American forest scents thats normal. It's definitely a 100% Autumn/Winter scent - would work best with heavy very uber male colognes and AS.

LATHER: This was on par with the best of the SSC lathers I've gotten from this order of soaps.

OVERALL: Ummm I could go either way on this soap - it's genuinely different from anything else I think you can buy and in a good way. I can see a lot of people being in love with it from their first whiff but a small % will despise it - that said I don't think it's a soap you could use regularly as a go-to or staple. As I've a lot of soaps it's handy to have as a true change of pace come the colder months of the year but I can't ever see myself getting massively attached to it as it does have the feel of a prototype or work in progress, albeit a promising one.

 

[Nick the Knife]

And finally....
SOAP REVIEW - SSC Bay Rum


SSC's DESCRIPTION:

Our take on the classic Bay Rum scent. Bay West Indies (Pimenta Racemosa) essential oil is blended with Orange, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, and a hint of Clove to provide a very complex and masculine aroma. (Essential Oil)

TEXTURE: Mid range in firmness erring towards the softer end a tad.

SCENT: It's a very generic, bog standard Bay Rum - now thats NOT a bad thing but don't expect anything of script as it's bang on that. Now I'd have liked to have seen a little more spice in there - perhaps a little more citrus(lime) would lift it and give a lil more vigour. I find it inferior to Mike's Bay Rum - CRSW's Bay Rum is a different and more modern take on Bay Rum which again I find superior overall BUT I do tend to prefer the traditional take but this one is just a tad flat and lacklustre. I do think that any shaving soap maker's Bay Rum is really their measurable standard and almost an industry comparison of their scent blending skills - this isn't a bad one, but it's certainly not a great one.

LATHER: A tad inferior to the other SSC lathers - a lil thinner but that could have been a one off thing.

OVERALL: I don't think one can have too many Bay Rum products! And this is a good product as it's got the same very good SSC lather and post-shave with whats a solid, classic scent. But again I could kind of go either way on ordering this again - will I reach for it over my Mike's Bay Rum? No.....what about the CRSW? No.......hmmmmmmm but the missus liked it and I can see it being a solid part of most folk's rotations so buy with confidence but just don't expect a world beater or a new take on an old favourite, but you will get a good solid, classically scented soap and thats not all bad.

 

[filobiblic]

Thanks for all these solid reviews NtK. Helpful to know the scents in more detail and how they go in reality.

 

[Nonick]

I've enjoyed the reviews too.

 

[Nick the Knife]

Thanks guys appreciate the feedback - have tried to be candid and give warts and all thought on the SSC products. Overall I think they're in the 2nd tier of artisan stuff, not one the same level as CRSW, Mike's, B&M etc but if you're able to get good postal rates their value is comparable with the best available.

That said I do feel that they seem to have proven formulas for certain soaps and they tend to maintain these almost year round but then they do experiment/play with a lot of other soaps seeing if anything really works. Now sometimes you might get lucky buying one of these but other times they will come across a tad amateurishly and can be a bit of a muddle-mess on the scent front.

I'd think they should test their scent more in house and perhaps with small focus groups prior to release (CRSW tossed out an entire batch of a new scent as it wasn't to their standards, even when people were begging for it to be sold at a discounted price they decided if it wasn't good enough to be sold on their label the loss wasn't important).

The SSC soaps I received were very inconsistant in texture and whilst some of the scents were excellent - others had the real feel of a work in progress or a prototype that perhaps could have been much better if they'd been refined a tad more before being sold. I also think that whoever is in charge of mixing the scents there needs to TRY and go with a less is more approach, in so much as if they can't achieve the desired scent by adding say 1/2 dozen EO's then they need to go back to the drawing board rather than adding sometimes up to 1/2 dozen MORE!

Good but not great artisan soaps that are best bought on a value basis and take care ordering the less known/irregular soaps as they're very hit and miss.

 

[Adam]

I have been getting into my SSC barbershop over the last week on a daily basis. I then went to Mikes barbershop and the first thing i noticed was that SSC post shave > Mikes. I needed to balm up after the Mikes. IMO if SSC could curb there odd cheap and overpowering scents they would be a real winner.
The only other minor issue i have is that 2nd and 3rd pass lathers look thin, but doesnt really make a difference to the performance.

 

[Nick the Knife]

I have been getting into my SSC barbershop over the last week on a daily basis. I then went to Mikes barbershop and the first thing i noticed was that SSC post shave > Mikes. I needed to balm up after the Mikes. IMO if SSC could curb there odd cheap and overpowering scents they would be a real winner.
The only other minor issue i have is that 2nd and 3rd pass lathers look thin, but doesnt really make a difference to the performance.

Interesting as I dunno if I could split SSC's latest gen (shea butter) vs Mike's for post-shave. Can't say I found any scents coming across as 'cheap' just a tad hamfisted and overly complex thus lacking a true identity. By the same token none were in any way overpowering to me - I know when they first arrived I was like,"Yikes!" but they settled down pretty fast and if anything I'd have liked more pop on a few of them - the Bay Rum springs to mind

All that said I do agree that SSC's Barbershop is a tad weird as far as Barbershop interpretations go - I found it too sweet and a tad sickly - and I could see how that could come across as 'cheap' - I think thats actually the only 'fragrance oil' based SSC soap I ordered.....and I think thats a significant part of it.

You make a good point on the 2nd etc pass lather - I find you can't just paint it on but have to apply and then relather it on your face a tad, otherwise yes you're right it does seem thinner than one would like - even when using the Plisson etc.

 

[Adam]

What about Sharp dressed man, did you get that also? To me that smells like a lynx body spray has been applied to my face after lol.

 

[Nick the Knife]

What about Sharp dressed man, did you get that also? To me that smells like a lynx body spray has been applied to my face after lol.

It's funny but as soon as you said some of your SSC soaps had smelt cheap I wondered if you'd received SDM. I can definitely see why it could be perceived by many that way and am not saying it's incorrect to view this way. However I think that once used it comes across a lot better with the scent left on the user....so in the jar/bowl it can smell a little Hmmm-ish but I did think it was a quite nice fragrance oil based soap. And I was mistaken I got two fragrance oil based ones. Might be something of a generational thing as they did skew this scent towards the scent profiles of say the 50's/60's but I agree it could come across as cheap to a lot of folks but I do like it.

 

[eggbert]

One of my recent purchases was a secondhand but unused puck of Stirling Glacial Obsidian.
I thought I was buying the plain Glacial soap so was a little let down when I saw it was the obsidian version with anise.

Made with black clay and a double shot of Anise essential oil, along with one of the highest concentrations of menthol you will find in a cold-process soap.

.
It's appearance is dark green in the fresh puck but add a little water and it turns silvery grey. It smells something like a fisherman's friend.
10 second load have me enough larger for three passes. Not sure if the composition is a little different from the soaps others have used from Stirling but it was a thirsty one. I was able to add a lot of water to it before it turned into a nice, stable, yogurty consistency.
On the face? Wow, now there is the menthol hit I've been craving. Unblocked my nose and got my eyes going a bit.
And the anise? It was really nice. I accidentally got a bit of leather in my mouth and it even treated like an aniseed lolly.
Really impressed, just hope the other menthol offerings from them live up to this one.

 

[eggbert]

Stirling Margaritas in the Arctic
I'm liking these soaps a lot. Not sure what they think a Margarita tastes like but the scent isn't unpleasant. Menthol is definitely a few levels below the glacial soaps but still pleasant.


Darwin water is soft, so if a soap struggles here then I think there is a problem with it.

 

[eggbert]

SOAP REVIEW - SSC Frozen Tundra


TEXTURE: This was probably the firmest of all the SSC soaps I received and was like firm play dough.

SCENT: First off my wife HATED this. It does smell like sports liniment, so there's a strong note of camphor that dominates. There's a few softer notes in there as well but you'd need a better nose than me to pick up on them. I ordered this with my eyes open as I'm an NFL fan and thats clearly been the inspiration for SSC with this soap. That said I think that it might be a case of LESS being MORE, as whatever the 9 essential oils are in this they've essentially canceled each other out as picking any out is very difficult.

Now all that is NOT to say that the scent is unpleasant but I think that SSC could have perhaps gone with the menthol and camphor over a simpler, clearer masculine base and ended up with a better result - as is it's a bit of a hazy mixed up scent with the camphor jumping out at you - so sounds like a lot of essential oils (which are costly) were somewhat wasted.

I did like this scent but i was just left thinking they could have improved a few aspects of it - I was also drawn by the allure of 9 essential oils but found this a fake attraction.

LATHER: Again the lather was absolutely excellent. Each time I use the SSC soaps I find myself thinking about what actually is a good lather, which I think I might get up in a separate area as a discussion piece - but for me the SSC soaps do what I need a shaving soap to do - and making a Santa Claus look-a-like lather isn't one of them. I found the post-shave with this one to be a tad better than the others, my skin felt even better than usual - and with the shea butter in them I'd expect that!

The menthol strength is IMHO just right, a nice cooling sensation but no numbness or over the top reaction. Does definitely ENHANCE the shaving experience which I think is the end benchmark for it's inclusion.

OVERALL: Again it's a very nice soap. This is the only mentholated soap I've got in my stable, I've used Godrej Menthol Mist before but this is significantly stronger and vastly superior overall. The scent is one that grades out as only fair (and the least enjoyable of all SSC soaps I've tried so far) but definitely not the attraction to it. I have a mentholated splash on that I use every now and then and I figure this soap would be kind of the same - in that it makes a very enjoyable change of pace - but overuse would tend to negate the somewhat limited points of difference that it brings to the table.

It'd work well in summer and compliment most colognes (the camphor in it doesn't tend to linger) but I think it'd work reasonably in winter as well. I think if you're placing a decent order from SSC you'd want to get atleast one mentholated soap and this isn't a bad choice but I think I'd give strong consideration to the Orange Chill or Margaritas in the Arctic options instead if getting a do-over.

I didn't get the NFL reference when I chose this soap - I think they could have used a much better name to suggest a sports liniment style soap than they did. Frozen Tundra suggests chilly, bracing winds to me, not having your faced ground into someones nether regions.

The Glacial obsidian was a much firmer soap for me, but that could have been a fair bit older by the time it got to me, as the other soaps I got from Stirling were quite soft.

Like NtK the only scents I could easily discern were camphor and menthol. The scent is ok, but I'm not sure it will go into regular rotation like the Margaritas and Glacial soaps will. Like Margaritas, the Frozen Tundra is a big step lower down the menthol scale compared to their Glacial line.

I've found the lather in all their soaps to be really good - much easier to build, and needing far less soap than the MWS soaps.

Verdict - probably my least favourite of the Stirling soaps, but still a very good performing one.

 

[eggbert]

New Stirling soaps will be on sale later in the week in the Glacial line:
Wintergreen. Obsidian. Lemon Chill. Spearmint. Doubleplus cold

They are also doing bath soaps, Aftershaves, and Aftershave balms in the line.

If that Double plus cold is meant to be twice as cool as the usual Glacial line I reckon it would even please @borked/