Well FINALLY I received my order from Stirling Soap Company(SSC)! In the end it got from SSC to Boxhop very rapidly.....but then went offgrid for 3-4 weeks while Boxhop did gawd knows what with it.......then finally from Boxhop's freight co to me it moved pretty quickly. Go figure.
Anyway I'll pop some initial thought in here and pop individual reviews on the soaps as I come to use them.
First, the scent/s even through the box, packaging and wrap was overpoweringly strong - not necessarily a bad thing but take the previous most strongly scented soap you've used and quadruple it and you're getting close to the SSC pungency.
I'd dreaded that Boxhop had helped themself to some of the soaps but sure enough all eight were in there.....however based on the experiences of others underwhelmingly not a single sample (but I'll talk that later).
I'd asked SSC to package as compact as possible - and they were pretty good with that - the only thing I'd suggest is it could have done with more packaging/fill inside as the soaps got pretty banged up onroute - but they're soaps so not a big deal at all.
Anyway in no particular order here are a few thoughts based on my initial inspection of my order:
UNDERWEIGHT SOAPS:
Now until yesterday SSC stated that their shaving soaps were "approx 4.7oz (133g) fully cured..." - that last part is pretty important as soap loses water content as it cures and thus decreases in weight. However by stating that their soaps were already FULLY cured - they should be atleast that weight. In my experience it's always better to underpromise and over deliver.
Anyway upon picking up a soap I noticed it felt lighter than I expected. Tried another and again it was surprising light. Cut a long story short after weighing all the soaps on a digital scale I know to be accurated calibrated EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE EIGHT soaps was underweight. Inclusive of the labels/wrapping they ranged up to 18g underweight - which might sound like I'm being picky to some?
Well in total not including the wrappers/labels (which weighed just on 10g) my entire order was around 100g underweight of the advertised 1064g! So nearly missing an entire soap puck!
This was just a PITA as I had to take pix (to support my claim) then email SSC explaining. Anyway the one thing I do give SSC credit for is they make a genuine effort on the Customer Service side - and they replied back within a few hours and refunded $USD6 - which is essentially 1/8 of the cost of my order (sans postage) and therefore essentially equivalent to the '1 missing soap'.
This was their reply to my flagging this issue:
I am sorry for the issue with the weight discrepancies. Our soaps aren't in air tight tins and tubs like the other soaps you mentioned. They are wrapped in a perforated biolefin wrapping that allows them to continue to cure while in the wrapping, so there will be some water loss due to evaporation as the soaps continue to cure, especially in the case of them being in transit for 6 weeks. We cure them to approximately 4.7 ounces, at which point they are wrapped and labeled and put on the shelves. However, I have updated the website to be a better reflection of what the customer can expect.
First, in my contact I'd referenced never having received underweight items in any of my previous orders from artisan soap makers, which is true. With Mike's I got the bars and he referenced them as 4-5oz but they were all actually over 5oz.
Essentially SSC is putting the blame for the weight discrepancy on the soaps losing water content AFTER they've been packaged. Now I do NOT doubt this is possibly true HOWEVER until yesterday and when I bought them they were sold as FULLY CURED ~4.7oz - so clearly they were sold not fully cured.
Clearly my remarks resonated as they immediately changed their website so that it now instead states:
...and weighs approximately 125 grams (may vary slightly based on cure time).
Which again now essentially concedes that the soaps are not necessarily fully cured before shipping - I'd imagine they go out in an ON NEED basis - and more popular stuff is prolly not cured whereas something less popular might sit on the shelf for a while longer and thus be fully cured.
All this kinda surprises me as all soaps generally perform BETTER when fully cured and soap makers will have a very accurate idea of the % water loss the soap will incur prior to reaching a fully cured state - hence simple maths to ensure that if you want a 133g fully cured product you ensure that you're cutting say a 146g just made one (for say 10% loss of weight).
I do think this was a genuine mistake by SSC, as their email reply came across as very genuine and they changed the website LITERALLY IMMEDIATELY - so as annoying as it was I was satisfied with their efforts.
LISTED INGREDIENTS DIFFERENCES:
As you may suspect I've a pretty good eye for detail and I also noticed that the ingredients listed on the rear of each of my eight soaps differed from that shown on SSC's website. Nothing major and not a bad thing IMHO - but assuming the actual soap labels are correct they've added Shea Butter to their soaps and changed the % of some of their other components.
I flagged this clearly stating I was only doing so to assist them in another email this morning, no reply yet.
Shea butter should assist the post shave qualities - definitely a positive thing. From what I've heard SSC is onto their 6/7th generation soap base formula so I guess they just forgot to update the website. Again not a big issue and I'm definitely happy knowing they've now got Shea butter in them.
SAMPLES (Lack thereof):
First and to eliminate me sounding like some greedy/complainer wanting freebies let me quote part of the feedback gave to SSC on this (which was annoying as I'd just had the short weight issue and I hated that flagging this made me sound bitter and clutchng at straws, which wasn't true):
Also whilst this isn't an actual complaint as I completely understand its a discretionary thing and as such entirely up to you - but after ordering eight soaps at normal/full prices I was a tad disappointed not to have gotten even a single sample.
Lets face it shaving product and particularly soap sellers very often toss in samples. And I know from looking up whether to order from SSC everyone seemed to get atleast a few samples - I think someone here on a pretty small order got 3 sample pucks? So on a much larger order at a non-sale time where you're paying full price I think it's reasonable to expect that you might have a few samples included.
Now FWIW I wasn't chasing them for myself - as I'm kinda flush with soaps but rather for you guys as this is verbatim what I stated WITH MY ORIGINAL ORDER and SSC even printed this out and enclosed it with my order, so they were aware of it:
The weight is not so much the issue but rather the size - haha so any samples of other soaps etc greatly welcomed and I will share with other members in our forums travelling box (an annual event at P&C)! Heard absolutely great things about your products and business ethos, and would love to give your products full reviews on Australia's #1 shaving forum (Paste & Cut)
The reply I got from SSC when I flagged this (which I stated to them was purely feedback and NOT a complaint!):
As for the free sample, I was working under your request to keep the soaps in the smallest package possible. I am sorry this was such an issue. Please accept my apologies.
Again I can only assume they were rushed and perhaps didn't read the actual order notes/request fully or similar. So sorry but I did try and get something for P&C.
FIRMNESS OF SOAPS:
I'm an unabashed fan of hard/firm soaps and well I kind of assumed as these were being sold in pucks they'd be along this line. WRONG, my gawd they're soooooooooo soft. There's no doubt about it they can be classified as CROAPS.
Generally the pucks will be firmer on the outside where they've cured more - but when I put them into the 250ml plastic containers I'd bought and pressed them down their true texture was quickly evident. As a general rule of thumb think playdough, very slightly chilled margarine etc. Personal preference but I was disappointed in this.
Can't blame SSC for this and look it MIGHT be a very good thing as they've possibly superfatted the heck out of their soap. Hard soap isn't GOOD soap, I'm not that naive. But it's just something to be aware of as all the soaps were about the same.
LUMPS IN SOAPS:
It remains to be seen if this one is much of an issue or just aesthetics - but several of the soaps - most specifically the Barbershop and Cocoa Forest - have a LOT of semi-hard slightly crystalline lumps in them. They are throughout the soap very heavily and differ in size from a grain of rice to some about a pea. They're able to be crushed between your fingers with a little squeezing and seem to have a different colour to that of the rest of the soap. I think I will push my luck and just ask SSC if thats normal.
I can only speculate about them at this point and as such out of fairness to SSC I would prefer not to until I get clarification. However it's not a nice look/feel, they seem like they'd be impossible to load and just stay as lumps and from my reading on soap making comes across as a possibley negative thing.
Anyway I'm bushed from all that so I'll do some feedback on each of the scents (in jar only, as can differ in shaving use) later.
). If we're straight talking they actively promoted their product as ~4.7oz fully cured as a lot of people understand what that means and therefore are able to deduce it's very good value at price/weight. In their FAQ's they actually refer to their value multiple times. Haha well the value kinda diminishes if the soap isn't actually fully cured and therefore is in my case up to 13% below it's promoted size.
