Thread: Bairlea Farm Shaving Soap

This soap is an artisan product by one of our own members: simpleman.
He has started a small website at Bairlea Farm Shaving although when I tried to access it just now (to steal a picture) it seemed to be down.

This soap comes in a simple package of wax paper cleanly folded over the puck of soap and held together with a logo sticker. This packaging is simple and understated. I consider it a win as I prefer to keep all of my soaps in sugar bowls. He just informed me that he now has a small tin as well which he can ship the soap in.

The soap is a soft puck, easy to press into my bowl and easier to grate.

The soap loaded easily on the brush and lather was readily formed. This soap allows for great error when it comes to water. I have tried it with the bottled water and my hard tap water as well, neither cause it problems. I also was adding a little extra water to it last night when I accidentally added a whole bunch, the soap soaked it up and created a wonderful lather anyway. In general the lather formed with this soap is more like a super lather than a standard soap lather.

Cushion is pretty good with this soap and I would say that it is comparible to some of the top soaps out there.

Although the moisturizing isn't to the level of some soaps this one holds its own and doesn't leave a super slick surface behind for your fingers to slip on while stretching.

The price of this soap is very inexpensive I don't remember the exact amount right now, but it was somewhere around $5-7. A deal in my book.

This soap would be great for a beginner and seasoned shaver alike. I like the price and latherability, it combines easily with creams for an uberlather and the performance exceeds the cost many times over.
If I were to compare this soap with m current line up I would put it somewhere around Edwin Jagger for the ease of lathering and closer to a cream for the lather produced (I can't think of a specific example).

I will continue to purchase this soap as new fragrances are released.

i just love this soap, i got a sample puck to try, even when i knew i used to much water it still lathered up real well. the texture is thick and creamy and doesnt seem to dry up at all if i just let it sit on my face. the cushion and glide are nice and smooth. the price he had suggested for when i do need to get another puck was alot lower than i would have expected. i got the nectarine scent and it is great, perfectly balanced. there is also a cucumber melon scent. i would be excited to see some additional scents but if not i do like the nectarine very much and will probably purchase another puck or two in the future

[this was originally a PM to Simpleman; rather than redraft it I'm just pasting it below]

I received your soaps Thursday or Friday, and didn't shave over most of the weekend. Last night I hacked out a rough shave with a blade I've been honing back into civilization, and didn't use your soap then. Today I finally tried the cucumber one, along with a very well-tuned razor.

For background, here are the other soaps/creams I have, in order of use frequency:

The Body Shop Maca Root Cream
Art of Shaving sandlewood
Col. Conk bay rum
Williams
Van Der Haagen

and it's gone, but I REALLY enjoyed my puck of Burt's Bees bay rum shaving soap. If they still made it, I'd never have shopped for anything else.

What I thought of your cucumber soap:

Very nice lather. I lather with a badger brush in a soap dish that has three ridges in the the bottom; they help aerate I think. The lather got to the point I like sooner than other soaps, though initially the bubbles were quite a bit larger than I usually see. That's not a problem, just an observation. The lather responded very nicely to additional water, and seemed to resist turning runny.

Here's the best part: out here in western Colorado, the relative humidity hovers around 15-20% and my lather always dries out before I get to it. Your soap's lather stayed moist longer than any other I've used, and I really liked that.

The puck seemed moister initially, too, which will probably give it a shorter life but that doesn't matter to me if the payoff is the richer, moister lather.

I haven't become a connosieur (sp?) of soaps and creams, so can't give you a deep, objective analysis of cushioning or lubricity. My shaves might be slightly better with the Maca Root cream than with your soap, but I'd say that your soap shaved better than all my other ones (except, possibly, the Burt's Bees, which is shrouded in golden memory).

The scent could be dialed back 50-60%, in my opinion. I think Thayer's cucumber/aloe witchazel is almost perfect for cucumber scent. If they dialed it back 5-10%, to where cucumber was a little more subtle, it would be perfect. Theirs is no sweeter than a real cucumber would be; yours is far sweeter than reality. I generally believe that nature can't be improved upon and shouldn't be amplified, but if the mass market is any indicator then I'm a Luddite freak who should be burned alive upon a pyre of Glade inserts and Hallmark candles. You can get overscented products anywhere; I think you could stand out by being one of the few subtle scenters.

That extreme statement aside, I do like sandlewood and I do like bay rum. Col. Conk's lather is pretty pathetic, though. I'd toss that puck if it didn't smell as nice as it does.

I did a pretty careful job, and late in the day, with today's shave, so might not shave tomorrow. I'll use your nectarine soap next and let you know what I think of it.

Based on the performance alone, I would much rather give my nephew (who is EXTREMELY scent-sensitive) a puck of yours than the puck of Col. Conk I originally ordered from him. Let me know when you have any unscented pucks made, and I'll be good for two of them.

OK, tonight I finally shaved with the nectarine puck from Bairlea Farms. This is a pretty-much independent review from the one for the cucumber melon.

Tonight's shave was the first in 4 days, and I used a concave grind.

I did a cold-water shave, and the lather formed up very nicely. I loaded my badger brush on the puck, then poured off the spare water into a ridged soap dish and whipped up the lather there. For my first passes I think the lather was a little on the dry side, but it still lubricated well and I was impressed by how much of it could pile up on the 5/8 blade without sliding off into the sink or onto my chest. I usually don't notice that, and don't know what, if anything, it says about the lather. It piled up, held its shape, and rinsed off the blade more easily than other lathers.

For my second passes, I added more water and again, the lather took it up quite well. I tried to push it into soupiness but got no farther than well-stirred-skim-yoghurtiness. That brushed on very nicely and stayed put for ATG work on my chin and XTGs on the neck and cheeks/sideburns. I got the nicest shave on my chin that I've had for a long time. Even after the lather was scraped off there seemed to be some lubricity that helped me work dry and really smooth off some rough spots.

I increased the moisturizing score after using the tangerine. Maybe there is a difference beyond the scent; I don't know. But after the final passes I hot-water rinse my razor and dry between the scales with a paper towel, dry the blade, strop to put it away, THEN go back for my final face rinses. Usually I know I'm neglecting the soap residue on my face, it feels burnt and tight until I rinse, but tonight it hardly even felt as if I'd shaved it. Very refreshing.

The scent on this one is just right. Slightly weaker than a fully ripe, room-temp nectarine. It seemed a shame to splash on the cucumber Thayer's witchazel I like so much, but that's its own bit of ritual. I stuck my nose over the mug where the puck was drying and it was, well, just right. Where the cucumber/melon scent felt like a punch, this felt like just a waft.

Very very very good soap, this one!

I really don't like number rating systems. I can say this, I've used many soaps and creams. Bairlea farms does not disappoint. Simple packaging, Easy lathering, will work well for face latherer's, or Scuttles. Great cushion and glide. Nice "Staying" power. (I also judge a soaps ability to last on your face without disapating. I tried Nectarine. Subtle, not overpowering. A great balance, and a keeper...It's very affordable, and you will not be disappointed...Give it a shot...

I got a hold of a couple of pucks of Bairlea Farm Shaving Soap through a trade, so I won't comment on pricing. Not knowing what "Cushion" in a soap is, I won't rate that either.

They soaps came in in a plain tin, individually wrapped and sealed inside; very nice presentation. On opening the tin I could smell the perfume of the soaps. This was not overpowering and was pleasant. The puck itself was solid, not too heavy, smooth to the touch with a nice variegation in orange and white.

Not being one to let an opportunity pass, I headed for the bathroom to get ready for a shave. I used a small badger brush, which I soaked in hot water while I rushed through the mechanics of a shower. Before showering I splashed a spoonful, give or take, of hot water on top of the puck.

Shook the brush off a bit and took it to the soap; a few twirls later it seemed loaded enough and started to lather on my face. It lathered easy, and within a minute there was a thick layer all over my face. And again, the perfume, not overpowering but noticeable, was nice. I worried about smelling like it although I shouldn't have.

It provided very nice lubrication while shaving, both on first and second, runnier, lathering. I felt no irritation from it at all; my face felt "tight" afterward for a short while. This could be due to the fact I use no aftershaves or moisturizers, but it was not an unpleasant feeling. My face was smooth and fresh.

Some of you may remember me posting on the "Williams soap" thread that I had never used anything else but Williams; it follows that this is my first experience with something else, and I couldn't be happier to have tried. While I won't be abandoning my Williams, this is an luxurious soap that I will use often.

For the record every soap used in these reviews was the original.

so the subsequent batch didnt lather quite the same. does this type of soap lend itself to the melt and pour? im wondering because a nice unscented soap that did would let someone scent their own soap, right?

That amazes me that it didn't lather as well. I know that some of his soaps melt ok, but I would check with him before you do. It sounds like you may have a different recipe.
Some soaps do help oothers in the lather department, but I have also found that some soaps will kill the lather of some of the very best lather producing soaps out there.
Instead of risking things, I would try a lather with a couple of soaps before I went ahead and mixed them permanently. Instead of melting I would then grate them together to limit the possibility of burning.

I dont know whats up. Ive noticed some difference between my first several batches of soap and the last couple batches. All my soaps can be melted in the microwave with little issues. You can add scent or mix it with another soap. I havent made soap in awhile and don't plan to for the next couple months. Life changes and sometimes free time goes bye bye.