Taylor of Old Bond Street 100g Wooden Bowl Sandalwood Herbal Shaving Soap

There are many shaving soaps and creams available and I have tried a good few of them. This is the best I have tried and this is the one I'll be sticking with. It is fairly mildly scented (very nice scent) and the scent doesn't linger after the rinse, but it does make shaving smell nice. The wooden bowl is very nice and the soap lasts for ages. The most important thing is, of all those I have tried, this provides the best shave; the smoothest and most comfortable. I have tried other, well-known brands that make the same claim (e.g. Mitchell's Wool Fat), but none has provided as smooth a shave as Taylor's. This may be due to differences in water hardness (I live in London where the water is very hard), different razors (I use an Edwin Jagger Chatsworth Barly with Feather blades)or shaving style or even different faces for that matter, but the difference is easily noticable to me against all the other brands I have tried. I will not say it is the best, just that it is the best for my particular combination of water, razor, shaving style and, very important, face. Of course, it is always each to their own, but if you are sampling different shaving soaps and searching for the best 'for you', I would certainly give Taylor's a go.

I treated myself to a small array of shaving soaps, with this being one of them. The puck is presented in a nice wooden bowl and the fragrance hits you hard - in a nice way. Being a hard soap, it only takes a minute to load a brush with enough soap to make a nice creamy lather (either in a mug, hand or separate bowl). A fantastic, close shave is the result with a distinctive yet subtle fragrance that's very pleasing indeed. And with such a good quality soap, skin is left feeling clean, smooth and hydrated (so no need for balm). To enjoy the lovely post-shave aroma there's no need for aftershave either.

I wrote a review saying how I was a Proraso convert. That was until a friend suggested I try TOBS products, this is pure luxury in a well crafted wooden bowl and I shall definitely be buying a refill. The creamy texture and the traditional aroma makes shaving more of a pleasure than a chore. I suggest that you leave a little more water in the shaving brush than you might with other soaps to get the perfect lather. I also got the sandalwood aftershave from my wife as a Christmas stocking filler which is the perfect compliment to the shaving soap.

The soap was well packaged on arrival. It lathers well and has a subtle scent which is described by my wife as ‘pleasant’. It doesn’t leave my face feeling particularly dry afterwards which is always a concern for me when trying out a new shaving soap. One small disappointment is the lid. It is virtually impossible to grip the knob on the top of the lid as it is around 2mm thick and sunken slightly into the lid. Someone ‘shaved’ too much off it during manufacturing! Recommended

Excellent item, the best.

I've been using Body Shop shaving cream for more years than I can remember, finding it the best that I had tried. I bought this after reading reviews and I have to say that it makes shaving with a cut-throat razor much easier. The wooden bowl is stylish to have in the bathroom and the soap lathers well with the brush. The razor glides easily and the scent is pleasant and mild. My wife likes it! I bought the re-fill as well to save postage. The Body Shop tub used to last a year and the way this is going it's likely to last a year also.

Attractively packaged and presented in a wooden bowl that doesn't look out of place in the bathroom. The soap has a very pleasant smell and my husband is very happy with it. He much prefers this type of soap to canned cream soaps.

I had high hopes for this soap, I often use the TOBS creams. The soaps fragrance is ok, quite a classic (old barbershop perfume), clean scent. produces a decent lather when loading the brush up but I found it takes a bit of effort to produce a full lather in the bowl. goes onto the skin well and gives a good coating. I don't often need to buy sensitive skin products but this seemed to burn me within 10 mins of application, head went a deep red and I had a good few hours of a warm feeling around the areas the lather was applied. This is no fault of the soap, however I would like to point out that I would not recommend this for anyone with even remotely sensitive skin. To clarify, I used the same technique I always use, clean brush, fresh blade, the only difference with this shave was the new soap.

Great smell and easy to use

Love the smell, this is my first sandalwood so I can't compare, but this is contributing a lot to the most fantastic shaving experience of my life. This bowl is fantastic. You save so much on refills, not that you'll need one anytime soon, this lasts over a year if not more.

I purchased this after a bad experience with Lather & Wood Sandalwood tallow shave soap (I did a separate review of that soap). I was hoping to get a rich Sandalwood scented soap and hoped that TOBS would deliver. The wooden bowl is gorgeous with a rich brown color. I immediately removed the lid to smell the soap and I was very disappointed. It had a very strong Lavender and Rose smell, with no hint of Sandalwood. Old lady scent was the first thing that came to my mind. To say my wife hated the smell of it is an understatement, she was repulsed by it and turned her nose away from the bowl immediately. Nevertheless, I intended to give it a chance and I'm glad I did! I filled the bowl to the rim with hot water while I showered in order to let the soap bloom. While the soap bloomed, I soaked my Parker Silvertip Badger Travel brush in hot water as well (I love that brush!). After my shower, I started with my Lather & Wood Sandalwood pre-shave oil - which has a very woody scent that I love. After letting that sit on my face for 30 seconds, I poured the soap's bloom water into my hands and rubbed it into my face. The smell was wonderful! It was nowhere near as strong as the raw soap. The lavender and rose scents were still there, but hints of other scents came to the foreground as well. I never got much of a woody note from it, but the smell was still great and It was a great match for the scent of the pre-shave oil. I squeezed out the water from my brush and I was able to quickly load it with soap. The smell was fantastic and within 30 seconds the brush was fully loaded. Rubbing the brush into my face released aroma that was just fantastic and very manly. It took about a minute of brushing to build up a thick, luxurious lather on my face. Honestly, the lather came much quicker than that, but I just kept brushing while I enjoyed my aroma therapy session. The soap seemed to be thirsty, and I dribbled water into my brush several times with my wet fingertips to keep it hydrated. I took my time shaving and just enjoyed the aroma. I got 4 passes worth of lather out of the brush, and I'm sure I could've gotten more if I needed it. I had a fabulous BBS shave. There was plenty of lubricity and I even pulled lather off the razor and reapplied it to my face. Like I said, the soap is thirsty and if you let your razor go too long without rinsing it, the lather will start to get a little sticky. However, rinsing off the razor immediately restores the lubricity. I've only tried 3 soaps: The el-cheapo shave soap that came with blade assortment, the Lather & Wood Sandalwood tallow shave soap, and this soap. As previously stated, the L&W soap was a disappointment. The El-cheapo soap smells great, but doesn't really lather very well. This TOBS Sandalwood just hits all the right notes for me and while I didn't expect it to smell the way that it does, I love it! I followed up my shave with Lather & Wood Sandalwood after shave balm and it just goes perfectly with the TOBS Sandalwood scent. Then I patted my face and neck off with Clubman Pinaud Talc, and finished with 4 light spritzes of Hollister Jake. After all that, you'd think I'd be projecting smell, but it's all very subtle and you really have to be up close to me to smell the fragrances. It's about 4 hours after my shave as I type this, and I'm still catching little whiffs of the TOBS scent and it's really nice. I just found my new shave soap.

Sehr gute Seife. Hat man lange etwas davon. Schäumt sehr gut und riecht auch angenehm. Werde ich wieder kaufen.

主人が、シェイビングの際、このソープしか使いません。が、日本での購入が難しく、いろいろ探して、こちらで購入できて、大変、助かりました。ありがとうございました。