All things Grooming Dept

Smell was really bad, almost like a rubber tire.

Welcome to GD world.
Sorry, I know a lot of guys rave about their stuff... But I've owned 5 due to such reviews, and they've all been completely unbearable.

In my opinion, soaps and creams are the most personal items in wet shaving.  Razors, blades and brushes can just be OK.  However, what I like the smell or performance of you my think it's not for you.  The good thing there is more product out there which can satisfy the likes and needs of everyone.

[Retracted.] Happy New Year!
The Soothseeker

OK, I have finally found a soap that is not improved by Grooming Dept Moisturizing Pre-Shave - Mitchell's Wool Fat.  If anything, I think it actually made it worse.  So I thought a little about what to use for my first shave of 2020 and decided that I'd use the MWF as a nod to the past but enhance it with Grooming Dept's wonderful Moisturizing Preshave - clearly a modern product from a cutting edge artisan.  I used a Wolfman WR1 with a Kai blade.  It was not a pleasant shave.  The slick was missing replaced by drag and a little blood.  At the risk of offending the MWF fans, I consider it to be an "OK" soap and certainly not a top tier soap and I was confident that the GD preshave would provide the assistance it needed.  Well, looking on the bright side, the rest of my 2020 shaves will shine in comparison

I received a package with Boomer, Reverie, Incense & Oud and Lemon Bay yesterday.  I'll be using Incense & Oud for this morning's shave.  I'm really impressed with what Mo's been able to accomplish with his soap and pre/post shave products.  In my opinion Grooming Dept occupies the top tier of shaving soaps alone.  Don't get me wrong, I still love B&M, WK, T+S, DG, M&M and maybe a couple of others that are near top tier but GD is just better.  Mo has set the bar very high indeed and I'm excited to see how the others respond.  So far the closest has to be WK's Siero base in Fougere Mania.

I have a number of GD soaps. They are decent performers but I seem to go through them much faster than any other soap I use. The only one I can't stand is After the Fire. It has a putrid smell to it.

Where do you get the great background pictures

I had a go with Grooming Dept Barbershop again today. It was released last year as the first Janus vegan base with lanolin and I picked some up. I then set it aside after using it once or twice, not thinking much of it one way or another back then. Today, however, was a different story. My oh my, what a nice soap both in performance and scent it was for me today. I followed it with Maol Grooming Heliopteris splash. It was truly an inspired combination which resulted in a great shave and post-shave. And did I say that I really love this scent.

I own the following,

Aion

Boomer

Dapper Mallard

Incense & Oud

Ingress

Rêverie

Spa 

Tentazione

and they are good enough for me to order more when they are released.  Great product

Which is your favorite and why?

The end is coming soon and I will answer your question.

I own the following,

Aion

Boomer

Dapper Mallard

Incense & Oud

Ingress

Rêverie

Spa 

Tentazione

and they are good enough for me to order more when they are released.  Great product

Which is your favorite and why?

The following are the 4 soaps I recently received:

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Boomer Shaving Soap [/font]
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Spa Shaving Soap [/font]
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Incense & Oud Shaving Soap [/font]
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Rêverie - Donkey Milk - Duck Fat - Lamb Tallow Shaving Soap [/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][/font]

In my opinion they are all different formulas and fragrances.  It is really hard to narrow it too on soap although Spa and Rêverie are especially good.

I've mentioned a time or two how happy I've been with GD Moisturizing Pre-shave ("MPS") and how it elevates even a poor preforming soap like Ogallala Bay Rum to useable status.  I was shaving with the Ogallala Bay Rum and the GD MPS a few days back and it struck me.  Why am I using this crappy soap for one of my shaves?  Even elevated by the GD MPS it still isn't anywhere near the performance of a GD soap with or without the MPS and a shave with an inferior soap is one less great shave left on my life's list of shaves.  The thing I like about Ogallala is the scent which I can get from their toners which are still very good so I have no more use for the Ogallala soap.  I'm sticking with soap that gives me the best shaves and I have no more time for poor performers.