Quote:Throughout this thread, lots of good viewpoints on why supporting a few favorites may be good, yet fostering innovation could also be beneficial. I appreciate all the contributions so far, truly some food for thought here.
I agree with Matthew 100%.
Look, I love this hobby. And I know how tiny the market is. Over the years, I have my favorite brands of soap, many of them the classic Italian soaps, some of them the established artisans like Will at Barristers, Larry at CRSW, Scott at L&L Declaration Grooming.
When one of them comes out with a new formulation, I'm on it. Do I need it? Not by a long shot. But I enjoy the process of trying a new soap.
Recently, Scott released the 'Icarus' base in the Santal Auster. Phenomenal soap, incredible face feel. It could have been a bust and I'd be OK with that. But I've enjoyed his soaps so much and read about how hard he worked on this, I figured it was worth a shot. And it was.
Peter Charkalis recently started making his own soap. Now, I know he's somewhat controversial, but I don't care about any of that. It's about the soap for me. I recently tried the Lanolin and Goat's Milk base and it's very, very good. That this was the first attempt at a soap base is remarkable.
And there are some artisans I simply want to support. An example is Mohammad. When I tried my first Grooming Dept soap in the 'old' vegan base, I recognized that there was something special about it. I read about the years of research and experimentation he did. He's continuing to do so.
As with any series of experiments, not all are 100% successful. Although the performance (superb) and the post-shave (unsurpassed) of his soaps have always been great, I've gotten several soaps where the scent was just not to my liking. I let Mohammad know, and he was unfailingly gracious and completely non-defensive in responding. A class act. By the way, ever notice his SOTD photos? I can't remember one that featured his own soap. Class act.
And so, he's one of the artisans I support by buying his soaps.
Here are some of them.