Dragonsbeard review and pass around

Excellent review ScientificShaves
{ The last aspect that surprised me about the shave was the post-shave feel. As I was washing the lather off my face and brush I noticed that I was "squeaky" clean. Typically that is a bad sign to me as it means the all the oil was stripped of your face and your skins acid mantle was disturbed to larger degree then with a more gentle cleansing. However over pat drying my face with my waffle weave towel I detected that my face was actually quite moisturized. I am definitely interested and am trying to guess what in the ingredient lends to this aspect but cannot think of a single one; probably a mystery ingredient from the EOS complex}


That’s exactly what I wanted to hear from a review as that was my goal. To feel a clean skin post shave without a heavy film, oiliness or stickiness residue left on the skin. What you are felling are the multiple benefits of the 34 ingredients that are in EOS complex as many of them are focused on different ways to actively deliver over all good skin health without clogging up pores or just giving the face a temporary feeling of moisturizing.

Thank you sir for nailing the properties of the soap! I’ll take your comments on the scent strength to heart. Reall Oud resin and Agarwood oil are basenotes and because they are extremely expensive I would have had to raise the price of the soap even higher than it is. The EOS complex and real Sandalwood and Camels milk also adds to the cost so I may be able to work on getting it to be a bit stronger once the line becomes more known and I can buy in bigger quantities to reduce material costs a bit that would allow for and increase in the amount of the Oud and Agarwood oil I can add to it. Funny you and another member mentioned a Chocolate type aroma and it’s funny I got more of a balsamic note out of it but I just went and smelled it again and I can see where some may get a slight chocolate aura from it but I swear I put no Hershey’s chocolate kisses in it LOL

Again thanks for the honest review and feedback!
It’s very much appreciated !

Any time Frank! Thanks for the release as it was definitely quite an experience. I dare say it is easily the best soap I have in my den and I have some heavy hitters: Nuavia Blu, XPEC, SV, LPL, WhollyKaw Buffala, GD Lusso, and DG Icarus. However that is factoring in the ease of loading which is miles ahead of the competition; at least to me. Without factoring that in I still rate it as my top but to others it is a much closer race so I could understand if it came in a close second.

Have you had any though on release like an extreme or intense addition as of the likes of several fragrance line. Example being Tom Ford Tobacco Oud vs Tobacco Oud Intense. While the soap is a tad pricier then others in a similar container there are much more expensive soap out there in the $60+ dollar range. I would not mind paying for an intense version of the soap in the same packaging as to get more of the expensive ingredients in it. Just some food for though towards a guy I highly respect.

Five shaves under my belt with Dragonsbeard and I can only say that it gets better and better! All parameters are outstanding( lathering capacity, protection, slickness and post shave ). To me, the smell resembles to dark hot chocolate with a sweet hint; off the puck, I can definitely pick up oud, cocoa and some other woody notes( perhaps sandalwood ). After lathering, I get some slight floral undertones that blend very well with the main chocolatey accord. Very, very nice indeed!

Post shave is remarkable, once again I'd like to underline the fact that no sticky, oily or greasy feeling denatures the post shave! For those on the fence of buying a 32 USD shave soap, do yourselves a favor and check this soap out, it is definitely worth the money!

Cheers,

(shave details here)

First Impressions

The first things I noticed about the soap were its color, chocolate brown, and its texture, which is firm but not hard like triple milled soaps.  As far as scent goes, my nose knows what it likes and not much else.  That said, I like the scent off the jar and on the brush.  To me it is medium in the jar and lighter on the brush.  I would agree that it is masculine.  And as often happens IME, I can understand hints of chocolate once it is pointed out to me, but left to my own accounts, I don’t think I would have put my finger on chocolate. 

At any rate, I scraped 3.0g into a bowl, squeezed the water out of a well soaked brush, and added eventually a total of 10ml of water.  In very short order, the bowl was filled with gobs of thick, beautiful lather.  I usually shave with somewhat thinner lather, but the Dragonsbeard lather felt slick and had some shine to it, so I decided to go with it. 

I have been doing consecutive shaves with a razor I like but do not love, a Fatip Grande Mk 2.  Unlike the original Fatip, the Mk 2 is relatively tame, and I don’t prefer it for very close shaves.  As pertains to this shave, things seemed to be going more smoothly but also less efficiently than usual, and I noticed a very slight burn on the skin.  After adding water to the remaining lather, things changed for the better.  With hindsight, I should have done a test lather, and I should have used one of my go-to razors for this review.  Anyway, after the touchups, I applied lather during the cleanup and wondered if the soap formula or the inefficiency (and therefore numerous strokes) had caused the slight burn.  All of which brings me to ...

... the Dragonsbeard Skin Food Splash, which hit it out of the park for me.  By the time I wiped off the lather, I noticed that the burn was about gone but the skin was still a bit dry.  The scent of the splash was stronger than the soap and altogether more delightful and masculine to my nose.  But the main thing was that after a very tolerable burn, there came a dry down to nicely scented skin.  Not dry skin or oily skin or coated skin.  Just skin.  How cool is that - especially after making some mistakes?

One shave is never conclusive, but I am very enthused at this point about both the soap and the Skin Food Splash.  My plan is to pick a go-to razor, use only favorite brushes, and see how things look after about five consecutive shaves.  I generally post in Shave-of-the-day, but don’t be surprised if I am otherwise under the radar until then.

Glad someone else had a similar experience as mine in regards to the performance of the lather with additional water. I reckon it is similar to a top marathon. Of course they perform quite admirably without any sort of pre-workout supplement but to truly be at their best they need that extra something; like ketones.

(shave details here)

First Impressions

The first things I noticed about the soap were its color, chocolate brown, and its texture, which is firm but not hard like triple milled soaps.  As far as scent goes, my nose knows what it likes and not much else.  That said, I like the scent off the jar and on the brush.  To me it is medium in the jar and lighter on the brush.  I would agree that it is masculine.  And as often happens IME, I can understand hints of chocolate once it is pointed out to me, but left to my own accounts, I don’t think I would have put my finger on chocolate. 

At any rate, I scraped 3.0g into a bowl, squeezed the water out of a well soaked brush, and added eventually a total of 10ml of water.  In very short order, the bowl was filled with gobs of thick, beautiful lather.  I usually shave with somewhat thinner lather, but the Dragonsbeard lather felt slick and had some shine to it, so I decided to go with it. 

I have been doing consecutive shaves with a razor I like but do not love, a Fatip Grande Mk 2.  Unlike the original Fatip, the Mk 2 is relatively tame, and I don’t prefer it for very close shaves.  As pertains to this shave, things seemed to be going more smoothly but also less efficiently than usual, and I noticed a very slight burn on the skin.  After adding water to the remaining lather, things changed for the better.  With hindsight, I should have done a test lather, and I should have used one of my go-to razors for this review.  Anyway, after the touchups, I applied lather during the cleanup and wondered if the soap formula or the inefficiency (and therefore numerous strokes) had caused the slight burn.  All of which brings me to ...

... the Dragonsbeard Skin Food Splash, which hit it out of the park for me.  By the time I wiped off the lather, I noticed that the burn was about gone but the skin was still a bit dry.  The scent of the splash was stronger than the soap and altogether more delightful and masculine to my nose.  But the main thing was that after a very tolerable burn, there came a dry down to nicely scented skin.  Not dry skin or oily skin or coated skin.  Just skin.  How cool is that - especially after making some mistakes?

One shave is never conclusive, but I am very enthused at this point about both the soap and the Skin Food Splash.  My plan is to pick a go-to razor, use only favorite brushes, and see how things look after about five consecutive shaves.  I generally post in Shave-of-the-day, but don’t be surprised if I am otherwise under the radar until then.

Excellent review and it is a fairly thirsty soap. I get my best results with a fan knot and do a lot of painting until I get a nice coating. Also I experienced the same thing the other day when I tried a new razor. The razor had a harshness to it as it is super efficient and has a ton of blade feel plus I put a fresh Feather in it so I needed the soap to preform at its best and by adding a little water at a time I got a really good coating on my face. I’m glad you liked the Aftershave as it has a heavier dose of the EOS Complex than the soap does. I’d like to know how your skin feels with a weeks usage.
So you didn’t get the chocolate vibe! I have to say I’m happy about that! Lol
Speaking about scent I’m going to have a solid Cologne soon in this scent.

Also a cool photo!

Thanks again for the review!

Five shaves under my belt with Dragonsbeard and I can only say that it gets better and better! All parameters are outstanding( lathering capacity, protection, slickness and post shave ). To me, the smell resembles to dark hot chocolate with a sweet hint; off the puck, I can definitely pick up oud, cocoa and some other woody notes( perhaps sandalwood ). After lathering, I get some slight floral undertones that blend very well with the main chocolatey accord. Very, very nice indeed!

Post shave is remarkable, once again I'd like to underline the fact that no sticky, oily or greasy feeling denatures the post shave! For those on the fence of buying a 32 USD shave soap, do yourselves a favor and check this soap out, it is definitely worth the money!

Cheers,

Thank you for the detailed review and I like the fact you mentioned you caught both the woody note of the Sandalwood and the very slight floral note of the Rose Absolute.
I think where a lot of people are getting the chocolate from is the Tonka bean combined with the other notes.

Much appreciated!
.

These are very in depth reviews, interesting to read other people perspective on this soap

Eric, for the people that have messaged you that they want to purchase a razor, where will the buy button be? On the Janus website?

On the home page at the top where one sees JANUS, WHY JANUS, FEATURES, SHOP will be next. A click on SHOP will take one to the buy page.  

I'm getting close to getting all 51 spoken for so it won't be much longer.

These are very in depth reviews, interesting to read other people perspective on this soap

Same here and it's giving me the kind of feedback I want to hear so on the next batch I can make slight adjustments. In fact I just found out it sold out at WCS and I've got to get some to them asap.

Thanks for doing the first review on the soap and aftershave and setting up the pass around. It is very much appreciated!

Excellent review ScientificShaves
{ The last aspect that surprised me about the shave was the post-shave feel. As I was washing the lather off my face and brush I noticed that I was "squeaky" clean. Typically that is a bad sign to me as it means the all the oil was stripped of your face and your skins acid mantle was disturbed to larger degree then with a more gentle cleansing. However over pat drying my face with my waffle weave towel I detected that my face was actually quite moisturized. I am definitely interested and am trying to guess what in the ingredient lends to this aspect but cannot think of a single one; probably a mystery ingredient from the EOS complex}


That’s exactly what I wanted to hear from a review as that was my goal. To feel a clean skin post shave without a heavy film, oiliness or stickiness residue left on the skin. What you are felling are the multiple benefits of the 34 ingredients that are in EOS complex as many of them are focused on different ways to actively deliver over all good skin health without clogging up pores or just giving the face a temporary feeling of moisturizing.

Thank you sir for nailing the properties of the soap! I’ll take your comments on the scent strength to heart. Reall Oud resin and Agarwood oil are basenotes and because they are extremely expensive I would have had to raise the price of the soap even higher than it is. The EOS complex and real Sandalwood and Camels milk also adds to the cost so I may be able to work on getting it to be a bit stronger once the line becomes more known and I can buy in bigger quantities to reduce material costs a bit that would allow for and increase in the amount of the Oud and Agarwood oil I can add to it. Funny you and another member mentioned a Chocolate type aroma and it’s funny I got more of a balsamic note out of it but I just went and smelled it again and I can see where some may get a slight chocolate aura from it but I swear I put no Hershey’s chocolate kisses in it LOL

Again thanks for the honest review and feedback!
It’s very much appreciated !

Any time Frank! Thanks for the release as it was definitely quite an experience. I dare say it is easily the best soap I have in my den and I have some heavy hitters: Nuavia Blu, XPEC, SV, LPL, WhollyKaw Buffala, GD Lusso, and DG Icarus. However that is factoring in the ease of loading which is miles ahead of the competition; at least to me. Without factoring that in I still rate it as my top but to others it is a much closer race so I could understand if it came in a close second.

Have you had any though on release like an extreme or intense addition as of the likes of several fragrance line. Example being Tom Ford Tobacco Oud vs Tobacco Oud Intense. While the soap is a tad pricier then others in a similar container there are much more expensive soap out there in the $60+ dollar range. I would not mind paying for an intense version of the soap in the same packaging as to get more of the expensive ingredients in it. Just some food for though towards a guy I highly respect.

Wow that's some pretty impressive company you put my soap and aftershave in and thank you for that. To answer your question with a question is it you'd like a heavier dose of the scent or the other skin food ingredients like the EOS Complex or the Camels milk for example? The scent is something I'm going to address in the next batch by increasing it a bit and I'll try to keep the price where it is if it's only the scent as Oud resin is extremely powerful all by itself so basically a pin tip size more in each product would kick it up the silage considerably. I liked the idea of 6.5 oz of soap in the 8oz jar as I personally like the size as I tend to load heavy and want it to last a while.

Thanks again for the interest in ETHOS brand and the Dragonsbeard soap & Aftershave!

Excellent review ScientificShaves
{ The last aspect that surprised me about the shave was the post-shave feel. As I was washing the lather off my face and brush I noticed that I was "squeaky" clean. Typically that is a bad sign to me as it means the all the oil was stripped of your face and your skins acid mantle was disturbed to larger degree then with a more gentle cleansing. However over pat drying my face with my waffle weave towel I detected that my face was actually quite moisturized. I am definitely interested and am trying to guess what in the ingredient lends to this aspect but cannot think of a single one; probably a mystery ingredient from the EOS complex}


That’s exactly what I wanted to hear from a review as that was my goal. To feel a clean skin post shave without a heavy film, oiliness or stickiness residue left on the skin. What you are felling are the multiple benefits of the 34 ingredients that are in EOS complex as many of them are focused on different ways to actively deliver over all good skin health without clogging up pores or just giving the face a temporary feeling of moisturizing.

Thank you sir for nailing the properties of the soap! I’ll take your comments on the scent strength to heart. Reall Oud resin and Agarwood oil are basenotes and because they are extremely expensive I would have had to raise the price of the soap even higher than it is. The EOS complex and real Sandalwood and Camels milk also adds to the cost so I may be able to work on getting it to be a bit stronger once the line becomes more known and I can buy in bigger quantities to reduce material costs a bit that would allow for and increase in the amount of the Oud and Agarwood oil I can add to it. Funny you and another member mentioned a Chocolate type aroma and it’s funny I got more of a balsamic note out of it but I just went and smelled it again and I can see where some may get a slight chocolate aura from it but I swear I put no Hershey’s chocolate kisses in it LOL

Again thanks for the honest review and feedback!
It’s very much appreciated !

Any time Frank! Thanks for the release as it was definitely quite an experience. I dare say it is easily the best soap I have in my den and I have some heavy hitters: Nuavia Blu, XPEC, SV, LPL, WhollyKaw Buffala, GD Lusso, and DG Icarus. However that is factoring in the ease of loading which is miles ahead of the competition; at least to me. Without factoring that in I still rate it as my top but to others it is a much closer race so I could understand if it came in a close second.

Have you had any though on release like an extreme or intense addition as of the likes of several fragrance line. Example being Tom Ford Tobacco Oud vs Tobacco Oud Intense. While the soap is a tad pricier then others in a similar container there are much more expensive soap out there in the $60+ dollar range. I would not mind paying for an intense version of the soap in the same packaging as to get more of the expensive ingredients in it. Just some food for though towards a guy I highly respect.

Wow that's some pretty impressive company you put my soap and aftershave in and thank you for that. To answer your question with a question is it you'd like a heavier dose of the scent or the other skin food ingredients like the EOS Complex or the Camels milk for example? The scent is something I'm going to address in the next batch by increasing it a bit and I'll try to keep the price where it is if it's only the scent as Oud resin is extremely powerful all by itself so basically a pin tip size more in each product would kick it up the silage considerably. I liked the idea of 6.5 oz of soap in the 8oz jar as I personally like the size as I tend to load heavy and want it to last a while.

Thanks again for the interest in ETHOS brand and the Dragonsbeard soap & Aftershave!

You more than deserve the company! As for my thoughts on the heaver dose of fragrance or EOS complex or milk ingredients that is quite difficult as I am sure each person would have their own opinion of the benefits to each.

I think if you wanted to make a performance blend then more EOS Complex would definitely be nice. Men have the luxury of aging at a lesser pace then women and I attribute that to our routine shaving practice. Modern day women are in a better place as there are chemical exfoliant, micro-dermabrasion, dermaplaning, and I guess other less effective physical exfoliating means. Today the gold standard in physical exfoliating is dermaplaning as there is very few negatives with it vs micro-dermabrasion and to be frank dermaplaning is basically 90% shaving. However, the one disadvantage that mean has, is that we yet to have the culture of talking care of our skin using cosmeceuticals. I am thinking of copper peptides, ceramide, BHA, retinoids, sun screen, and the such. By increasing the amount of EOS Complex you would be probably introducing a subset of potent ingredients to a male's skincare that they typically neglect. This would definitely be a positive for the community.

However, as someone who frequently use skin care products, and as someone who already think highly of the performance and facial benefit of your soap and ingredient profile. I, for one, would care more for a stronger and more true to life fragrance. I definitely think one of the intrigue for this soap is your passion in not only the ingredient profile from a cosmeceuticals but also from a fragrance standpoint. This would be probably most peoples first true entry into a natural and non-synthetic oud, agarwood, and rose scent. And I know there are a ton of people out there who are more sensitive to fragrance then they are to the somewhat abstract qualities of a soap. Meaning sometimes it is difficult for me to say "X" soaps is indeed slicker then "Y" soap without testing it in a lab. Whilst I can easily say scent "X" is stronger then scent "Y".

Now as to the milk. I don't think more milk would make much of a difference. The milk is already doings it's job and doesn't offer anything substantially better then what the EOS complex probably is. Plus more milk will probably make it thirstier which might actually be at the detriment to your excellent soap.

Overall, I am not sure which of the two would be preferential over all, I know I prefer the extra stronger fragrance route but there is benefits to both. Ideally maybe an increase to both but am not sure how prices would hold up.

I hope this helps you in any way, shape, or form.