Review - Obsessive Soap Perfectionist

Although I am a patriot to my country I always have the understanding that we are not best at everything. This relates to shaving soaps, I think, and this is my opinion, we royally suck in Britain at making a good artisan shaving soap when compared to the US soaps.

This may all be about to change though because there is a new boy on the block!

Let me introduce Obsessive Soap Perfectionist based out of London UK. A new traditional shaving entrepreneur, who has released his own shaving soap line with other products such as aftershave and bath soaps to come.

After seeing the odd mention and good comments I thought it would be a good idea to pick the soap up and see what's what. I picked the Grapefruit menthol scent as this appealed most and the soap arrived very quickly. I have had the chance to shave with it a couple of times and thought I should share my excitement.

The first shock is the ingredient list, a star studded mix of world class shaving ingredients such as Tallow, Shea Butter, Lanolin and more. I always wonder why these ingredients are always missed out in UK soaps. This is one of the reasons I think other artisans can lack in that awesome post shave feel you get from US artisans, so it was nice to see them included.



When the soap arrived it came neatly packaged inside with a simple thank you note which is always a nice touch. The tub itself is a sturdy plastic tub with a screw top lid, nice water proof labelling finishes it off. It needs a little work to bring it in line with the class of CRSW etc. but it is a really great start and I am impressed.

The soap inside is quite firm and has OSP stamped into it which I like, it gives something extra and makes you feel like the maker is proud of his new creation...and so he should be as all the facts so far point towards a great soap.

The scent of the Grapefruit Menthol may have slightly dented my expectations of what the shave was going to be like as the menthol over powers the grapefruit. It does come out citrusy but not standout grapefruit...in fact I compared it to my Stirling Orange Chill and they smelt very similar. This is not where this similarity ends either, the menthol content when on the face is exactly the same. It's very cold but not mind freezing like Stirling Glacials or Cryogen.

After whipping up the lather I was suitable impressed with how it felt on the face. It looked well hydrated and had a shine to it that was inviting. I will add that the soap was extremely stable, this is quite often something new artisans struggle with particularly when adding large quantities of menthol. The shaves have gone really well, the soap has very slick properties that enabled the razor to glide effortlessly. The lather has a ton of cushion and overall the shaves have been very comfortable with no irritation. I actually have managed to shave against the grain in an area of my face that I only find possible with some soaps which is a big plus.

Now the next part is what has me racing to tell you about this soap....the post shave. Yes yes and more yes, a UK artisan that has a post shave that can stand up to the giants of the US artisan world. I am telling you it was fantastic, I could have easily not used a post shave balm and those star studded ingredients are obviously doing the trick.

I have one moan, and that is the scent of this soap was not overwhelmingly great and the other scents on offer I find a bit boring and standard - Sandalwood, Lavender, Neroli and Bay Rum. I know these are legends but they don't offer anything new. Please bear in mind that this is my opinion and I completely understand that others will love these scents. The owner of OSP has said he will never use synthetic oils and a applaud him for that but I think this can limit you in some ways. I will look forward to seeing what else comes up in the future.

As a conclusion I strongly recommend this soap. To be this stunning in the performance department so early on is a huge achievement. I would highly recommend this soap to anyone - particular Brits as its always nice to support a local business. Like I have said I look forward to what comes next and wish the owner all the best for the future.

I will add since posting this review on another forum, James the owner of OSP contacted me.

He wanted to let me know that he plans to release bunch of new scents in the coming days....so keep a look out.

He did tell me what they are and they will spice up the line up!

He also mentioned a few other bits coming soon which are very exciting.

Hi Oli, I enjoyed your review of the OSP soap, very thorough and useful. I agree with everything you said in the review - I recently picked up a tub of OSP Bay Rum and a tub of Sandalwood. I found the performance to be excellent. The only point that I would dock OSP soap a mark or two is on the scent - I found it to be very mild/subtle to the point where you're not sure what you're supposed to be smelling without looking at the lid. Now if it were a mediocre performer as well as under scented it would drop out of my rotation but that is absolutely not the case with OSP. Its such an outstanding performer that the scent can be overlooked. Its a regular for me now. I did communicate with James on the matter of the scent. I think that part of it is that UK soaps are generally more mildly scented than some of the North American soaps. I do want to try some of his new scents when he has them, however, costs relating to getting the soap to Canada are a little steep. Perhaps one of the DFS Merchants might pick up the line and make it more practical to acquire here.
Cheers,
Mark

Mark thanks for the reply glad you enjoyed the review.

I am hoping some of the new scents will be better than what is on offer, he did tell me what they were and they do sound better but only time will tell.

He has mentioned an Elite line of soaps but I am not sure if this is going to be the same formula or different. I expect it will be the same with better quality essential oils.

Shipping is always grief, I know how you feel as I buy a lot from the US.

I think vendors are going to want this soap, the performance is so good that I don't think it can be ignored. There are other UK artisan in some US vendors shops and this soap eclipses them so I am sure it will not be long.

Glad hearing there is a brave British artisan who dare with tallow, now that everybody leave it in the ditch there (pray for DR Harris and MWF which keep the bateau or the light torch). I'll give it a try and speak about this at the Spanish forum, foroafeitado.

Enviado desde mi SM-T700 mediante Tapatalk

Oli, I used the OSP Sandalwood this morning with the ikon #102 slant and it was very nice indeed. OSP is the only UK artisanal soap I've tried, I'm not sure if there are other artisans there but there must be. I've used the UK standards TOBS, Trumper, DR Harris, Wyckham and without question OSP is better (much better). If you are in contact with James in the near future, you should suggest that he speak with Joseph at the Italian Barber with respect to selling OSP soaps in NA. IB carries several artisanal products available in NA and he is a strong member of the wet shaving community.

Thanks for the review!

Great review @Windsor citrus as per usual. I like the sound of this latest offering and applaud another offering from the UK. It would be interesting to see if one of our NA vendors would pick up the line.

London Calling indeed!

Oli is 100% bang on with his review. This OSP soap is fabulous in every way. Scent, ease of lathering, longevity of lather, etc. I also love its strong menthol sensation and great skincare. Every time I use this soap I hurl tons of compliments at James!

Jeff

Thanks Jeff glad you enjoying the soap!

For anyone that is interested James has just released 5 new scents and until the 14th Feb I believe he has them on pre order at the standard price. Following this date the price is set to go based additional costs.