Tallow and Steel Review

Thank you for the review! The scents do intrigue me, no doubt. Especially Dark and Rainforest. I'd have to agree with Elliott Cosper though; the price does seem a bit steep on the soap. The aftershave sounds about right.

I would like to address the pricing concerns.

The companies you speak of no doubt make great products, and of course others can be purchased at a cheaper price point. Aside from the pasture-raised tallow, most of our ingredients are organic, which sometimes costs 2x the price of non-organic. I don't know of any other companies using as many organic ingredients as we do.

When it comes to scent, our scents are very complex, and so far we use 100% essential oils and resins, where most others use fragrance oils in place of the expensive natural oils. Take a look at Rainforest - there are 9 different Essential Oils, some of them quite exotic. Google the price of Oakmoss Absolute, and you will see why most companies decide to use Fragrance Oils in place of the EO. We don't. While I'm sure it's a great product, you can't compare the price point of a Mystic Waters soap which is scented with moslty fragrance oils to a soap like Rainforest.

These are premium products, and the price point won't be for everyone. Our costs per soap are much higher than probably any other artisan. All of the reviews so far have been extremely positive, and many have claimed that T+S are the best preforming soaps they have ever used. Our products have been selling well and we are now in 3 online stores. As volume continues to increase and we can buy in bigger volumes, we hope to be able to cut prices.

Edit:
We also offer the collections which allows customers to save when buying the matching AS - these have proved very popular. Lastly, we donate $1 from every sale to Wounded Warriors which is a cause that we are very passionate about.

Thanks.

Ryan

Tallow + Steel may not be for everyone based on price point but having owned and used many of the top tier soaps [Barrister & Mann, Pannacrema, MdC, xPec, etc.] sometimes you get what you pay for. I would count myself as a user that feels these offerings are among the best if not the best soaps I have used in over a decade of wetshaving.

Today I just received my first Phoenix and Beau tubs; one discounted as there were reports that they were light on content, the other $19.95 US not including shipping. I can't wait to try them after all the positive reviews but also want to point out that on weighing, they appeared to have 40g less soap than both Barrister & Mann and Tallow + Steel by comparison, putting them in similar territory price wise. Note: they all use similar 10cm tubs, labeled at 4oz and were weighed on digital scale so not exact but the B&M and T+S were identical with tub at 200g. The heaviest P&B was 160g and the other 140g.

Not knocking anyone that doesn't see the value or any other brands in a relative sense but I like the T+S product enough to have purchased all four current offerings and do feel them worth the money personally.

I can guarantee everyone that buying tallow and steel he won't be dissapointed.Well i own classic and i have to say that it is one of the very best soaps in my den.Mind you i own aroynd 70 soaps not to mention the creams.I own almost every big artisan being around.
The classic is a great scent.It is earthy yet refined.I can surely detectg oakmoss then vetiver.There is a hint of geranium some woodiness and bergamot for a citrus roundup!I can also detect the anise here and there making this scent spicier.
The quality is top notvh as expected.It is a quite hard puck so someone should expect slickness in high levels.Well it is in high levels as is the cushion.
The price is good for me considering the quality you buy!!!

I'd echo the comments from rhtoras above. This is an amazing soap with a great scent and incredible performance. The scent of the Classic is complex, earthy and very enjoyable and scent strength is excellent. The lather and performance are as good as anything I've used and the post shave is the best I have experienced. I think this has knocked B&M Cheshire from its place as my personal favourite soap. Worth every penny in my opinion.

I just used my Tallow + Steel Classic for the second time.  This morning's shave was just as I remembered the first; amazing.  For me, it is as good as my favorite soaps from Barrister and Mann, discounting scent because of scent's personal aspect.  Canada, you have a winner!

What I find frustrating has nothing to do with our quality artisan soapmakers, like T+S, but, rather the shipping costs when going in either direction Canada<>U.S.A.  I guess because we share a common border and, in many respects, our lifestyles are so similar, it's easy to forget that that border is international, not provincial to provincial or state to state.  I appreciate the quality ingredients that Ryan is putting into his products and accept that his soaps may cost a bit more.  It's just when our respective postal systems tack on those extra charges.  That's not to say that when the time comes, I won't be ordering more.

Thanks for the high praise gents!

Freddy, solid points about shipping costs. Believe it or not, it's actually cheaper for us to ship the the U.S. than it is to ship within Canada.

Canadian shipping costs definitely make it difficult for Canadian businesses to compete. We actually discount our shipping rates quite a bit. To ship just one soap in Canada would be almost $15, and to the U.S., $11. These shipping costs would prevent many from ordering so we have no choice but to absorb some of the cost and offer lower competitive rates than what's listed above.

I'm glad you are all enjoying the products!

Ryan

Thanks for the high praise gents!

Freddy, solid points about shipping costs. Believe it or not, it's actually cheaper for us to ship the the U.S. than it is to ship within Canada.

Canadian shipping costs definitely make it difficult for Canadian businesses to compete. We actually discount our shipping rates quite a bit. To ship just one soap in Canada would be almost $15, and to the U.S., $11. These shipping costs would prevent many from ordering so we have no choice but to absorb some of the cost and offer lower competitive rates than what's listed above.

I'm glad you are all enjoying the products!

Ryan

Ryan, I actually find that appalling. I know folks like to complain about the USPS but it sounds as if Canada Post is just as bad, or worse.

USPS operates at a loss for years. It's subjective whether we're paying for it out of the other taxes we pay.

The US is for the most part much more densely populated than Canada. The numbers are substantial. The infrastructure for the mail is a little different. I know that you can see sparsely populated areas in parts of the US, but not to the wide extent that many parts of Canada are.

The prices are ghastly to ship into Canada. I didn't realize that they were also very high inside Canada as well.



http://rossmannellcomments.edublogs.org/...and-u-s-a/

It is quite expensive to ship in Canada as Ryan says, but I won't toss all the blame at Canada Post. It would be very expensive to operate delivery to every single address in Canada, especially considering the remote locations we have. Also, the labour costs are very high in Canada Post, and the defined benefit pension is also quite expensive to support. I'm not saying that CP is an angelic corporation by any means, but I can definitely understand their costs being higher than that of USPS. I'm pretty sure nearly all of us Canadian vendors subsidize shipping costs, as it's the only way to keep it reasonable for the consumer and keep your business competitive.