Posting Freak
Peachtree City, GA
(This post was last modified: 11-18-2021, 06:13 PM by DanLaw.)
This represents a departure in reviews where there has been a preexisting interest on my part leading to an unsolicited request for the manufacture to provide a sample for passaround. Dominick of Sir Henry’s sent a PM stating his curiosity regarding my damaged and sensitive skin, asking if there would be interest in trialing an array of their products for feedback and possible posting.
Sir Henry’s is a company founded by a group of friends over drinks. Dominick, Brad & Joe, operating as Sir Henry’s Sundries are based in St. Louis and offer a range of traditional wet shaving products that differ from the preponderance of fora active shave industry vendors in that their model is not at all geared towards the hobbyist shaver. We had numerous discussions, text and voice, wherein there was much banter regarding the definition of a hobbyist; while generally agreeing with his perspective of the definition, yet contend that my online participation is a desperate attempt to minimize the physical pain associated with shaving that exists to this day albeit significantly lessened thanks to finding the optimum products for my particularly sensitive and damaged skin. Am still unconvinced of living in denial and operate under the presumption of simply being an extreme tail dwelling outlier. The acid test relied upon in my stance is: would one continue shaving given an option and would one participate in online fora if the pain of shaving were completely eliminated: if responded No and Yes respectively, then argue (rightly or wrongly) one not a hobbyist. Back to Sir Henry’s business model, which much to my surprise is overwhelmingly…Amazon based. Per Dominick, the preponderance of their business does NOT come from the shaving community. Moreover, while they obviously do care regarding the reputation of the brand amongst hobby shavers, their primary focus is on delivering a brainless, quality and repeatable shave to regular guys switching from canned goo.
The target market makes sense when one actually uses the product versus making inferences based on online posts. Where had expected over the top scents in strength and complexity, instead found the scents subtle, approachably simple and tastefully executed. The scent issue was shocking, really…and, truth told, refreshing. Artisans are becoming far to enamoured with their self-proclaimed ability to expertly formulate scents, contriving profiles increasingly complex and frankly internally conflicting from my experience. It is one thing for an established house such as Penhaligons to offer dozens of scents based on over a century of well established, highly regarded and tastefully executed offerings and quite another for people of no formal training, apprenticeship nor palmares to proclaim selves expert. Lathering a soap that didn’t turn the entire house into a perfumery and with a scent that didn’t cause reasonable people to be at war over whether it pleasant or foul was refreshing – another acid test, eh? The El Jefe was remarkably akin to walking into a cigar humidor – MY preference leans to tobacco flower not cigars, but for those so inclined…. The Island Estate was a traditional Bay Rum ala Royall or St James, which has elements some may not favour but is nonetheless faithfully executed. Quartet was by far MY favourite scent and found it a beautifully classically executed Barbershop without any oddities some artisans incorporate to differentiate their rendition. Sandalwood was so subtle as to be barely detectable but pleasant. My perspective has long been that there is way too much focus on scent but surely that is influenced strongly by being extremely sensitive to base, particularly the cushion and post shave given the damaged and sensitive skin issues.
Lathering the soaps was a revelation; they were quite easy to consistently whip up thick and glistening lather with a minimum of effort. For those becoming accustomed to super thirsty soaps that are impossible to over hydrate, be forewarned that Sir Henry’s is much more traditional. Start the lathering with a damp (as opposed to dripping) brush until sufficiently loaded, and then add water at a moderate rate until the lather explodes: in no case did it ever take more than 2 minutes to generate a perfect lather. That is not to suggest that there weren’t differences between the bases; the soaps were spread between vegan and tallow – well, actually only one tallow, the Sandalwood. To state the Sandalwood was easy to lather would be the understatement of the century. Swear to God, if the word water was merely mentioned in the soap’s presence, it would explode into an incredibly thick, slick and picture perfect lather – have never experienced an easier lathering soap. Anybody having trouble producing a perfect lather would be well advised to try this particular soap; it will demonstrate perfect lather almost invariably, allow experimentation regarding technique and water without consequences whilst instilling confidence.
Performance was surprisingly good. Many know of my extremely damaged sensitive skin and quest to find soaps with tremendous cushion and postshave. When discussing this issue, Dominick was insistent in his perspective that sensitive skin a fallacy and further, soaps are for lubricating the whiskers while aftershaves and balms are for post shave repair. Dominick may well be correct in his assessment for the majority of shavers but, after trying hundreds of soaps over the decades, have found it mandatory to use after shaves and balms in addition to highly cushioned and post shave impacting soaps simply to survive a day without a beet red and swollen face. Clearly, Sir Henry’s was not designed for me - which is fine as am a tail dweller when considering the spectrum of sensitive skin. Thus having established the intentional lack of post shave, embarked on the trial knowing it a design feature. Of the soaps provided, only the Island Estate caused some minor tingling; otherwise the soaps were quite slick with the tallow soap being much more cushioned than the vegan based stablemates. The tallow Sandalwood would be the one soap preferred were I to purchase Sir Henry’s but for those with normal skin, one would be hard pressed to be less than satisfied with any of the soaps. Really was surprised just how good these soaps were considering the price.
One needs come to terms with establishing the appropriate criteria when reviewing products – it hardly fair to compare a multihundred-dollar soap to a $16 soap without adjusting expectations. That is not to suggest that there is an unattainable standard for the multihundred-dollar soap nor that soap of any quality in the $16 tub results in a favourable review: rather, it a matter of nuance. Without casting aspersions on Sir Henry’s, will state flatly that it not a competitor for the best from ETHOS on MY damaged and highly sensitive skin; however, was very surprised at just how well the Sir Henry’s soaps performed. All the soaps provided were really nice shavers with quite good slickness but of special note, the tallow Sandalwood was also decently cushioned. All were light on post shave skin effects but, as stated, that is a feature, not flaw given the artisan’s perspective that sensitive skin is vastly overexaggerated.
In the final analysis, entered into this trial with incredibly low expectations and concluded it with a high degree of respect for the brand, particularly when the all-important criterion of price to value relationship is considered. For those with normal to good skin, Sir Henry’s is a legitimate soap worthy of consideration – if on a budget or disinclined to spend extra money on premium priced soaps, this is a tough line to beat. Because of my legitimately damaged and sensitive skin, am not a customer for the Sir Henry’s line but if caught on the road with it for a couple shaves, wouldn’t complain and that is pretty high praise.
![[Image: sDfUv2F.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/sDfUv2F.jpg)
Sir Henry’s is a company founded by a group of friends over drinks. Dominick, Brad & Joe, operating as Sir Henry’s Sundries are based in St. Louis and offer a range of traditional wet shaving products that differ from the preponderance of fora active shave industry vendors in that their model is not at all geared towards the hobbyist shaver. We had numerous discussions, text and voice, wherein there was much banter regarding the definition of a hobbyist; while generally agreeing with his perspective of the definition, yet contend that my online participation is a desperate attempt to minimize the physical pain associated with shaving that exists to this day albeit significantly lessened thanks to finding the optimum products for my particularly sensitive and damaged skin. Am still unconvinced of living in denial and operate under the presumption of simply being an extreme tail dwelling outlier. The acid test relied upon in my stance is: would one continue shaving given an option and would one participate in online fora if the pain of shaving were completely eliminated: if responded No and Yes respectively, then argue (rightly or wrongly) one not a hobbyist. Back to Sir Henry’s business model, which much to my surprise is overwhelmingly…Amazon based. Per Dominick, the preponderance of their business does NOT come from the shaving community. Moreover, while they obviously do care regarding the reputation of the brand amongst hobby shavers, their primary focus is on delivering a brainless, quality and repeatable shave to regular guys switching from canned goo.
The target market makes sense when one actually uses the product versus making inferences based on online posts. Where had expected over the top scents in strength and complexity, instead found the scents subtle, approachably simple and tastefully executed. The scent issue was shocking, really…and, truth told, refreshing. Artisans are becoming far to enamoured with their self-proclaimed ability to expertly formulate scents, contriving profiles increasingly complex and frankly internally conflicting from my experience. It is one thing for an established house such as Penhaligons to offer dozens of scents based on over a century of well established, highly regarded and tastefully executed offerings and quite another for people of no formal training, apprenticeship nor palmares to proclaim selves expert. Lathering a soap that didn’t turn the entire house into a perfumery and with a scent that didn’t cause reasonable people to be at war over whether it pleasant or foul was refreshing – another acid test, eh? The El Jefe was remarkably akin to walking into a cigar humidor – MY preference leans to tobacco flower not cigars, but for those so inclined…. The Island Estate was a traditional Bay Rum ala Royall or St James, which has elements some may not favour but is nonetheless faithfully executed. Quartet was by far MY favourite scent and found it a beautifully classically executed Barbershop without any oddities some artisans incorporate to differentiate their rendition. Sandalwood was so subtle as to be barely detectable but pleasant. My perspective has long been that there is way too much focus on scent but surely that is influenced strongly by being extremely sensitive to base, particularly the cushion and post shave given the damaged and sensitive skin issues.
Lathering the soaps was a revelation; they were quite easy to consistently whip up thick and glistening lather with a minimum of effort. For those becoming accustomed to super thirsty soaps that are impossible to over hydrate, be forewarned that Sir Henry’s is much more traditional. Start the lathering with a damp (as opposed to dripping) brush until sufficiently loaded, and then add water at a moderate rate until the lather explodes: in no case did it ever take more than 2 minutes to generate a perfect lather. That is not to suggest that there weren’t differences between the bases; the soaps were spread between vegan and tallow – well, actually only one tallow, the Sandalwood. To state the Sandalwood was easy to lather would be the understatement of the century. Swear to God, if the word water was merely mentioned in the soap’s presence, it would explode into an incredibly thick, slick and picture perfect lather – have never experienced an easier lathering soap. Anybody having trouble producing a perfect lather would be well advised to try this particular soap; it will demonstrate perfect lather almost invariably, allow experimentation regarding technique and water without consequences whilst instilling confidence.
Performance was surprisingly good. Many know of my extremely damaged sensitive skin and quest to find soaps with tremendous cushion and postshave. When discussing this issue, Dominick was insistent in his perspective that sensitive skin a fallacy and further, soaps are for lubricating the whiskers while aftershaves and balms are for post shave repair. Dominick may well be correct in his assessment for the majority of shavers but, after trying hundreds of soaps over the decades, have found it mandatory to use after shaves and balms in addition to highly cushioned and post shave impacting soaps simply to survive a day without a beet red and swollen face. Clearly, Sir Henry’s was not designed for me - which is fine as am a tail dweller when considering the spectrum of sensitive skin. Thus having established the intentional lack of post shave, embarked on the trial knowing it a design feature. Of the soaps provided, only the Island Estate caused some minor tingling; otherwise the soaps were quite slick with the tallow soap being much more cushioned than the vegan based stablemates. The tallow Sandalwood would be the one soap preferred were I to purchase Sir Henry’s but for those with normal skin, one would be hard pressed to be less than satisfied with any of the soaps. Really was surprised just how good these soaps were considering the price.
One needs come to terms with establishing the appropriate criteria when reviewing products – it hardly fair to compare a multihundred-dollar soap to a $16 soap without adjusting expectations. That is not to suggest that there is an unattainable standard for the multihundred-dollar soap nor that soap of any quality in the $16 tub results in a favourable review: rather, it a matter of nuance. Without casting aspersions on Sir Henry’s, will state flatly that it not a competitor for the best from ETHOS on MY damaged and highly sensitive skin; however, was very surprised at just how well the Sir Henry’s soaps performed. All the soaps provided were really nice shavers with quite good slickness but of special note, the tallow Sandalwood was also decently cushioned. All were light on post shave skin effects but, as stated, that is a feature, not flaw given the artisan’s perspective that sensitive skin is vastly overexaggerated.
In the final analysis, entered into this trial with incredibly low expectations and concluded it with a high degree of respect for the brand, particularly when the all-important criterion of price to value relationship is considered. For those with normal to good skin, Sir Henry’s is a legitimate soap worthy of consideration – if on a budget or disinclined to spend extra money on premium priced soaps, this is a tough line to beat. Because of my legitimately damaged and sensitive skin, am not a customer for the Sir Henry’s line but if caught on the road with it for a couple shaves, wouldn’t complain and that is pretty high praise.
