What's your favorite soap by PAA?

Been on the list for quite some time but finally picked up tubs of Crown King Holliday and PAA 1K. Looking forward to trying these out first hand based on the feedback from the community.

Today I shaved with PAA Tombstone for the first time and it's another keeper. It is very similar to Crown King, which I expected based on the similar ingredients. These are the only non-tallow soaps in my rotation at present, and they perform very similar to all the tallow soaps I use. I believe the high butters and oils is what makes the tallow soaps I use perform so well, which appears to be the case here as well. Both soaps are medium hardness and have a buttery feel to them in the container. They remind me of Mystic Water actually in that regard.

they perform very similar to all the tallow soaps I use.

Honestly, I personally feel all the buzz around tallow is superstitious. Tallow was used back in the "on the farm" days for it's stearic acid content. This is needed to create a killer, lathery shave soap. It was an easy, cheap and accessible by-product. Nowadays, we have access to all these great exotic butters and oils that contain the same, if not more amounts of stearic acid! Kokum butter kills it in content of the stuff! My point is, Stearic acid, is stearic acid, doesn't matter where it sourced from. There are good soaps that contain tallow and there are bad soaps that contain tallow, just as in the case of veggie soaps. At the end of the day it comes down to the soaper and the recipe. lol

they perform very similar to all the tallow soaps I use.

Honestly, I personally feel all the buzz around tallow is superstitious. Tallow was used back in the "on the farm" days for it's stearic acid content. This is needed to create a killer, lathery shave soap. It was an easy, cheap and accessible by-product. Nowadays, we have access to all these great exotic butters and oils that contain the same, if not more amounts of stearic acid! Kokum butter kills it in content of the stuff! My point is, Stearic acid, is stearic acid, doesn't matter where it sourced from. There are good soaps that contain tallow and there are bad soaps that contain tallow, just as in the case of veggie soaps. At the end of the day it comes down to the soaper and the recipe. lol

I agree completely, and that's why I said the following in my other post: "I believe the high butters and oils is what makes the tallow soaps I use perform so well, which appears to be the case here as well."
We had discussed this a while back in another thread, and Will from B&M had said something similar. When I refer to tallow soaps as performing better for my preferences, I am speaking of those soaps which are high in butters and oils such as B&M, Stitling, MW, etc. I had not found a good non-tallow or vegan soap that performed as well. Then I saw your new formulas and figured they would be similar to the tallow soaps I'm using, and they are. I'm not sure why so many vegan or non-tallow soaps have so few butters/oils, but it seems to be the norm, such as the MdC type formulas. Also, I refer to them as non-tallow because not all are true vegan soaps, which sometimes causes people to jump in to correct. It's easier saying tallow or non-tallow, but I realize the tallow is not what makes the soap perform better. I look for soaps with high content of butters and oils, which so far has worked out.

they perform very similar to all the tallow soaps I use.

Honestly, I personally feel all the buzz around tallow is superstitious. Tallow was used back in the "on the farm" days for it's stearic acid content. This is needed to create a killer, lathery shave soap. It was an easy, cheap and accessible by-product. Nowadays, we have access to all these great exotic butters and oils that contain the same, if not more amounts of stearic acid! Kokum butter kills it in content of the stuff! My point is, Stearic acid, is stearic acid, doesn't matter where it sourced from. There are good soaps that contain tallow and there are bad soaps that contain tallow, just as in the case of veggie soaps. At the end of the day it comes down to the soaper and the recipe. lol

Hehe, so it wasn't superstitious, it was used for a reason, lol......

they perform very similar to all the tallow soaps I use.

Honestly, I personally feel all the buzz around tallow is superstitious. Tallow was used back in the "on the farm" days for it's stearic acid content. This is needed to create a killer, lathery shave soap. It was an easy, cheap and accessible by-product. Nowadays, we have access to all these great exotic butters and oils that contain the same, if not more amounts of stearic acid! Kokum butter kills it in content of the stuff! My point is, Stearic acid, is stearic acid, doesn't matter where it sourced from. There are good soaps that contain tallow and there are bad soaps that contain tallow, just as in the case of veggie soaps. At the end of the day it comes down to the soaper and the recipe. lol

Hehe, so it wasn't superstitious, it was used for a reason, lol......

The buzz sir, the buzz! You'll know when you see it, some fellas swear by the tallow, use it as a watermark or such. lol

Today I shaved with PAA Tombstone for the first time and it's another keeper. It is very similar to Crown King, which I expected based on the similar ingredients. These are the only non-tallow soaps in my rotation at present, and they perform very similar to all the tallow soaps I use. I believe the high butters and oils is what makes the tallow soaps I use perform so well, which appears to be the case here as well. Both soaps are medium hardness and have a buttery feel to them in the container. They remind me of Mystic Water actually in that regard.

Sorry Hobbyist, it wasn't clear to me, thought you were comparing them to the "sacred tallow", lol! All in all, glad you enjoyed them sir! It's really tough to judge a soap by looking at the ingredients, just as it's tough to know a scent by a scent profile. I can give 3 perfumers the same 5 ingredients and each one could end up smelling completely different! For this reason I have waaaaaaaaaay to many soaps in my collection that don't get much love.

Cad314 which of the "unloved" soaps in your collection is you favourite? I guess which of those do you wish was more recognized because you're proud how it came out?

Cad314 which of the "unloved" soaps in your collection is you favourite? I guess which of those do you wish was more recognized because you're proud how it came out?

Ahhh, I wasn't speaking of my own soaps, but soaps I solely bought based on the ingredients or scent descriptions. LOL, I love all mine or I wouldn't make them. This is especially true with scent. A while back I was doing a soap for someone else and they came up with the scent. It literally made me ill to make it. So never again, I only create what I enjoy!

As for soaps I have discontinued due to poor sales, Lavender Cedar and i.e. are 2 of my favorites. That said, Coconut Bay, Lavender Cedar and Coconut Bay seem to have a cult following and I am getting many requests to bring them back. It would seem I need to change my perspective, rather than discontinue certain soaps maybe make them seasonal instead.

It really all comes down to feedback. Hope that makes more sense and good question!

Ordered the Oud Spice from IB and just got it yesterday as my first product from PAA, although I have PPF Sandalwood from before the merger and I love the scent as it's close to the AOS version that I love. I'm not sold on the PPF performance though, I didn't find the slickness particularly great. I love the Oud Spice scent and the test lather is quite promising so I'm eager to try it tonight.