Wholly Kaw Jamestown Gentleman

Top of the Chain has unscented Phoenix & Beau on sale for CDN$14.99, thats US$12.17 for a pretty awesome soap.

Who are these guys? They appear not to be legitimate "jobbers" or dealers so to speak, but rather glorified resellers "scalping" products.

Top of the Chain has unscented Phoenix & Beau on sale for CDN$14.99, thats US$12.17 for a pretty awesome soap.

Who are these guys? They appear not to be legitimate "jobbers" or dealers so to speak, but rather glorified resellers "scalping" products.

Who Top of the Chain or Phoenix & Beau? I'm not sure what you mean.

www.topofthechain.ca is a Canadian online vendor that has quickly grown over the past year or so to become the Canadian online vendor with the greatest selection of artisan software products. I don't think they're scalping

Is the Chypre Rose Concerto "grandma-y" at all?

To be honest, I haven’t lathered mine yet, but straight from the jar, there are other things bubbling in there in addition to the rose scent. The blend rounds out the rose scent and adds a fulness to it. I’m impressed — and as said, this is before even having shaved with it. (I’m guessing the scent will only continue to develop further when lathered.)

Top of the Chain has unscented Phoenix & Beau on sale for CDN$14.99, thats US$12.17 for a pretty awesome soap.

Who are these guys? They appear not to be legitimate "jobbers" or dealers so to speak, but rather glorified resellers "scalping" products.

Who Top of the Chain or Phoenix & Beau?  I'm not sure what you mean.

www.topofthechain.ca is a Canadian online vendor that has quickly grown over the past year or so to become the Canadian online vendor with the greatest selection of artisan software products.  I don't think they're scalping

There’s a certain other Canadian vendor who in my mind is questionable. (On their site, they first severely mark up the prices of well-known products; then they offer them at the normal retail price, or slightly above, and call that a “sale” price.)

I haven’t looked at Top of the Chain’s site, so I can’t comment on them.

This thread seems to have taken a wide turn, but let’s try to hang in there.

Is the Chypre Rose Concerto "grandma-y" at all?

To be honest, I haven’t lathered mine yet, but straight from the jar, there are other things bubbling in there in addition to the rose scent. The blend rounds out the rose scent and adds a fulness to it. I’m impressed — and as said, this is before even having shaved with it. (I’m guessing the scent will only continue to develop further when lathered.)

I have the original formula Chypre Rose Concerto and the donkey milk formula too and they're beautiful. Nothing Grandma-y about it, or any of the WK scents in my opinion.

Who are these guys? They appear not to be legitimate "jobbers" or dealers so to speak, but rather glorified resellers "scalping" products.

Who Top of the Chain or Phoenix & Beau?  I'm not sure what you mean.

www.topofthechain.ca is a Canadian online vendor that has quickly grown over the past year or so to become the Canadian online vendor with the greatest selection of artisan software products.  I don't think they're scalping

There’s a certain other Canadian vendor who in my mind is questionable. (On their site, they first severely mark up the prices of well-known products; then they offer them at the normal retail price, or slightly above, and call that a “sale” price.)

I haven’t looked at Top of the Chain’s site, so I can’t comment on them.

This thread seems to have taken a wide turn, but let’s try to hang in there.

Well, lets get back on track then shall we - I've not experienced the vendor you're talking about but Carmine at Top of the Chain is a stand up guy and, here's the back on track part, he carries Wholly Kaw products at normal prices including James Town Gentleman.

I have the original formula Chypre Rose Concerto and the donkey milk formula too and they're beautiful.  Nothing Grandma-y about it, or any of the WK scents in my opinion.

Marko, have you had a chance to use both versions to do a comparison? In other words, do the soaps smell exactly the same, and have you noticed much of a performance difference?

I’ve only used WhollyKaw’s special edition donkey milk and vegan soaps so far, both of which are sublime. I’ve heard that the regular soap bases are very good, as well.

I have the original formula Chypre Rose Concerto and the donkey milk formula too and they're beautiful.  Nothing Grandma-y about it, or any of the WK scents in my opinion.

Marko, have you had a chance to use both versions to do a comparison? In other words, do the soaps smell exactly the same, and have you noticed much of a performance difference?

I’ve only used WhollyKaw’s special edition donkey milk and vegan soaps so far, both of which are sublime. I’ve heard that the regular soap bases are very good, as well.

I have and there is no discernible difference in scent between the regular edition and the special edition - I'd say that performance wise the regular edition is awesome and the special edition is slightly more awesome. Seriously, the WK original base is a pretty darn good base so when you're using it you aren't thinking that there's anything lacking so unless I were to do a dual lather side by side shave off I couldn't really tell you how much better the SE is than the regular formula.

Matsilainen one other thing, I have a few of WK's vegan soaps (of course I do) and I agree that they're wonderful. In my opinion the regular tallow formula is at least as good as the vegan maybe a tad better. The vegan formula is a bit thirstier so you have to make sure you properly hydrate the lather.

Thanks for your observations, Marko. As I’ve surmised before, the donkey milk formula was just a nice addition to an already great line of products.

I just visited the WhollyKaw website, and it seems that the selection has narrowed down for the time being. I believe those regular tallow soaps are being phased out, and in the future, it’ll just be tallow + donkey milk or vegan.

I do hope some of the earlier scents come back in the new formulas. Dark Vetiver is one that I’ve been interested in.