I finally decided that I had to try Declaration Grooming’s new formulation:
Stearic Acid, Water, Castor Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Vegetable Glycerin, Bison Tallow, Mango Butter, Avocado Oil, Shea Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Lanolin, Bentonite Clay, Yogurt, Buttermilk, Egg Whites, Coconut Milk, Goat’s Milk, Tocopheryl Acetate, Maltodextrin, Milk Protein, Salix Alba L. (White Willow) Bark Extract, Arctium lappa (Burdock) Root Extract, Hippophae Rhamnoides (Sea Buckthorn) Fruit Extract, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract, Silk Amino Acids
I said “Aha” as I looked at the ingredients just now. I did have to add a little water to load the brush, and there it is: Bentonite clay. That’ll do it.
I think you’ll agree that this is a very interesting set of ingredient. Bonus points to them for labeliing the tub both on top and — for those who stack tubs of soap — on the side. This one is named “Cuir et ́Épices (translation: Ledo kaj Spicoj). This, they say, was the very first out of the gate with the new formula, and they describe it thusly:
“Cuir et Épices” is the first scent exclusive to our new premium soap base. It is a blend of leather, tobacco flower, cedar, anise, oakmoss, and patchouli. This scent is unique unto itself and somewhat difficult to describe.
They also mention that it suggests John Wayne’s kitchen. 
I found the fragrance quite please, and the soap remarkably good in its lather, and exceptionally good glide The surface of the puck before first use has an interesting appearance.
If you go to the link above, you’ll see that this particular soap is sold out at their site. I ordered a tub from Maggard Razors, which still has some in stock, along with other fragrances in this formulation.
I’ve mentioned already the superb glide the thick, creamy lather provided. As I worked it into my stubble I was thinking I’ve got to compare this to Creed’s Green Irish Tweed shaving soap (just in terms of lather, not fragrance), given that this soap costs $25 for 4 ounces and Creed shaving soap currently runs $158 for 4 ounces. I believe that, as a shaving soap, this (and some other artisanal soaps) are superior to Creed’s shaving soap (which is quite good, but products are subject to evolutionary pressures, and better solutions can emerge rather quickly under the right conditions).
I would guess that in some product categories an established company with a large customer base finds it difficult to change their product line in any very drastic way because their customers don’t want change. Technology companies don’t have this problem because they have trained their customers to want new (faster, better, cheaper) versions of products, and the same is true of (say) automobles and fashion. But customers seem to have a different attitude toward things like foods and shaving soaps — as, for example, Coca-Cola discovered.
Moreover, many large companies — even technology companies — have a kind of internal viscosity from the number of managers and employees whose careers and identities (and comfort) are attached to current products. When IBM dropped the 1400 line of computers in favor of the 360 series, Thomas Watson, Jr. had to personally go to the development sites for the 1400 computers are break up the teams, reassigning and scattering the employees, who had continued stubbornly to work on 1400 development.
In fact Creed’s own site includes now no shaving soaps at all — I found only this Creed shaving soap from Saks Fifth Avenue in a search. I suspect they’ve thrown in the towel, as it were, deciding that they simply could not keep up with the rapid evolution of shaving soaps in the past couple of decades.
Artisanal soapmakers, in contrast, eagerly improve their products. The companies are quite small and generally controlled by a sole proprietor, who can make decisions without regard to stockholders and a battalion of mangagers and employees. The small companies are thus more agile and also more oriented toward product improvement. Thus we see substantial changes to improve product performance: Declaration Grooming’s Milksteak line, Barrister & Mann’s Reserve line, Phoenix Artisan’s CK-6 line. And even if it’s not an entire line, smaller companies will create interesting innovations like RazoRock’s The Dead Sea.
Creed was probably wise to get back to their basics: fragrances, not shaving soaps. But tomorrow I’ll use my one Creed soap just to see.
Now, about today’s shave.
In honor of Maggard Razors having the soap on hand (and their general wonderfulness as an online shaving store), I used their 22mm synthetic as the brush. I’ve discussed the lather already — really remarkable. For the razor, I wanted something special, so I went with my trusty RazoRock Stealth: And to carry forward the leather theme, I went with Geo. F. Trumper’s Spanish leather (“Ledo Hispana”) for the aftershave:
Top Notes – Clove, Lavender
Middle Notes – Geranium, Rosemary, Rose
Base Notes – Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vanilla
Hmm. I see why I like it: vanilla.
As I sit writing this, I am noticing that my skin seems softer, smoother, and more supple than usual, and I attribute that to the soap, with an assist from the razor.
Father’s Day is coming up (this year on the summer solstice, for which I have an appropriate soap), so perhaps now would be a good time for dropping hints.
Thought for the day:
When wealth is passed off as merit, bad luck is seen as bad character. This is how ideologues justify punishing the sick and the poor. But poverty is neither a crime nor a character flaw. Stigmatize those who let people die, not those who struggle to live. -Sarah Kendzior, journalist and author (b. 1978)
