I responded on Wirecutter to a comment from a man who uses bar soap for shaving (!) because it “works fine” and added “most shaving soap is scented, which I HATE. (Why the hell does everything have to be scented? We live in a world full of of scent pollution.)”
I responded to point out that almost all men who have tried both bar soap and shaving soap find they prefer shaving soap for shaving, and that unscented shaving soaps are commonly available (and provided links to a few). I also noted that the world is filled with fragrances: flowers, newly mown grass, freshly turned dirt, the petrichor fragrance that follows a summer thunderstorm, and so on. The fragrance industry goes back thousands of years because almost all people like good fragrances — for example, the fragranced shaving soaps far outsell unscented versions.
This was not to say that he personally should enjoy a fragrance in a shaving soap. I know men who dislike fragrances first thing in the morning, and unscented shaving soaps will be perfect for them: formulated to optimize the shave experience and result, but with no added fragrance (though the ingredients themselves do have a subtle scent sometimes).
This came to mind this morning as I loaded the Mühle Gen 2 Synthetic with Meißner Tremonia’s Strong ‘n Scottish shaving soap, the “strong” referring to the fragrance, which fairly bowls you over. It’s a good fragrance, and I like it and its strength — but of course I don’t use it every morning and find it good as a change of pace. And its lather is excellent.
Three passes of Parker’s (semi-)slant left my face perfectly smooth, and I used two squirts of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel to make Guerlain’s Vetiver EDT more like an aftershave (and, come to think of it, here is another very detectable fragrance — and this one I’ll carry with me though day).
Good start to a day that’s still very cold (28ºF right now) with lots of snow on the ground.