Van Der Hagen soap is a widely available, dirt cheap shaving soap. You can get this at almost any drug store in the States. It is, therefore, widely reviled as worthless by the shaving community. However...it isn't. It's actually good. It's pretty DAMN good, in fact, if my shaves yesterday and today are any indication.
The soap is surprisingly soft--when I held the puck, it felt like a slightly warmed cheese...a pink, floral smelling cheese. The particular specimen was Van Der Hagen Deluxe, "for dry skin and heavy beards." Like me.
I got this soap and, as I once read on Shave My Face, I decided to make a shave stick. So I got a shave stick container from JoAnna at The Shave Den, got my puck of VDH, cut it into tiny pieces and dropped the pieces into the shave stick container. a couple of 10-second bursts in the microwave and VOILA! Shave stick!
I tried the soap for the first time yesterday, and I was frankly astonished. I soaped up with the stick and hit it with my Omega brush. The stuff EXPLODED into lather...and it felt really, really good. I used my Tech with a third-shave Gillette 7 O'Clock Permasharp and it was just great. Smooth, comfortable...and moisturized. Not QUITE as moisturzed as an MWF shave, but up there.
And it's only $2. Man. I gotta reexamine some stuff....
Definitely a winner....
4 comments:
The van der Hagen "Select" (white) is outstanding, too. Cheap ain't always bad. Nice job on the stick conversion; I'll have to try that.
I recently finished going through a puck of this soap, and agree completely with what you wrote. Truly an excellent soap for a bargain basement price.
BTW - Your blog is great! Thanks for putting it online.
VdH Deluxe seems difficult to find in some areas, including mine (western Philadelphia suburbs). I've heard lots of good stuff about it, but am not about to drop $5 to ship a $1.99 puck of soap. I do see plenty of VdH Select, but have tried it and didn't like it.
Doug, I have a puck of Select as well...I'll have to give it a whirl. The stick conversion is a SNAP. Really, go for it.
Tony, thanks for reading, and for the nice words! I'll keep at it!
Anonymous, poke around the forums and someone will surely PIF you a puck. Hell, if you really want a puck look me up on Shave My Face and PM me your address.
Thanks for reading, as always!
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