Mama Bear describes her Elements of Bamboo soap as a “harmonious blend of bamboo and cedar entwined with lemon, tangerine and ginger. Exotic, cooling, and refreshing.” That sounded quite nice, so picked up a sample (along with several others).
Now, the Mama Bear samples come as a little wedge of soap, which previously I had just stuck in the bottom of an empty tub and attacked vigorously. This time, I decided to heat up the scuttle, and throw it in there with a little bit of hot water for a few minutes. It softened up considerably, and I just smooshed it down so it would stay put when it came time to load my brush.
Loading went well. The lather came on reasonably thick, with a decent amount of volume too. It provided a nice cushion, and plenty of glide for my shave (which was my first one using Feather blades). The lather did have a tendency to collapse, so you would have to re-work it with the brush between passes.
Straight from the envelope, the scent is a nice pleasant woody scent, with a bit of citrus hints. Slightly sweet, and quite refreshing. Once you lather it up, however, the aroma of the ginger starts to make itself known. I liked it better once it was on the brush. Strength-wise, it’s just shy of the perfect strength. It made itself known when first applied to the face, however it did fade as you shave.
- 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
- 9/10 Scent Strength
- 8/10 Lather Quality
A sample like the one used for this review will set you back a dollar over on Mama Bear’s website, or you can go ahead and get a full jar of this stuff for $9.99. I figure I would be able to get at least 3 shaves out of the sample.
Overall, I give it a 8/10. It’s a nice soap, and a very good value for the money.
Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Safflower , Glycerine (kosher, of vegetable origin), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Soybean protein (conditioner), Wheat protein and fragrance.
Pingback: Review: Mama Bear Soaps – Elements Of Bamboo Glycerin Shave Soap | straight razor shaving
Sue does make a nice effective soap both in lather and scent.
Now I have not used this one, but the Dragonsblood, Old Spice Type and Musk do get use in my rotation.
Good stuff.
Excellent review.
Well, I’ll be getting around to a review of all of those eventually. … I’ve got around 60 or so samples from Sue.
Thanks for the review. It is on my list to try. I’ve sampled 41 so far and haven’t had a bad shave yet from them. I really like the samples she offers because by getting those I learned quickly that I just don’t like vanilla, mint or patchouli in my shave soap scents.
From what I’ve seen, they’re definitely rather consistent in terms of lather / shave quality. Pretty much just the scent changing from soap to soap.
I love her Lilac and Ice soap. I also bought her cologne sampler pack. I can get 3-5 shave out of each sample “disc”.