Grooming Dept. is an artisan (Mohammad ) with an excellent reputation in the traditional shaving community. Mohammad also has a reputation for making traditional shave soap with non-traditional ingredients. I recently purchased a jar of Chypre Peach shave soap.
Grooming Dept. Chypre Peach
From the Grooming Dept. website:
Scent Notes: Citruses, Maillette Lavender, Rose, Peach, Osmanthus, Spices, Amber, Oakmoss, Leather, Labdanum, Vetiver, and Patchouli.
Ingredients: Water, Stearic Acid, Beef Tallow, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Kokum Butter, Castor Oil, Tucuma Butter, Avocado Oil, Glycerin, Coconut Milk, Goat Milk, Cupuacu Butter, Shea Butter, Safflower Oil, Collagen Peptides, Whey Protein, Betaine, Fragrance, Lauryl Laurate, Jojoba Oil, Lanolin, Colloidal Oatmeal, Rice Bran Wax, Meadowfoam Oil, Linoleic Acid, Ethylhexyl Olivate, Hydrogenated Olive Oil, Isostearic Acid, Allantoin, Sodium Lactate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Gluconate, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate, Tocopherols, Silk Peptides.
This is Grooming Dept’s “Kairos” formulation. Note the inclusion of Lanolin in the ingredient mix, as some folks are sensitive to it.
My Experience With Grooming Dept. Chypre Peach
I find the scent strong (a good thing for me, as my nose is notoriously insensitive) and persistent. This is definitely not your father’s Chypre. I don’t get any of the classic wood notes (like oakmoss) of the typical Chypre scent: it’s quite “peach forward” for me, with a spice note competing. I get the citrus notes, too. I like it.
Lathering Grooming Dept. Chypre Peach is stupid-easy for me: I get a thick, voluminous lather quickly and easily, even in my “hard” water. I find it’s also pretty tolerant of the water ratio so it shouldn’t be difficult to dial into a good lather.
But of course performance is the key to any shave product. Grooming Dept. has a reputation of having really well-performing shave products, and Chypre Peach shave soap does not disappoint. I find post-shave moisturization very good; both lubrication/glide and cushion/protection are outstanding! Easily among the “elite” products in its class IMHO.
You’ll be seeing Grooming Dept. added to Sharpologist’s “best shave soap” list soon.
Conclusion
Grooming Dept. has a bit of a problem common to shave soap artisans: too much success. As excellent products are developed the word gets around and soon supply can’t keep up with demand. And a complicating factor is finding reliable outlets for their product. Luckily Grooming Dept. products are found not only on their own website but West Coast Shaving (WCS) as well. In fact, WCS now has stock of Chypre Peach (affiliate link). If you’re a fan of shave soaps with strong, interesting scents and excellent performance, give this one a try.
I would really appreciate it if you addressed two separate issues. First, some soaps have “lots of lines of ingredients while others have only a few” Would be good to understand why the differences and what each group does or doesn’t do. As a starter here, how important is kaolin (or some other) clay in the list? Second, I want either one or two scents in a soap. First, what I smell while shaving and second what I smell after the shave. However, either way, I have to wash my face after I shave so I don’t really need “three levels” of aroma. Your thoughts. Thanks.
Clay can add some slip, but many fine soaps do not include clay as an ingredient. In my experience, the presence or absence of clay is not that important. I do notice that soaps that contain clay as an ingredient often seem to require a bit more water during loading. (I wet the brush well, shake it 2-3 times so it’s just damp, and begin loading. During the loading I can add a little water if needed, and if the soap contains clay, more water is usually needed.)
The fragrance of the soap is to add pleasure during the shave. When you rinse your face at the end of the shave, removing all traces of lather, you have removed the fragrance as well — thus the aftershave’s fragrance is not contested by a lingering lather fragrance.
The soap’s ingredients are for different purposes, and often the maker will explain why certain ingredients have been included. Van Yulay does this quite well, and Phoenix Artisan’s explanation of their CK-6 formula explains the reasons for some of the ingredients.
As you note, a shaving soap may have very few ingredients. Martin de Candre, for example, makes a soap of very few ingredients (Stearic Acid, Aqua, Coconut Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Aroma), and it’s a soap that lathers quite well. It is also, for me, rather drying, so that a balm is pretty much required as a aftershave. Declaration Grooming’s Milksteak formula, or Phoenix Artisan’s CK-6 formula, or Van Yulay’s various formulas all have significantly more ingredients and also leave my skin feeling signfiicantly better.
I haven’t tried any Grooming Department’s soaps yet, but in this soap the ingredients seem to fall into two groups, one for fragrance and one for performance, with good representation in each group. I’m looking forward to trying it.
If you make it a practice to always read the list of ingredients, you’ll gradually start to recognize those combinations that promise a good result.
You did a great job clarifying the use of clay and from my experience, you are spot on. And now I understand why. As for fragrance, you confirmed what I have found as well. Great until you wash it off. That is why I never understood about “top layer, middle layer and….” Just give me something I like to smell until I wash.
As for what works, I have sampled a number and am in the process of whittling them down to specials re: performance and fragrance. Will add after the final list. Thank you so much for your great and complete response. Have a few more items to discuss but not now.
Good fragrances reveal themselves over time. “Top notes” are what strike your nose immediately, with “middle notes” following. “Base notes” come out with the drydown. I highly recommend Chandler Burr’s excellent (and entertaining) book The Emperor of Scent: A True Story of Perfume and Obsession, a profile of Luca Turin.
You talked me into it, you silver-tongued devil. I appreciate the WCS link since Grooming Department no long has Chypre Peach on offer (though I did get the Cedarwood).
The excess-success problem you mention is something I see fairly often, and I think the internet has made the problem more common: when word gets out, it travels very quickly and demand can suddenly skyrocket. I feel lucky to have gotten to the products in time.
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