Since I’ve immersed myself in the world of wet shaving, I’ve mostly been a shave cream kinda guy. But when a reader of Sharpologist asked if I had ever checked out Van Der Hagen shave soaps, I thought I’d give a puck of their Scented Luxury Shave Soap the Deal or Dud try!
Honestly, I rarely have the patience to load my brush with exactly 21 swirls to get it perfectly ready for a shave. I’m more of a “is it ready yet?” person. But, contrary to the dozens of creams that I currently own and the dozens more on my wish list, I do own a couple of pucks of the hard stuff. Taylor of Old Bond Street, Crabtree and Evelyn, D.R. Harris, but that’s about it.
Some History
The parent company, Van Der Hagen Enterprises, was sold to Universal Beauty Products in 2016. That’s when shavers noticed more boxes of “Scented Luxury Shave Soap” show up on store shelves. The company apparently was limiting the tried and true “Deluxe Shave Soap.”
The main difference between the two was that the older Deluxe was made with Shea Butter while the Scented Luxury is made with Glycerin and Mango Butter as well as Shea Butter.
Ingredients: Propylene Glycol, Water, Sorbitol, Sodium Stearate, Glycerin, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Myristate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Triethanolamine, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Mangifera Indica (Mango Butter), Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Titanium Dioxide, Fragrance.
My Experiences With Van Der Hagen Luxury Shave Soap
My local grocery store had the Luxury Shave Soap for under five dollars (US). I’m always a little wary of really cheap shave stuff. While I don’t have any visible scars from past adventures, I do retain bad memories. But I’d seen this soap at a lot of different stores and I figured a terrible product couldn’t keep selling right? I mean, eventually Americans stopped buying Yugos.
The puck inside is the same one that comes with the set VDH shave set. The smell of the soap wasn’t overpowering and smelled clean. Not too perfumey. VDH also offers an unscented Luxury Shave Soap as well.
I had read that this soap took well to a slightly wetter brush, so that’s what I tried.
After about 15 swirls I think I had a pretty well-loaded brush. I then went to work to see how it would lather up in the scuttle.
It whipped up into a good amount of lather although it did have some bubbles in it. Not the creamiest of lather but not runny.
The smell was a bit stronger now, but not unpleasant. Time to see if it would protect my face!
It had pretty good slickness and cushion without the lather being too thin. I did three passes and at no time did I think I was scraping my face, which is how some other cheap stuff has felt. My skin didn’t feel dry afterwards, which is always a good thing. I’ve had some creams and lotions that left me feeling like I needed to reach for the wife’s Oil of Olay.
A couple of times I was in a rush in the morning and just rubbed the puck over my face and hand lathered. I got the same type of lather as with the brush. In fact, this has become my “hurry up” soap when I need to scrape and go. The box says that it can also be used as a regular soap and on occasion, I’ve used what’s left in my goatee to get all the happy parts clean. Double score!
I’ve now used this soap for several months and still enjoy it.
So while it’s not the most complex shaving soap out on the market, for the price, around five dollars, Van Der Hagen Scented Luxury Shave Soap produces a good amount of decent lather and performs outside its weight class. That’s why I’ll call this one a deal!
Be sure to check out some of my other “Deal Or Dud” posts:
EZ-Blade Shaving Gel Deal or dud?
Burt’s Bees Shaving Cream, Deal or Dud?
Have you tried Van Der Hagen Luxury Shave Soap? Leave a comment below with your impressions!
Today I got my first wet shaving kit. Ordered Parker products, 92R razor, marble handle badgar brush, Parker blades. With this order I got three pucks of the Van Der Hagen deluxe shave soap. Still learning how to load the brush but I did manage to get a nice lather on my first try. The VDH soap was pleasant surprise. No irratation, great moisturizing properties and a great scent that doesn’t overpower your senses, very clean smelling. This combination of products created a great first experience with wet shaving. Highly recommend.
Great review! Glad you enjoy the soap.
This has always been my go to shaving soap…at times I wish for unscented but then, I enjoy their lightly perfumed soap…I think I like them just the way they are and hope they can stay in business even with more stores not carrying their soap….I encourage others who like this soap to pressure your stores and perhaps store buyers to keep this brand alive since their product is so damn good!
That’s a good idea. I’ll make sure I buy a couple extra. It’s great for traveling or just for a quick wash of the happy parts in the shower.
It’s been around for ages, it’s affordable and available in some of the chain drug stores. I bought the luxury unscented not expecting much based on some of the online reviews I’ve read. I was pleasantly surprised to discover how good it is. I can only surmise that some of the wet shaving snobs reviewed this negatively because it’s not “artisan” or obscenely expensive.
I really like this shave soap but I prefer the unscented. It lathers well and gives me a good shave. For the price you can’t beat it. It is far better than some I’ve tried costing far more. I like to try different shave soaps and creams and this one is one that I keep on hand and use frequently. I highly recommend trying this shave soap.
Hello Hugh.
I have tried it, worked well for me, many thanks!
This is GREAT soap!:) One of the first I used when I came back to the wet shave. It’s always lathered easily for me. It consistently delivers heaps of thick, rich lather that gives me a good thick coating with with a lots of protection.
I LOVE this soap!:)
Recently, a local grocery chain had VDH Luxury Shave Soap on sale for about 2 bucks per puck. I stocked up!:)
Me Likey
It’s funny you just reviewed this soap. I was just going to ask Sharpologist to do a review. I have used this stuff off and on for a few years now, simply because it is one of the only shave soaps (puck form) you can find in brick and mortar retailers. One of the main reasons I like it is because of its scent. I think it has sort of a clean, white t-shirt sort of scent..you might say it’s almond sport meats fabric softener..don’t know if that helps, but it surely is inoffensive, and pleasant. As you point out, it lathers quickly and abundantly, but what I don’t get is that great cushion and protection you get from something like a Stirling soap (I’m partial to tallow soaps). But, what I have found with non-tallow formulas is to use a shave oil, which usually aids in providing a very comfortable shave. Van Der Hagens scented luxury shave soap is one of the top “cheapies” in my den! Nice review.
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