Out of curiosity, which brands do you consider "superior" ...? Cella? MdC? MWF? Mystic Waters
Honestly I'm pooped from dealing with a complete debacle in another thread but to answer this correctly I'd prolly end up being rather verbose. As you alluded to in your reply with shaving YMMV is a classic mantra - and even though I've a stack of soaps I've only tried a tiny % of the purported better ones.
It's also sometimes hard to say this is a good brand as soaps within that brand can vary and often they'll have multiple sub-product lines with varying formulations. Plus smaller artisan makers will often change/evolve their recipes over time. So a LOT of variables.
Artisan stuff is generally far superior to mass made stuff - and the best artisan's I've ACTUALLY tried are Mike's, CRSW, Stirling.
Cella is nothing spesh - mass market Italian soft soap, has more of a following as it's a very Italian style soap so new for many folks.MdC never used it but I perceive it's very overpriced and if you took the label off it and used next to another couple of top end soaps would you pay 5 times+ as much for it per unit? Apparently very good but THAT MUCH BETTER? Big premium paid for the brand name/exclusivity.MWF, good solid soap - mainly popular due to it's lanolin content - otherwise just a standardish triple milled commercial soap. Mystic waters? Mixed feedback on them from what I've read - don't get much following in this part of the world - not a tier 1 artisan maker based on what I've read but next rung down.
That all said the biggest variables in shaving are the blades and the user's technique....soap is well down the list.
And some of it is not. Not sure that cheap = easy lathering. Or expensive = poor lathering. Or vice versa
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Never said it was a case of ALWAYS, that would be incorrect and baseless. I said,"You often find..." and I stand by that 100% as cheaper shaving soaps are often made with entry level ingredients revolving around CO, Tallow and PO - so they tend to be pretty easy to lather.
More expensive, artisan stuff generally brings in a whole new tier of ingredients like exotic butters and pricey oils and higher SF %'s - so these can be harder to lather or often have their 'best lather' looking unlike the big Santa beards like the cheaper ones give out.
I think this is pretty subjective, no? It's not like some of the characteristics you've mentioned are objectively measured.
Again with all due respect I never implied otherwise. Nearly everything on this entire forum is subjective - so I felt this a pretty safe assumption we were both aware of. Critiquing of shaving soap like that of art, music, food, etc etc is almost entirely subjective and thus highly influenced by personal preference, in a way thats kind of a nice feature.
Would you like a puck for $50? lol.
It's certainly nice to have confidence in your product and price it according to the tier of the market within which you feel it belongs but that'd want to be a very big puck for that price.