I bought this soap on somewhat of a whim, even though I had been eyeballing these soaps for quite a while. They tended to the more expensive side of the house, being imported from Italy. Also, they are truly an Italian soft soap, (croap), and I expected them to lather as such. Don Jose is a bit more of a tropical feeling soap, being scented with coconut and banana, with some menthol in there to provide some refreshing coolness to the shave. The nice thing about this scent is that the menthol does not take over at all. The first pass it’s barely noticeable, and in subsequent passes the feeling of the menthol starts to build, without the menthol smell getting in the way of the coconut and banana. Out of the tub, the scent is about a 1.5-2/5, so not overbearing at all. You get the coconut immediately, and the banana comes in right behind it, obfuscating the initial hit of coconut. It happens so fast, you wonder if you actually smelled the coconut in the first place. The packaging is, to put it bluntly, classy. It’s a metal tin, which I’m not the biggest fan of, but it’s a very wide tin, with waterproof labeling on the top, side and bottom. There is more than enough headroom inside the tin for you to load directly from the tub.
Ingredients are listed on the bottom label, and they are: Stearic Acid, Aqua, Cocos Nucifera Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Parfum, Propylene Glycol, Potassium Carbonate, Crocus Sativus Extract, Menthol, Benzyl Alcohol, Cinnamal, d-limonene, Eugenol
Notice, no Tallow anywhere in that recipe. That’s right, this is a vegan soap. And one of the things that make it unique, even for a vegan soap, is the addition of Crocus Sativus Extract, (Saffron Pistil Extract). When I saw that, I got a little skeptical, but pushed on anyways. Loading this soap is a breeze. I loaded for 30 seconds, like I always do when I use a soap base for the first time. It was probably twice as long as necessary. The soap takes a medium amount of water to reach a decent consistency. I’ll have to play around with the soap some more to see how much water it can actually take without breaking. Once you get the soap on the face, the menthol really is hard to detect, but as you go through the shave, the cooling sensation builds with each subsequent pass. The menthol smell is undetectable, so all you get, from a scent perspective, is the coconut and banana. The scent strength grows to about a 2.5/5 and stays there through the entire shave.
As far as performance measures in the shave, the cushion, slickness and moisturizing are all very good, just short of excellent. The residual slickness is a little lacking, which is normal for this type of soap in my experience. Stability is very nice, with no noted breakdown after 20 minutes of being left standing. This is all after one shave, so these scores are likely to increase with subsequent uses.
Here are the scores (as always, strength of scent and preference aren’t included since they’re so subjective):
Lathering: 10/10
Cushion: 8.5/10
Slickness: 8/10
Moisturizing: 8/10
Residual Slickness: 7/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 46.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Stirling Soaps (48/55)
Chiseled Face Groomatorium (47/55)
Proraso Single Blade (47/55)
Victory Shave Soap (47/55)
Mike’s Natural Soaps (46/55)
Soap Commander (46/55)
Haslinger Schafmilch (45/55)
Conclusion: This is a good soap, but for me not an elite performer. If pegged to place it into a tiered system, I would put it tier 2 box 5. It does have potential to move up into tier one, but I’m not expecting the residual slickness to get much better than I experienced today. The cushion, primary slickness however could improve quite dramatically with continued use. The scent is quite pleasant, and is something that is perfect on a hot day. The coconut and banana give a great tropical feel, while the menthol gives the right amount of cooling to make it perfectly refreshing, not too strong. The cost is a little on the expensive side, though you do get 5 oz of soap for the price. The cost per oz. is a little over $5 an oz, and from a performance standpoint, it really doesn’t perform like a $5+ soap. However, if you’re intrigued by the scent, this soap performs well enough to make it a worthwhile purchase. It’s in pretty good company for soaps that perform about as well, with Mikes, Victory Shave Soap, Proraso Single Edge, and Haslinger Schafmilch.
https://youtu.be/OwgQDjGGhV0
Ingredients are listed on the bottom label, and they are: Stearic Acid, Aqua, Cocos Nucifera Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Parfum, Propylene Glycol, Potassium Carbonate, Crocus Sativus Extract, Menthol, Benzyl Alcohol, Cinnamal, d-limonene, Eugenol
Notice, no Tallow anywhere in that recipe. That’s right, this is a vegan soap. And one of the things that make it unique, even for a vegan soap, is the addition of Crocus Sativus Extract, (Saffron Pistil Extract). When I saw that, I got a little skeptical, but pushed on anyways. Loading this soap is a breeze. I loaded for 30 seconds, like I always do when I use a soap base for the first time. It was probably twice as long as necessary. The soap takes a medium amount of water to reach a decent consistency. I’ll have to play around with the soap some more to see how much water it can actually take without breaking. Once you get the soap on the face, the menthol really is hard to detect, but as you go through the shave, the cooling sensation builds with each subsequent pass. The menthol smell is undetectable, so all you get, from a scent perspective, is the coconut and banana. The scent strength grows to about a 2.5/5 and stays there through the entire shave.
As far as performance measures in the shave, the cushion, slickness and moisturizing are all very good, just short of excellent. The residual slickness is a little lacking, which is normal for this type of soap in my experience. Stability is very nice, with no noted breakdown after 20 minutes of being left standing. This is all after one shave, so these scores are likely to increase with subsequent uses.
Here are the scores (as always, strength of scent and preference aren’t included since they’re so subjective):
Lathering: 10/10
Cushion: 8.5/10
Slickness: 8/10
Moisturizing: 8/10
Residual Slickness: 7/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 46.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Stirling Soaps (48/55)
Chiseled Face Groomatorium (47/55)
Proraso Single Blade (47/55)
Victory Shave Soap (47/55)
Mike’s Natural Soaps (46/55)
Soap Commander (46/55)
Haslinger Schafmilch (45/55)
Conclusion: This is a good soap, but for me not an elite performer. If pegged to place it into a tiered system, I would put it tier 2 box 5. It does have potential to move up into tier one, but I’m not expecting the residual slickness to get much better than I experienced today. The cushion, primary slickness however could improve quite dramatically with continued use. The scent is quite pleasant, and is something that is perfect on a hot day. The coconut and banana give a great tropical feel, while the menthol gives the right amount of cooling to make it perfectly refreshing, not too strong. The cost is a little on the expensive side, though you do get 5 oz of soap for the price. The cost per oz. is a little over $5 an oz, and from a performance standpoint, it really doesn’t perform like a $5+ soap. However, if you’re intrigued by the scent, this soap performs well enough to make it a worthwhile purchase. It’s in pretty good company for soaps that perform about as well, with Mikes, Victory Shave Soap, Proraso Single Edge, and Haslinger Schafmilch.
https://youtu.be/OwgQDjGGhV0
