Houston, TX soapmaker Noble Otter has gained steam among the wet-shaving community in the past 5 months, and is currently considered one of the artisans producing some of the most well rounded shaving soaps. They have seven scents (one of these unscented), so there should be something available for everyone. Barrbarr is their take on a barbershop scent. Packaging, as it is for the other two soaps I’ve tried from them, is top notch. Labels are waterproof on the top and side walls of the tub, in a matte finish. Each different scent has a different color and pattern scheme. This is a red, white and blue checkered pattern. Scent of the tub is about a 2/5, and once lathered blooms to about a 3.5/5. The scent profile, for a barbershop is somewhat unique, living somewhere between the aromatic florals of American Blend and WSP’s Barbershop and the sweeter powder smell of Stirling and Mystic Water, with a tendency towards the sweet. The notes for Barrbarr, as listed are:
Lemon, Rosemary, Basil, Oakmoss, Sandlewood, Patchouli
The soap loads ridiculously easy and lather is easy to come by. Adjustments to the lather, to develop your desired consistency, is fairly simple and the soap displays a somewhat wide water band. This is a soap full of skin food for your face with ingredients such as coconut milk, aloe vera, lanolin, bentonite clay and tussah silk. Here’s the full list below:
Stearic Acid, Beef Tallow, Coconut milk, Aloe Vera, Glycerine, Potassium Hydroxide, Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil, Lanolin, Tucuma Seed Butter, Kokum Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Bentonite Clay, Tocopheral Acetate, Citric Acid, Watermelon Extract, White Willow Bark Extract, Tussah Silk
It's a fairly extensive list, but much of that is the skin food that provides a superior moisturizing post-shave feel to the soap, and from what I can tell, doesn’t affect the soap lather in a negative way. Lather consistency is that of sour cream when thick and a loose yogurt when more water is added. Cushion and slickness are almost as good as it gets, while the only thing that isn’t close to perfect is the residual slickness, and that is still better than 95% of the soaps out there.
Here are the scores for Barrbarr. Strength of scent and scent preference are not included as they are too subjective to include in these metrics.
Lathering: 10/10
Cushion: 9.5/10
Slickness: 9.5/10
Moisturizing: 9.5/10
Residual Slickness: 9/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 52.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Declaration Grooming Bison Tallow (54.5/55)
Ariana & Evans Goat Milk (54/55)
Wholly Kaw Donkey Milk (53/55)
WSP Formula T (51/55)
Martin de Candre (51/55)
Eufros Tallow (51/55)
Conclusion: This is a very nice, albeit somewhat safe, scent offering from Noble Otter. Their take on the barbershop genre tries to straddle the line between the two most popular types, and is almost successful in the attempt. This isn’t to say it’s not enjoyable…far from it. This is a very nice scent, but it’s not one that is going to make people jump out of their seats for it. Performance on the other hand, is absolutely top notch. Because it’s not maxing out more than one field, it’s remaining just below an elite level soap base. But saying that, only Wholly Kaw’s Donkey Milk and Hops Extract, Ariana & Evans Goat Milk, Declaration Grooming’s Bison Tallow and Project Icarus are better performers. Price wise, this runs for $16 a tub from their website, so $4 per oz…priced well below all but Ariana & Evans if you’re a VIP member, and less expensive if you’re not. That arguably makes it one of the, if not THE, best value soaps on the market for performance. If you’re a big fan of the barbershop type scents, this would be worthwhile to pick up because it’s not exactly like any other barbershop out there…but it holds the DNA of a couple of different types. The bonus to this is that it will pair well with fragrances and aftershaves from either. All in all, a very nice and worthwhile addition.
https://youtu.be/EWLTUVcZYVs
Lemon, Rosemary, Basil, Oakmoss, Sandlewood, Patchouli
The soap loads ridiculously easy and lather is easy to come by. Adjustments to the lather, to develop your desired consistency, is fairly simple and the soap displays a somewhat wide water band. This is a soap full of skin food for your face with ingredients such as coconut milk, aloe vera, lanolin, bentonite clay and tussah silk. Here’s the full list below:
Stearic Acid, Beef Tallow, Coconut milk, Aloe Vera, Glycerine, Potassium Hydroxide, Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil, Lanolin, Tucuma Seed Butter, Kokum Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Bentonite Clay, Tocopheral Acetate, Citric Acid, Watermelon Extract, White Willow Bark Extract, Tussah Silk
It's a fairly extensive list, but much of that is the skin food that provides a superior moisturizing post-shave feel to the soap, and from what I can tell, doesn’t affect the soap lather in a negative way. Lather consistency is that of sour cream when thick and a loose yogurt when more water is added. Cushion and slickness are almost as good as it gets, while the only thing that isn’t close to perfect is the residual slickness, and that is still better than 95% of the soaps out there.
Here are the scores for Barrbarr. Strength of scent and scent preference are not included as they are too subjective to include in these metrics.
Lathering: 10/10
Cushion: 9.5/10
Slickness: 9.5/10
Moisturizing: 9.5/10
Residual Slickness: 9/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 52.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Declaration Grooming Bison Tallow (54.5/55)
Ariana & Evans Goat Milk (54/55)
Wholly Kaw Donkey Milk (53/55)
WSP Formula T (51/55)
Martin de Candre (51/55)
Eufros Tallow (51/55)
Conclusion: This is a very nice, albeit somewhat safe, scent offering from Noble Otter. Their take on the barbershop genre tries to straddle the line between the two most popular types, and is almost successful in the attempt. This isn’t to say it’s not enjoyable…far from it. This is a very nice scent, but it’s not one that is going to make people jump out of their seats for it. Performance on the other hand, is absolutely top notch. Because it’s not maxing out more than one field, it’s remaining just below an elite level soap base. But saying that, only Wholly Kaw’s Donkey Milk and Hops Extract, Ariana & Evans Goat Milk, Declaration Grooming’s Bison Tallow and Project Icarus are better performers. Price wise, this runs for $16 a tub from their website, so $4 per oz…priced well below all but Ariana & Evans if you’re a VIP member, and less expensive if you’re not. That arguably makes it one of the, if not THE, best value soaps on the market for performance. If you’re a big fan of the barbershop type scents, this would be worthwhile to pick up because it’s not exactly like any other barbershop out there…but it holds the DNA of a couple of different types. The bonus to this is that it will pair well with fragrances and aftershaves from either. All in all, a very nice and worthwhile addition.
https://youtu.be/EWLTUVcZYVs
