Sometime last year, Dave (Xenostr8shaver), found a new artisan soap maker out of Cheyenne, Wyoming called Victory Shaving Company. It’s a veteran owned operation, and they’re all about celebrating military nostalgia from yesteryear and the Greatest Generation. With that being said, their containers and labels feature pin-up art and overall motifs from World War II. Containers are 4oz. screw-top tins, the same as Wet Shaving Products. Labels are waterproof on top and bottom, with no side labeling.
This is a vegan soap, which normally wouldn’t be an issue. However, for those that are extremely interested in soap ingredients, they will be nervous about how high in the ingredient list olive oil is. Normally, this is a lather killer, and soaps with this as one of the ingredients have a hard time lathering. Fortunately, there are no worries here. This soap lathers up wonderfully. In case you were wondering, here is the ingredient list:
Hydrogenated Soybean Oil (Soy Wax), Water, Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Olive Oil, Castor Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Kokum Butter, Shea Butter, Fragrance, Kaolin Clay, Bentonite Clay
So Champaign Lady is a scent that is very simple in its composition, only being made up of Lemon, Lavender, and Menthol. For me, this creates a very nostalgic scent; one that harkens back to my childhood going to the local county fair. I would go and get a pink lemonade at the Dell’s Fresh Squeezed Lemonade stand and watch as they juiced lemons right in front of me, and added some pink colored sugar to the lemon juice and water to create what is to this day, the best lemonade I’ve ever had. That’s what this reminds me of…definitely a great memory. Strength of scent off of the puck is about a 2/5 and it doesn’t really grow all that much once lathered. I kind of wish this were a bit stronger, but I’m honestly not sure that it wouldn’t become cloying or unpleasant if it were.
Since this is a harder soap, almost triple milled hard, today, I loaded for anywhere between 30-45 seconds and had enough soap for about 2 shaves. Because the tin is filled to the brim, if you load out of it, you will get proto-lather everywhere. The water band on this soap is mid-range. It can take some water, but you can tell that if given too much, break down will occur very quickly. The lather has a cool-whip consistency, (original cool-whip, not the extra-creamy variety that everyone buys now a days), and provides pretty good cushion. Slickness is where this soap shines, however, almost maxing out the score there. Post shave feel and residual slickness are decent, but not phenomenal, and you shouldn’t have to worry about the soap breaking down unless you bring it too far with hydration.
Here are the scores (as always, strength of scent and preference aren’t included since they’re so subjective):
Lathering: 8.5/10
Cushion: 9/10
Slickness: 9.5/10
Moisturizing: 8.5/10
Residual Slickness: 8/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 48.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Wholly Kaw (regular tallow) (49/55)
Oleo Soapworks (48.5/55)
Stirling Soaps (48/55)
Long Rifle Soaps (48/55)
Saponificio Varesino beta 4.2 (47/55)
Chiseled Face Groomatorium (47/55)
Conclusion: This is a fun soap, from a scent perspective, and for me, extremely nostalgic. This is why it’s listed in my top 15 soap scents. It’s marginally better than Stirling, but that’s on aggregate. The in shave slickness is great, but not quite elite level, while everything else I would say is average. The packaging is nice for what it is, harkening back to military lore. The art designs on the labels are particularly striking, and fun. (This soap in particular has Morse code around the outside. No, I don’t know what it says) At $13 for a tin of soap, you’re paying $3.25 an oz for a hard soap that will presumably last quite a while. That’s a great value, as I can see one of these tins giving up anywhere from 90-130 shaves very easily. Shipping was pretty fast as well, so the vendor definitely takes care of his customers. The soap is worth a look, and if you have the means, pick up a puck or more, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy what you get out of it.
https://youtu.be/1oyhh1r-5o8
This is a vegan soap, which normally wouldn’t be an issue. However, for those that are extremely interested in soap ingredients, they will be nervous about how high in the ingredient list olive oil is. Normally, this is a lather killer, and soaps with this as one of the ingredients have a hard time lathering. Fortunately, there are no worries here. This soap lathers up wonderfully. In case you were wondering, here is the ingredient list:
Hydrogenated Soybean Oil (Soy Wax), Water, Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Olive Oil, Castor Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Kokum Butter, Shea Butter, Fragrance, Kaolin Clay, Bentonite Clay
So Champaign Lady is a scent that is very simple in its composition, only being made up of Lemon, Lavender, and Menthol. For me, this creates a very nostalgic scent; one that harkens back to my childhood going to the local county fair. I would go and get a pink lemonade at the Dell’s Fresh Squeezed Lemonade stand and watch as they juiced lemons right in front of me, and added some pink colored sugar to the lemon juice and water to create what is to this day, the best lemonade I’ve ever had. That’s what this reminds me of…definitely a great memory. Strength of scent off of the puck is about a 2/5 and it doesn’t really grow all that much once lathered. I kind of wish this were a bit stronger, but I’m honestly not sure that it wouldn’t become cloying or unpleasant if it were.
Since this is a harder soap, almost triple milled hard, today, I loaded for anywhere between 30-45 seconds and had enough soap for about 2 shaves. Because the tin is filled to the brim, if you load out of it, you will get proto-lather everywhere. The water band on this soap is mid-range. It can take some water, but you can tell that if given too much, break down will occur very quickly. The lather has a cool-whip consistency, (original cool-whip, not the extra-creamy variety that everyone buys now a days), and provides pretty good cushion. Slickness is where this soap shines, however, almost maxing out the score there. Post shave feel and residual slickness are decent, but not phenomenal, and you shouldn’t have to worry about the soap breaking down unless you bring it too far with hydration.
Here are the scores (as always, strength of scent and preference aren’t included since they’re so subjective):
Lathering: 8.5/10
Cushion: 9/10
Slickness: 9.5/10
Moisturizing: 8.5/10
Residual Slickness: 8/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 48.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Wholly Kaw (regular tallow) (49/55)
Oleo Soapworks (48.5/55)
Stirling Soaps (48/55)
Long Rifle Soaps (48/55)
Saponificio Varesino beta 4.2 (47/55)
Chiseled Face Groomatorium (47/55)
Conclusion: This is a fun soap, from a scent perspective, and for me, extremely nostalgic. This is why it’s listed in my top 15 soap scents. It’s marginally better than Stirling, but that’s on aggregate. The in shave slickness is great, but not quite elite level, while everything else I would say is average. The packaging is nice for what it is, harkening back to military lore. The art designs on the labels are particularly striking, and fun. (This soap in particular has Morse code around the outside. No, I don’t know what it says) At $13 for a tin of soap, you’re paying $3.25 an oz for a hard soap that will presumably last quite a while. That’s a great value, as I can see one of these tins giving up anywhere from 90-130 shaves very easily. Shipping was pretty fast as well, so the vendor definitely takes care of his customers. The soap is worth a look, and if you have the means, pick up a puck or more, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy what you get out of it.
https://youtu.be/1oyhh1r-5o8
