Welcome to July, everyone! This is by far my favorite month of the year, and I’m kicking it off with an homage to a favorite past-time of mine, poker. I saw this on the Wild West Shaving Company’s website, and even though I was a little skeptical of the scent profile on this, I decided it was a must have. Aces & Eights…the dead man’s, so named because it was the hand held by Wild Bill Hickok when he was shot. Packaging for WWSC is something I’ve gone over in the past, so I’m not going to beat a dead horse. I’ll just say I am not the biggest fan. But everything else about this company’s soaps are absolutely awesome. This soap base is an extremely high performer, and they do it with a very minimal soap base, very reminiscent of soaps such as MdC and WSP Rustic.
Speaking of the sparse ingredient list, here it is: Tallow, Stearic Acid, Water, Glycerin, Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Bentonite Clay, Sodium Borate
The scent off of the tub is middling, I would say right around a 2.5/5 and stays there once lathered, maybe increasing to a 3/5. The scent notes are pretty straight forward and come through off of the tub and only evolve slightly once lathered. Bourbon, Vanilla, and Lavender play off of each other very well, with the spiciness of the bourbon toning down the sweetness of the vanilla and the lavender keeping both of them from getting too punchy. I can’t say it’s my favorite scent, from a preference standpoint as I’m not a brown liquor fan. But the overall feel of this scent is quite nice.
Performance is elite. As I’ve stated before, if the packaging wasn’t like it was, this would be just as good if not better a soap as Wholly Kaw’s donkey milk formulation. Great cushion, slickness, moisturizing properties, and residual slickness just lead to a good, smooth shave. The soap will protect you from the blade very well, which is what we look for. With the wide array of soaps in their arsenal, there should be something in there for everyone.
Here are the scores for the soap base, keeping in mind that SoS and scent preference aren’t scored since they are purely subjective:
Lathering: 7/10
Cushion: 9.5/10
Slickness: 9.5/10
Moisturizing: 9.5/10
Residual Slickness: 10/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 50.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Martin de Candre (51/55)
Lisa’s Natural Herbal Creations Special Premium Base (51/55)
WSP Formula T (51/55)
Eufros (51/55)
Saponificio Varesino Beta 4.3 (50/55)
Mystic Water (49.5/55)
Barrister & Mann Glissant (49/55)
Conclusion: From a performance standpoint, there aren’t that many soaps out there that are better than WWSC. The only thing holding it back for me, is the packaging. If you’re a scoop and smear bowl latherer, this is completely a non-issue. This soap is a phenomenally good performer, and with such a small ingredient list, a lot is done with quite a little. The scent on this is not completely up my alley, as I’m not a huge bourbon fan, but the vanilla and lavender really tone down the spices of the brown liquor. Price point to performance, there is very little to knock this soap at all and I can’t help but recommend it to those looking for a great soap to add to their den, especially if you see a scent which tickles your fancy. The likelihood of that happening is pretty high, as they have quite a few different scent choices on their website.
https://youtu.be/EbvR030m_oA
Speaking of the sparse ingredient list, here it is: Tallow, Stearic Acid, Water, Glycerin, Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Bentonite Clay, Sodium Borate
The scent off of the tub is middling, I would say right around a 2.5/5 and stays there once lathered, maybe increasing to a 3/5. The scent notes are pretty straight forward and come through off of the tub and only evolve slightly once lathered. Bourbon, Vanilla, and Lavender play off of each other very well, with the spiciness of the bourbon toning down the sweetness of the vanilla and the lavender keeping both of them from getting too punchy. I can’t say it’s my favorite scent, from a preference standpoint as I’m not a brown liquor fan. But the overall feel of this scent is quite nice.
Performance is elite. As I’ve stated before, if the packaging wasn’t like it was, this would be just as good if not better a soap as Wholly Kaw’s donkey milk formulation. Great cushion, slickness, moisturizing properties, and residual slickness just lead to a good, smooth shave. The soap will protect you from the blade very well, which is what we look for. With the wide array of soaps in their arsenal, there should be something in there for everyone.
Here are the scores for the soap base, keeping in mind that SoS and scent preference aren’t scored since they are purely subjective:
Lathering: 7/10
Cushion: 9.5/10
Slickness: 9.5/10
Moisturizing: 9.5/10
Residual Slickness: 10/10
Stability: 5/5
Total: 50.5/55
Comparable soap bases from a performance standpoint:
Martin de Candre (51/55)
Lisa’s Natural Herbal Creations Special Premium Base (51/55)
WSP Formula T (51/55)
Eufros (51/55)
Saponificio Varesino Beta 4.3 (50/55)
Mystic Water (49.5/55)
Barrister & Mann Glissant (49/55)
Conclusion: From a performance standpoint, there aren’t that many soaps out there that are better than WWSC. The only thing holding it back for me, is the packaging. If you’re a scoop and smear bowl latherer, this is completely a non-issue. This soap is a phenomenally good performer, and with such a small ingredient list, a lot is done with quite a little. The scent on this is not completely up my alley, as I’m not a huge bourbon fan, but the vanilla and lavender really tone down the spices of the brown liquor. Price point to performance, there is very little to knock this soap at all and I can’t help but recommend it to those looking for a great soap to add to their den, especially if you see a scent which tickles your fancy. The likelihood of that happening is pretty high, as they have quite a few different scent choices on their website.
https://youtu.be/EbvR030m_oA
