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What's your most expensive shaving soap and was it worth it?

Luecke3262

Luecke3262

“I am the Grail Razor Hunter”
Hobbyist
I am in the process of hunting for a very rare shaving soap. Yardley Black Label shaving soap to be specific. It was discontinued many years ago and there is very little remaining stock by comparison to most vintage shaving soap brands. It came up today on a sales site with a buy it now of $275.00! This is the first one I've seen come for sale in the 6 months which I've been hunting it. It got me thinking! NO SOAP IS WORTH $275.00, or is it?

What is your most expensive shaving soap? Was it worth the price?

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I look at it this way - for anything in our hobby (or most hobbies) - if you are looking strictly from a cost of materials perspective - then it would be hard to justify the cost. Stainless Steel really isn’t an expensive metal for razors - yet they command $100+ and I’ve seen prices above $1000, brushes are either wood or arcylic with either animal hair or synthetic - they can go over $500, soaps are just a fatty acid, lye, water, and sometimes fragrance - materials probably under $10 - yet you’ve listed a high price here.

But, if you look at the effort that goes into the construction or development, the history, the artistry, and the rarity of things - these are in may ways art. If they bring you joy then they are worth it.

My two most expensive soaps were around the $40-$45 mark - a CBL Orion Soap and an Ethos Grooming. To me they are very much worth it. If you look at the competitors of these soaps - some are going for $300 - yet CBL and Ethos have all natural ingredients, absolutely fantastic scents, and are great for your skin. For me - on soaps and AS, I value scent first, the ingredients - followed by label, latherability, and overalll performance last (I know that sounds weird - but I feel I have enough experience that I can adjust a bad performing soap or AS and make it decent with preshave or or post shave products. It is the scent that gives me the most happiness.

For CBL and Ethos - they check all the boxes - so the $40/$45 is a steal IMO.

I think in your case, the rarity of it all combined with the historic nature of the product, tethered with the fact that even the container it probably a collectors item - if it brings you happiness and you have the $$ - then it is worth it.
 
Sell like 2 or 3 straight razors and you've paid for it, right? $275 seems like a lot for a soap, but would you trade 3 straight razors for it????
 
I have tried one of the very expensive soaps currently out there, and would have personally be disappointed if I had spend the muliti-hundred dollar price tag.

Otherwise most of my soaps are less than $30, as I am not sure how you could beat most of them by simply costing more.
 
Spider said:
Sell like 2 or 3 straight razors and you've paid for it, right? $275 seems like a lot for a soap, but would you trade 3 straight razors for it????
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For this one, 275 would be a big stretch, buy you are absolutely right! I need to sell 2-3 razors to pay for it and anything else I want to buy!
 
Personally, the most expensive soaps I own are Martin De Candre which run somewhere around ~$50-60. Personally, I think MDC was a win because of the longevity and quality, which equates to a fantastic value for that soap. I have a bunch of vintage soaps that would likely go for more, but I do not have any single soap that I've purchased out of the $60 range(in fact, I think all my MDC was picked up on trades).
 
I own several vintage Yardley (I might even have a black label one, but not in that bowl) and I LOVE the soap, but I doubt I would pull the trigger on a $200+ bowl. I am pretty sure the most expensive purchase I made was Panna Crema in the ceramic bowl, but I know I have paid a pretty penny for a like new vintage Williams in currier and ives bowl. For me, that purchase was a collectors purchase because I already had a bowl I was lathering from. In my opinion vintage soaps are a great purchase provided you are willing to accept the soap won't smell like it was intended to. I find many vintage soaps still have an awesome "old soap" scent but many have no scent to speak of.
I have several jars of MDC but I didn't pay full price for them. Had I paid the full rate I probably would have stayed with just one jar, it just isn't SO great it warrants multiple purchases at full price. I agree, over $60 is a big hurdle to cross. I just don't think any soap is capable of bringing me so much joy that I would pay $60, $100 or more for it.
 
I have two containers of Acca Kappa Barbershop soap. They were $31.71 but for 250ml. I think that makes them about double the price of two of my other soaps... and about 20% more than the other one, but hardly what I'd call "expensive".

I can't imagine paying $275 for a container of soap.... you would be half way to the price of some of the very top end safety razors. But value is in the eyes of the purchaser.

I once paid $175 for a Belknap 16 ounce hammer... NOS. Similar situation.
 
Luecke3262 said:
Martin De Candre which run somewhere around ~$50-60. Personally, I think MDC was a win because of the longevity
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That's a whole other issue there.... value vs. cost. A $60 tub of MdC could last a year (or more) of daily use. Whereas a $30 tub of softer artisan soap may only last 30-60 days. So MdC is only $60 per year, and the other artisan soap is $180 - $360 per year!

So where does this Yardley soap fall into that scheme? How long will a puck of vintage soap last? Usually much longer than modern artisan soaps for sure.
 
If I pay the “big bucks” for stuff (comparatively speaking, depending on the item) I expect a lot more out of it over comparable but lower priced items. Quality of materials, dependability, usage life, experience, etc.

I try to avoid purely collector or hype purchases unless the product has proven itself in its extra benefits, as the cost is usually blown out of proportion to what one actually receives. Not saying I’m always successful, but I try. 😂
 
Spider said:
That's a whole other issue there.... value vs. cost. A $60 tub of MdC could last a year (or more) of daily use. Whereas a $30 tub of softer artisan soap may only last 30-60 days. So MdC is only $60 per year, and the other artisan soap is $180 - $360 per year!

So where does this Yardley soap fall into that scheme? How long will a puck of vintage soap last? Usually much longer than modern artisan soaps for sure.
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That's a darn good point you make there KJ! You are definitely right, MDC is likely a year worth of shaves where as buying B&B, A&E, C&C, Etc.. could cost much more and would only last about a 1/10th as long!

I think that Yardley Black Label would likely last around 5-6 months or more, but I feel like a purchase such as this would be more of an emotional want than a functional need(funny I bring that into this hobby lol). I think it would be hard to imagine Yardley Black Label to be a better performer than original Yardley. This is kind of like buying certain artisan's overly priced soap(the highest in the market) and expecting it to be the best ever made, but finding it to be subpar or standard. I'd hate to drop that kind of cash, to then be letdown by marketing and overhype. I will say that Yardley original has definitely kept up with all the hype. Black label cannot be $235 better and a $40-45 eBay Yardley bowl.

The Yardley puck I've been working on for the last 5 months has been used for at least 100 shaves and will likely last another 70-100. I wonder what your assessment would be as to its longevity?
 
GearNoir said:
If I pay the “big bucks” for stuff (comparatively speaking, depending on the item) I expect a lot more out of it over comparable but lower priced items. Quality of materials, dependability, usage life, experience, etc.

I try to avoid purely collector or hype purchases unless the product has proven itself in its extra benefits, as the cost is usually blown out of proportion to what one actually receives. Not saying I’m always successful, but I try. 😂
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Funny, I wrote what I wrote at the same time as you! Basically the same!
 
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