Stirling Soap Company

Bummer, slight warning bells going off for me as I chose three of your seven myself. Well am sure your current state isn't making the smell any better so pethaps best to leave your thoughts till tomorrow.

Love to hear how you feel they come across.
 
OK @filobiblic was right. Last night i separated all the samples, they are very strong scents - and being transported together in small box for 2.5 weeks + the point i received them on a 38deg day in Adelaide was probably not helping the situation.

The "Texas on Fire" scent is strong and overpowered many others, to be honest it’s not the most pleasant scent either.


So this morning i loaded up and as i always do i overloaded the brush. I needed to load for probably double the amount of time i usually do, it’s a slow loader. Then moving in to the face lather, initially the lather was dissipating on my face until i could work the lather up to what im used to. I could lather it up to a awesome lather but again it also takes a bit more time than im used to.

The shave is slick, perhaps "not" as slick as other artisan soaps I had used. Strange as i thought this soap was known for its superior slickness?

The post shave is great, the scent is stronger than many others and it definitely is not a ; how do i say this... the scents are not a sophisticated classy scent, but it is not anywhere near as bad as originally thought. It’s also the first soap i have used that i can smell over my AS balms.


So finishing sentence would be its a good soap. But if this is comparable to Mikes, i will be disappointed when my Mikes order comes in as i have really high hopes of that being the best of the best.
 
Yes, the ToF soap had alarm bells ringing for me - I saw a Youtube review of it and they generally say nothing but good things but were very mixed/hesitant about the scent. Disappointing that the others aren't to a refined scent level either as I get what you say about the cologny-overpowering aspect and that can be quite offputting.

Slickness is a trait they seem to get accolades for so thats very much a surprise. They do have a rep as being slightly tricky/labour intensive to lather, @alfredus will I'm sure have a sure fire technique down for them - perhaps they're a tad more thirsty than other being tallow based?

Sorry to hear that they've been a bit of a 'so-so' product for you thus far - I'm waiting on word from Stirling about when they're anticipating dispatching my order, which was made on 01JAN but as of today has still not been dispatched (reason I'm concerned is it might cut it fine with the credit expiring at the freight forwarder).

Mike's is very, very good on every level - slickness, post-shave, lather cushion, scent, lack of irritation and value. Forgive me for asking if you've posted it elsewhere but what did you order?
 
I got the mikes barbershop and I think it was orange black pepper with something else lol.

Stirling was a slick lather, buy not as slick as others I have recently tried such as HTGAM, shaver heaven and razorock. Not a long way behind, but noticeable.

It's only my first shave experience so I may still need to dial it in a bit more too.
 
I just remembered I did a hand lather with the Stirling last night also and after doing the rinse and feeling the soap lathered in my hands the first thing that came to mind was that it's not as slick as I thought it would be.

Also thought I'd let you know that my samples shipped a few hours after I completed the order. So strange that 5 days later you are still waiting.
 
Yes, I emailed them a few hours ago and just got a reply apologising for the delay and saying they'd send priority post to the Illinois based forwarder, so that should leave plenty of time even allowing for their dilly dallying.

Mike's Barbershop is nice - quite soft and essential oil-ish though it's a fragrance oil scented soap. I did have to warm to it but now like it a lot. The Orange, Cedar + Pepper is a very nice soap - Orange dominates and I think he could have beefed up the midnotes withe more cedar and pepper - doesn't lather quite as good as some of his others but it's a good year around soap. Post-shave and slickness is what I find it Mike's real point of difference, even a crap lather(due to user error of course!) will still result in a very good shave. CRSW products are an absolute photo finish with him though so another option for you down the track.
 
Adam said:
So finishing sentence would be its a good soap. But if this is comparable to Mikes, i will be disappointed when my Mikes order comes in as i have really high hopes of that being the best of the best.
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Ahh, but I know that you already have arguably the best soap... I recently saw a video of you give Jabonman soap 10/10. [emoji6]
And I'll agree with you on that!

(I'm waiting on my Mike's order as well to compare. But I believe it's sitting in the Post Office waiting for me to return home...)
 
Woah, their stuff really is the cheapest i've seen for artisan soaps. How do they do it? Everyone else is about twice as expensive.

Started adding a bunch of items to the cart then noticed the shipping cost bumped up to $26...hmm gotta find a way to lower that.
 
Question said:
Woah, their stuff really is the cheapest i've seen for artisan soaps. How do they do it? Everyone else is about twice as expensive.

Started adding a bunch of items to the cart then noticed the shipping cost bumped up to $26...hmm gotta find a way to lower that.
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Not sure if it was you I flagged it with in another thread but apparently a few soaps sent via shipito.com works out very low cost - use their postage calculator to verify.

FWIW my package FINALLY shipped out from Stirling yesterday - I've no idea if it just happened to be within 24hrs of me chasing them to ask what the status of it was - HOWEVER as I'm using a freight forwarder myself I did ask them to pack as physically small as possible - and they were happy to do this.

So would expect they'd do the same for you if requested - that said I'd expect you could get some good stuff around here on a trade - perhaps put a WTB listing up for a few soaps.
 
Yea, i think shipito charges about $4 to mail a 150g package (roughly the same as a puck). Have emailed them to see if they can povide some dimensions or possibly fit the pucks into a USPS large envelope which is about $6, although shipito would take at least 20 days to get here unfortunately.

Good idea on the WTB listing, will post one up.
 
Question said:
Yea, i think shipito charges about $4 to mail a 150g package (roughly the same as a puck). Have emailed them to see if they can povide some dimensions or possibly fit the pucks into a USPS large envelope which is about $6, although shipito would take at least 20 days to get here unfortunately.

Good idea on the WTB listing, will post one up.
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Remember you have to factor in the $US5 domestic USA shipping from Stirling to Shipito as well.

Also can be handy to look for 'free postage/postage included sales' on US shaving forums. @Lifes a Peach is a particularly savvy shopper via those and they work out even better value if you can get the right one.

Also @Adam has just gotten a bunch of Stirling samples - alas I think he's having a rough run with them so perhaps the opportunity to figure something out with him (obviously after he's tried a few as he's only a few shaves in but not good so far) - anyway just an idea.
 
Good point about the domestic charge too.

By free postage on US sites you mean within the US right?

Also thanks for the headsup.
 
Nick the Knife said:
HOWEVER as I'm using a freight forwarder myself I did ask them to pack as physically small as possible - and they were happy to do this.
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Dimension size is no longer factor in the cost of postage using Shipito Airmail Economy. It used to be but they changed carriers and that all went away.

20 x 20 x 10 cm or 40 x 40 x 10 cm parcel weighing 2 pounds will set you back $16.45

When exceeding the Airmail parcel size and/or weight limits you are forced into using the courier option. That's when dimension sizes start to impact cost.
 
That is VERY low pricing and good to hear that the dimensions/volume side is less/not a factor.

You do realise this is very dangerous info for a lot of member's finances/relationships/storage cabinets as the high US freight costs were always such and obstacle.....so you've smashed that and CONUS only sales in the one fell swoop!
 
Nick the Knife said:
That is VERY low pricing and good to hear that the dimensions/volume side is less/not a factor.

You do realise this is very dangerous info for a lot of member's finances/relationships/storage cabinets as the high US freight costs were always such and obstacle.....so you've smashed that and CONUS only sales in the one fell swoop!
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Now for a way to get aftershaves from overseas... Hmmmmm....
 
Lifes a Peach said:
Dimension size is no longer factor in the cost of postage using Shipito Airmail Economy. It used to be but they changed carriers and that all went away.

20 x 20 x 10 cm or 40 x 40 x 10 cm parcel weighing 2 pounds will set you back $16.45

When exceeding the Airmail parcel size and/or weight limits you are forced into using the courier option. That's when dimension sizes start to impact cost.
Click to expand...

Oh good, then we don't have to tell merchants to repack them as long as they fit in the min dimensions.
 
Hmmmmmmm well I've got to say I'm unfortunately a bit concerned about my order from Stirling and would welcome feedback from anyone who's ordered from them on whether they've received underweighted items.

However I've received two different messages from both the freight forwarders and their logistics company both stating my Stirling shipment's weight. The first time I thought it an anomoly however the 2nd time( which is a separate company and different weighing) I found it very odd/concerning - as the weight of the shipment was nearly 40% below the absolute minimum I'd anticipated.

Both companies have separately weighed the shipment and advised it is 1.680 lbs. So thats 762g in total! Now thats the 8 full sized pucks of soap, packaging, paperwork any samples (as look I don't mean to be rude/presumptious BUT if I drop $USD70 I'd think they could toss in a sample or two - as I know most other orders seem to have gotten these!). So lets just say there's 750g in pure soap in my order allowing a tiny 12g for all that other stuff.

The eight full sized pucks I'd ordered, which are sold at ~4.7oz would alone have a weight of 37.6oz or 1066g.

Stirling very openly sell on the value of their product's size vs price and say it's approx. 4.7oz (133g) per puck AFTER CURING (soaps lose water content whilst curing - so they will start out ABOVE 133g and then settle at approx that).

So based on the numbers I've been given the average weight of each of the eight pucks in my 750g of soap order is .............. 3.3oz (93g)!?!? Big, BIG difference and this is across 8 soaps so it's not like I'm making a concern out of one soap being a tad light - this is a huge difference. They are closer on average to their 2oz sample sizes than the 4.7 full sizes I paid for!

Like I said the first time I got told the weight I thought, it's a mistake couldn't be that far under - but then the 2nd time I was like WTF! I've already messaged Stirling to say I'm sure it's a mistake but I just wanted to flag this concern with you and wondering if anything could explain it. I know that apparently all the 8 items were in the shipment - as the forwarder checked this to make sure I wasn't gibbing them - so I'm kind of at a loss to explain it and am HOPING for a freight forwarder who can't use a pair of scales as I am sure Stirling Soap wouldn't/couldn't have made such a mistake.

Haha and to make thing better the freight forwarder seems to be using gawd knows what as it's made next to no progress to me yet so prolly ~2weeks away from arriving.
 
Why not wait until it arrives? It seems like a lot of potentially mis-placed worry. IMHO it's no use making noise until you can physically confirm. These companies rely a lot on happy customers and so would assist where they can. But you don't have hard evidence at yet so what can you or they do? Rod's always been generous and helpful in my dealings with him.
 
They may have thoughtfully used helium filled bubble wrap to make the postage cheaper for you.
 
Yea I can confirm that on my samples there was a noticeable difference in size. I didn't go to the extent of weighing them as tbh I didn't rate them that much. I sent a unopened sample puck of Texas on fire to @Question and this sample was 1/3 bigger than any of the other samples received.

I think on the site it says the samples are 1/4 of a full size puck and I remember thinking the pucks can't be as big as they look on the websites pictures.

But then again they threw in a sample of something else also so it probably made up for any shortfalls.
 
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