Review LEA Classic Shaving Soap

nav1

Active Member from afar
2018 Sabbatical Fail
Joined
Aug 23, 2012
I ordered 2 pucks of the LEA Classic soap a couple of months ago and first few lathers were a disaster! Very thin and a bit foamy. Shave was below average! The scent was amazing and subtle menthol was a delight on the final cold water rinse. These two factors kept me going and after a few uses, I realised it's one of those soaps that doesn't produce thick proto-lather but actually fairly thin foam which needs to be worked on the face until it thickens.
Once I dialled it in, I fell in love with it! I shot up to being tied at #1 with MWF (something which hasn't happened since I first used MWF in 2009!).
The lather is thick, slick and softens the tough beard extremely well. Many soaps out there produce fantastic, thick, yoghurt like lather but fail to really soften the stubble. The LEA Classic soap does it extremely well.
The post shave feel rivals MWF and this is the only soap out of the ~50 I've used over the last 8 years to do this! The soap is so packed with skin caring goodies, it's really no surprise how well it conditions the skin and leaves it supple and looking very healthy (to the point where others have commented!)
My advice with this soap is to leave the brush (I only use boar) a bit wet (not dripping, just shake it well but don't squeeze the brush) and load heavily. It'll produce a lot of foam, it's all good, add it all to your brush and face lather and just watch it thicken up and glisten in the light! Add a bit of water as needed but be careful with how much you add.
For me, the soap excels in each and every aspect of shaving soap and I love it so much, I placed an order for 13 more pucks to round out my supply to 15 (this is more than my MWF stash, which I would never have thought would ever happen!).
 
It's amazing how some of these cheaper soaps can be as good as, if not better than, much more expensive soaps isn't it?

I still highly rate the La Toja, and Speick shave sticks (even though they have no menthol)

How much soap do you think you will need to get you through the Shaveocalypse? From what you've said there I reckon you must have at least 10 MWF, + 15 Lea, plus I know you like Speick, Stirling, and MWS soaps. You must have 30-40 at least!
 
Nice review @nav1 , I'd noted the LEA shave sticks in the past but never seriously considered ordering them as I figured they'd be very mediocre. However it seems that the co. that makes LEA improved their formulation & added this 'Classic' line to their products. Apparently it's Tallow & Coconut oil based (pretty standard stuff) but also has Lanolin (which explains why you liked it if you're an MWF boffin), Allantoin (an anti-irritant), Glycerin & Menthol. So not as sexy as the tussah silk & kokum butter used by others BUT last I checked MdC was just essentially Stearic Acid (a few dollars a kg) & Coconut oil - so it's what you do with it that counts!

Reports on the scent sound like it's subtle but positive - Sandalwood & Moss (I assume they mean Oakmoss as I've not heard of plain Moss as a scent!).

But thats a good recommendation as it's widely available and the refill pucks are ~$11-12 so very reasonably priced and I'd bet it's a very hard, long lasting soap. So well worth adding to any order where you come across it. :)
 
Great review @nav1
Where do you buy it from?
 
It's amazing how some of these cheaper soaps can be as good as, if not better than, much more expensive soaps isn't it?

I still highly rate the La Toja, and Speick shave sticks (even though they have no menthol)

How much soap do you think you will need to get you through the Shaveocalypse? From what you've said there I reckon you must have at least 10 MWF, + 15 Lea, plus I know you like Speick, Stirling, and MWS soaps. You must have 30-40 at least!

Yeah, I've never judged soaps by cost. I tried a sample of MdC and I hated it! Scent was just OK, shave was nothing special and post shave was dry skin!! If I had paid 60 bucks for a puck, I would not have been happy! Boellis was the only expensive soap I liked but couldn't use due to almond oil allergy (I think it's almond oil but not 100% confirmed).

I have 8 MWF (1Kg), 15 LEA (1.5Kg), a few Speick sticks and a small stash of Haslinger soaps (about 1Kg worth) plus the other 18 soaps in rotation. At half a gram per shave, it's about 34 years of shaving soap if I continue shaving ~350 times a year.

Nice review @nav1 , I'd noted the LEA shave sticks in the past but never seriously considered ordering them as I figured they'd be very mediocre. However it seems that the co. that makes LEA improved their formulation & added this 'Classic' line to their products. Apparently it's Tallow & Coconut oil based (pretty standard stuff) but also has Lanolin (which explains why you liked it if you're an MWF boffin), Allantoin (an anti-irritant), Glycerin & Menthol. So not as sexy as the tussah silk & kokum butter used by others BUT last I checked MdC was just essentially Stearic Acid (a few dollars a kg) & Coconut oil - so it's what you do with it that counts!

Reports on the scent sound like it's subtle but positive - Sandalwood & Moss (I assume they mean Oakmoss as I've not heard of plain Moss as a scent!).

But thats a good recommendation as it's widely available and the refill pucks are ~$11-12 so very reasonably priced and I'd bet it's a very hard, long lasting soap. So well worth adding to any order where you come across it. :)

You're right, it would be oakmoss and yes, the LEA puck is rock solid! I've used mine around 20 times and the little dent on top is just starting to form! I'd say each puck will be good for around 200 shaves for me!

All awesome ingredients. Don't forget about bisabolol, it's great stuff! I used a shaving oil with bisabolol in it and it and it was really awesome for my skin! The menthol is more refreshing than a strong menthol hit, especially on the final cold water rinse, it's really nice!

The LEA stick BTW is pretty damn awesome! Performance is super, the scent is a bit bland and boring. It is tallow, glycerin and lanolin formula (no menthol, allantoin or bisabolol). My LEA stick and Speick stick are the only sticks to have remained in my den.

Great review @nav1
Where do you buy it from?

I got mine from tvbshaving.com
Use coupon B&B10 to get 10% off your entire order (I would highly recommend you get a few Haslinger shave soaps!).

Shaver Heaven is going to stock a limited supply of LEA soaps and aftershaves very soon.

WOW cool! That's great a local dealer is going to stock it! LEA pucks are flying under the radar just because they are kind of a large scale manufacturer and don't have a fancy Italian name. This soap literally offers everything a wet shaver could want in a soap...ease of creating lather, performance, excellent post shave and a nice scent (this one is subjective, I know).

@nav1

great review. I love my sticks and the lea stick is next on my list.

Definitely worth picking up a couple! The scent is fairly bland and soapy but the performance is fantastic! Also comes in a handy container for travel.
 
Hi all. Yes indeed! I'll be putting them up on the site as well as a few other goodies tomorrow! I'll have the lea shave cream, shave soap in wooden bowl and soap in tin as well as the lea aftershave.

Great review @nav1

That's great to hear!
Bummer I didn't know before though, could have got them from you instead of overseas.
 
I have 8 MWF (1Kg), 15 LEA (1.5Kg), a few Speick sticks and a small stash of Haslinger soaps (about 1Kg worth) plus the other 18 soaps in rotation. At half a gram per shave, it's about 34 years of shaving soap if I continue shaving ~350 times a year.

I love that fact that "about 1Kg" of soap qualifies as "a small stash of Haslinger". Guess I'm not suffering from SAD after all :LOL:
 
I love that fact that "about 1Kg" of soap qualifies as "a small stash of Haslinger". Guess I'm not suffering from SAD after all :LOL:

haha The pucks are so small and cute that the "small" in small stash was kind of inadvertent.
 
My inaugural outing with the LEA Classic soap. The long and the short of it. Fucking great soap. No kidding fellas this is MWF good. ...and MWF temperamental too. But I followed the instructions in @nav1 original post - charging it a little wetter - and KABOOM! Yoghurty goodness. Scent is manliness, glide is great for straights and post-shave feel is all there wetness wise. Seriously fellas, seriously consider the purchase. You don't even have to go OS for this, there's stock ready for despatch via @Anthony at ShaverHeaven (http://shaverheaven.com.au/lea-classic-shaving-soap-wooden…/)
 
I must say...after so many months of using the LEA hard shave soap, I am still loving it and am very impressed by it.

The quality of the lather, which is primary for the purpose of the soap, is exemplary!
This soap still sits at the #1 spot along with MWF as these two soaps always give me the closest and most comfortable shave and best post-shave feel.

A lot of times, we love a soap to bits in the beginning but then the praise wears off after a while. After about 10 months, the LEA is still awesome!

The scent is very enjoyable with the mix of sandalwood and oakmoss and the very light menthol is more refreshing than cooling or freezing (the very strong menthol products don't suit my skin at all but the LEA is just fine!).

It's a rock solid soap puck and is lasting a very long time! I've probably used it about 60 times and it's about 1/3rd used up.

In my rotation of about 40 soaps, this and MWF rank #1...maybe not for the most exotic scent but for pure performance and post-shave feel.
 
@SpeedyPC @nav1 has some lea shave sticks for sale. Might be worth hitting him up.
Actually I think they are full sized hard pucks that he has. They are at a really great price too.
(I highly recommend him as a seller also.)
 
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