Stirling Soaps

StratMan

StratMan

Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2018
Location
Australia
This soap gets lots of love on forums but i personally dont rate it at all. I can get a lather whipped up with no issues, but the problem i have is i find the lather lacks any slickness and the shaves , i just cant get it to shine before it collapses.

The shaves i get after using it feels like my face does when i went one day to much with a blade and i know today's shave couldnt of been blade related. I used a Rapira for the second time and the first yesterday proved that this was a very smooth blade.

I feel the lack of slickness does not provide adequate protection from the more aggressive razor.

To me personally it is a little better than a normal green tub of Proraso (which i dont rate much at all) but certainly not a top tier soap. Am i missing something here? Is there a special way of making lather with this as there is with B&M reserve or have i just got a dud?
 
StratMan said:
This soap gets lots of love on forums but i personally dont rate it at all. I can get a lather whipped up with no issues, but the problem i have is i find the lather lacks any slickness and the shaves , i just cant get it to shine before it collapses.

The shaves i get after using it feels like my face does when i went one day to much with a blade and i know today's shave couldnt of been blade related. I used a Rapira for the second time and the first yesterday proved that this was a very smooth blade.

I feel the lack of slickness does not provide adequate protection from the more aggressive razor.

To me personally it is a little better than a normal green tub of Proraso (which i dont rate much at all) but certainly not a top tier soap. Am i missing something here? Is there a special way of making lather with this as there is with B&M reserve or have i just got a dud?
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Hey @StratMan i think you face lather, and this is how i use Stirling:

Add water, more water and some more water - and work it hard with the brush.
I even drip additional water over the brush at the end of lathering up and paint it upwards on my face to further add more water to the lather.

With practice, you should hopefully find that sweet spot.
 
With a properly loaded damp brush and 5-7.5ml of water I can obtain a fantastic lather. See this post.

For lathering options with Stirling soap see these videos:
Method 1
Method 2
Method 3

For face lathering Stirling soap, see this video by Mark at Friendship Shaving at 4.10, where he said "I think it is the slickest soap I have used".
 
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thanks @tim33z and @Ozwhisker for the advice.. will give it another try

I did start with a dry brush (pre-soaked the badger) but got all water out and loaded from a dry puck.. added water slowly to the puck but loaded with a splayed brush, so maybe most of the soap went down into the brush and not the tip..

Will check out the vids and take it home over the weekend and give it a couple of practice runs
 
StratMan said:
thanks @tim33z and @Ozwhisker for the advice.. will give it another try

I did start with a dry brush (pre-soaked the badger) but got all water out and loaded from a dry puck.. added water slowly to the puck but loaded with a splayed brush, so maybe most of the soap went down into the brush and not the tip..

Will check out the vids and take it home over the weekend and give it a couple of practice runs
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FWIW i also bloom my stirling with a few teaspoons of warm water. Some don't - i do.
 
Why do we mess around with soaps that require special treatment?

My favourites just work ...
 
I rate Stirling highly-


Can’t get their frags easily so they are scum to me.
 
tell you what, i just saw the vid that @Ozwhisker just posted - method 1 The Dry Method

this is an amazing video which goes into quite a bit of detail that explains exactly how lather is created, that applies to all soaps, but especially to this one

basically there are three stages.. loading, building the lather, then getting the slickness

i got to nearly the end of stage two.. which explains the slickness issue i have experienced

i saw this lather perform the same way up until that point and from there it went onto what i saw as an amazing lather

thanks heaps for that video @Ozwhisker i will be giving this a crack over the weekend and report back.. If all goes well i will be quite interested in where the Australian outlet for stirling will end up at
 
No issues at all.
 
Fragrances
 
Ferret619 said:
I rate Stirling highly-
Can’t get their frags easily so they are scum to me.
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Seems a bit harsh Ferret. Stirling don't write the rules for the transport of dangerous goods by air, to which all fragrances containing alcohol are classified. Anyway, you will soon be able to buy Stirling fragrances in Australia.
 
Ozwhisker said:
Seems a bit harsh Ferret. Stirling don't write the rules for the transport of dangerous goods by air, to which all fragrances containing alcohol are classified. Anyway, you will soon be able to buy Stirling fragrances in Australia.
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I agree with you here. I sent a quick note to Rod to verify that his awesome products will be soon be available here. Will report back once i hear from him.
 
Ozwhisker said:
Seems a bit harsh Ferret. Stirling don't write the rules for the transport of dangerous goods by air, to which all fragrances containing alcohol are classified. Anyway, you will soon be able to buy Stirling fragrances in Australia.
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I see your not familiar with hyperbole- I’m aware that they have quite limited impact on Australia’s import laws.
I have been a fan of theirs for years but not being able to get the full set especially after trying the fragrances was a disappointment.
 
The main, but not the only problem, with importing fragrances into Australia is that under IATA rules (and the rules of many countries, including the U.S.), certain classes of dangerous goods cannot be carried by air. The only option is delivery by ship, which is not viable for a consumer and quite expensive for a merchant.

Your disappointment should be alleviated soon.
 
Ozwhisker said:
The main, but not the only problem, with importing fragrances into Australia is that under IATA rules (and the rules of many countries, including the U.S.), certain classes of dangerous goods cannot be carried by air. The only option is delivery by ship, which is not viable for a consumer and quite expensive for a merchant.

Your disappointment should be alleviated soon.
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Yep I’ve lived in Australia long enough to know stuffs expensive as for the alcohol based range like most I’ve seen the posts and speculation but for the most part I’ve moved past it.
I dug put some of my Stirling and just put it up for sale actually.
 
Did a practice lather and failed miserably, watched vid again and noticed when I thought I loaded brush it was the clay that made it seem like I got enough soap

Tried again and made that much lather I had to stop using my hand and continued in a bowl

I learnt that I load the brush with too much soap and was working it wrong in the past

All I can say is that first vid is an amazing resource if u wanna learn the principles of making lather, highly recommend the part 1 of dry loading

Looking forward to improved lathers of all the soap brands I have
 
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