Irish Shaving Soaps Review 3/5: Dr. K. Soap Company

May 25, 2012

A little bit about Dr. K. Soap Company:
Set up in Cork by "Dr. K" this company strives to use only pure, natural ingredients. They contain no animal products nor are they tested on animals. As well as making shaving soaps, Dr. K. makes many other products such as lip balm and body butter and the website also carries a variety of accessories. Their online store accepts PayPal and ships worldwide.
Presentation:
Wrapped in paper with a sticker on top I'm instantly reminded of cupcakes when I see these 70 gram pucks! The label is pretty and informative and the soap is in the shape of a cupcake bottom (ie. the lower half of a muffin). They are the perfect size to pop into any shaving mug. I recieved one lime scented one and one peppermint scented one.


Ingredients:
These are SLS free. The ingredients below are for the peppermint version. The lime version is very similar and can be seen in the picture.
Sodium/Potassium shea butterate, sodium/potassium castorate, sodium/potassium palmate, sodium/potassium stearate, sodium/potassium cocoa butterate, sodium/potassium cocoate, vegetable glycerin, bentonite clay, sucrose, peppermint Oil (or lime peel oil as in the picture above), limonene, linalool.


Scent:
I adore the scent of lime so for the purposes of testing the product that is the soap I opened and used. That being said I can smell the peppermint one clearly through the wrapper and is smells minty (d'uh), fresh and slightly sweet. 
The lime scent is was initially strong when taken out of the wrapper but has become more subtle since first being opened. It is pleasant, natural, light and fresh. It doesn't have that lovely explosion of juiciness when lathering that I like, nor does it leave much of a scent on the skin unfortunately. However on the plus side this means that the levels of essential oil in it is probably not too high which would mean that it is unlikely to cause a reaction on sensitive skin.


Lather & Shave:
In a nutshell this is the best Irish shaving soap I tested. It forms a lather closest to what I would describe as a "proper" shaving soap lather. With that being said it is by no means perfect, but it is thick and has a moderate level of cushion and protection to it and leaves my skin beautifully moisturised. It lathers best on the skin rather than in the bowl as it doesn't load very well. It will load a little and this small amount will provide a small amount of good lather. However I found had had to reload, lather, reload, lather etc. for best results. It doesn't need much water at all and it is easy to whip up. It gives a nice glide to the shave and I will definitely use it again.


Cost:
€4.95 per puck from http://drksoap.com/handmade-soap/shaving-soap-lime/

Summary:
This is the all-round best performer in this set of reviews. Good scent, good lather, good shave. While I personally find the website gives it more of a "large company" rather than "small handmade artisan company" feel to the overall product I wouldn't hold this against them at all as it is easy to navigate and their prices are very reasonable. I would use this again and though it doesn't hit my top ten shaving soaps ever, it is nice to find a solid home-grown product I'm happy to use.


- BE


Click Here For Part Four: The Handmade Soap Company

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