Product review: Tabac Shave Soap

Another great shaving product is Tabac Shaving soap. My previous post was about a traditional shaving cream. Tabac, however, is a shaving soap. it's not a cream product, but more like a hard puck of soap.

Tabac comes in a handsome, heavy ceramic bowl with a brown lid. It looks really nice on the shelf next to all the mens' products. There is no mistaking it's a men's product.

As you can see, it's a hard compact soap. Instead of creams that are easily incorporated with water in a mug to create lather, shaving soaps are usually "face lathered". The scent of this product is great. It's very distinct and unique. It reminds me of a cross between Old English leather with a hint of the classic Old Spice scent and fresh tobacco. It's a very strong, spicy, masculine scent. It reminds me of a 1970's nightclub (or what I would think one smelled like anyways). It's very pleasant in the morning to help wake you up.

For blogging demonstrations, I'll be hand lathering so you can see the amount of cream we can get with the soap.

First, you'll need to soak your badger hair brush in some warm/hot water to hydrate the brush and soften the bristles. Also, with soaps, since they are so hard and concentrated, I like to pour a little warm water on the soap to soften it a little so you can load the brush really well with the soap.

After soaking, shake out the excess water on your brush and pour out the water on top of the soap. Then give the brush a few good swirls on top of the soap to start loading the brush with the soap.

You'll start to see the soap foam up a bit while loading the brush. Give it a few more good swirls when you start to see this.

Now we're talkin'! See how the brush looks thoroughly doused with soap? We're in a good position to start making some good creamy lather.

I would usually start making a lather on my wet face with the brush, but again, I'll use my hand so we can see how this product works.

As you can see, there's not much to it a first. It's thin and runny like a hand soap. Keep brushing and you'll start creating the lather.

You might notice that the shave cream will become dry and sticky. That's OK! Don't panic, just simply add more water to hydrate the lather.

After adding water, you see that the lather starts to become creamy again. Keep working the lather.

If it's still a little dry, add a little bit more water. You'll start to see the lather build and hydrate more and more.

Now we're getting somewhere. We're starting to get that good creamy lather we need. Just a little bit more.

Here's what we're looking for. A thick, slick, creamy lather. This product takes some getting used to because I am accustomed to creams. However, it was easy to get the hang of. It smells great and applies easily to the face. The slimy, slick cream easily protects from knicks and cuts from your razor. A real quality product.

You can find it easily online and it's quite affordable. Because this is a hard soap and pretty concentrated, this product should last a very long time. I picked up mine from www.westcoastshaving.com for about $17. They also sell a refill puck for about $12 so you don't have to purchase another jar. You can simply drop the puck in your previous glass jar.

Stay tuned for more reviews.

Happy shaving!