Geo F Trumper Sandalwood Shaving Soap

After reading this post you will know I do not get paid to write good reviews.  In fact, I don’t get paid at all so I can be completely honest and blast this soap.

As always, I was extremely excited to get this soap in. It is on the expensive end and the company has been around for a long time, so I was expecting a top notch review.

Geo F. Trumper Sandalwood Hard Shave Soap in Wooden Bowl

• For normal skin
• Hard shaving soap to be used with a shaving brush
• Made with the highest quality essential oils
• Supplied in a hand-turned wooden bowl

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I started off using a new Semogue 620 boar brush that I was also eager to try. Trying 2 new products at the same time is a risk; if it works well then you have 2 new great products but if something goes sideways then you don’t know which is causing the issue.

I loaded up the brush and it looked great. I proceeded to face lather and it went on exactly how I would expect. It was a little dry so I added some water and attempted to create my lather.

What I got was foam, not a lather. It was airy, bubbly, light and dissipating. I immediately blamed the brush and grabbed my other faithful boar brush which is fantastic for face lathering. It even works great with Mitchell’s Wool Fat which is notorious for being hard to lather.

I was blown away when I had the exact same results with my trusty brush. I’m sorry Semogue 620, it wasn’t you. It was Geo F Trumper Sandalwood Shaving Soap, the worst soap I’ve tried.

I proceeded to shave anyways using this translucent foamy lather, which in retrospect was risky and I probably shouldn’t have. The soap went on poorly, dissipated quickly, and obviously provided very little protection. I luckily did not get any visible irritation, but my skin felt tight and raw.

Ironically, I did notice some slickness to the soap. Unfortunately this only applied to the outside of the bowl and the handle of my Merkur 34C making them both very slippery. They definitely got one ingredient right, but the lather is completely unacceptable and in my opinion this soap is not even useable.

The smell is great, but for the reasons above that is a moot point. I would return this item in a heartbeat if I was able to.

A side note is that the Geo F Trumper Sandalwood Skin Food was fantastic, check out the review and maybe it can be worked in with another cream or soap.

Lather = 0/5
Slickness = 2/5
Scent = 5/5

Subjective Overall Rating = 1/5

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Ingredients: Sodium Palmate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate, Isopropyl Myristate, Coumarin, Tetrasodium EDTA, Linalool, Citreonellol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Eugenol, Coconut Fatty Acid, Geraniol, BHT, Benzyl Salicylate, Limonene, Calcium Carbonate, CI 77891 Titanium Dioxide), CI 77492 (Iron Oxides), CI 77491 (Iron Oxides).

Produced in the UK.

UPDATE: I have a vested interest in liking these products – I pay for them and they are expensive so it is a shame if one were to go to waste. It is a couple weeks after I wrote the initial review and I thought maybe this soap would like a bowl lather with a silvertip brush.

Well, it did not. It was looking like it might be ok in the bowl, but when applying to my face it was the same thing. Thin, dissipating and foamy. It’s really too bad because it sure does smell great.

Make sure to check out the Geo F Trumper Sandalwood Skin Food review.

Have you tried Geo F Trumper Sandalwood Shaving Soap? Be sure to leave your overall rating, the community appreciates your vote!