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elfsOne of the things I bought at Folklife was a small cake of "Emu oil" soap. Emu is the new snake, as in "snake oil," in that it's being hawked as a miracle cure for everything from dry skin to asthma. But the soap was one of the few high-glycerine products I was able to find in that category and I wanted to try it out for one reason only, as a shaving soap. And for two bucks, it was a cheap experiment.
I prepped the soap in a small bowl with a few spritzes of water and a shaving brush, and I tried shaving with it. My final analysis is that wet-shaving with authentic glycerine soap is a better experience than using modern shaving gels, but it's also more dangerous. The razor is prone to stutter and nick, although I managed to catch myself from doing that too much and only nicked myself once. The final shave was appreciably smoother. The presence of emu did nothing noticeable for me; the soap did dry out my skin a bit, but not terribly so. I'll kill out the cake of soap to see if I can improve on the experience, but thus far I'm inspired to try Taylor of Old Bond Street Lavender or Lush Razorantium next. But the emu thing is just a little too woo-woo for me.
I prepped the soap in a small bowl with a few spritzes of water and a shaving brush, and I tried shaving with it. My final analysis is that wet-shaving with authentic glycerine soap is a better experience than using modern shaving gels, but it's also more dangerous. The razor is prone to stutter and nick, although I managed to catch myself from doing that too much and only nicked myself once. The final shave was appreciably smoother. The presence of emu did nothing noticeable for me; the soap did dry out my skin a bit, but not terribly so. I'll kill out the cake of soap to see if I can improve on the experience, but thus far I'm inspired to try Taylor of Old Bond Street Lavender or Lush Razorantium next. But the emu thing is just a little too woo-woo for me.
