edit: as below, this scent is no longer available.

So, I’m fast-tracking this review, as we recently heard word that Klar (apparently Germany’s oldest soapmaker) has decided to discontinue their celebrated Kabinett shaving soap. I’m not really sure why, it seems to be a very fine soap to me, and apparently tends to sell rather well.

The scent is a subtle rose; scented with essence of rose, it’s quite pleasant smelling, assuming of course that you like rose. It’s actually fairly strongly scented when in the bar, but fades to a reasonably low level when lathered; it doesn’t disappear, but it’s certainly not in your face.

The lather is rather wonderful, IMHO. I’d say that it requires an average level of water in order to get good enough lubrication out of it, but a bit of experimentation showed that it seems to have a fairly wide sweet spot. It gives a really good balance of a thick lather and good glide, doesn’t thin out easily, and has great stability. Not too much noticeable in the way of moisturization that I saw, but all in all, a very good shave.

9/10 Scent Pleasantness

7/10 Scent Strength

9/10 Lather Quality

All things considered, I think I’m happy rounding up to a 8/10. Personally, I would have preferred a stronger scent, but there was still just enough there to make a difference to the overall experience of the shave.

Cost: 500g of Klar Kabinett (in 2x 250g bars) goes for $20. Which is a pretty darned good price for that much soap. I got the sample used from a friendly redditor who wanted to know my thoughts on the stuff.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Sodium Cocoate, Potassium Cocoate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Stearate, Aqua, Cocoamidoproprl Betaine, Soyamide DEA, Parfum, Sodium Chloride,Amino-Tris (methylene phosphomic acid) Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Hydroxide, Potassium Hydroxyde, CI 77891, Geraniol, Benzyl Salicylate, Citronellol, Eugenol