Step right up folks and see the amazing Ill Repute shaving soap, hand-crafted by Madame Scodioli, the amazing bearded lady! Seriously, that’s the shtick of this particular etsy shop, products purportedly made by the bearded lady of a traveling circus.

The lather wasn’t really what I’d say is good. It seemed to be a case of lubrication or thickness; pick one. I couldn’t quite get a good balance of the two, even after a fair bit of experimentation with the amount of water used (although I think I did find an in-between spot that didn’t really have what I’d consider a good amount of either). While the base of the soap seems to be a typical melt-and-pour with some tinkering, in this case I don’t think the tinkering improved the performance. This coupled with the fact that I did start to feel a bit of a burning sensation by the end of my 2nd pass, and trust me, I have far from sensitive skin. Apparently that was a really bad problem when they first came out; it’s since been reformulated, but it doesn’t look like it’s eliminated the issue entirely.

The scent on the other hand was pretty nice. It’s described as their “own version of citrus and mint, Ill Repute is pretty and flirty with a hint of menace underneath”. The sweetness of the mandarin and the mintiness of the pennyroyal is given a subtle bit of zing with the cloves. All in all, it came together fairly well. It wasn’t extremely strong, but kept at a nice steady level throughout the shave.

8/10 Scent Pleasantness

9/10 Scent Strength

6/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I think I’m going to be rounding down on this one: 6/10. While the scent is pretty good, I don’t think it’s nearly good enough to justify using it instead of something else that manages to pull off a great lather and a nice scent.

Cost: The 6 oz bar of soap is available for $8, and can also be found in a round puck.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Saponified oils of coconut, palm and safflower, shea butter, glycerin (kosher), sorbitol, sorbitan oleate, soy bean protein, wheat protein, red kaolin clay, white kaolin clay, and fragrance oil.