THIS PRODUCT IS MADE IN Sweeny, TX US (USA) & has no affiliation with CUBA.
Tallow & Emu Oil
Shaving Soap of the Gods – A Shaving Soap Experience
“Puros La Habana”
Description of Shaving Soap Scent:
Great aromas of a Cuban Cigar in a fine mans hand. With very Smokey robust tobacco leaves & hint of cedar.
This is a fine gentleman’s shaving soap.
Description of Shaving Soap:
Van Yulay’s makes a croap shaving soap. It is not a cream nor a hard puck. It is in between soft & hard.
Van Yulay whips up into a yogurt like cream lather in just a few minutes. Enjoy a rich and creamy protective lather with skin protective loaded with enriched vitamins and amino acids. We make each soap with your skin in mind. Ph balanced to have a smooth and irritation free shave. Each soap is piped in beautifully in an 8 oz. container.
How to use:
Soak your shave brush in a bowl or cup filled with hot water for a few minutes before your shave. Apply a warm, damp towel to your face (or splash face with warm water) to prep your face for shaving. Apply another hot towel to your face for a few seconds. After the brush has soaked, gently squeeze out excess water, still leaving the brush mostly wet. Apply the brush to the soap in fast, repeated circular motions to coat the brush bristles well. Shave and rinse face thoroughly with cool water. For an optimal experience, finish with Van Yulay After Shave Splash then followed with your After-Shave Balm by Van Yulay.
Shaving Soap Contents:
- Tallow – has been used as an effective skincare ingredient for centuries! As your skin need all vitamins to replenish the daily lives, tallow has Vitamin A, D, E and K, as well as Omega – fatty acids.
- Emu Oil – contains high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, therefore it is able to easily penetrate the skin’s barriers for deep moisturization. When compared to other types of oil, emu oil had 2-4 times greater penetration of the skin. These effects show that emu oil is able to moisturize and rejuvenate the skin extremely effectively.
- Silk Amino Acids – This silk forms a natural layer over the skin, keeping moisture locked in and harsh conditions out, leaving skin protected and well-nourished.
- Babassu Oil is an antioxidant and will help destroy the free radicals that cause premature aging and cancer. The oil is naturally anti-inflammatory and is often used to treat skin conditions such as eczema.
- Coconut Fatty Acid – excellent lathering and conditioning when used in shave soap.
- Bentonite Clay – Gives an extra creaminess and silkiness to the shave soap. Generally, white clay’s natural absorbing, detoxifying and exfoliating properties makes it an indispensable ingredient in shaving products.
- Silk Amino Acid is a unique silk peptide and one of the best at reducing fine lines and other signs of aging. Aside from the amazing texture of silk extracts, silk amino acids contain properties which allow it to rejuvenate skin tone, reduce wrinkles and hydrate your skin tissues to protect from free radicals.
Shaving Soap Ingredients:
Made with Stearic Acid, Coconut Fatty Acid, Palm Stearic, Castor, Glycerin, Potassium& Sodium Hydroxide, Aloe Vera, Coconut-Tallow-Lanolin-Babassu-Manteca-Argan-Emu Oils- Shea & Kokum-Butters, Sodium Lactate, Calendula, Extracts, Poly Quats, Allantoin, Silica, Bentonite & Kaolin Clay, Tobacco Absolute, and Fragrance.
gitlvr –
Fantastic tobacco fragrance. Just absolutely lovely. I don’t smoke cigars anymore. but this is almost as good, LOL. Almost. Great scent!
Jaime Cobos –
This is a great tobacco scented soap. To my nose there are many different types of tobacco scents and this is mixture of sweet, tangy and green with a hint of spice. Reminds me of the leaf of a cigar from when I used to smoke back in the day. Great performance as usual.
Matt –
The soap looks quite interesting in the tub. There are 4 star-shaped molds that have fused together. They appear to have been squirted directly into the tub with something like a pastry bag. The individual molds can be separated and removed in case you want to share your soap as a sample or even if you would prefer to press one into a separate bowl for lathering/loading. I’ve never seen this presentation before, but I can certainly appreciate its benefits.
As my first soap from Van Yulay, Puros La Habana caught my attention because of the description: “Rich tobacco cigar notes and spices of Cuba”. The singular description was appealing to me because singular cured tobacco notes are somewhat hard to come by in the wet shaving word. At least I think I would like to try a soap that smells only like a fresh, unlit, Cohiba. However, in my experience, cured tobacco scented soaps end up containing the tobacco notes, but they’re accompanied by other sweeter fragrances. In my mind they typically end up smelling like a man who would smoke a Cuban cigar as opposed to smelling like the cigar itself. I do understand that my romantic idea of a soap that smells singularly like a cigar would probably not be appealing to most people. Puros La Habana falls in line with my prior experiences. In fact, off the puck, I was quite disappointed to note a complete absence of tobacco notes. It actually smelled like the almond-scented mini bar soaps found in hotel rooms. It was pleasant, but hardly what I’d expected. However, being quite aware that the dry scent is often vastly different from the lathered scent, I was still hopeful.
Fortunately, the scent became more true to form once I lathered it. I immediately picked up on a light powdery scent that evolved to bold warm spices, elements of which were suggestive of cinnamon, clove, and black pepper. Cured tobacco didn’t really emerge until the end of the first pass, but then it resonated and ultimately dominated the profile with elegant powdery notes and intermittent leather undertones.
Given this particular soap contains clay, I used a relatively damp, but not dripping, brush. I loaded directly in the tub and was blown away by the immediate creamy proto-lather. With my hard water, I got a beautiful dense and creamy face lather within a few seconds. In my experience, clay can slow lather making, but it’s worth the extra time and care. However, I’m happy to say Van Yulay managed to get the right ratio with this base. The lather matured as quickly as any other soap. Another aspect to this soap is the water range. Clay seems to get slicker with more water, but if that clay is accompanied by tallow, you run the risk of breaking down the lather if you’re overzealous. This particular formula doesn’t contain tallow. While I’m certainly a fan of tallow, I feel this formula is not missing anything by omitting it. I’m no expert, but I suspect this is what provides the exceptional range without sacrificing density. Being a head and face shaver, I tend to like my final pass on my head to have a relatively thin, but slick lather. I can easily achieve this with this VY formula while still maintaining a thick, dense shiny lather for my face and neck. I experienced zero irritation despite starting with 5 days of growth. That alone is a testament to the impressive performance of this soap.
mrbeez –
Oh this is nice. It’s not your sweet pipe tobacco smell. This is cigar-forward. Like picking up a nice cigar in a humidor and holding it to your nose. Very pleasant with a peppery/cedar note. And the lather is lovely. Has a great face feel. Highly recommend!