Taconic Shave Lime Shave Soap Review by @Tonyshaves

In 1609 Henry Hudson, an English sea captain and explorer, was hired by the Dutch East India Company to find a Northeast Passage to Asia sailing around Scandinavia and Russia. Turned back by the ice of the Arctic in his second attempt, he sailed west to seek a northwest passage rather than return home and ended up exploring the waters off the east coast of North America.

It was on this trip, in 1609, in the small ship de Halve Maen (The Half Moon) that Hudson, after first heading east, changed course and sailed due west in an effort to find a river highway through the North American continent, and wound up charting the rivers that we know today as the Hudson, the Connecticut and the Delaware. Thus, the area he navigated on that voyage was immediately claimed by the Dutch.

In 1614 or 1615, only a few years after Henry Hudson’s exploration of the area, Dutch traders constructed a fort at what they knew to be the crucial fur-trading nexus on the North (i.e., Hudson) River. They built it on an island, just a stone’s throw from the western shore, within easy reach of the Indians who, as an early report put it, “come to this river to trade from the interior.” They named it Fort Nassau, after the leading noble family of the Netherlands, the house of Orange-Nassau.

Now, more than 400 years later a Dutch guy from Amsterdam named Tony reviews a soap handcrafted in New York's Hudson Valley called Taconic which consist of antioxidant-rich hemp seed oils.

We've gone full circle people!

The awesome company 'Super Safety Razors' was kind enough to send us this shaving soap to review. I've seen this 'Taconic' pop up here and there on instagram but was unable to find a homepage. It has been reviewed a couple of times on reddit and people were quite positive. But I think I'll judge this one myself.

The soap is packaged in a medium sized tin. Though I'd love to see them a little bit bigger loading my brush didn't cause any problems. The soap is wrapped in plastic, so if your lather is below average after a couple of minutes of loading, you probably forgot to unwrap it first ;)

The puck itself is translucent and it reminded Marco immediately of Musgo Real glycerine soap. Which I use as a pre shave as well. The bottom of the tin lists all the ingredients consisting of: coconut and safflower oil, castor oil, glycerine, clay and hemp seed oil. The labels are water proof as well which is a nice plus.

The scent is limey and fresh. I differentiate 2 kinds of lime scents. The juice and the zest, where the juice has a more sour smell, the zest is fresh and oily. Taconic's Lime is a perfect combination of these two without immediately resulting in a candy like scent. Lathering this soap instantly creates a lime scent but it is fresh and closely resembles real fruit.

At first I had some trouble loading my brush, apparently the top layer of the soap needed to soften up a bit before the soapsuds really settled in the hairs of my brush. This soap screams for water if you give in to this your lather will explode. It is safe to say that this soap will take a few tries to get it right, but it is totally worth it resulting in a whipped cream, thick and nourishing lather.

The glide of this soap is great, probably because of the added bentonite clay. I have used more clay based soaps and I really notice this difference. Like an extra protective layer between the blade and my skin. The clay gives an amazing post shave feel as well.

It lathers great with all sorts of brushes, boar or badger even synthetics will get the job done. As long as this brush can retain a great amount of water. Being a vegan soap, the post shave feel is extraordinary and really stands out. Long after my shave, my skin still feels soft. I'd say shavers with sensitive skin should take a look at this one. I've been touching my skin all day. It is really moisturizing. The scent lingers for a few hours after shaving and pairing this soap with Pinaud Clubman Citrus musk is a wonderful idea. They really complement each other.

The artisan soapmaker of Taconic really did an outstanding job creating these hard translucent soaps with cream like properties. A naturally fresh scented soap for everyone. It is also available in the Bay Rum and Eucalyptus & Mint scent @ http://www.supersafetyrazors.com