Ease of Lathering: Very easy. This is on par with the easiest soaps to load. Very nearly as easy to load and lather as Catie’s Bubbles (if you can fall off a log, you can do it.) The wide-mouth container and eager soap formulation give you every advantage here.
Protection: Amazing. Perhaps the best I’ve experienced. Only a handful of soaps get to this level of protection, with a lather that is both voluminous and thick and buttery. We’re talking up there in the Tabac level of killer lather, all provided with a vegan formulation. I suspect some sort of evil sorcery. Seriously, this stuff is a formulation you can count on, even with an aggressive or even perilous choice of shaving implements. Even if your regular reference soap is quite good, this will likely be an improvement.
Residual Slickness: Again, fantastic scores here. PAA is not kidding around when they talk about this being a high butter formulation. If there’s any dampness at all, this stuff is going to let your razor glide right across. Great face feel after the shave, as well. Although the product gloss can sometimes feel like it verges upon hyperbole, it ain’t braggin’ if you can back it up. The Crown King formula backs it up. Wow.
Scent: This soap’s fragrance is an homage to the short-lived ’60’s scent called “Sun Up” by Gillette. I’d call it a cousin to the Old Spice scent, but with more of a powdery delivery, as well as a hint of the darker character of Pinaud Clubman Special Reserve. Very much a classic, old school scent. Upon first sniff, many will nod and feel a tug of nostalgia. Many of your classic scents would work fine in conjunction with this profile. Good scent strength here, but in no way overpowering or intrusive. I purchased another soap that is purportedly an Old Spice homage, and I think that, in a lot of ways, Sun Down ends up being closer in spirit than that soap.
Production/Value: This is a solidly mid-priced soap. With 4 ounces in the tub, it’s a little behind the value competitors in per-ounce price, but the ingredient list is absolutely above reproach, with nothing hinky and most every sought-after ingredient you could add and still remain a vegan formulation. Crown King’s recipe needn’t apologize for anything. To my way of thinking, it runs with the best soap I’ve ever used. I often ask, as a value test-case, if a tested soap is demonstrably better than Razorock. In this case, yes. Nothing against RR soaps, but other than maybe SMdF and The Dead Sea, this one has them outgunned.
Notes: I’m kind of kicking myself for taking so long to try Crown King soaps. Although I have more soap that I could easily use in a decade, I’m really considering buying more of this line. (Oh, I did. My willpower shattered like a chair across a wrestler’s back.)
This stuff has a lot going for it. Useful packaging, nice, wide mouth, fantastic soap, cool vintage scent. Sun Down has it going on. Highly recommended.
Cheers, and Happy Shaving!
The Caveman Gym 