I have the Coconut scent and I've found the best way to get a good lather from the GFT soap is to let some warm water sit on the puck, pour it out and with a rung out brush which will be almost dry start swirling. It will be really dry and cake mix like at first but just dip the tips and add water gradually and you will get a good lather. The worst thing to do with these temperamental soaps is to start with too much water because you can never pull it back. Lot's of luck. Will

There was a German fellow on here lathering Williams Mug Soap, and he soaked the puck and brush in a mug for about 20 minutes and then lathered it no problem. I have to do that for the "hard to lather" or "Stiff soaps" and it's been a big help - try it out!

Great vids Nick. I had the same issues with the GFT lime soap. By the time I finished shaving my cheeks, the lather on my neck dissipated. Ended up with an $18 bar of soap for the shower.

I had the exact same issue with another high quality soap (to remain nameless). I switched to a cold water soak and wet brush load, and that cleared it up! Can't hurt to try that....

Went downtown last night and stopped by a local grooming places that sell GEO F Trumper products and asked them about Trumper soaps. They said they hadn't heard of any problems with the soaps they have sold but he did say the the Trumper soaps need to be bowl lathered and not face lathered.

I bought a truefitt and Hill scuttle because it appealed to me , but didn’t have much luck with creating a proper lather. When I saw that Taylor of Old Bond Street offered a 57g puck that would work in that scuttle, I tried it. I found that it created a very , very good face lather.

Thanks for the review nick

You have to use very little water with Trumpers and more then average soap or cream then you would normally use to get it to thicken. I prefer Truefitts Sandlewood. That was the only kind that would work out of their entire line on my skin. Lathered well also.

Awesome video man. Thanks for the review. I love how you sped up video. What do you use for a video editor Nick? Thanks, Mark.

Thank you for the reviews. I live on the outskirts of London so this stuff is easy to come by. The general viewpoint seems to be that Taylor of Old Bond Street are the best for Soaps (Smell and Lather) but GFT's do really good creams which lather much better than the soap. I have used both and testify to this. Penhaligon's give Taylors a run for there money though (but are much more expensive, £22 for a puck refill!!!!) but they smell glorious (I like the Sartorial) and lather easily as well as Taylors. Not easy to come by, but they could well be the best soap for most people.

Good job, nice review.

Hi Nick, I get the exact same problems with Trumpers, its a shame because the scent is so great. I would be interested to hear if you work out how to get this to work. I think its great that you posts videos of the failures too. Better luck with the next soap

I have had similar problems with different soaps also, usualy i can get them going by leaving them in a moist container for a Night or two..

You can add Crabtree and Evelyn's West Indian Lime to that list. I don't know what it is when the lathers foam up like that.The funny thing about Geo F. Trumper is that their creams are amazing.

I bought this soap yesterday at Rubinov's in Phoenix. Then I watched this video when I returned home. I should have done that first, but I decided to give the soap a chance anyway. I tried shaving with it this morning, after first soaking the puck in hot water. First pass was okay, but not great. The lather began disappearing as soon as I put it on my face for the second pass, so I rinsed it off and finished the shave with C. O. Bigelow, a fine and inexpensive cream which was my favorite until I discovered TOBS a few weeks ago. I'm going to see if the GFT works as a body soap, but I do not expect to shave with it again. The moral of this rather expensive lesson paraphrases Davy Crockett: As regards anything relating to shaving, be sure Nick likes the stuff, then go ahead.

I use the GEO F Trumper Coconut shaving soap since round about 6 months now and it is pretty awesome, the smell is pretty nice and it is easy to lather. Maybe it is different to this one.... I ordered just a few days ago the almond, we will see how this soap is going. My preparation is a little bit different to yours... I don`t put the brush into the water, i just hold the dry brush for a few seconds under the water and distribute the water at the soap, then i prepare my face and so on, after a while you can see that the water softened up the soap and then i just make a few circles and take it into the bowl... It is important that you don`t use to much water by these soap.

Soak it. Five minutes in very hot water. As the exterior softens. Then load up your brush. If you use a scuttle. It should be great. It's very concentrated. Also use a good stiff boar brush that has been soaked.

Trumpers Sandalwood was the first soap i bought when i started DE shaving at the start of 2015 and i had the same problem as you and almost give up DE shaving because of it. I thought i would give creams a try first and bought Taylors of old bond street and DR Harris creams, they work great. I bought a Trumpers cream to see how well that worked and it was better than the soap but not as good as other brands of cream, so my advice would be for people not to waste their money on anything of Trumpers as their are better brands out their and at a lower price

please try inundating the puck with hot water under the tap (like it would be hands being washed), leave layer of hot water atop plane 5mins or more, and starting with a damp but not super wet knot. This soap can still be impressive.

I have a sample of their cream in GFT sent and it lathers well and has good slickness, I enjoyed it.

I wonder if this soap is like the William's Mug Shaving Soap where you have to let it soak in water for several minutes before trying to lather? I've seen a few videos where people made a successful lather using the William's after letting it soak for a while. They had the puck and their brush soaking in the same mug for several minutes, and then they loaded up their brush and had a pretty good lather going. It just looks like the soap is uber hard and has to break down a little. BTW, thanks for all the vids, Nick. I've learned SOOO much from them!

What about the water factor?

I got some Trumpers at a going out of business sale in St. Augustine, FL. What a HUGE disappointment, especially with some touting how it is a luxury product. I had never purchased one of their products, and this will probably be my last. Good review, Nick.

I have the coconut version of that and I have no problem with that at all, maybe the ingredients in that scent allow for a better lather the the sandalwood.

This is because almost all of the classic English soaps changed their formula from tallow to vegan based. They obviously had trouble with it however, I personally own DR HARRIS Arlington triple milled hard puck soap in Beechwood and that lathers just as good as the creams

Thought I was losing my mind. Have only just started WetShaving and bought Geo F's Eucris soap. Exactly the same dissipating foam, and have been getting massive face irritation. Bought TOBS cream AND a new brush. First test lather was pouring out the bowl, thick and creamy. Pity, cause the Eucris smells real good.

Hi Nick shaves. One of my newest lather's is Geo F. Trumpers Almond Shaving Cream. So, I was actually very sad to see this terrible fail for the Geo F. Trumper's shave soap. I had ordered the Almond shaving soap in a bowl, tried it today with hot tap water in my barbershop, and yes, the same pasty bubbled worthless lather. However, I use a water boiling pot for hot water, and soaked a boar bristle brush in the near boiling water. Soaked the soap in the near boiling water, and well, I got a totally different lather. It was silky, full of volume, and slick, with no bubbles. A usable lather for a slick clean shave. I brought the soap in a bowl home, put some water on the stove, go it near boiling, soaked a badger hair brush in it, and poured it over the soap to soak. I soaked both about one minute. I got the same good results with a silky, no bubble, and rich playable lather, very nice for a slick shave. So, my tip is to try near boiling or boiling water, to see if you get new results that may redeem the puck soap. The shaving cream is presently as of tonight my all time favorite, perfect lather, Geo F. Trumpers Almond Shaving Cream. Oh, what I will fail the shaving soap on, is the aroma. Nothing like fall in love with almond scent of the shave cream. The almond scent of the soap is cheap, clinical, and like a grandma's perfume from the dollar store.

I picked up a puck of Eucris in a nice wooden bowl while I was in London at the Mayfair shop this spring. Same results - loose lather with lots of air bubbles that collapse and dry out quickly. Reminds me of Mr. Bubble bath soap from way back when I was a kid. While I've been wet shaving a while now and know how to build a proper lather, given that this is a premium brand, I really thought I was doing it wrong or there was something I was missing. After reading/watching several reviews, looks like it's the soap. It's crap. I did email them for tips on lathering the stuff and just got a generic instructions on how to build a lather.

Advice: Good English soaps currently: Taylor of old Bond Street & DR Harris Poor English soaps: Geo F Trumper and Truefitt & Hill GFT and TF&H reformulated their soaps 5-7 years to poor performers. Avoid them. The new Penhaligon soap in the 2014 reformulation is great. The old formula from 2010-2013 sucks. The pre 2008 Penhaligon formulation was great. Confused ?? Me too ;-)

You haven't had much luck with the soaps you've purchased from my country...I haven't actually tried any of them and now I've made a mental note not to bother trying any of them. Thanks for saving me some of my hard earned cash on basically rubbish.

4 years later and I still have the same problems. Why won't they change the formula? Their creams are still amazing though

Maybe try with some distilled water or spring water?

My Trumper's Sandalwood puck from 2009 lathers fine, but it seems that the soaps from 2012 onward just completely suck. You can only get a stable lather with them if you pre-soak for awhile and beat the hell out of the soap with your brush, and even then the lather is thin. I hope they fix it but I doubt it. Like Caswell Massey, they seem oblivious that their soap is just...well, bad.

This is a puck I wanted to like , i used GFT Eucris, and do not like it at all, mostly because it is non protective. I was able to achieve a good lather, but do not like it at all.

I bought the same shaving soap last week as well, and unfortunately, I am very disappointed too. Comparing it to DR Harris, Geo Trumper's classes away quality-wise. So far, no other soap I bought could match DR Harris.

Thanks for the warning. I do like the Geo. F. Trumper line of skin food.

Did you ever get this one figured out?

S I had the same results. Glad it wasn't just me.

Hmm, I was looking at the Violet, but if it doesn`t foam up well I`ll probably give it a miss :/ But hey, I`ll find one I like sooner or lather xD

That "lather" looked like what I got from my Colonel Conk soap, really foamy and dissipates. It gave me a terrible shave (not the result I wanted testing my new Edwin Jagger 89) I ordered Taylor of Old Bond Street sandalwood shave cream hoping for a better result

I have the same experience with the Trumper's Officers & Gentlemens shaving soap....It is impossible to get a good lather

From the looks of the video Nick you`re absolutely right. Looked more like shampoo. Love my arco.

Try the cream. It is awesome.

Even though this video is a few months old, I'm just seeing it for the first time. I've had problems lathering soaps and realized it was because of the hard water in my neighborhood. Some of the informational sites address this problem by using distilled water which is definitely soft. Suddenly soaps that could not produce a lather are good. So if you are using tap water without a water softener, try distilled water; it may make a difference. I can get it for $0.80 per gallon.in the Philadelphia suburbs. I heat about a cup of it in the microwave for two minutes. I soak my brush in this and put about 2-teaspoons of heated distilled water on the soap to "bloom" it. After I get out of the shower, the lathers up nicely. I also find I can re-use the distilled water and it continues to work well.

probably a silly question, but can you take a shave soap that doesn't lather well and put it to other uses such as like a facial soap or a bath soap? that way somehow you get your moneys worth out of the product.

My experience with GFT Eucris was that it was even worse than the one you used. Very disappointing for such an expensive soap. It was the first soap I have ever thrown away.

Was this the Tallow based formula or the newer Palm Oil based formula?

Thnx Nic

I have oxford blue soap and it is not good for me . Slicknes is bad and it is foam only not creamy..

I have tried 2 different GFT soap pucks and could NEVER get a lather going. The creams are fine but the soaps was a massive fail. So far, they are the only soaps I could not lather. Pity...nice (expensive) bath soap in the end.

Probably a thirsty soap like Williams Mug, since it has the same issue with dissipation.

I had a rose GFT soap. It was one of the most disappointing soaps ever, thin, really dry, not very slick and it vanished on my face. I do live in a very hard water area of England though, so that may be a factor. I heard on Badger and Blade that they may have reformulated it and a lot of people were getting problems with it. I am a fan of their rose cream though.

Awesome review!! I'll stick to TOBS and other...way too pricey for what I've seen in your review. On the other hand I bet it's great to shower with...lol

Thanks for saving me some cash

i had the same experience with the same soap in the rose scent, very disappointing.

Thanks for this review Nick, you save others and me a lot of money! It's a shame, but I realized that nearly all Brits are much overrated, both, soaps and creams. I tryed nearly each and every cream of the three T's and Harris and came to the conclusion that the best of them are their scents - that's it. Their properties are not better and often even worse than simple Palmolive Classic Cream, which costs 85 Ct. in Germany and is a perfect and clean performer! BR Dan.

I'm not a big fan of soaps. Always having trouble with them. I like the creams much much better

I got the Sandalwood version shave cream. Same problem with it, the lather is very poor in quality. Very disappointing since the smell is terrific!

Maybe soak the soap beforehand with hot water as it's a hard soap?

i bought it by mistake, because i told the lady in the shop i wanted the Taylor soap and she gave me this instead...i'm so disappointed, because i've tried every possible combo, and that's dramatically unlatherable damn...

You. Roasted. The. Soap. Real. Good. !!!

I get the same results and have the same observations you present in this video. I get a very foamy and airy lather. It is simply not a shave worthy lather, no matter the price. I cannot believe this soap comes from a company as reputable as GFT is. There is a wealth of artisan soaps made here in the USA that are many times cheaper and better performing than GFT. Examples are HowToGrowAMustach, Catie's Bubbles, Soap Commander, Dapper Dragon, Mike's Natural Soaps, and Tiki to mention a few. In the mean time, what I do, for the sake of not throwing the soaps away and lose my money is mix the soaps (I own the Sandalwood, Coconut, Violet, and Limes) with their shaving cream versions to produce a super lather. I get good results w/ that. GFT creams are great products but cannot say the same for the soaps.

I can beat this. I bought Penhaligon's English Fern soap which is extortionate and is by far the worst product I have ever bought. No matter which variation I used to lather it, the 'lather' produced was like the foamy bubbles you get when whipping milk for a cappuccino, and they last for less time. I bowl lathered and transferred it to my face and it was invisible within 20 seconds.

Unfortunately Trumper's soaps are another example of a brand that reformulated their soaps to something essentially unusable and still charge the same ridiculous price for them. I bought Trumper's coconut soap and have tried countless times to get a decent lather but to no avail.

Probably haven't change the recipe since 1800s. Most European soaps have nothing on recent US artisan shave soaps.

I fell for the whole "history of tradition" thing and bought that exact bar with the wooden bowl. Big disappointed. Not cheap either. Some of my lower priced bars work far better. I want want to sell it. Any buyers? Only used twice.

Too bad! The shape of the puck is exactly like the C&E West Indian Lime, and the lather looks the same. Airy, not dense at all, not slick at all, nothing. Turned it into an expensive shower soap. Interesting that they look/perform the same, wonder if they are made by the same manufacturer?

Wait so just because it doesn’t work for you we should all dismiss it? 🤔

I know Douglas Smythe tests different temperature on water to get better lather results.....maybe trying hotter water??? Who knows. Those Brits don't like making it easy do they? :-)

geo f trumper are quite disappointing, their cologne was very synthetic and the shaving soap was pretty crap when testing it myself.

Geo F. Trumper and Truefitt & Hill's shaving products have too high of a price point for performance like that. Based on what I've seen in this review and in another with both of these brands, have been ruled out as far as I'm concerned.

Disappointing. Sorry you wasted your hard earned money, but you did save me from making the same mistake. I do love their sandalwood scent though, and their skinfood is the absolute best. It can be used as a pre or post shave balm and is just top notch. I use the sandalwood and the west indian lime.

You want a tip?: Put the Trumpster in the dumpster. I've had the coconut soap. Even after getting tips from Trumpers via email I couldn't make anything decent. I even tried battery water to eliminate water issues. Life is too short and time too precious in the morning to deal with bad soaps!

Very disappointing. I was very excited to try this but for the price, may just avoid it now and go with D.R. Harris as my luxury soap.

Hi Nick! Try to scrub the soap to your face.

It is really funny you will spend the money on a badger brush, but not the good shave soap....to be honest, the soap and blade are the most important parts of shaving, you could do just fine with a $10 brush!

Might as well shave with dial or zest soap by the looks of Trumpers. I didn`t care for the Van der Hagen soap either. I`ll take Arco or Palmolive any day.

that, way you should only stick with good English Shaving Creams.

use less water

Unless there known for there soaps get a cream.

GFT has absolutely no scent

This must be the worst soap in the world. To bad i bought it before seeing this video. I got a lather looking like bubbles from dish soap totaly useless crap and trumpers knows the soap suck but seem to not want to change back the formula