I realise that I’m becoming less and less a fan of menthol and WS-23 in soaps and splashes. It feels like a gimmick.
For the most part, menthol and Koolada/WS-23 are gimmicks - they are often added to provide a “refreshing” feeling, the only good use case are very hot summer days were they provide a short relief from the heat. Natural peppermint oil is an entirely different case though, if used sparingly (1% at most) in products it has the same effect as it contains natural menthol. However, it’s a bit counterproductive to shaving - peppermint and menthol mostly improve blood flow and improve hair/beard growth by proxy. A 2014 study in mice even showed that an oil mix consisting of castor, jojoba and a tiny bit of peppermint oil worked as good as Minoxidil for hair (re-)growth!
gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social 1 month ago
I’m with you on this one. I find myself using Mammoth far less often because the soap reminds me of the matching splash even if I don’t use the splash.
djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social 1 month ago
Good news then! Mammoth Ben mentioned on the Wetshaving discord that he started phasing out ws23 for large parts of his offer. Currently he’s working on a batch on uncool Shire splash
gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social 1 month ago
Good for him!