La Toja shaving stick

This is one of my fav top 3 soaps,alongside Martin de Candre and Mitchells Wool Fat,for many reasons :

I started shaving with a brush and soap/cream and multi blade razor (Wilkinson FX Performer) when I was 18.At the time I lived in Spain ,and of course,it was an available shaving stick,with the LEA and the Myrurgia one (check this thread out ) : Made in Spain shaving sticks.It wasnt the first one that I bought (that was the Myrurgia) but I still remember the first time that I tried it with an Omega silvertip brush...oh boy,what a creamy lather,what a scent and what a shave!Since then,Im totally in love with it.

La Toja have suffered many reformulations with the coming of the years and also was bought by Henkel in 2000,and its production was move out of Spain in 2002 (it seems than the soap and the cream and made in Slovakia).Since then,also have suffered some reformulations too,as you can see in the Made in Spain shaving sticks thread.

There was a time that even had tallow on it,as you can see in this pic :

But dont know when this shaving stick was made or how long tallow was on it.Tallow later was substituted by Potassium and Sodium Sterate,that can come from tallow or veggie oils,but this formulation we consider it to be veggie based,even when the lather that it gives its like a tallow based soap.

Also,La Toja have made shaving soaps in the wooden bowl for a long time (now have been discontinued) like this one :

With the following formulation :

sodium stereate, potasium cocoate, water, glycerin, titanium dioxide, sodium chloride, tetrasodium edta, sodium silicate

And we cant see tallow on it but sodium sterate.

Well,the actual formulation has no tallow on it (the stick on the right) :

but provides lather like this :

Creamy and thick,like a good tallow based soap.

I love La Toja! I love the skin care that provides and its scent.I know that some people have reported to suffer itching due to the Mineral Salts that the soap contains (or the coconud acid ingredient),but I dont suffer and have experienced that.
The scent its kind of dry,woody and a little bit powdery.Is also intense,which means that last all the shave.

Im thinking about writing to Henkel and ask them to change the current formulation for an old one,like the one with tallow,but the actual ones works fine for me.

La Toja,what a fine shaving stick!

Looking forward to try La Toja. The one in the wooden bowl seems very elegant, you said it is discontinued but is it still available, maybe in Spain?

(04-09-2012, 11:24 PM)staggerlee Wrote: Looking forward to try La Toja. The one in the wooden bowl seems very elegant, you said it is discontinued but is it still available, maybe in Spain?

No,unfortunately is not available anymore.It was only in La Toja Manantiales store (La Coruna) and web site,but its not longer made.

I often take a stick of La Toja with me in my travel kit and I've got one chopped up in a bowl where it seems to work better for me
I like the scent and the lather is pretty creamy.
Nice stuff
regards, beejay

la Toja is indeed good stuff. I have the stick and also a bowl of the La Toja Manantiales and love them.
I'm glad I grabbed a bowl of the Manantiales before it was discontinued.

The La Toja stick is one fine soap stick.

Very rich and creamy leather that never lets me down.

Very nice soap. One of the best veggie formulations, IMO.

Very nice veggie soap, and my traveling shave stick of choice.

La Toja and Speick are my two favorite sticks. Like beejay, I too take my La Toja stick when I travel. Sticks travel well, and the plastic cover keeps the soap from getting on stuff in the dopp kit.

Great write up Teiste!

I picked up a stick of this from Vintage Scent along with my SOC badger brush. So far I've used it twice, both with the new brush.

I've had some trouble getting enough lather for 3 passes out of one application of the stick. This may simply be because I don't shave my goatee area, the densest and stiffest area of the beard.

Regardless, a little bit of reapplication never hurt anyone. The shave itself has been really great. It leaves my skin feeling nice and the lather is nice and slick, protective.

I didn't find the scent to be particularly strong or distinctive. It mostly smells like soap to my nose. There's nothing wrong with that, either. I have plenty of nose-pleasing soaps for days when I'm in the mood for that.

Thanks for the write up - your review was one of the reasons I decided I wanted to try it!

I am a big fan of the La Toja shave stick with its unique fragrance with a hint of mineral salts. One stick last a very long time and my face always feels replenished after I shave with La Toja. For those that might be interested in trying this soap I do know that Joe at http://Italianbarber.com is now selling it for only $4.99 which is a very good deal.

I can't wait for my wooden bowl to arrive. I have some sticks on the way too to compare with.

la toja is the next stick on my list to acquire to try.

I just used this today.

While I was smearing it on my face, I thought to myself, the scent and look of the soap was similar to Insitute karite.

Excellent soap, I really like shave sticks and this one is probably my favorite (having tried most sticks).

I love the scent, lather, and everything else of this stick.

I know this is blasphemy, but I might do the same thing I did to the 3 sticks of tallow Palmolive soap - mill them into a container.

OK now, let's have the whip slashes I deserve

(06-22-2012, 07:40 AM)Leon Wrote: I know this is blasphemy, but I might do the same thing I did to the 3 sticks of tallow Palmolive soap - mill them into a container.

OK now, let's have the whip slashes I deserve

As the Great Flip Wilson when portraying Geraldine Jones use to say
"The devil made me do it" and "My boyfriend Killer is going to get you sucka!"

Hey if that is the way you wish to load the La Toja by all means mill away.