07-20-2020, 11:06 AM
Back in the 1960s, there was an advertising buy by I-cannot-recall-which retailer that ran effectively unchanged week after week, for several months in the New Yorker magazine and which extolled the virtues of Linden as an essential ingredient in personal grooming bar soap. That advertising campaign left an apparently indelible impression upon yr obdnt srvnt, and the first time that I ever saw a Linden soap in a retail store (it happened to be in München) in the early 1990s, I simply had to buy a bar to take home with me. Before I used the bar for cleansing, however, I stashed it in a dresser drawer as a sachet for a time, where it imparted a delightfully fresh scent to the items therein. That bar, of course, is long gone now.
These days, the bar soap of choice in our household is Goat Milk Facial Bar from Mystic Water, which is not only the best hand/face soap we ever have had the pleasure to use, but it is made by a delightful artisan, Michelle Burns, whom we wish to support and to encourage.
In these days of the pandemic, we are going through a lot of beside-the-sink soap, of course, and the other day, in our local pharmacy, we espied a tabletop display of on-sale soap from Pre de Provence, and one of the offerings was Linden, and — as in München in the 1990s — we just had to buy a bar. We went home with it, and when we finished off the bar that had been beside the bathroom sink, I opened the Linden soap's wrapper, and left the bar by the sink. Later that day, my bride entered the bathroom and exclaimed out loud, "What a wonderful scent!" My bride is not given to profligate use of such expressions, so I took note. Later, when I entered the same room I had the same reaction as she did.
So that got me to thinking of The ShaveNook, where there are many many threads about soaps, both shaving soaps and general grooming soaps, not to mention (but here I am mentioning) shampoos, and a majority of the posts emphasize scent over performance (though plenty posts remain that do mention performance). But the Search function of this site brings up only ONE discussion — a short one comprising seven terse individual posts — of Linden: Thin gruel.
Why does Linden lack the outpouring of love that it deserves? Is it merely a case that lack of familiarity brings contempt?
These days, the bar soap of choice in our household is Goat Milk Facial Bar from Mystic Water, which is not only the best hand/face soap we ever have had the pleasure to use, but it is made by a delightful artisan, Michelle Burns, whom we wish to support and to encourage.
In these days of the pandemic, we are going through a lot of beside-the-sink soap, of course, and the other day, in our local pharmacy, we espied a tabletop display of on-sale soap from Pre de Provence, and one of the offerings was Linden, and — as in München in the 1990s — we just had to buy a bar. We went home with it, and when we finished off the bar that had been beside the bathroom sink, I opened the Linden soap's wrapper, and left the bar by the sink. Later that day, my bride entered the bathroom and exclaimed out loud, "What a wonderful scent!" My bride is not given to profligate use of such expressions, so I took note. Later, when I entered the same room I had the same reaction as she did.
So that got me to thinking of The ShaveNook, where there are many many threads about soaps, both shaving soaps and general grooming soaps, not to mention (but here I am mentioning) shampoos, and a majority of the posts emphasize scent over performance (though plenty posts remain that do mention performance). But the Search function of this site brings up only ONE discussion — a short one comprising seven terse individual posts — of Linden: Thin gruel.
Why does Linden lack the outpouring of love that it deserves? Is it merely a case that lack of familiarity brings contempt?
07-20-2020, 08:58 PM
(07-20-2020, 06:38 PM)chazt Wrote: Well, I just did a quick search. I found a Linden soap on a pre de Provence website and also a site that seems to belong to an artisan soap maker. Which soap is the the one you’ve referenced?
The artisan is Michelle Burns, d.b.a. Mystic Water, with two websites: the Facial Bars are on mysticwatersoap.com, and the shaving soaps are on mystic4men.com.
Mystic Water is a site sponsor of ShaveNook. Michelle is a mensch.
Our daily driver soap bar is Mystic Water Goat Milk facial bar.
07-21-2020, 04:11 AM
I've never tried a Linden soap. I like the Pre de Provence bath soaps, so I'll try the Linden one.
Mystic Water makes very nice bath soaps. I've enjoyed meeting Michelle twice at farmer's markets in the Maryland area. She's been making quality artisan bath and shaving soaps since long before everyone and his cousin got into the business.
Mystic Water makes very nice bath soaps. I've enjoyed meeting Michelle twice at farmer's markets in the Maryland area. She's been making quality artisan bath and shaving soaps since long before everyone and his cousin got into the business.
07-21-2020, 08:45 AM
(07-20-2020, 08:58 PM)Mel S Meles Wrote:(07-20-2020, 06:38 PM)chazt Wrote: Well, I just did a quick search. I found a Linden soap on a pre de Provence website and also a site that seems to belong to an artisan soap maker. Which soap is the the one you’ve referenced?
The artisan is Michelle Burns, d.b.a. Mystic Water, with two websites: the Facial Bars are on mysticwatersoap.com, and the shaving soaps are on mystic4men.com.
Mystic Water is a site sponsor of ShaveNook. Michelle is a mensch.
Our daily driver soap bar is Mystic Water Goat Milk facial bar.
That wasn’t my question. I know Mystic Water soaps. I was speaking of Linden soap. Pre de Provence lists a Linden soap on their website, pre de Provence dot com, and there’s also linden soaps dot com. So again I ask, which one?
![[Image: kY33kww.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/kY33kww.jpg)
09-14-2020, 01:14 PM
(07-20-2020, 11:06 AM)Mel S Meles Wrote: Why does Linden lack the outpouring of love that it deserves? Is it merely a case that lack of familiarity brings contempt?
Linden was one of the very first soap scents I fell in love with! Decades ago, there was a small gift shop on Powell St in SF, just up from the cable car turn-around at Market St. They had Crabtree & Evelyn and Pre de Provence soaps which is where I first bought it. In Italy the name for linden is Tilia and in Europe tilia flowers are used for a relaxing herbal tea to calm babies. It's also called lime flower but, confusingly, has nothing to do with the citrus lime.
Before the pandemic started, I bought some Linden fragrance from a supplier because I had never seen it available before, but I haven't done anything with it yet since my markets are all postponed. It sounds like I should make a batch.
Michelle
09-14-2020, 01:28 PM
(09-14-2020, 01:14 PM)Mystic Water Wrote:YES! You should! I’d buy it.(07-20-2020, 11:06 AM)Mel S Meles Wrote: Why does Linden lack the outpouring of love that it deserves? Is it merely a case that lack of familiarity brings contempt?
Linden was one of the very first soap scents I fell in love with! Decades ago, there was a small gift shop on Powell St in SF, just up from the cable car turn-around at Market St. They had Crabtree & Evelyn and Pre de Provence soaps which is where I first bought it. In Italy the name for linden is Tilia and in Europe tilia flowers are used for a relaxing herbal tea to calm babies. It's also called lime flower but, confusingly, has nothing to do with the citrus lime.
Before the pandemic started, I bought some Linden fragrance from a supplier because I had never seen it available before, but I haven't done anything with it yet since my markets are all postponed. It sounds like I should make a batch.
Michelle
![[Image: oHua55w.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/oHua55w.gif)
11-20-2020, 05:39 PM
(11-20-2020, 12:22 AM)Mystic Water Wrote: Just wanted to say that my new Linden shave soap is now on the website. Depending on how you like it, I could make a matching bath soap - I think the avocado oil base that I use for the Goat Milk soap would be a good variation.
Michelle
The goat milk and avocado oil base is excellent.
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