Review - Cold River Soap Works / Oliva

Company: Cold River Soap Works

Product: Oliva

Founder: Larry Jones

Location: Baldwinsville, NY

Follow Up

A few weeks back I reviewed a shaving soap called Smooth Criminal by a company called Puddle Duck Soaps. After the review went public I’d received many emails telling me they too had the same experience with the lather as I did. Some even went as far as writing to the owner asking them to please change the formula but that request went unanswered. Over the course of my experience buying shaving soaps from ETSY and other online stores I thought I would never find one with olive oil that didn’t have this disappearing lather issues, but I was wrong.

 I’m happy to announce I’ve found one that really works. The company is called Cold River Soap Works owned and operated by Larry Jones. The name of the soap is Oliva. I contacted Larry and told him of my experience with olive oil soaps. He was kind enough to send me a sample of his.

I’m not going into packaging details since this is a sample but it did come in a nice plastic tub.

The notes as described by CRSW are as follows. A classic Colonia Mediterranean type fragrance, elegant and timeless. Aromatic woods, spicy floral and light citrus. ​Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Aloe Leaf Juice, Potassium Hydroxide, Kokum Butter, Castor Oil, Glycerin, Jojoba Oil, Shea Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Lactate and Fragrance.

So how did it lather? In a word perfectly. I placed a generous amount of it in my lathering bowl and created a real great lather in about 3 to 4 minutes only adding a little water along the way. As I started to apply the lather to my face I was waiting for the disappearing act to begin but it never happened. The lather was rich, thick and creamy and performed very well during the entire shave.  The slickness and glide was very good along with a nice post shave feel.

So adding olive oil to shaving soap doesn’t have to result in lather that disappears. It’s obvious to me that Larry knows what he’s doing and by created OLIVA he’s showing other artisans that it can be done.

I could only hope that Elisabeth of Puddle Duck Soaps feels the need to make the corrections to her formula. If she does, I think we’d all enjoy that version for sure.

Company: Cold Rive Soap Works

Product: Oliva 4oz $18.50

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