Mickey Lee Soapworks: Bali Hai Review

As part of my plan to purchase cheaper soaps, I explored Maggard Razors’ host of discontinued samples and Mickey Lee Soapworks’ Bali Hai was one of them. I usually stay away from floral scents, but a sample of this stuff was pretty cheap and I never tried a soap from the company before, so I thought to go for it. While I got a sample, the actual soap comes in a 3.3 oz. tub for $12.00. Well that’s what it was priced at before going off of the market. That brings the soap to a slightly expensive $3.64 per oz.

While I’m a huge fan of shaving soaps, I try to stay away from the stuff that comes in at anything above $3.00 per oz. Not for any particular reason, it’s just a little too expensive for my taste and I’ve found that soaps below that price point are amazing. When I buy something at that kind of price point, I hold it to a higher standard than the other soaps I’ve tried. This stuff should’ve blow me away, but I’m sad to report that it didn’t.

Right off the bat, the soap has an interesting brown color. It’s not a hard or soft soap, but somewhere in between. While none of that is out of the ordinary, the scent on this stuff is spectacular. Out of the jar, the soap has an incredible strength. The overwhelming scent of exotic flowers wafts into your nose and it’s something that carries you away to paradise.

Apparently, the scent is “inspired by a Bailnese spa treatment that includes a body scrub followed by a floral-scented bath, this grooming product has notes of jasmine and sandalwood set on a base of black tea and coconut milk.” I get the floral scent first, followed by the sandalwood and then the sweetness of the coconut. If you like flowers, you’ll love this scent.

The strength of the scent stays right at a medium-strong while loading and throughout the entire shave. It’s an easy soap to work into a lather and once there, it feels like lotion. The lather has a good amount of slickness, but lacks in the cushion department. No matter what brush I used or how much I loaded, the lather would become airy after a couple of minutes of sitting on my face. That’s not a big issue, since the majority of shavers won’t let a soap sit on their face for a few minutes, but I did and it turned into an airy substance.

When shaving, the soap is extremely slick and the blade cuts right through it. Bali Hai provides a close shave and has an excellent post-shave feel. After shaving with this stuff, it feels like I just put lotion on my face. It’s moisturizing in the best way, except for one big thing: it burns. It’s not like my face is on fire, but it’s an uncomfortable tingle.

Bali Hai is a good product that is for those that really like floral scents and an extremely slick lather. The post-shave feel is great, but it’s not for people with super sensitive faces. I like a soap that has a lot of cushion and this didn’t provide me that.

Scent Pleasantness: 7/10

Scent Strength: 8/10

Lather Quality: 8/10

Price: 7/10

It’s sad that this stuff isn’t on the market anymore, because I’m sure it would be loved by a lot of people. There aren’t a lot of flowery scents out there that I like and this one’s definitely worth a try. I, however, wouldn’t buy a whole tub of Mickey Lee Soapworks without trying a sample first.

Overall 7.5/10