I told you I'd review these bar soaps after using them, so here we go.
I'm happy to report that the Pure Sport and Swagger soaps work well. They lather nicely, and leave skin feeling toned and clean. It's unclear as to why P&G chose to market only three bars - Pure Sport, Fiji, and Swagger - and opted to leave the original Old Spice fragrance out of the mix, but so far I'm pleased with the two I've tried. Let's hope they sell like hotcakes and spur the company to release the "Classic Scent" in bar form. A few points on Pure Sport and Swagger:
- The bars are generously sized at 4 ounces (Irish Spring is only 3.75 ounces) and they feel dense, like they've been triple milled (although I doubt they are).
- They last a while. I get well over a week's-worth of showers from one bar (about ten days), while Irish Spring only yields around six or seven showers. I lather a lot though, probably more than a lot of folks do, so your mileage may vary on this.
- The bars are shaped in a way that prohibits them from splitting in two while being used. Unlike Dial and Irish Spring, which separate into two little pieces about two-thirds of the way through their life, Old Spice soaps remain one solid piece, right to the end, due to the attenuated curvature in their design.
- Their fragrances are potent, but unlike other soaps, they don't cloy upon lathering. I get olfactory fatigue with these, to the point where I don't even smell them while showering. After I step out and towel off, however, I get whiffs of freshness that remind me of what I just washed with. Those whiffs endure for about five minutes after showering, so there's no doubt these soaps have strong scents.
The lower curve in the bar shape doesn't effect its solvency in leftover water after showering, so you're unlikely to get that mushy-bar effect of soggy soap. I'm not sure how that is, but I suspect the density of the soap has something to do with it - they're actually not so easily permeated by water. Even in lathering, it takes a little extra effort to get suds. That can be viewed as a negative, in the sense that you have to work a little harder to get the same effect as other bar soaps, but I doubt anyone will mind. The lather isn't super-rich, and won't cover skin completely like Ivory Soap does (stingy bar, awful scent, but decent functionality to that one), but it's pretty good, and a little better than Irish Spring, so I can't complain.
Between the two fragrances, I think I like Pure Sport just a little more than Swagger. It smells fairly close to the aftershave, but a little more top-heavy, like Pure Sport's woody-citrus, without the sandalwood dry down. That's the reverse of most bar soaps, which tend to feature only base notes. Pure Sport soap is very bright and fizzy-fresh, while Swagger is a little smoother and sweeter, with a muskier aroma. I really like Swagger as well, but it reminds me of Irish Spring Icy Blast for some reason. Maybe the light blue color and the sweetness is what does it. But it's a good smell and performs the same as Pure Sport.
I hope to try Fiji soon. For those of you who are interested in these soaps, I give Pure Sport and Swagger two thumbs up. They're excellent products, and a pleasure to use.