Stirling Soap Company

Stirling Soap Company is an American maker of natural, handmade soaps and grooming products, founded in January 2012 by husband-and-wife owners Roderick and Amanda Lovan [2]. The company built its following in the wet-shaving community around tallow-based shave soaps sold at low prices, and has since grown into a broad range of personal-care goods, from bath soaps and colognes to beard care, shaving hardware and even coffee.

The business remains active. As of August 2026 it was still releasing new scents and products through its own online store, operating as what it describes as a small artisan business run by a husband-and-wife team and a few employees [4].

According to the company, Stirling grew out of the founders' search for natural personal-care products, an interest sparked after a trip to Scotland [2]. The Lovans started the company after concluding that most commercial "soap" does not meet the United States Food and Drug Administration's definition of soap and often contains synthetic chemicals. That reasoning became the basis for their stated mission: that people should not have to pay eight dollars a bar for natural soap that is good for the skin and safe for their family [2].

Stirling's catalogue centres on soap but reaches well beyond it. The company sells bath soaps, shave soaps, aftershave splashes, colognes and eau de toilettes, beard and pre-shave oils, hair and body products, and shaving hardware such as razors, brushes and bowls. A separate coffee-roasting division, Stirling Roastery, sits alongside the personal-care lines [1].

Scent range is central to the brand's identity. One review counted 72 different soap varieties, with recurring favourites including the Executive Man and Barbershop shave soaps, a Bay Rum scent, and the Mountain Man bath soap [6]. The soaps themselves are built on beef tallow. In its FAQ, the company defends the use of animal fats, noting the practice "dates back thousands of years" and produces a hard, well-lathering bar rich in fatty acids [4]. Because the soaps are tallow-based, they are not vegan; the company reserves the "vegan-friendly" description for some of its fragrance oils.

Affordability sits at the core of Stirling's positioning. The company frames natural soap as something that should be within reach rather than an expensive indulgence, and lists natural ingredients, environmental responsibility and affordability among its core values [2]. Most of its soaps are described as fully natural; those that are not use fragrance oils the company characterises as safe and environmentally friendly. It also states that it uses no dyes, so its bars take on a creamy off-white shade or a natural tone drawn from the added oils [4].

Stirling describes several environmental practices. Its labels use fully post-consumer-waste paper, and product wrapping is a biolefin film that the company says biodegrades within two to five years. It also reports sourcing sustainable palm oil [2]. No independent certifications for these claims are documented.

Mainstream beauty press does not cover Stirling; substantive third-party coverage comes from wet-shaving publications. Shaving Advisor reviewed the brand favourably, rating it 7.6 out of 10 and describing its soaps as strong value among tallow-based natural products, while noting the lather was "good, if somewhat thin" and performed better when generously loaded [6].

The company remains active. Through August 2026 it continued to release new scents, among them The Shivering, Stirling Black, Oro Valley and Deton-8, and it sold directly through its own United States online store as well as through numerous third-party wet-shaving retailers, including internationally [1].