Cheap vs expensive soaps and creams

[never-stop-learning]

I've used MdC for over 10 years. It was the darling boutique soap of B&B from around the beginning of that time primarily thanks to @Marco's extensive review. Unless you're married to their family or have some other sort of sentimental attachment, its performance has been far eclipsed by modern artisanal soaps.

Thanks to @RayClem I've on boarded some of his top tier soaps and what they achieve is beyond the basics of what any good shave soap is in their rapidity in quality lather development, higher level of razor glide, cushion and superior post-shave moisturization to the point of a making a dedicated after shave product or moisturizer redundant for ME.

As for shave economy, if you just use the soap and dial in loading for your intended use you can get a lot of shaves out of a tub and also not have to have a aftershave product provided your skin is okay with that.

Beyond the soaps @RayClem listed, what others provide rapid quality lather building, super slippy skin, cushion for the razor, excellent post-shave moisturization AND doesn't contain any regulatory-banned ingredients?

I'm pleased that you have found soaps that work for you. Your impressions of soaps, though, is dependent on your individual face, skin and beard. What works for you may not work for someone else.

I've used a bunch of different soaps, from inexpensive to expensive, artisanal and non-artisanal. Some artisanal soaps I've tried seem to leave my skin feeling too oily. MdC, MWF (tallow), Canada, WSP Formula T and Rustic, SV, CRS Tub Creams plus some other similar soaps/creams provide me with plenty of slickness and cushion while still providing me with a wonderful post-shave face feel - very clean and refreshed.

My advice to folks looking to expand their knowledge of soaps and creams is to get samples from a variety of (artisanal and other) manufacturers and see what works best.

With shaving stuff, personal experimentation is the best teacher.

Just my opinion.

 

[demaro]

My normal every day soaps consist of Proraso, Arko , Derby , Palmolive sticks and some other older soaps I’ve accumulated over the years. i can get as good of a shave with inexpensive soaps as I can with the more pricey soaps . The only difference I can see is a more refined scent with the more expensive items .

 

[gdawg55]

I don’t find a huge difference in soap performance from low cost to higher cost products. I have and enjoy soaps form different price ranges. I prefer soaps that are slick, yet provide good cushion. Scent is also important for me.

My preference at the moment are traditional hard soaps like DRH and MWF. Some artisans that really perform well are B&M, Stirling, Zingari Man, and WSP.

My favorite low cost soap is Ogallala. This soap really surprised me. It lathers crazy good and performs like all my artisan soaps. It’s very good for the price, but you better like bay rum because all their scents include it.

 

[BobbyB]

At $16 (USD) per tube, my Proraso Green cream works very well for me.

 

[Quaznoid]

If all you are looking for in a shave soap is slickness, then you can use a bath bar such as Irish Spring. That soap is so slick that I often have difficulty holding on to the soap in the shower; It is too slippery. However, in my book, a shave soap need a lot more than slickness to allow for a great shave. I can shave in the shower with a cartridge razor using Irish Spring, but I would never use it for a traditional shave using a straight razor, DE razor, or SE razor unless that was the best I could afford.

I get slickness and cushion from bath soaps. Folks should try it before commenting on it. You might be pleasantly surprised

 

[rinejl]

Some products such as pamolive, proraso, cella,Mwf arko are cheap and work very well. Are expensive products overpriced with a high mark up for profit? Maybe the high cost is mostly accounted for by expensive scents
Just a thought.

I think you're spot on. I love the performance of Arko stick. I'm always amazed with the performance. I've also been pleased with several of the artisan soaps I've bought on Etsy. Conversely, I've been let down by several name brands.

 

[ChriWilson]

At $16 (USD) per tube, my Proraso Green cream works very well for me.

I sincerely hope that you are buying the 500ml refill tube at this price...
A standard tube at 5oz (125ml), shouldn't run you more than $10

 

[Eshebert]

When I first started wet shaving, I went straight to the Proraso, TOBS, Trumper’s and Cela creams. I enjoy the first three brands, easy face lathering, smell great, and at $16 to $22 they are prefixed fair. The Cela I do not like.

Last month I picked up all the RazoRock pucks on sale for $18.00 for all 6. I am here to tell you that I have had the best shaves of my life with those pucks. I would put them a close second to my favorite soap, Stirling Margaritas in the Arctic.

They may not be a perfumed as TOBS or Trumper’s, convenient as Proraso but I would put them up against any soap.

Bang for you buck, Not sure you can beat what Stirling or the RazoRock have to offer at their price points.

 

[ksblazer]

When I first started wet shaving, I went straight to the Proraso, TOBS, Trumper’s and Cela creams. I enjoy the first three brands, easy face lathering, smell great, and at $16 to $22 they are prefixed fair. The Cela I do not like.

Last month I picked up all the RazoRock pucks on sale for $18.00 for all 6. I am here to tell you that I have had the best shaves of my life with those pucks. I would put them a close second to my favorite soap, Stirling Margaritas in the Arctic.

They may not be a perfumed as TOBS or Trumper’s, convenient as Proraso but I would put them up against any soap.

Bang for you buck, Not sure you can beat what Stirling or the RazoRock have to offer at their price points.

Are you referring to the RR What the Puck hard soaps?

It’s probably my favorite budget soaps for the $$.

 

[Tirvine]

We are well into July. Here is the tub I started at Christmas and use exclusively every single day.

 

[SmokedStanley]

I haven't tried a ton of expensive soaps but the few I did try did not leave me feeling impressed. I get a great shave using the Van Der Hagen Luxury Scented I got from amazon. Buying a 3 pack of 3.5oz pucks for $9.99. I have looked up some of the soaps people mention on here and just can't make myself take the leap when I see the prices. That said I have been trying to expand my soap experiences but still cringe at a lot of the prices.

 

[Lockback]

I'm thrifty (read: cheap!).
I'm a Stirling Soap fan and have also bought Cella Red and Proraso, each for $10.00. I just can't see spending more than that but I certainly don't judge or dislike those who like to and want to.

 

[rasoirdangereux]

I'd emptied tens of Artisan soaps like GD,DG, B&M, M&M, and Martin de Candre(yes. it was not impossible. took about 200 shaves) While I enjoyed most of them, I don't see much benefit of using high end soaps compared to much cheaper ones. So I went back to cheap soaps like Arko and Tabac 3years ago and have been quite satisfied with them.

 

[AZBronco]

A few years ago, I went down the rabbit hole. I was trying as many artisans as I could. And then artisans would come out with "Base 2.0!" or whatever. Eventually, I realized the carousel would never stop, so I stopped buying every latest and greatest soap. A lot of those soaps eventually found their way to the shower or my hand-soap dish. My current rotation is Proraso, Cella, Tabac, and PdP No. 63 and they all perform as good or better than the $30 artisan soaps I used to buy. But, as they say, YMMV.

 

[Wgg2017]

Don't have a whole lot to add other than that, to me, soaps are probably the most personal shaving item. Just as an example, many folks here love Stirling and many love A&E. They both lather well and are protective and slick, but post shave Stirling leaves my skin dry and the newest A&E formulations leave my skin too moisturized and oily. So even though both are often recommended, neither works well for me.

On the other hand, Tabac and the Fine hard soaps are (were) highly recommended and leave my skin neither dry nor oily. I loved them both, even if I didn't like the Tabac scent, and neither was super expensive.

When it comes to soap, I don't think it's so much price that matters, but rather how the specific soap formulation reacts to your skin type. My recommendation would be to try samples to get an idea of what works for you.

 

[Lane101]

For under $2 U.S. per 3-4 oz. puck my custom blended shave soaps (mix of Williams, Van Der Hagen Deluxe, Arko, Prorasso Red and Ivory) deliver core shaving performance (ease of lathering, lather quality, residual slickness) that is as good as any commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product I've used. My commercial soaps/creams such as MWF (tallow), Tabac (new formula), D.R. Harris and Cyril R. Salter do offer additional benefits in the areas of scent and post shave feel. Also the convenience of not having to blend my own soap. Since I've been able to find these COTS products for between just $5-$10 each they represent good value for me given the added benefits and pleasant shave variety.

I like rotating between all of these plus straight Williams and Arko and my four creams (LEA & Cyril R. Salter).

Note that the custom $2 per puck cost is based on the 99 cents actually paid for my Williams, not the current $35 plus prices we've seen since it was discontinued. Per others Arko can be fully substituted for Williams for a similar quality blend.

 

[Lane101]

I'd emptied tens of Artisan soaps like GD,DG, B&M, M&M, and Martin de Candre(yes. it was not impossible. took about 200 shaves) While I enjoyed most of them, I don't see much benefit of using high end soaps compared to much cheaper ones. So I went back to cheap soaps like Arko and Tabac 3years ago and have been quite satisfied with them.

Thank you for sharing your shaving journey with us since joining B&B last month. Have seen your earlier post regarding acquisition of over 300 DE razors and 90 straight razors. You should post a photo of what sounds like an impressive collection. Do you have a few favorites that you regularly use or do you rotate across all of these?

Curious how just 200 shaves let you empty tens of Artisan shaving soaps? We've members who realize more shaves than that from a single MdC soap. Have seen posts from some noting that softer soaps, like GD may only yield 30-50 shave but even at that rate the math still doesn't add up for what would be at least 20 soaps. Were these full size soaps or just samples or did you just leave off a zero from your estimated number of shaves by mistake?

P.S. Looks like participating on B&B may be causing rapid onset of SAD (soap acquisition disorder) symptoms. Just this past Saturday you posted that you used Arko "all the time". Now Tabac and other cheap soaps are back in your rotation per the post above and I saw that you were considering a GD soap purchase last Tuesday during the recent Pasteur sale. Happens to most of us though in my case it took a couple of years after joining B&B

 

[euro]

Some products such as pamolive, proraso, cella,Mwf arko are cheap and work very well. Are expensive products overpriced with a high mark up for profit? Maybe the high cost is mostly accounted for by expensive scents
Just a thought.

I agree with the other user who mentioned TOBS. TOBS creams are very good and they smell very nice, I buy them for their smell. Proraso Green smells okay I use Proraso creams because they're also very good. The only reason why I got an Arko stick was because I small Turkish shop here sold those sticks for 75 cents. It's a good performing soap and the smell is meh ok, it's not bad just like Proraso it's also a great soap. Palmolive Classic has an unique smell, I really cannot describe it but this one reminds me of my father who used it. Just like the other creams it's a great performer too. But you know how it goes here on this board... MUST... BUY... THIS.... NEW... PRODUCT.... (don't tell me you're not guilty of this)

 

[Lane101]

I haven't tried a ton of expensive soaps but the few I did try did not leave me feeling impressed. I get a great shave using the Van Der Hagen Luxury Scented I got from amazon. Buying a 3 pack of 3.5oz pucks for $9.99. I have looked up some of the soaps people mention on here and just can't make myself take the leap when I see the prices. That said I have been trying to expand my soap experiences but still cringe at a lot of the prices.

Welcome to B&B - see you joined us last month. Yes the VDH Luxury works well thanks to the added glycerin and is good value. You may want to consider trying a tallow based soap or two to see if you like what will be a different shaving experience. Arko is the budget option. For a more luxurious experience consider the Cyril R. Salter shaving soap for 4.50 British Pounds from Connaught shaving in the U.K. Same base formula as D.R. Harris.

Note shipping adds over 6 Pounds to the Connaught price but if you pick three different soaps (e.g. Cella and LEA for example) the shipping only goes up to around 7 Pounds. Air shipping is free for orders over 60 pounds.

 

[rasoirdangereux]

Thank you for sharing your shaving journey with us since joining B&B last month. Have seen your earlier post regarding acquisition of over 300 DE razors and 90 straight razors. You should post a photo of what sounds like an impressive collection. Do you have a few favorites that you regularly use or do you rotate across all of these?

Curious how just 200 shaves let you empty tens of Artisan shaving soaps? We've members who realize more shaves than that from a single MdC soap. Have seen posts from some noting that softer soaps, like GD may only yield 30-50 shave but even at that rate the math still doesn't add up for what would be at least 20 soaps. Were these full size soaps or just samples or did you just leave off a zero from your estimated number of shaves by mistake?

P.S. Looks like participating on B&B may be causing rapid onset of SAD (soap acquisition disorder) symptoms. Just this past Saturday you posted that you used Arko "all the time". Now Tabac and other cheap soaps are back in your rotation per the post above and I saw that you were considering a GD soap purchase last Tuesday during the recent Pasteur sale. Happens to most of us though in my case it took a couple of years after joining B&B

Well, then Don't believe in what I said. It will solve all your problem too easily.

a couple of thing I want to clarify. 1. I first joined B&B 10 years ago.
2. 200 shaves meant MDC alone. a full sized new one. Actually it was a bit less than that.
3. I use Arko all the time. I have Tabac shave cream as the only back up. The post about GD was my way of thanking original poster for letting us know useful info. Actually, I just looked it up and never had my mind set on purchaing one.