why one soap over another?

[praetorian2000]

I’ve been using vdh soap for about 2 months. To me it’s ok. It’s cheap (I buy by price. I believe in the best for the least) and it gets the job done…I think. I’ve only been at this for about 2 months. I still don’t use a de razor but I hope to get to that soon.

On the boards there are those who hate this soap, they detest that soap, or they loathe the other soap. At the same time, others love this soap, highly recommend that soap, or believe there is nothing better than the other soap.

What I’d like to know is why? What makes a soap remarkably good? Why one soap over another? Clearly it’s not price because people are highly recommending some expensive soaps. The scent of the soap I don’t care about. (unlike others, I still detest shaving. Not to mention, the only time I can smell the scent is when I’m lathering. Anything after that I smell nothing.) so outside of all that, why one soap over another?

[tsmba]

Like every other shaving product, personal preferences are highly-variable. You can find plenty opinions here, but in the end, you simply must try things until you find what you like. It sounds like you are pretty utilitarian, and as such you are most concerned with performance. Have you tried creams?

[praetorian2000]

i'm looking for something simple and easy which is why i use soap and i can find them at wal mart and other stores i go to. i have yet to see cream in a store. but, if using cream is simple and easy, i would give it a try..provided i can find it. i just haven't heard anyone say using cream is as simple and easy as using soap.
the reason i don't up and try other soaps and creams is that i was recently laid off and can't afford to try something only to not like it and then don't use it. what people here have to say about a product makes a huge difference to me. i chose vdh because of what everyone said. col conk get's great reviews but i haven't read why people like it. and that coupled with the fact that it costs more than vdh and i have no income keeps me from trying it.
to the best of my knowledge, soap is designed to form a lather so you can shave without cutting yourself up. that's it. therefore, to me, soap is soap. i haven't seen that soap is supposed to do more than that. and if so, that's my question...what else is it supposed to do? why do people choose one over the other?

[michiganlover]

i'm looking for something simple and easy which is why i use soap and i can find them at wal mart and other stores i go to. i have yet to see cream in a store.

There are a handful of shaving creams readily available at local stores:

-C.O. Bigelow Premium Shaving Cream (aka Proraso) is available at Bath and Body Works. $5 for small tube. $10 for big tube.

-The Real Shaving Company Shaving Cream is available at Rite Aid. $5.00 for a large 5+ oz tube.

-Kiss My Face Moisture Shave is available in the natural foods section of many supermarkets, and especially at natural food/ whole food stores. $5.69 for a huge 11oz pump bottle.

All three of these are top quality products that are certainly worth trying out. :biggrin:

[michiganlover]

What I’d like to know is why? What makes a soap remarkably good? Why one soap over another? Clearly it’s not price because people are highly recommending some expensive soaps. The scent of the soap I don’t care about. (unlike others, I still detest shaving. Not to mention, the only time I can smell the scent is when I’m lathering. Anything after that I smell nothing.) so outside of all that, why one soap over another?

The differences in pricing of soap has to do with the prestige of the brand name, cost of the ingredients (some scents are produced via more expensive Essential Oils), and other factors.

The basics ingredients of soap are similar across all of the brands.

Some products do perform differently: they may lather better, produce a richer, creamier lather, they may offer more cushion (protection from the razor blade), they may be slicker.

If all that mattered, were the inclusion of Tallow, we would all be content to shave with Williams. :lol::lol:

[praetorian2000]

Some products do perform differently: they may lather better, produce a richer, creamier lather, they may offer more cushion (protection from the razor blade), they may be slicker.
:

that's what i didin't know. thanks.

[russ668]

Nice to meet you! Okay, I'm fairly new to the DE shaving world. I started out using CO Bigelow (prosaro) cream and I learned my first lather technique using it. I've become fairly proficient at building a quality lather using my cream.

Recently, I purchased a sample of Crabtree and Evelyn Sandalwood shaving soap in the BST for cheap. I've been dying to try a sandalwood scented product. I have to tell you, that after 3 attempts at building a quality lather with this stuff, it is much more labor intensive and time consuming than using a quality cream. I have loaded my brush until I think I can't get any more soap on it and I never quite end up with that thick slick creamy lather that I can get with the cream in half the time.

Maybe it's that the Prosaro cream is higher quality? Maybe it just lathers better with my setup (finest badger brush and mug)? I don't know...but I'm very disappointed in the soap. I may be a cream guy going forward, but I am still going to try a Tabac, a Trumpers coconut and maybe something like a Susie's bubbles before giving up totally. Afterall, you must aquiring lots of products for your den right? hehe...

So, my opinion would be that soaps are more difficult to work with (i don't face lather) and creams are amazing. In fact, the Prosaro has a fantastic scent, great menthol feel on the face, and washes off easily. I can't say enough about it.

Oh and I do like the sandalwood scent of the soap. And one other thing, you said you like to keep things cheap....I'd like to add that I just picked up a big tube of Prosaro for $7 shipped to my house in the B/S/T. I recommend keeping your eyes peeled in that forum for awesome deals. There are many guys in here that have quite the stock pile of soaps/creams/etc...that are willing to part with a few items on the cheap. I hope to be one of those sometime.

Good luck!!

[rbaloha]

Closeness and protection. IMO Tabac is great in these two areas.

[WhosYerBob]

I've tried different soaps and creams three times; once when I was in my teens in the 1970's, once in the late 1980's and now. Honestly, the first two attempts with high-end soaps I didn't see why people got all worked up about quality soaps vs quality creams; at that time I couldn't tell the subtle differences between them and the "extra" quality was wasted on me. So I used Old Spice pucks for years and years, and later Williams pucks - both because they were cheap and all I needed at the time.

However as I close in on the half-century mark, I'm seeing and feeling differences I could never detect before. I'm now finding with my skin type (coarse pores, very oily and super-sensitive), I get better results from *most* hard soaps made from tallow, shea butter and clay. For me, those ingredients mean the difference between feeling razor burn all day and feeling spectacular when the witch hazel first hits my face.

I'm still exploring creams as well but am slowly losing interest in them, as I find most of them much dryer on my skin than the best examples of the tallow soaps.

Ultimately, what works for me may not work for you and vice versa. That's why so many people buys soaps here and quickly turn them around in the B/S/T forum.

[82R100]

i'm looking for something simple and easy which is why i use soap and i can find them at wal mart and other stores i go to. i have yet to see cream in a store. but, if using cream is simple and easy, i would give it a try..provided i can find it. i just haven't heard anyone say using cream is as simple and easy as using soap.
the reason i don't up and try other soaps and creams is that i was recently laid off and can't afford to try something only to not like it and then don't use it. what people here have to say about a product makes a huge difference to me. i chose vdh because of what everyone said. col conk get's great reviews but i haven't read why people like it. and that coupled with the fact that it costs more than vdh and i have no income keeps me from trying it.
to the best of my knowledge, soap is designed to form a lather so you can shave without cutting yourself up. that's it. therefore, to me, soap is soap. i haven't seen that soap is supposed to do more than that. and if so, that's my question...what else is it supposed to do? why do people choose one over the other?

It sounds as if you're comfortable with the VDH Deluxe and so am I. It's arguably one of the more moisturizing soaps out there and certainly also one of the cheapest.

You won't find a cream that's as inexpensive, per shave, as VDH soap.

Good luck with your job search.

- Chris

[Biffo]

Its not always the most expensive that's the "best" I have a (for me) expensive soap that I don't like the scent of, or the latherability, despite it being rated very highly by some people. I won't name names because that would give rise to gasp's of dismay and shouts of YMMV, the best soap I've found is the cheapest available in the UK. The same with creams, I have an expensive cream that's OK smell wise and lather wise but I have a VERY cheap cream that I bought online that I find to be totally outstanding and will be buying again.

Good luck with the job and once you have a few more disposable dollars feel free to shop around in stores or online

[Ookla The Mok]

I liked VDH as well, but my bang for the buck winner is Honeybee Spa (http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Honey_Bee_Spa) soaps. Supremely easy to lather and as slick as much spendier soaps.

[praetorian2000]

all this is good to know. i never knew there were differences in how soap lathered and how much protection they offered and so on. now i know soaps aren't soaps.
and i guess if i'm ok with what i've got now, i'll stick with it until my situation changes and i can experiment with other soaps.
maybe i'll roam the soap section here for awhile.

[moonshine44]

I started with VDH and had very good results with it. I started experimenting with other soaps because I don't like the smell of the VDH. I've since discovered that I really like Honeybee Spa and Mama Bear's soaps because I've found them to be relatively easy to lather and very cushiony, I like the scents and the pucks are larger so they last longer...

[cfriend]

I too like VDH soaps. I have the Deluxe and Select versions, but have yet to try the Glycerin line. Of the two I have, Deluxe is my favorite. Easy to lather, good scent, good slick, just good. Even with 24 OTHER soaps to pick from, I still grab VDH about twice a month. That said, among the 24 other choices are a few higher end products, notably Tabac and Irisch Moos. I get better results from those products (more cushion being the biggest difference) but my experience is not so much worse with the cheaper alternatives that I stop using them. Most folks say tallow is the defining ingredient for high quality and expensive soaps, but there are many glycerin soaps that pull their weight too, QED comes to mind. Regardless, stick with what you like, and if VDH does it for you, keep doin' it. :cool:

[praetorian2000]

can someone explain the purpose of "more cushion" from lather. does more cushion result in less razor burn or what?

[SRock]

Slick = smooth/easy glide of the razor
Cushion = buffer/barrier to reduce irritation/razor burn

Soaps tend to be more slick while creams tend to offer more cushion. However, with practice you can get both from both.

Oh and as far as why one over another....

Everyone sing with me:

Tallow, Tallow, Tallow...

[mdunn]

can someone explain the purpose of "more cushion" from lather. does more cushion result in less razor burn or what?

yeah, it helps the razor glide over your face

[james0509]

How come no one mentioned col conk's soaps?

It provides great lather and smells great, never let me down once.

Haven't got a chance to try the other ones though ( since I never had problems with the current one I'm using haha! )

[SiBurning]

At the higher end, it seems more people are interested in scents. I don't care so much about that, though.

I pretty much stick to tallow soaps. Some hold more water, and give a wetter lather, while others want less water. Some bubble differently, and hold different amounts of air. A really thick, dry lather with little air provides more cushion because there's less air and water to dillute the lubricant. This translates into less razor burn. It also usually makes my face feel better after the shave. The downside is that the drier lathers have more friction, or less glide, so it's actually a little harder to shave. Pure glycerin soaps tend to give the most glide, but the least protection. The viscosity of the lubricant, and maybe how well it adheres to skin, has a lot to do with the protection: it's not protecting if it just scrapes right off, even if it makes the razor glide easily.

Tabac is a good example of a middle ground product. It's a high quality tallow soap that provides a thick, rich lather that's very moist with good protection, and is fairly slick, especially compared to other triple-milled tallow soaps. It does a lot of things well, so I think it deserves to be one of the most highly recommended soaps around, at any price. Once you factor in the price, it's hard for any soap to compete. However, if you prefer more protection, like I do, you might prefer one of the other tallow soaps. Or if your technique or weapon of choice is less dependent on friction, then you might forgoe slickness in favor of more protection, whereas if you move the razor faster, better glide might give less irritation in the end. This is one reason you'll never get agreement about protection vs. slickness for any soap.

I might choose a different soap depending on how my face feels, how I feel about what kind of damage I might want to risk for the day's shave, which depends on whether I'm usng a more or less aggressive DE, or how close a shave I need that day, or maybe I want to use a straight, which might be a lighter or heavier grind...

Pretty complicated and personal, isn't it?

[Hughies_online]

Even when you find something you like and which works for you, swapping to something else creates a new learning curve and therefore interest. Thus it prevents boredom.