Shaving with "Non-Shave" soaps?

This was brought up in one of the other threads. Does anyone shave with a soap like Dial, Irish Spring, or the like? You might not even use in your rotation but maybe as a once in a while type of deal.

I would figure that this might be nice to mix in with other soaps like VDH that have a very faint smell but lather well. I have very sensitive skin so I am a bit concerned about the after effects of the lather. This would open up a whole new area to the world of "soap mixing".

The soaps that you have mentioned are not glycerin based soaps. they will probably dry out your skin quickly, when I was using goo, I would run out, and use some bar soap like what you mentioned. That was a very itchy day. Dry skin for ages. Told myself I would not do that again. Now as for the mixing, I don't do it myself, but I don't see where there would be a problem mixing the scented soaps you have mentioned with a very good glycerin based soap.

Josh

Nope.

There are so many really great shaving soaps out there to try yet.

luvmysuper said:

Nope.

There are so many really great shaving soaps out there to try yet.

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I have shaved with Neutrogena Glycerin Face Bars, but only because they have tallow. Just wanted to see how it worked. It was OK, but I agree with the others. There seems to be no point in shaving with any soap other than one of the many fantastic shave soaps that are out there.

luvmysuper said:

Nope.

There are so many really great shaving soaps out there to try yet.

Click to expand...

+1

I even tried the Musgo pre-shave soap... It worked to shave with but far from good lather...

I have yet to find a non-shaving soap that was able to provide a lather I would deem adequate for shaving. Not for lack of trying, since I tried about a dozen different soaps looking for the hidden gem that was overlooked.

I gave up on the endeavor, as there are quite a few budget minded products that work perfectly.

Zote will rock your world!

Tried it with a brush. Didn't like it. Won't do it again.

I regularly shave with Aveda MEN soap. It comes in a large bar and costs about 15 dollars. A bar lasts me for 3-4 months. I have used it for years and have not even tried a shaving-specific soap for years.

They advertise it as an all-in-one shower and shampoo bar. It sucks as a shampoo though, imo.

Contains stuff from soybeans, coconut and sweet almond protein.

http://www.aveda.com/templates/products/product_search.tmpl?KEYWORDS=shampoo+bar

I was just lathering in my hand up until recently when I started using a mug and taking a full minute to work up the lather per posts I have seen around the net. What a difference in thickness and volume. I end up putting about half back in the mug each time.

I did just purchase a couple of shaving soaps and am going to try them when my current mug runs dry...

Williams shaving soap and VHD Glycerin Shave soap.

I am also going to try olive oil.

My wife thinks I am crazy to be this obsessed with shaving, especially with my "mild" beard. But I love the ritual and the challenge of super-close non-irritating shave.

In the same vein is the Pears Transparent Soap. It's an old English recipe, similar in appearance and scent to Neutrogena, but now made in India I believe. I find it in the dollar store (!) in big, no-BS bars. Great for shower, too drying as a shampoo, but passable to shave with. The shape of the bar lends well to brush loading too.

I'd rank it up there with most canned goo: not great but it'll make your face balder if you do your part.

I haven't had any luck shaving with non-shave soaps, but I've had a couple bad shaving soaps become really nice bath soaps.

You can shave with nothing but a bare blade if you want, but it's not very pleasant.
Good shaving soap has been designed with specific qualities to make your shave better, why not use them.

I had some old facial bars from some suite I went to on my honeymood, and decided to give them a whorl, and I tell you what, IT FREAKING ROCKED. I shaved two passes one down and one up, and I have a little bit of stubble after 10 hours of shaving. My face felt a little bit stiff, but a bit of balm fixed that.

The only real complaint was that the lather was more foamy, and less creamy than I like. But with the shave, I might keep it in my rotation. Too bad I only have 2 bars.

I have had good shaves with a couple of different nonshaving soaps. If they don't quite lather well enough in the bowl, I rub the bar on my face to add some more soap, and then get a good lather by face lathering.

The best soap I have used is Vinolia (the soap of the Titanic) which has "cold cream" as an ingredient. Another one is LaSource from Crabtree and Evelyn (shea butter) and on a recent vacation, the no name hotel soap provided showed sodium tallowate as the first ingredient, a situation I see highly prized in the B/S/T ads, which caught my eye and caused me to try it for shaving. See picture attached.

I'm curious about the bath soaps from Mitchell Wool Fat, Institut Karite and L'Occitane for shaving as the prices are about half of the shaving variety, but promote the same ingredients.

View attachment 97543

In a hurry one morning I shaved in the shower using my Dove body soap. Just did one quick pass. It worked but I could feel my skin would have complained a lot if I'd tried that again. The cheapest shaving soap I have is two Palmolive sticks grated and melted into a small dish. Less than £1 for 100 grams and it works great. So I would have to be in pretty dire straits to try another shave with body soap which is about the same price.

I shaved 1 time whit an Ogallala Lime and Peppercorn bath soap and the result was not bad at all, in fact it was 10 times better than shaving whit Williams.

Shaved with Savon de Marseilles quite a few times. Its slick but provides no real lather to speak of and absolutely zero cushion. OK in a pinch but daily use will leave your skin butchered.

Back in the day as an OTR driver I shaved with Ivory and a disposable. Can it be done? Sure. Is it enjoyable? No.