If your a newbie... use shave cream!

I'm sure most everyone already knows this but I just made this discovery and thought other noobs like myself, might find it helpful.

When I decided to switch to safety razor shaving and a shave brush I immediately assumed I should use some kind of "mug soap" and I had a terrible time making a good lather and hence had a few rough shaves.

BUT, I saw Mantic's video about affordable shave products and he mentioned using "The Real Shaving Co." shave cream. I gave it a try and it was WAAAAY easier to make a good lather with cream than from a puck of soap (at least for me).

So, long story short, if u are having a tough time getting a good lather, give a shave cream a try.

//eek

Both shaving soap or shaving cream will give you lather. I agree that shaving cream is easier to work with. YMMV!

Good advice. I think it gets easier when you know what good lather looks and feels like. It's generally easier to get there with a cream.

Thanks for the tip!

Creams are a lot easier to use. That's how I started.

Although I prefer soaps, myself, I do agree that creams are generally easier to lather successfully. This was a good tip.

I would go a step farther. When starting out, use a cream as a brushless cream. Most creams are usable this way. Get good at using the DE before venturing into brush-based lather at all. It's not as satisfying a shave at the end of the day, but it is a good stepping stone, and it is really hard to mess up the process.

It's definitely easier with cream when you're starting out; I'd just add that face lathering with a shave stick is a much easier way to get workable results from soap when you're new to it. Sticks tend to be a little cheaper than bowl soap as well.

Totally have to agree. Creams have a shallower learning curve. However, a good-performing soap MUST be tried once you get the technique down. If, for nothing else, but to avoid investing too much in one kind of product before you really know what you like.

My first purchase was a cream and it was very easy to use. However I just recently used Palmolive Shave Stick and it was even easier than the cream.

I would recommend face lathering with Palmolive Stick to any newbie. It is inexpensive, easy to use and gives great protection while you work on your technique.

i dont know i first purchased a soap, and yes it was hard but only took me a couple of days to figure out. .i guess a cream would have saved me a couple of ingrown hairs.

homelessflea said:

i dont know i first purchased a soap, and yes it was hard but only took me a couple of days to figure out. .i guess a cream would have saved me a couple of ingrown hairs.

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I too started with a soap purely for the fact that I could get it in a pretty wooden bowl(Geo. F. Trumper rose soap). If you are brand new to making lather with a brush then there will always be a learning curve so it shouldn't really matter what you start with. It may take longer to learn to lather a soap but if you have no experience with cream then you won't know any better. My advice to the newbies is to get what you think you will like preferably based on your style and scents that you think you will like. While the members here are extremely helpful and knowledgeable, it is ultimately a personal preference. YMMV is very common around here. Don't let anybody's opinion sway you to only try one thing. You can always sell or PIF items that you do not like after you try them.

I agree that creams are easier to develop lather. However I've had the best shaves using soaps!! I believe that with soaps quality is so much more important than creams, because the difference in performance is much more evident. It's just to time consuming and takes a lot of energy to create lather from soap.

I must be doing something wrong, because I find soaps way WAY easier to get a nice lather. My cream lathers end up being much too dry and airy, while my soap lathers are slick and beautiful.

I have adjusted my shave den accordingly, with my creams being C.O. Bigelow and Palmolive. My soaps are Proraso (white), Palmolive, Speick, Cella, Valobra, and Arko.

I'll have to work on my cream lathering, as there are some I want to try.

cream + 1

GFreg said:

I too started with a soap purely for the fact that I could get it in a pretty wooden bowl(Geo. F. Trumper rose soap). If you are brand new to making lather with a brush then there will always be a learning curve so it shouldn't really matter what you start with. It may take longer to learn to lather a soap but if you have no experience with cream then you won't know any better.

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If I knew then what I know now...
You probably do make life easier for yourself down the road if you start with soap. But lots of people blunder into this wet shaving malarkey without necessarily doing as much research as they might.

Coming from the world of carts and goo, it takes a leap of the imagination even to realise that lather can come from a solid block of soap; I remember that for years I would occasionally notice the palmolive sticks in my local supermarket and literally wonder what they were.
The first soap I actually bought, I opened it up and had no idea what to do with it. My first attempts involved carving chunks out of a Wilkinson bowl and swirling it around with the brush and some water in my mug!
Perhaps I'm just a bit slow...

I learned by hand lathering soap, worked well for me and allowed me to
feel a good lather.

I don't know that this is necessarily true. I am on a my first puck of Col. Conk Bay Rum and have been getting some phenomenal lathers. In the beginning before I had a bowl I was even face lathering it. In fact, my first great lather was on my second shave ever, face lathering, with soap...with a pretty marginal brush.

I can give you a few tips on what has worked better for me:

1) Add water in VERY small amounts

2) Make sure to wipe semi-lather from the shoulder of the brush and lather more with it. This is valuable soap to use in your lathering process. Same goes for the sides of the bowl. I find if i get "overflow" on the brush or bowl, then "turn it back in" to the main lather, it explodes.

3) When applying the lather your face it's more of a wipe then a dab.

I may pick up some Cella soon just because i hear its good stuff and i can only imagine the explosive lather i'll get from it being i lather soaps very well.

davros said:

The first soap I actually bought, I opened it up and had no idea what to do with it. My first attempts involved carving chunks out of a Wilkinson bowl and swirling it around with the brush and some water in my mug!

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Sorry, I had to chuckle at this a bit when I read it. I completely understand what you mean though. It seems very daunting at first to make a lather with a hard soap especially if your only experience is using a bar of bath soap in the shower.

Agreed about the cream. I haven't even tried soaps yet, but rather bought Proraso first. When that is gone, I will probably try MWF (Mitchell's Wool Fat). I hope by then I will be a pro with lathering.