I got started using bar soap to shave as a teenager, kept that up until my mid-20s, and began using a cream before any soap. From about age 30 to 55, I had only a couple of soaps, and a few creams, swapping around among them purely by whim. From then until about three years ago, I was using gels and a Gillette Sensor. I am back to classic software and have half a dozen soaps, and as many creams. While my source of rain water was stable, I was also back to that pattern of deciding among them more or less randomly.
Neither in the 1970s - 1980s nor now have I felt that either one was superior at getting me a great shave. We've had a drought, and I was buying distilled water to shave with (the local water supply is loaded with dissolved limestone, which interferes with shaving, and cooking, and with maintaining good health for what remains of my hair). IMO, I could stretch my soft water usage much farther with my creams, and I could get a great shave much more easily with my several Injector razors. While that drought was really bad, my DEs and soaps have languished.
Neither in the 1970s - 1980s nor now have I felt that either one was superior at getting me a great shave. We've had a drought, and I was buying distilled water to shave with (the local water supply is loaded with dissolved limestone, which interferes with shaving, and cooking, and with maintaining good health for what remains of my hair). IMO, I could stretch my soft water usage much farther with my creams, and I could get a great shave much more easily with my several Injector razors. While that drought was really bad, my DEs and soaps have languished.