Shave Soap vs. Cream

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.

My dry skin is a great test bed for shaving creams/soaps. Bad cream/soap equals days of red razor burn. In the end it is all about the quality of the product on my face. T&H Ultimate Comfort may be the best cream out there while T&H Lavender may be the very worst cream out there. Go Figure! I Coloniali is a good one as well. On the soap side, most tallow/lanolin soaps provide the glide/moisturizing that my face appreciates. The thinner soaps are passed on to people with harder faces.

And let's not forget that soaps are more difficult to lather. That is to say, soaps are much more fun to use than creams.

cheers

If I want to face lather, I will use soap. If I plan to bowl lather, I will use cream.YMMV

I started by collecting inexpensive soaps (VdH and Colonel Conk) and still use them but compared to those I prefer creams. After joining here and becoming more aware of what's out there I plan to try some of the artisan soaps.

For me soaps seem to provide a more protective shave, and I've found more variety in soap, although I use both. Creams are definitely more convenient, soaps probably last longer, and I suspect shave quality is a toss up between them, considering the multiple variables responsible for a "good" shave (pre-shave, soap/cream, post-shave, blade, razor, brush, beard, temperature, water, technique, time of day, phase of moon).

Even a decent quality soap or cream will give me equally great results...if I've done a good job building the lather. I've prematurely written off soaps, creams, and blades, not realizing my lather-making skills needed work.