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Need some help!

I have had problems with allergic reactions involving shave soap and cream. I am looking for an "all natural" (the least amount of ingredients possible) shaving soap that has little or no scent. The only soap that seems to work is VDH and I would like a better quality and better performing substitute. I have had probles with AOS, C&B and Casswel Massey soaps and some creams.

Any help will be greatly appreciated

Thanks Guys
 
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i listed some stuff on BST some time back. the soap i believe has ,,wait, ill get it...ok ingredients: saponified olive, coconut, palm oils, coco butter, goats milk, honey & fragrance oil. got it here: [email protected]
big puck, coconut/vanilla scent. (smells like chocolate mint to me though) has a coco-wheat brown lather, BUT,,, i am not impressed with the performance at all. airy lather that does not last. smells good though. minimal ingredients.
good luck to you.

ok,, thats the wrong link. found it on the back of the soap.
 
Which variety of VdH is working for you? What flavors of AoS, C&B (did you mean C&E?), and C&M have you reacted to?

The problem I see with the "all natural" approach is that VdH is working for you, but it has ingredients like SLS that cause reactions for some folks. So you might be better off figuring out exactly what ingredients you are sensitive to, and avoid products with those particular ingredients. It may turn out that you need to avoid strong scents, for example.
 
I agree with mblakeley. I think you might be having a reaction to a scent ingredient. How long have you been using soaps? It could also be related to your method of making lather. I have found that the C&E soaps I have create a very mediocre lather. I believe that Caswell Massey is also known to be a poor performer, as well.
 
I agree it is probably the scents. I would like to start off with a natural soap with the least amount of ingredients possible. I have been using soaps for about a year. Before that I used Proraso shave cream and it performed great but irritated my face.

Any one have any suggestions on some all natural shave soap?
 
Have you tried any of MaMa Bears all-glycerine soaps. They are excellent and highly regarded by many BBers. They may do the trick.
 
You should be able to find Kiss My Face at a local store. They make an unscented cream that is $5 in a tube. Worth a shot for you at that price

Stick your zip code into the Kiss My Face store locator to find a retailer near you and grab a tube ($5) or pump bottle ($8)

http://www.kissmyface.com/store
 
http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Category:Unscented_Shaving_Soap and http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Category:Unscented_Shaving_Cream may help, although we do not have many entries in either category.

For creams, KMF unscented is definitely worth a try since you can probably find it in a local shop, and it is a good value.

For soaps I see unscented varieties of AoS and Honeybee: those are both good, traditionally-made soaps. I like Honeybee but I would lean toward AoS. The problem you had with it before was probably the scent, and the soap itself has excellent performance. You can minimize the investment by getting a refill puck, and if you do react to the unscented soap it should resell easily.
 
I recently tried Truefitt and Hill Sensitive Skin cream and got irritation and razor burn. I realized that it has lavender in it, and every lavender product I have used (AoS, TOBS, T&H, and others) has given me a reaction. Also, the rose, violet, and even unscented AoS cream gave me reactions, so I am assuming it must be some of the chemicals used. However, T&H's 1805 gives me no reaction at all, but has a scent and chemicals.

I believe it's good to experiment, but first rub the cream or soap on the inside of your forearm and leave it there for a while. This will give you an idea if you're allergic to it (it will be itchy, turn red, etc.).

As for the specific creams, as mentioned for me, T&H 1805 aftershave products work well, C.O. Bigelow green tube (Proraso), and the best shaving cream for my skin that I have found is Taylor of Old Bond Street (TOBS) Sensitive Skin in the cream colored case...not the black case from the Jermyn Collection. This cream is nothing shy of a miracle for me, but as they say, YMMV so proceed with caution, and try the forearm testing first before applying anything to your face.

Best of luck and keep us updated.
 
I agree that the scents are probably in big part in those allergic reactions. There are a lot of fragrance oils I can't tolerate myself. Lavender for me has been wonderful, citrus scents it's a toss.. it depends how strong they are. The KMF and Mama Bear recommendations are pretty good. But for MB, really really go for unscented... maybe Sea Buckthorn. I have a few MB soaps i'm not using. I love them but I get a "tingly" sensation as soon as they hit my face so I use them only every now and then. The only problem I could see with Caswell Massey is getting any type of lather lol

How about Proraso in the white tub? (sensitive skin version)
 
I haven't tried the Proraso for sensitive skin yet. I'm going to get some samples from a few saop makers here on B&B.

I'm sure I will find what works soon.

Let's cross our fingers because I am really getting sick of VDh
 
I believe it's good to experiment, but first rub the cream or soap on the inside of your forearm and leave it there for a while. This will give you an idea if you're allergic to it (it will be itchy, turn red, etc.).

It's not bad to do this, but it isn't perfect. While your thin (inside forearm) skin might be OK with something, your abused (by shaving) face skin might react. And I absolutely agree, just experiment, don't get hung up on "paraben free", "sensitive skin" and/or "all natural" products. My product tolerance has been completely different as to what I expected when I started out. Like BestFaceForward, I have reactions to T&H Ultimate Comfort, but there are several "regular" creams I can use with no issues (several from the T&H lineup, for example). Buy sample packs from interesting manufacturers or otherwise (look up Garrys sample shop here on B&B), and just get stuff that appeals to you. If you see a pattern, like burns from three different lime creams (applies to me) or burns from several products from one manufacturer, you might want to stay away from that kind of thing. :001_smile

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Lake Worth??? Dude, I'm in Boynton! If you want to try some Arko I'll give you a stick, it's not fancy but who knows, it might be the one for you.
 
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