Must Try Soaps

Venom8431 said:

I don't think he should avoid these soaps.

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+1

Venom8431 said:

True, MWF can be challenging for beginners to lather, but I've always found Tabac to be an easy soap to work with. I even had slightly hard water at my old apartment and was able to get a rich lather out of Tabac.

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I've always wondered about this 'difficulty' in lathering certain soaps... There is V.hard water here, but I've never really found it difficult to lather very much, but technique & preparation is everything, and watching Mantic's video-guides are almost key to alot of technique issues. And actually MWF was one of the first soaps I managed to get a proper 'Meringuey' lather with.

IMHO,

Cella
Tabac
MWF (I can't use it but most love it)
DR Harris Arlington
A good glycerin soap like Mama Bears

ARKO and Proraso!!!!!!

Kramerica said:

A good glycerin soap like Mama Bears

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+1 I love Mama Bear soaps. My personal favorite thus far is Sandalwood Vanilla.

ARKO
L'Occitane CADE
Edwin Jagger Sea Buckthorn
Van den Hagen Luxury
Palmolive Stick

No one has mentioned Art of Shaving. World class soaps IMO and a personal favorite.

Thanks everyone for some great suggestions! Some of these are easily available in the UK from amazon sellers, so I will probably go for those. Someone mentioned an Edwin Jagger soap, I have not heard a lot about these, but they do have a prominent position in the amazon results for shaving soap. Are they any good?

I'd start with high quality shaving sticks: economical, work marvellously and are easy to use. Some great names I love are La Toja, Valobra, Speick and Palmolive.

Another good UK staple is the Wilkinson stick. I am told the bowl is not as good, but I can only vouch for the stick.

Cella and ARKO.

Everybody should try them.

Whimsical said:

Thanks everyone for some great suggestions! Some of these are easily available in the UK from amazon sellers, so I will probably go for those. Someone mentioned an Edwin Jagger soap, I have not heard a lot about these, but they do have a prominent position in the amazon results for shaving soap. Are they any good?

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Where abouts in the UK are you?

I might be able to point you to some shops that do wetshaving gear cheaply and save you the money on shipping!

Cella, definitely, and Proraso. Both inexpensive and top performers. If you're thinking of artisan soaps I'd suggest Queen Charolette and Mystic Water.

Cella
Tabac
Arko
Mitchell's Wool Fat

Palmolive stick, Palmolive stick, and Palmolive stick.

Whimsical said:

New to classic shaving and am looking to try out some new soaps. Preferably under £15 (around $25). I don't really know what I like yet except for I am not keen on creams. It would be great if I could get some suggestions!

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If you don't know then everything is worth trying. Once you're able to provide some feedback on what you've tried people can provide some meaningful recommendations. The popular ones are probably a good place to start. You might want to focus on trying different types of soap, e.g. tallow, non-tallow, soft, glycerin/melt & pour etc to get a wide range of sampling.

Arko.

Tabac is my go to soap. Lathers easily, scent is ymmv though. MWF is another great soap. Lathering can be a little tricky, but still has great performance even if lather looks a little airy or thin. I really like Mystic Waters soaps as well. Lots of great scents and Michelle is great to work with.

There are many good recommendations posted above. Given your location I would suggest some fine UK soaps like MWF, D R Harris, TOBS and GFT. Some others that would be high on the list would be Cella and Tabac. These are all classic proven performers. You will find supporters and detractors of many of the fine soaps so the best thing to do is try a few for yourself and determine what works best for you. Enjoy your journey.

Regards,

Doug

Tabac
MWF
ARKO
DR Harris

Queen Charlotte Soaps
Mystic Waters Soaps
RazoRock artisanal series soaps


These are best for me.