Generally Speaking: Soaps vs Creams

[Mendel]

Generally speaking, do you feel that soaps provide a better shave, creams provide a better shave, or there is no difference? Please cast your vote.

[BrookR1]

It's really hard to generalize. There's a lot of variation between good soaps and bad soaps while most creams I have tried are pretty consistent. But, there are some good soaps that perform much better than some creams.

[Luc]

There's no difference. One can be easier to use but the end result is lather. One lather could be best with either soaps or creams.

[Cynomys]

There is no difference in the shave whether cream or soap. It all depends on the brand. I have found creams (at least the ones I have used) to be somewhat easier to lather, but once you get the lather, the shave doesn't matter whether it started out as a soap puck or cream.

[edgerunner]

There's no difference.

[rockviper]

No difference in the lather and performance for me, but swirling my brush makes me happy, so it's soaps for me!

[Wildalaska]

The only reason I vote for creams is that for me it is faster and easier to build lather, ie, less messing around. Squirt cream on brush, lather, bingo.

[Rivguy]

I do not find an appreciable difference. It's sort of like the old Mounds/Almond Joy commercial which I paraphrase as "Sometimes I feel like a soap and sometimes I don't."

Regards,

Doug

[InHotWater]

Soaps provide a better shave for me in that they are more convenient. A shave stick is easy to store in my medicine cabinet, and can be used to face lather pretty quickly. Less prep time, and clean up time too. I don't bowl lather anymore.

[Renato1]

There are a very big differences between soaps and creams, especially the more expensive high end creams - and I can't vote as none of your voting options encompass what I think.

Based on the 20 or so soaps I own, and 30 or so creams,

a. High end, more expensive lathering and brushless creams have more glide and are more slippery than any soaps I have, and
b. None of the creams I have contain any tallow, like some of the soaps I have, and
c. Some brushless creams, e.g. Azor Advanced Shaving Gel, behave differently from most other soaps and creams - it doesn't glide very well, shave is less smooth, but somehow it cushions better than other creams and other famous tallow cushioning soaps, resulting in far less alum stings, and
d. Some soaps are more difficult to lather with a badger brush, Cade and Durance come to mind (but they're okay with a boar), which is never an issue with lathering creams, and
e. Some lathering creams (Arko Regular) and brushless creams ( Dr. Lewinns and Burts Bees) are among the worst performers of all creams and soaps - no soap is as bad as them.

As a result,
a. With some razors, the high end creams can provide a better shave because of their slipperiness, and
b. With some very mild razors and blades, the high end creams deliver pretty useless shaves because of their slipperiness (my Weber DLC and Indian made Gillette Sterling and Chinese Big Roc are useless with them), and
c. All razors seem to work well with soaps, and
d. All razors don't work well with the previously mentioned dud creams.

Regards,
Renato

[keithmax]

For me the quality appears to be more dependent upon the brand rather than if it is a soap or a cream.

[ricardo9505]

tough one because I love arko soap stix (better than my harris soap) but I love TOBS too. both have their advantages and disadvantages. I have yet to find the perfect soap. but still researching, looking, and smellin. my creams do perform better than my soaps over all though. I have pif'd away a few soaps.

[drawonme]

Some soaps seem harder to lather than creams because of the time to load the brush. Some urinal cakes smell like Arko.

[Cityslicker]

For me the quality appears to be more dependent upon the brand rather than if it is a soap or a cream.

+1

[Loric]

I have both in my den, but I get high quality lather from more soaps than I do creams. That said there are bad soaps and amazing creams. Do your research before you try anything.

[Predict]

Soap>cream IMO.

[JetsMets#1fan]

Either works for me just fine...

[Bigsurprise]

In my books:

Soap = Cream

As far as I am concerned, the only difference is the product consistency.

[Mendel]

The rationale for my poll was simply this: It seems like many of my B&B brothers are either diehard soap shavers, diehard cream shavers, or a combination of both.

For awhile, I was diehard soap shaver. Then, I became a diehard cream shaver. Lately , I've embraced both fairly equally. Here's my three top performers for both soaps and creams in no particular order:

Soaps:
Mdt
Klar Seifen Classic
Razorock Artisan series (Boston Tea Party, Caprician Lemon, Don Marco)


Creams:
Nancy Boy Signature
Castle Forbes Lime
(tie) DR Harris Windsor and T&H 1805

It's interesting reading your various responses. Thank you.

[JetsMets#1fan]

I feel like there's more soap lovers here (on B&B) than cream lovers. You can tell by the participation activity of both forums and the number of ppl "viewing" the forum at one time, there's usually more than double the amount of people in the soap forum than on here. I feel like creams are a little more luxurious to me while there's a little more work involved with soaps.

The one thing that pisses me off is all the nonsense ppl use to refer to either a soap or a cream:

Hard soaps, hard creams, soft creams, semi hardened soft croaps, croaptified hardened soap, solidified hardened liquified creamy soap, etc. etc.

When it could be so simple, regardless of consistency, if a product can be picked up with your fingers it's a cream, if not, it's a soap. Yes, I understand the dictionary def of soap, but do you understand common sense? lol... /rant.