Might make the switch to soaps

When I first stared shaving, creams were the only way to go. I tried Mike's unscented soap this morning, using Marco's method with a VdH boar brush, and had a great shave. I didn't even need to use a pre-shave oil! Nothing better than face lathering too! I think I might be buying a lot of soaps now...yikes.


Great shave though, has anyone else come to the conclusion that soaps rock?

Yes, indeed. But you are probably better off not looking at my wiki page

Yes ! This one is great and many others ...Barrister and Mann, Tiki, Stirling, Queen's Charlotte....etc are excellent tallow based soaps

Yes! I used creams almost exclusively for my first six months or so...but I have since eliminated every one through pif, sale or trade. Okay, I may have a tube of Proraso around somewhere for old time's sake. I found true joy when I switched to face lathering with high quality tallow based soaps.

You gotta use soaps! If you don't, you will cut yourself out of many, many opportunities for exploration.

BSAGuy said:

You gotta use soaps! If you don't, you will cut yourself out of many, many opportunities for exploration.

Click to expand...

Interesting choice of words...

I love hard soaps, used them for 50 years, even in the Dark Years of blue Bics and Mach 3s. But this year, I have discovered creams. Now I am about 50-50, with many of the Italian creams I use almost solid enough to be soaps, like Cella. Bliss.

Doooooo iiiiiit!!!

I stared out only using creams. The idea of soaps intimidated me. This year I took the plunge and tried some soaps and now my soaps outnumber my creams. I don't know why, but I get more enjoyment from soaps then creams. It only gets frustrating when you start to discover all of these amazing artisan soaps and know you will probably never finish a puck because of all the choices.

Why "switch"? Use both! I wouldn't be without either.

In the end, for me, if it's a scent I want (or think I want) then I'll take it however it comes.

But

I think soaps appeal to the hobbyist nature while creams appeal to the desire for luxury/pampering. I can enjoy both depending on the mood, but I tend more toward soaps. Don't get me wrong though, the results of lathering with a soap are just as luxurious as with a cream, but you have to put in the work to solve the puzzle to get there.

I shave with and enjoy both soaps and creams but I use soap 90% of the time.

I'm more of a soap user. I love creams too, but I seem to get better shaves with soaps.

I tried creams - I just didn't take to them. I guess I am exclusively a soap person. But that's just me.
Also not sure of the difference between the shelf life of cream vs. soaps. I would think that soaps would outlast creams by a good margin.

I'm going the other way. I've had a lot of soap (well, I still do) and am finding that after 2 years, I like creams and croaps better. I think it's because I don't have a lot of time in the morning and the creams seem to whip up better. Maybe it's also because I can work my way through a cream faster and get to a new one quicker.

Like so many on this blog, I started out using creams. In the last year I gradually switched to soaps. No creams for me now. Creams are predictable and easy to use. They don't require much skill or thought. What a bore! On the other hand there is a huge world of soaps to explore each with a slightly different personality. Every time I think that I have found "THE ONE" to form a lasting relationship with, another one comes along that is better still.

Maggard is my new main squeeze. You owe it to yourself to try it. It is a shockingly good soap.