Favorite PERMANENT soaps/creams in your shave den ...

[showard]

I will always have Arko and Proraso.
However, after getting my Muhle STF brush and relearning bowl lathering because that brush does so well with that, I'm adding more favorites:
TFS Purissima
Tabac
RazoRock Blue Barber (made by TFS)

I want to branch out, probably go big with an SV next!

 

[awk_m4]

My current inventory:
MdC Original
MdC Rose
Tabac
TOBS Sandalwood.

When the two MdC soaps need replacing, I will likely replace them with different MdC flavors.

 

[redrako]

In no particular order:

Shave Soap

Tabac
Mitchell's Wool Fat
Vito's Extra Super
D.R. Harris Arlington
Cyril R Salter shave soap
RazoRock Dead Sea

Palmolive shave stick
Arko
Wilkinson Sword shave stick
Speick shave stick

Shave Cream

Lea Original & Professional
Barbon
Protaso Blue

 

[ksblazer]

I have a bunch of soaps/creams and to use up. Probably 10+ years worth. But I seem to mainly be reaching for a few. So those will be the ones that I’ll be keeping around.

Vitos: Have the green, but will probably get a kilo of the red next.

Arko: I like using shave sticks and Arko always delivers a good quick lather.

Proraso: I have both the soap and cream. Like the scent of red and green. Haven’t tried the others.

Razorock what the puck soaps. Last a long time and have different scents from what I have already mentioned.

I have others in the den that I would replenish. But they are no longer available or have changed their formulation.


A few years ago. I would have never guessed that these would be my main soaps/creams. But it’s just how things worked out for me.

 

[Jaybyrd]

With just over a year of wet shaving, I have amassed a decent amount of shaving supplies (according to my wife way too much) some favorites so far are:

Proraso - any work brilliantly for me but more so green in the summer, red in the winter, and white or blue anytime.

Castle Forbes (Limes)

Truefitt & Hill (1805)

Martin de Candre Agrumes

Aqua de Parma Barbiere

 

[DE Steve]

Proraso red & green soaps.
Muhle Sandalwood soap

 

[Blade_Runner37C]

Stirling Glastonbury
TFS Torino
RR Mudder focker
Stirling Baker Street
Goodfellows smile Amber Fougere (just 4 the smell)

 

[Alex Jr]

Cella red
Proraso verde

 

[gagi]

I could have also added Valobra hard soap and XPEC cream to my list, I still have some Valobra and a full tub of XPEC left, but they’ve been gone so long I didn’t think of it.

Valobra was one of those soaps that when you use it, you ask yourself, ‘Why do I even bother with anything else?’. It’s really sad, one post here on B&B quoted the Martelli folks as saying ‘If we made soap like that we’d be out of business in 6 months.’ Let me translate that from English to English for you, ‘We’re not going to make soap like that.’

Yes, but it's about the process. Their new bath soaps have same ingredients, but diferent feel, so it's probably not cooked for three days, or cured for months. I can live with that.
One we'll never see again are La Toja Manantiales, and MWF, that would be a trio.
Never tried XPEC, did smell something from that line and it wasn't pleasant to me. Is it comparable to something today, in performance?

 

[helicopter]

There aren't any that have a deeded place in my den. There is none without a substitute. There are several that won't be getting replaced. I will probably want to keep going through different new scents, so lets stick to makers. If there is a tallow base, let's assume I skip the vegan option. Here are some that will probably get replaced:

Barrister and Mann
Arianna and Evans
Martin de Candre
TFS
Cremo
Barbasol

 

[Steve56]

Never tried XPEC, did smell something from that line and it wasn't pleasant to me. Is it comparable to something today, in performance?

They made a scented and unscented version. It was made by three different companies over the years, but I’ll let you dig that out if you want, it’s all here on B&B. They also made the Domenici Caracini cream with the signature fragrance.

Many people got a slight ‘fecal’ note from the scented version of XPEC, also from several other brands ‘Havana’ scents and the Furbo orange scent brick soap. Not every nose gets the unpleasant scent.

XPEC’s unscented version, which @shavefan I believe, accurately described as the most unscented soap ever, ‘the smell of the vacuum of space’, lol. I have a full tub of it.

Good stuff, like SMN you don’t think that it‘s doing anything special, but you always get great shaves.

As far as a modern replacement, probably Truefitt and Hill Ultimate comfort, MdC unscented (natural), Boellis Panama (almond), Canada (unscented). Furbo orange if you like XPEC scented. No worries about a replacement for XPEC scented except for the nostalgia aspect.

 

[Edgelord]

I have such a stupid amount of shaving soaps and creams that I should say none… but, I will always stock Cyril R. Salter Indian Sandalwood. I prefer it to everything else that I have.

 

[Legion]

I recently bought another box of Arko sticks because I was running low. That is my main go-to soap.

 

[Steve56]

I have such a stupid amount of shaving soaps and creams that I should say none… but, I will always stock Cyril R. Salter Indian Sandalwood. I prefer it to everything else that I have.

An insightful post. Maybe the OP should have been worded something like:

’What‘s the performance based soap that‘s ‘permanent’?’

And ‘What’s the scent-based soap that‘s ‘permanent’?

 

[gagi]

Thanks @Steve56 It was something I never bothered, but after it was gone, never got to try. It was quite expensive back then. Price is a big factor, SV would be on my list if it's cheaper. Also availability, Mike's unscented is very hard impossible to get in Europe. And lastly scent...

 

[Edgelord]

An insightful post. Maybe the OP should have been worded something like:

’What‘s the performance based soap that‘s ‘permanent’?’

And ‘What’s the scent-based soap that‘s ‘permanent’?

It has great performance and scent. To me, it is perfect… which should be great to say… but I have years worth of other soaps and creams… some are great… but I prefer none of them to the Cyril R. Salter Indian Sandalwood.

It gets compounded by the fact that I have transferred almost all of them out of their original packaging and into early 20th century Bakelite shaving soap containers.

So, they are not as easy to give away.

 

[ksblazer]

An insightful post. Maybe the OP should have been worded something like:

’What‘s the performance based soap that‘s ‘permanent’?’

And ‘What’s the scent-based soap that‘s ‘permanent’?

I’m kinda wondering how much that effects their decision as well.

I could see how a favorite scent could determine a permanent spot in your den.

It definitely does for me with an aftershave.

 

[Whisky]

Tabac: all I’ve tried is the Tallow version but I hear the Veggie formula is good too.

Stirling: Texas on Fire. Growing up in Texas the smell of burning Cedar brings back a lot of memories. I fought some wildfires along the way and the scent of this soap is spot on.

Razo Rock: Santa Maria Del Fiore.
Razo Rock: Dead Sea- a very fresh clean scent.

TOBS: Sandalwood- I know it’s not a “True” Sandalwood scent but I still find it to be lovely.

Chiseled Face: Summer Storm- smells like Texas (or the SW in general) when the big storm just blew through, the dust has been knocked out of the air, it’s cool(ish), and the plants have suddenly perked up after the relentless heat of summer.

 

[dieselfuel79]

Proraso green I can say without a doubt.

Over the last 2 decades (roughly) I’ve tried many different soaps and creams. Some I had PIF’d, bought again to refresh my memory if I truly loved them… and then ended up passing them along to my Italian father in law.

As I’ve gotten older, I haven’t been able to settle on anything that had a scent profile where I thought “this is the one.”
In my mind, I know I’m searching for a fresh, shower clean type scent that isn’t overpowering. Options are a bit limited here in Canada. So, I typically try a few soaps here and there, and then come back to Proraso green.

 

[pnw bassman]

Proraso Red cream

The more soaps I try, the more I appreciate my tube of Proraso Red.