My First Takeaway as a New Shaver - Find the Right Soap

I started straight razor shaving three weeks ago and I mostly outfitted through Classic Shaving. I knew I wanted Hart Steel Kamisori blades
and they have excellent strops and all kinds of other excellent products. Plus lighting fast service. I think they are a great company.

However, I got their brand of shaving soap (Lime. Smelled great.) and I had a couple of weeks worth of shaves that were sticky, draggy
and where the soap would dry on my face almost instantly. However, I'm a total noob, so I didn't really know any different. Anyway, today I shaved with a
Taylor of Old Bond Street (TOOBS?) Jermyn Street soap. Holy crap. My shaving experience went from a 4 to a 9 just by changing soaps.
The lather was smooth, luxurious, slick and I could shave my whole face without constantly adding water or more wet lather. And I had the lubrication to
go against the grain finally.

Long story short, my first good soap turned me into a lifer. I cannot wait to shave again. My face feels smooth and amazing. I'm hooked!
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Soap can make a big difference.
It's possible the Lime soap needs more water. I would try that before writing it off, some soaps can be really thirsty

Thanks for the tip. I still have one in my scuttle. I'll give it another go with more water when I have more experience.

As stated, some soaps are really thirsty, just be sure you only add a small amount at a time, if you add too much at one time you could end up with soup instead of soap......

Adding a few drops of Glycerin will help moisturize the soap plus makes lather a little slicker.

As already stated, all creams/soaps are different. I have about 10 different, and they all lather in their own way. The easiest is Body Shop Maca Root. Just touch a wet brush into the cream and face lather... boom! Buckets of creamy, slick lather. The hardest is my Meissner Tremonia Strong 'n' Scottish cream. I have to work that a little harder and it likes to be a bit wetter, but in the end, same result. Once your SAD takes hold, you'll get used to experimenting with them.

On a different note, are your razors in those stands just for the photos, or are you keeping them that way? If you are, I'd be careful about knocking them over and damaging your edges. Just an observation.

Good observation about the stands and I'm being really careful until I can find proper kamisori stands. Finding a seller has been impossible so far.
I even asked Hart Steel if they could point me in the right direction and they just ignored my email. Oh well. Something to work on.

LOL - you need to correct the title of your thread...to, "Find the Right Soaps" there are so many wonderful soaps and creams, yet so little time, and so few shaves....agree though, a fine soap and a great brush are fundamentals of the perfect shave.