Shaving utensils

So I have been trying to get my list together of everything I need to get started with shaving with a straight razor. I've got my razor, strop, and brush all picked out.

Now, I'm trying to decide on pre shave, shaving cream, and post shave stuff. I came across this thread: http://straightrazorpalace.com/soaps...ps-creams.html.

Now, I'm not too sure where to start with picking out a cream to use. I feel like I don't need a "Tier One" cream right now since I'm just getting started and don't need to spend all that money on creams and whatnot. But, is there any benefit to starting with one of those creams? Especially over a Tier Two or Tier Three cream of the same price? Also, is it better to stick with one company's products all the way through (Company A's pre shave, shaving cream, and aftershave) or is it alright to mix and match companies and products (and maybe even smells?)

Just trying to get a better understanding of this. I've never really looked into creams and whatnot so I'm trying to pick something that is going to make my face feel great each and every shave.

If it helps, I skin does usually dry out when the weather starts to get chillier like its started to here. So I'm trying to go through the necessary steps to keep it moisturized and feeling good.

Personally, I would advise anyone to go with one top shelf product, rather than have a collection of mediocre to decent products. Price wise, you don't have to go overboard, but for me it would be relatively low on the list op variables in deciding on product.

I have never felt a pre-shave adds enough to the quality of a shave to warrant the extra expense, so I would leave that out and use the money you save on that to invest in a high quality product. They are plenty, so I don't see why you should settle for anything less.

On the seemingly more expensive side I would gladly advise the likes of Meissner Tremonia, Baume.be (both shaving soap/cream and aftershave, among the best in my opinion) or Green Mountain Soap shaving soap as a bit more economical option, but in no way inferior to the two mentioned before. And I use "seemingly more expensive" because both Baume.be and Meissner Tremonia are very economical in use; they will last you quite a while. Another 'cheaper' alternative for shaving soap would be Calani, a high quality soap that gets surprisingly little attention on the forums. I suspect this is due to the fact that is a bit of a hassle to get in the US.

I like to have a line of products from the same manufacturer, but this is by no means better than mixing it up. In my opinion, a Meissner Tremonia shaving soap or paste and the Baume.be aftershave balm would be as good as it gets.

I am in the UK and when it comes to balms and aftershaves I find it hard to beat Trufitt and Hill. Their shaving creams are also top tier although I find their shaving soaps difficult to get on with. AS for mixing brands I always use Geo F Trumpers skin food regardless of what else I am using. It really is the only item in my collection that gets used every day I rate it that highly.

The other point is that these things are consumables and it is great fun to try different ones. You will eventually develop a feel for what you like and it will almost certainly be different to what suits others. You might try looking around for some samples, that way you can try different things to see which suit you best without breaking the bank.

Have fun and enjoy.

Skip all the fluff and keep it simple, top tiers are worth it because lest you forget good prep and lather makes the blade work better. And in the top tier their are inexpensive choices. Go to SRD and order you some Tabac soap, and go from there, or heaven help me Arko, you need a high quality lather, mother pre shaves and all the other is just filling in for lack of a good lather or technique. As for after shave skin care, that's pretty simple too, just get a decent moisturizer. Good luck. Tc

Personal take on shaving and contrarian too.

Concentrate on the basics. If you can't get a good shave from Arko, a broke in boar brush and a shave ready straight razor the problem is not generally the gear. Learn to make a good lather, work on your shaving and stropping technique. Pre shaves may seem to help initially but can help hide flaws in you lathering and shaving techniques. If you need a balm post shave to counter irritation/razor burn you know your lathering and/or shaving technique may need work. By all means use a balm if necessary but realize what it may be indicating. Balms will also help moisturize you skin but so will a standard moisturizer.

Once you can get a good shave using the basics add a pre shave and see what it does or does not do for you. Try using only one soap/cream till you get to know how to make a good lather with it before adding others. Same goes for the brush.

There plenty of good creams/soaps out there that don't cost a lot of money. If you get the water to product ratio right almost all will allow a smooth comfortable shave.

Bob

Just get a soap like Stirling, Caties, Cold River, or Mystic Water and you can't go wrong. These are all lower cost - under $20 and work really well based on personal experience.

I don't use any pre-shave prep - just the soap.

As far as post shave I use different aftershave splashes like Fine, Pinaud, Captain's Choice, or Chiseled Face. There are others so find a scent that you like, again the ones I listed are under $18 so you don't need to spend a lot.

Stick to the basics at first and learn the technique first and later experiment with different soaps.

#1 on the basics as Bob advised. Get settled in with one kind of pre-shave routine, use one kind of soap, and one kind of post shave routine. The fewer variables you have, the better you'll be able to gauge your results. Don't spend a fortune.
Read "Your first straight shave" in the library
Have fun.

There are so many top tier soaps to choose from. In my selection there are a few staples that I usually have around and a few I would like to add. Tabac, LaToja, Volobra, Speick, Maca root, Musgo Real, LEA, MDC, Arko. I think there are a few that I have had that were good, but not quite my thing for one reason or another. As for preshave I always go with Noxema, I have tried many other things but that is the one for me. Aftershave is a bit more personal and I stick with woodsie scents for the most part. I am still searching for my signature scent.

What have you used in the past to help moisturize post shave? I'd guess you could use what's worked in the past for post shaving.

Like BobH said concentrate on the basics of using a str8.
And, like Tc said just grab one of the Tier 1 or 2 and go for it.

I push samples every chance I get, mainly because I am cheap and picky about scents. There are sample sets that have pre/cream/post of different scents from one maker. There are quite a few companies out there that have them for sale for a couple bucks apiece, some carry the higher priced stuff so you aren't doing too much of a gamble. They typically come in a size that will give you between 3-10 shaves per sample, depending on the size and how much is needed per shave. I have about 20 that I purchased in the last 6 months and haven't finished any of them, at 3-4 shaves per week. Maggard's, west coast shaving, and Olde Town Shaving are a few sellers off the top of my head.

I guess I'll look into samples or just getting one good cream and an aftershave. Guess I was making it more of a hassle than it needed to be. Oops!

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Originally Posted by BaseballPlayer

I guess I'll look into samples or just getting one good cream and an aftershave. Guess I was making it more of a hassle than it needed to be. Oops!

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Don't worry, it happens to most of us when we take up a hobby and over think things a bit.

Bob

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Originally Posted by BaseballPlayer

I guess I'll look into samples or just getting one good cream and an aftershave. Guess I was making it more of a hassle than it needed to be. Oops!

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Not at all. Wanting to investigate so that you start of right is a good thing. I'm with the simple is better crowd. I have never used a pre-shave, nor an after balm, but some guys swear by them. The recommendation of Tabac is good, and I"d suggest Mitchell's Wool Fat. Known on our forums as MWF. That and a tube of Truefit and Hill cream. The MWF has, to my nose, almost no scent. So it doesn't clash with the scent of a cream. Ideal for the combination IME.

Get a lather bowl, a cereal or small soup bowl will do, and put a dab of cream in the bowl, lather on the puck until you load the brush, and then go into the bowl and combine the two for uber lather. Get a good DE razor to supplement your straight. Feather, Gillette 7O'Clock Yellow DE blades. Just IMHO. :gl:

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Not at all. Wanting to investigate so that you start of right is a good thing. I'm with the simple is better crowd. I have never used a pre-shave, nor an after balm, but some guys swear by them. The recommendation of Tabac is good, and I"d suggest Mitchell's Wool Fat. Known on our forums as MWF. That and a tube of Truefit and Hill cream.

Get a lather bowl, a cereal or small soup bowl will do, and put a dab of cream in the bowl, lather on the puck until you load the brush, and then go into the bowl and combine the two for uber lather. Get a good DE razor to supplement your straight. Feather, Gillette 7O'Clock Yellow DE blades. Just IMHO. :gl:

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+1. I'd suggest a Truefitt & Hill hard soap, it'll last longer than the cream.

If it makes you feel any better about shelling out the cash, I bought one puck each of Tabac, MWF, and T&F "1803" several years ago, and I'm still working through them. They're substantially better than Proraso (a "Tier 3" in Obie's list). IMHO, the T&F is better than Tabac or MWF.

You can use almond oil for a pre-shave. It's inexpensive (at the grocery store) and works well. Not necessary, but it might be useful if your technique is "under development".

If you get into fragrances and scents, that can get expensive. I've never needed an aftershave. If you have any problem with post-shave irritation, use a balm (no alcohol!) or a bit of almond oil, not an aftershave. I think Nivea has been recommended by other people.

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Originally Posted by cpcohen1945

If it makes you feel any better about shelling out the cash, I bought one puck each of Tabac, MWF, and T&F "1803" several years ago, and I'm still working through them. They're substantially better than Proraso (a "Tier 3" in Obie's list). IMHO, the T&F is better than Tabac or MWF.

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Yes, hard soaps do last a long time but if you have never used a brush before to make lather creams may be easier to learn with as the lather easier. Either way you have to learn how to make a lather and each cream/soap may like to be treated a little differently.

Now here is the problem with making lists of soaps/creams and placing them in tiers by performance. For the last 3 days I have been using Proraso in the green tub and a boar brush to lather with. It made a nice lather that allowed me excellent 4 pass shave with a straight razor. I also have Tabac and MdC in my rotation along with many more soaps and creams. Are Tabac and MdC better? I suppose so but Proraso still works just fine for me as does Arko. I do not have sensitive skin but Obie does so I am not as judgmental on soaps/creams. OTH that is what makes Obie's ranking of soaps/creams useful, he really notices the differences that others may not. If you want to play safe get one of Obie's top tier recommendations for sure.

Bob

The advise to stay simple is not to go with samples. Learn how then experiment, having a dozen soaps trying to figure each one is what is going to make the learning curve go up. Just get a decent soap and brush and learn it. Then order all the samples you want, then you will know if they are working for you. Tc

Well I think I found something I'm going to try. That way I can focus on getting a good lather and shave and then experiment from there once I have the technique down.

Although I see you say you have made your decision I will add my two cents. I have only been at this a year this month, I bought a few things in the beginning that I thought I would need that I ended up not using due to hassle factor. First I bought pre shave oil, at the end of the day I have found that with a good warm shower and lather the oil is just a pain in the butt and not a necessity. Second I bought a couple tubs of soap after reading that most guys have whole rooms devoted to just soaps, at the end of the day there are lots of soaps I would love to try and one day I will but messing with several soaps when trying to learn lather is a mistake and advise that I did not heed. As mentioned simple is the way to go and stay for awhile the same soap or cream which ever you go with and I nice after shave. Prep is a huge part of getting a decent shave at first in my opinion. If you don't have good prep you will struggle a bit. One suggestion I will make is shaving cream. Shaving cream IMO seems to lather a bit easier and is not as picky I guess I could say as some of the soaps I have. I use CO Bigelowes and it has a nice menthol cooling scent and feel and at Bath and Body works it is like $5 for a small tube. Again I am not a pro by any means these are my simple observations and I just hope to help with frustration and wasting money. I have jumped in with both feet and could not be happier, in the end it is your shave and enjoy it :D best of luck sorry for the long post :/

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Originally Posted by BaseballPlayer

Well I think I found something I'm going to try. That way I can focus on getting a good lather and shave and then experiment from there once I have the technique down.

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Good luck then and keep us posted how things are going.


Bob

Just adding my 2 cents. I have pre-shave cream and honestly dont notice a difference when I use it and when I dont in the actual shave. I do seem to enjoy shaving more when I use it but that seems to be due to 2 factors
1 I only use it when I have lots of time to enjoy the shave
2. The scent is nice on my face while I lather up the soap.

Late on when you got some spare cash try it but dont consider it a necessity

Thanks for all the feedback guys. It's definitely making figure things out much easier!