Thread: Shave Cream suggestions?

A couple of posts have mentioned Amazon. I'm a huge Amazon fan, though realized something and no longer purchase wet shaving supplies there.

Part of the reason that classic shaving is great is because many small companies put a lot of time and effort helping consumers get what they need. There are many folks selling wet shaving products on Amazon at a price that violates Minimum Advertised Pricing agreements they signed. The main reason that MAP agreements exist is to allow small companies to make a reasonable profit.

More importantly, these great small businesses that support us can't sell at those prices and make a profit that allows them to stay open. Straight Razor Designs, Maggards, etc.... are the folks that look out for us and I really think it is important to support them.

Thanks again everyone.

So in my own stubbornness, I went to "West Coast Shaving" in Chino, CA with no intention of making a purchase (how did I ever convince myself that I wouldn't buy anything). I saw many of the soaps suggested, but decided to wait to my next payday before making a purchase (so far so good). Also, as mentioned several times above, many of these soaps are cheaper on Amazon. That being said, I would rather purchase from a local individually owned store than a corporation. Anyway, I was almost out of the store scott-free when they told me their house brand was on sale. They had about different scents, but I only really cared for any of them. But at 20% off, i figured what the heck. Then they couldn't take cash, so they gave me 40% off to use my card. So I got a tin of soap and some free samples for $8. Well, I guess you get what you pay for. First of all, West Coast Shaving didn't even make the aforementioned list of soaps. Secondly, I still can't get a decent lather. Oh well, back to the drawing board. Pay day is Friday so I'm going shopping. Father's day is Sunday and my wife is giving me my very first straight purchased right here at SRP!!

For any of you who did not see my post in the Workshop, I have commissioned a member of SRP to make 7 custom straights. You might want to follow along. It's pretty cool.

Were you able to smell some of the soaps mentioned in this thread at the store in Chino? That might eliminate some of our suggestions. Some don't like the scent of certain soaps, like Arko, so certain soaps wouldn't be worth trying if you knew you hated the scents.

Check out Lynn Abrams's Youtube channel if you are having problems lathering once you get good soap/cream. He has good videos on lathering or shaving. His video is perfect for beginners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=&t=740s

Thank you, I have been studying his videos quite a bit.

Okay, so I used one of the shave cream samples from West Coast. The label said "Taylor Sandlewood" so I'm assuming it was a sample of Taylor of Bond. The shave cream foamed very well and maintained it's foamy consistency throughout my shave (two passes). So yup, I have been using lower tier sub-standard products. Lesson learned. Box checked. Moving on.

Well gosh, a co-worker and fellow wet-shaver (Safety not straight) just picked up a tube of "Burt's Bees" shave cream. My hopes aren't very high considering it was in the mark down section for $1.97. For a product labeled "99.9% Natural", is sure has a lot of multi-syllabic words I can't pronounce. It does have a nice mild scent I just can't quite place. Anyone have any experience with this? I'll try it next week and post my review (which is worth about a half a bag of stale chips).

Haven't tried Burt's cream but did try the soap many years ago...tier 3 at best. While I'm newer to straights, I've shaved with DEs for over 20 years. I recommend going with Tier One stuff; while some are more expensive up front, you can save a lot by skipping lower quality products--the price of dog soaps and creams adds up (3 or 4 duds that you may use a few times equal the price of some top products that work right out the gate).

Castle Forbes is a great all around cream that pretty much hits all the marks, and it's an easy product to dial in the 1st time or 2 it's used. Fighting with figuring out creams or soaps plus learning the ropes with a straight just adds a lot to the overall learning curves. If you have a cream or soap that just works and performs well out the gate, it will take one thing off the learning plate. Once you're dialing in everything involved with a straight, branch out with more soaps and creams. Plus having the skill set in place with a straight will help when using lesser performing creams and soaps or when there's an operator error when using decent ones.

One last thing that's worth a mention: A lot of soaps and creams will perform adequately with a DE but that isn't necessarily the case a straight. For example, a product with poor glide won't have nearly the same impact when using a DE as it will when using a straight.

Anyway, thought I'd throw that out there as food for thought.

Speaking from personal experience here, and having tried basically any soap or cream in the market, I would like to share a piece of advice that might seem counter-intuitive at first: Get a different brush, and get a synthetic one. Personally, and although I own "a few" Thäter brushes, have been using a Frank Shaving synthetic for quite some time now. And it does make a difference. Could be any other cheap synthetic, too. Either way, you will find that these brushes make lathering easier (once you've learned that they do not need soaking, lest you end up with specks of lather all over your bathroom).

As an aside, and since it is the year 2017, there are no really bad shaving products in the market anymore. There are some whose ethics I find questionable (like most "artisan" products which, in reality, are re-labelled Chinese import base products with scents aiming at poor people's idea of what extravagant scents should be like), but even they will produce lather fit for shaving. The most touted products are mostly too expensive by comparison, with a few rare exceptions that actually use base products whose quality justifies their price (such as Castle Forbes, Tabula Rasa, or Meißner Tremonia).

So, to sum this up, I would change the brush, get a tried and tested shaving cream (everything made Creightons for example), and stick with that. The entire concept of "branching out", while popular in this forum and others, is bad for beginners. Whether it is a cut-throat razor, or any other shaving product - unless it is actually defective, stick with it. Introducing new unknowns into your shaving routine will not help you.

Good luck,
Robin

There were a lot of painful lessons (both literally perhaps and figuratively) there. Wisdom to ponder for sure!

Just wondering if anyone uses geo f trumper shave cream. I ordered a jar and it wasn't full about a 1/4 of the jar was empty. Is that normal. The store said it was normal