Cream or Soap for a beginner?

Yes, I have already read the wiki and performed a search of the forum!! :D

Anyway, my first straight is off at Glen's for a vintage restore, and I'm using the waiting time to acquire the rest of my supplies. After reading through several(hundred) threads (I have to admit that " The Shave Den Again!!!" was something like online porn :w Very nice stuff there folks) and not finding the simple answer I'm looking for, I decided to post it here.


For the beginner, what would your recommendation be for learning how to lather and shave; a cream or a soap?

That's it. Nothing earth shattering or inspiring.

I realize that shaving with the straight will have it's own learning curve, so I thought I would attempt to learn how to build a lather that is acceptable and practice refining my technique while waiting for the straight. I'm not yet concerned with getting the best of the best out of it(that will be down the road), but more interested in being able to produce a consistently acceptable product so that I can remove at least one variable in my shaving process, therefore hopefully making the learning process easier.

Thoughts and opinions please!!

Have you read the Wiki?- Just kidding.

It's really personal preference. Yes the cream is easier but really making lather ain't rocket science. it's just the right combination of water and soap and some manual dexterity. Just get what you like and practice.

If you need help do a forum search-har har.

I felt pretty much the same way when I started, so I went with a high quality cream. I started with Castle and Forbes lime. If you want easy lather that will work well, Domenico Careceni and Apec(?) are both very easy to lather and are wonderful, imo.

You could read through the reviews in the review section to get more opinions.

same difference. as long as it's one of the reasonably good ones you'll be fine, and if you spend 15min to practice you'll be golden. your water mineral content is far more important for making lather than your cream vs soap choice.

and i do believe in conservation laws...

First welcome to srp and second there really is no clear advantage to either some people like soaps better.then creams and others creams then soap. I would say if you want something you can go into a store locally co bigalow at bath and body works is a great cream and one the easiest soaps or creams i have ever lathered. Also vdh soap at most drugstores is pretty easy. Now if looking to order online there is a lot of choices my current fav is colt 45 by mancave and one of everyone's fav seems to be Mitchels wool fat

As a new shaver (week and a half) I too wasn't sure what to go with. I started out with a cream (Art of Shaving). Their cream didn't get the job done for me, not enough lather. I also got some razor burn as well (due to my technique combined with the cream). After a lot of reading I decided to go with Mitchel's Wool Fat. Night and day difference. I read that the trick to getting a nice lather with MWF is to soak the soap for a little bit in warm water. It works. I run some hot water into my bowl and let it sit for a few minuets. While the soap is soaking, I run my brush (badger hair) under hot water to get it totally saturated. Once saturated I squeeze the brush a little, it seems to work better when not dripping wet. Once prepped, I flip the soap upside down and start whipping away. This process gives me the best results. Hope this helps! I will probably try other soaps because I can but for now, I'm not going to mess with success.

WebsII,

Creams are eaiser in that you can always use a defined, reproducible amount when making lather. You can then adjust the amount of water as needed for the lather and still get reproducible result.

Loading a brush is much less reproducible, but you will soon get to know what is right :)

Other than that, it is just a matter of practice and getting to know the characteristics of your soaps, creams and brushes.

In addition, making the lather in a bowl (rather than on the face) may aid in the early stages.

Good luck !

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

I started out with a cream myself. It has already been said that making lather with a cream is slightly easier, but once you get the hang of it, I doubt you will have problems with either. I will say that I found some soaps to not be as kind to my skin in the winter (in Alberta we get failry cold dry winters). I noticed this with my first soap (wilkinson sword) and Porasos. However I have tried TGQ, MWF, and truefitt and hill and now there is not appreciable difference to my skin. So if you live in somewhere dry and cold it may be easier on your face to learn with a cream.

I'm certainly a newb to straight razors but I've been wet shaving with a DE razor for a little over a year. Sometimes, if I like the smell of one soap but also want the smoothness or maybe the eucalyptus content of my Poraso cream, I'll actually use both in the same batch of lather. If I've got time, I also like to prepare my lather in a Moss scuttle with steaming hot water in the outer shell. The lather really seems to "explode" and having warm lather for the rest of the shave is really nice too. One of the things I have come to appreciate about this endeavor (shaving), is that there are many options and variations to try and experiment with. Between the variety and terror, I'm not likely to get bored :eek:. Best of luck!
~Dan

+1 on the bigspendur and gugi's advice. At the moment, 'soap or cream' is not that an important consideration, just choose one or the other of the good ones and learn how to use it. You'll get a better answer through experience than any that I could give you. Good luck.

I would definitely recommend a cream for a beginner. Not only are they easier to lather but, as people have said, it is easy to measure out a consistent amount.

The other thing to bear in mind is what kind of water you have. Where I live the water is very hard, which makes lathering with a soap nearly impossible. If I only had a soap when I started, I would have quickly given up. Creams lather easily in hard as well as soft water.

Welcome! I started with soap, mamabearssoaps.com this stuff lathers great. Same tip as other post, run hot water in soap before shower. They have a little video that's pretty self explanatory on the site. It does take a little time to hit the sweet spot mix of water and soap for a great lather but you will get there. After 3 months on soap I bought some Proraso for the menthol, looking forward to the summer months in AZ I think it will do nicely. Today I will be using Vulfix Sandalwood Cream for the first time so I will post later in reviews.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chipvj

. Today I will be using Vulfix Sandalwood Cream for the first time so I will post later in reviews.

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You will, IMHO, love the Vulfix Sandalwood. I add 3 to 5 drops of glycerine and it bursts lather for me. :gl:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BanjoTom

You will, IMHO, love the Vulfix Sandalwood. I add 3 to 5 drops of glycerine and it bursts lather for me. :gl:

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Going to have to get some glycerin tomorrow and give it a shot.
Thanks for the tip.