Printable View
For a beginner there is a bewildering array of Shaving Soaps and Shaving Creams. In your experience, what would you recommend? What's your brand preference? What's your favourite way to apply? Is there a starting point you would recommend and then....what would be the second step?
Pretty sure there will be lots of discussion on this one and as a Newbie, I'm really interested in your comments!
Wishing you a pleasant day and shaves as soft as silk.
I would recommend C.O. Bigelow/Proraso cream. It performs well at a very economical price. My favorite so far has been Castle Forbes Limes, but it's pricey.
I have found that face lathering works best for me. When I started wet shaving I lathered in a ceramic bowl with a flat bottom. After about a month I tried face lathering and it worked better for me, producing more lather.
For first soaps starting out I would recommend Proraso and Spieck. Both are great performers and easy to lather on the cheap :)
It just goes up from there...lol
Start up costs are expensive for shaving, so cheap soaps/creams are attractive. That said, when I started out, I hadn't realised how long a tub of something lasts for (a really really long time)!!! So don't feel too bad if you like the look of something higher up the price range. It might even be worth getting a cheap soap like Arko and making a combination lather with a more expensive cream (that smells nicer - Arko has mixed reviews regarding smell, I don't really like it, but it gets masked in a combination lather).
The thing I use the most is a combination of Proraso Red (in a tub) and Tabac. Tabac smells fantastic (to me) and is one of the most protective creams I have used.
Castle Forbes in the next one for me to try when I've run out of cream...it gets a great reputation, but import may make it expensive in Canada.
I would go to Shoppers Drug Mart and grab some Proraso or go to The Body Shop and get some Maca Root cream for a start. They should all be available locally and are good products. After that the sky and your wallet is the limit.
You have a choice to either bowl lather or face lather and either work well. This fellow has some good vids on shaving Michael Freedberg - YouTube .
Bob
Thanks! The video was interesting. So much to explore right now. I most certainly will try some of the more inexpensive stuff like the Proraso and I think a couple of more involved varieties like the Tabac. Still interested and what others are moving on to after their initial foray. (Down the rabbit hole we go!)Quote:
Originally Posted by BobH
He has more than one video and seems to be pretty sensible in what he says about things. Do not put down the "inexpensive stuff". From personal experience if you can't get a decent lather and shave from the likes of Proraso or Maca Root going up market may not be worth it until you can get a good lather and shave from the inexpensive stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveTheCanuck
I get a decent lather and good shave, if I do my part, from using Arko and Palmolive shave sticks on the inexpensive end up through Tabac as a middle of the road example to MdC at the upper end. Not saying you should not go up market, only that you are not at a huge disadvantage starting and learning on the inexpensive stuff. Anyway enjoy the ride.
Bob
For a soap Tabac is one of the cheaper tallows, and performs wonderfully in all kinds of water (unlike some more expensive soaps). Mama Bear's glycerine soaps are a favorite also, easy latherering & not too pricey. For an inexpensive cream I'd say Proraso, Kiss My Face ain't too bad either and is inexpensive.
Cella. Very very nice almond croap and not too expensive.
Proraso or Tabac. consistent and slick. Pick one and stick with it until you master it. Going back and forth between product and razors in my opinion are confusing to the beginner.
I really believe that Tcheon Fung Sing is a super performer for the price. Everyone has their favorite cheap soaps, and I really dig this one. Personal preference, but I love this soap.
Tcheon Fung Sing Hard Shaving Soap Refill | RoyalShave
First - we all need to be glad that we have so many choices...it could be: Williams or VDH as our only options...
And the Proraso/Bigelow, Tabac, Spieck...all great choices.
I recently started caring a 1oz/30g container of Proraso as a travel soap and was reminded how well it seemed to work with any water/brush/method combo - as good a place as any to start.
Good luck, smooth shaving, and enjoy the ride!
Another vote for Proraso. Proraso green tub. The menthol and eucalyptus sensation and smell I still cannot shake.
Cella-I bought it and didn't realize that it smelled like almonds. Lathered well and was price point acceptable, but it smelled like my grandmother's perfume.
I had a hard start with a soap that was difficult to lather. I went to Van Der Hagen and was finally able to lather, but then I went to a soap based on a friend SRPer and haven't regretted buying the Proraso Green and will do so again.
Best wishes,
La'Toja shave stick or cream
RSC (Real shaving cream company)
Mikes Natural soaps
Higher priced:
FitJar
Martin de Candre
I use everything from Arkostick on the low end (Amazon has it for about $3) which I like for traveling, specially to Pre de Provence soap or Taylor of Old Bond Street or DR Harris Arlington cream (which is my favorite). Like others, I'm sure, I've bought about 15 of a large variety, and found it's an expensive way to experiment. Google shaving soap samples, and you find some vendors online that sell small assortments (including SRD).
Something to think about if there's an art of shaving store near you they'll give you free sample tubes of their unscented cream. Enough to try a few practice lathers with. Also some Dillard's stores have the AoS stuff and will give you freebie trials also.
That said I like their Sandalwood cream. Bought the tub and it lasts forever it seems!!!
Here's another place for samples of soap or cream. You can mix or match a selection fairly cheaply. I got 3 or 4 shaves from each sample. http://http://www.theshavedenshop.co...gory&cat_id=23
I started with the Van der Hagen premium set, which cost all of $9 and got me a bowl, a brush and a puck of Deluxe soap. It worked fine, and I'm still using the soap, as well as the rest of it. Probably will always have VDH soap around as long as I can get it cheap. I use it most often.
But if I had it to do over again, I'd go to the local equivalent of the Dollar Store, GoodWill, etc., and buy a small, cheap bowl, or scrounge one up from out of my kitchen for that matter. I'd buy a better brush and a tube of C. O. Bigelow cream. Can't say enough about the C. O. Bigelow cream.
Tabac cream
Musgo Real Original cream
Irisch Moos cream
Body Shop Macca Root cream
Musgo Real Orange Amber cream
C O Bigalow cream
Proraso soap
Truefit and Hill Trafalgar cream
TOBS Eton College cream
O Melhor cream
Martin De Candre fougere soap
(not in any order, but MDC is the best soap I've tried, Tabac is close to being the best cream)
I would suggest going to Shoppers drug mart and getting either Proraso, Real shave Co. or Nivea cream. The Nivea never gets mentioned around here but is a great product.
The real Shave Co. cream is also top notch. However, I hesitated recommending it to a beginner because to me the scent was pretty powerfully overpowering. It smells to me like an old, mossy tree stump. I love this, since it brings back memories of many days spent in the woods. But it was so pungent it almost made my eyes water.
But it is a wonderful cream in every regard.
That's the great intangible of all these wonderful scents, isn't it. I know exactly you mean. Institut Karite Paris reminds me vividly of a scent my mother used to bathe us with as wee ones.Quote:
Originally Posted by SRNewb
That's also one of the BEST things. All of the different scents, different consistencies, and all the other differing characteristics. And not just soaps and creams, but the razors, the brushes, heck, even the bowls. That's not even getting into the pre or post shave routines. Wonderful, and never a dull moment.
I actually did a poll on this and the results were very easy to figure out. The majority about 80% started out with Proraso cream. Why I think for a few reasons .... #1 creams are easier to build a lather when starting out plain and simple. As long as you follow the basics of not over hydrating and going slow you will get a great lather. Proraso is also very obtainable and a classic. The second most popular was Taylor of old bond street's Sandalwood. I will repeat it is a classic scent and creams lather easier as a very general statement. I personally started with Proraso though rarely use years later. I feel it is a great product that makes a quality lather, but found I liked soaps more as I progressed. Soaps are a little more picky when it comes to loading and water ratios etc... though not always. Which ever way you go make sure it is a scent you enjoy as if you don't enjoy the scent you wont use it whether a cream or a soap. Good luck and I'm sure what ever you get it will be the right choice.
I think you should take the high road. Buy the best soap or crème you can buy so you are not disappointed and you will learn faster. You can buy the cheap stuff but you will end up with the best later anyway. My best list include Le pere Lucien soap, MDC soap, DR harris cremes
I'm just a starter, started about 1,5 month ago. But I like trying soaps and creames. Soaps work best for me.
I've got one expensive soap. Truefitt and hill - Sandalwood. Like the smell but the lather isn't great (for me). But the wooden box looks great :).
The rest is quite inexpensive:
Tabac (My favourite soap)
De vergulde hand (Dutch, really cheap and definitely my second favourite soap)
Proraso green (Really nice)
Palmolive cream. (For me soaps shave better. But it's not bad)
Also I've got suavecito cream (not inexpensive) which I sometimes use is as a pre-shave cream. It doesn't lather, but it's a nice cream.
I can really recommend the Tabac. It has quite a strong scent (which you may or may not like), but the lather is really nice.
PS. Face-lathering works best for me.
I'd check out Stirling Soaps. Great.variety of fragrances and.down to Earth pricing. They are really easy to whip up, tallow based and great protection.
Shaving Soaps
Go to the Sample page, he has the largest sample pucks (1 oz.) for $2.
In Christ
SB
+1 for Sterling Soaps. Best kept secret in the wet shaving world. One could spend years trying their samples, not a bad idea.
Not sure whether I agree on Proraso.
Not everyone likes the strong scent of (green) Proraso and there are reports that not everybody's skin agrees with it.
After years of problem-free occasional use, I started developing a rash from either the green Proraso pre-shave cream or shaving soap when shaving with a straight razor and have laid off Proraso for a while.
If you want a fairly inexpensive, proven shaving cream that is known to agree with skin types, I would pick Nivea (cream only, no hard soap).
It's economical, smells pleasant (if unobtrusive), lubricates nicely, and is easy to build a good lather with.
In Western Canada it can be had in Shoppers and London Drugs for about $3.99, either in the blue (mild or extra moisture) or the white (extra sensitive) variant. For me, both work equally well.
In fact, these Nivea products seem to be available pretty much all over the world and you just can't go wrong with good ole Nivea - in particular the less expensive baseline products like shaving creams and Nivea skin cream in the dark blue tub or tube (which I apply after the shave).
My mother used to put Nivea cream on this baby-boomer's face in the 50's, and today my wife still likes to kiss the cheeks of this 61-year old, so Nivea can't be that bad, can it? :tu
Try Castle Forbes. Then you'll have a soap that you can compare all the others too. Great suds, cushion and glide.
Have fun.
Lynn is 110% on mark I wish I had that advise before I bought 60 others ! No joke. Just to add my two more cents BAUME.BE and Esjberg creams are darn close too. They cost more than what I earlier said about Proraso or TOBS but they are also on a different level.