"Edge Shave Gel": Ultra Sensitive w/ Oatmeal, vs. Soap

After SR shaving for over 3 months I've gotten some great technique down... but there is one thing that is frustrating me. The preshave soap vs. gel issue.

I originally used the Col. Conk soap that came with my razor; I enjoyed how old fashioned and great it felt swirling around the brush and soap to make lather. However, my face always felt a bit more irritated than before I used an SR, even trying to pull my skin, my skin felt dry and irritated. I thought it was my shaving technique, stropping, or the edge of the blade, but after practicing all of the above I felt something else was wrong. I switched to "Every Man Jack" shave cream for sensitive skin and found it worked a bit better... but required more hot-towel soaks and reapplication because it dried out easily.

Recently, I decided to pull out the aforementioned "Edge Shave Gel": Ultra Sensitive w/ Oatmeal and it worked wonderfully. Smooth and my skin was able to handle the two-three passes necessary to bet that BBS. Is there any shaving soaps/ creams that others have found work just as well as the high-tech gels? I have very sensitive skin, but really thick hair.... any suggestions? I don't want to waste the BEAUTIFUL brush and bowl that I have for making lather!!!

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Originally Posted by BeauEnigma

After SR shaving for over 3 months I've gotten some great technique down... but there is one thing that is frustrating me. The preshave soap vs. gel issue.

I originally used the Col. Conk soap that came with my razor; I enjoyed how old fashioned and great it felt swirling around the brush and soap to make lather.
....snip....
Recently, I decided to pull out the aforementioned "Edge Shave Gel": Ultra Sensitive w/ Oatmeal and it worked wonderfully. Smooth and my skin was able to handle the two-three passes necessary to bet that BBS. Is there any shaving soaps/ creams that others have found work just as well as the high-tech gels? I have very sensitive skin, but really thick hair.... any suggestions? I don't want to waste the BEAUTIFUL brush and bowl that I have for making lather!!!

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You can take the "Edge Shave Gel" and work it with a brush
in a bowel too. If Edge works for you that is OK too. Your
face is the critical judge here... what we say will not
change how your face reacts.

Inexpensive creams like Proraso, Tabac, and many more work very well.
A pea size bit of Proraso on a common hard shave soap results
in a very rich lather. Pick up some soap with your brush
add a pea size bit of cream and build a lather in the other
hand. When it develops rub it on your face same as
you might with a can of gel. By the same token you can
apply some gel to the brush the same as shave cream.
But splash cool water on your face before you start lathering.

In my opinion water is the most important step. i.e. splash
your face with clean cool to warm water a couple times inside of two
min THEN apply lather. The lather keeps the whiskers moist
and provides lubrication. If I skip the water steps my
shave suffers. I use the two min to build the lather...
using soap or shave cream and a good brush. Face
lathering is a good thing.

If you shower for very long you may no longer be softening
your whiskers as much as you are softening your skin so experiment
with wetting your skin at different times. Mostly I shower after
shaving because keeping my face wet longer than two min
results in a less and less smooth shave.

I've only been shaving with a straight for about 8 years, but I've been lathering with a soap and a brush for about 25. I used to use Edge For Sensitive Skin, as it seemed to work the best for me but I pretty much gave up on it the first time that I tried a brush with plain old Williams shaving soap. For me, the protection was better with the $1 puck of soap. That it lasted for over 5 years was just a simple financial bonus but I stuck with it because my skin irritation was reduced. I would assume that Edge has improved over the past 25 years but then again, thanks to SRP I have discovered that a lot of soaps are much better than Williams.

If you are willing to try it as some point, consider buying a better brand of soap. Nearly any brand is better than Col. Conk. Personally, I really like both Tabac and Mitchel's Wool Fat, but then I haven't tried as many soaps as a lot of other members because I make my soap last many times longer than most people here. Others will likely chime in with their recommendations as well.

Of course I could recommend brands like Castle Forbes or T&H, but pricewise Edge unfortunately beats them out. It may not be for me, but if it works for you I say go for it.

You also might want to look into cold water shaving as well. It's got my curiosity going.It sounds rough,but those that have been doing seem to be giving the thumbs up. The concept is that instead of softening your beard and thus kind of shaving over the whiskers,you keep the whiskers standing more rigid with the cold water and getting a closer shave. Might be worth a try at least ? :)

Along with Proraso, which has already been mentioned, I have found that Mitchell's Wool Fat shaving soap and Erasmic shaving cream do a great job of prepping your face as well.

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Originally Posted by Ryan82

Of course I could recommend brands like Castle Forbes or T&H, but pricewise Edge unfortunately beats them out. It may not be for me, but if it works for you I say go for it.

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I disagree. I don't know how much Edge costs now but I would guess about $2. I think I went through a can of that about every two months. That's $24 per year. A puck of soap, that can cost as little as $1 (for Williams) or as much as $20 will last me at least 5 years, so that would be $120 worth of Edge. That means the puck of soap is cheaper even if I have to buy a decent new brush every five years.

Edge costs a lot more and is much worse for the environment when you factor in all those cans.

I think you should ditch the Edge and buy some decent soap or cream. Col. Conk just isn't much better than, say, Williams, IME.

I read on previous posts n suck that anything in a can with creme with respect to some of the euro companies than make good cremes too..if there is compressed air in the can..the lather wont sit on yer skin well..meaning most of it sits in yer hair...just a thought!...I use Gillette and GodRej cremes from India with of their only great soaps!..cheap n shipped from India!

pcdad

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Originally Posted by Utopian

I disagree. I don't know how much Edge costs now but I would guess about $2. I think I went through a can of that about every two months. That's $24 per year. A puck of soap, that can cost as little as $1 (for Williams) or as much as $20 will last me at least 5 years, so that would be $120 worth of Edge. That means the puck of soap is cheaper even if I have to buy a decent new brush every five years.

Edge costs a lot more and is much worse for the environment when you factor in all those cans.

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Ron, I am fully aware of the long term savings of a puck vs a can. I was referring to a product to product cost, as in a $2 can vs $30 tub of CF, or worse yet $60 Caraceni (which is a tough pill to swallow for a lather newb who is used to buying Barbasol for next to nothing, comparatively).

But to play devil's advocate here, and far be it for me to defend the canned goo, but use is relative to the user. When I was a cartridge razor user I used the canned stuff like most everyone else here. I'd use a small dab of foam/gel and one pass, and it took a lot longer than two months for me to use up a can. In fact I'd be lucky to use more than 3 per year, for a total of $6 a year using your price. Not a lot by any standard. And you thought you were were the only conservationalist here...:D

Back to the present.... I'm a soap/cream guy through and through and usually don't recommend any canned product to anyone. But my main point was if it's working well for the OP, then who am I to tell him to stop?

Best regards,

Ryan