That's high praise indeed and I'll be checking their stuff out. Thanks.
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Are we not Blessed (or is it Cursed) to have so many great choices at every price point and but one face to shave and for most of us one shave a day?
This explains the large basket stashed in the depths of the shave den...
Smooth Shaving...
Figaro. Very similar to cella and even cheaper. Got mine for three euro.
Surprised to see no mention of green mountain soaps.. I still think a puck is around 14 to 15 bucks.. And arko is awesome for the 5 bucks I think it costs.. And anything mamma bear for the money.. Wars shaving cream is another one very unknown for like 15 bucks you can get three tubes.. It's a polish shaving cream ..I believe there is a gentleman on ebay who sells it..
At this price point, there are ENDLESS options. Artisan, mass produced...too many to list. Why I love this forum, though, is that we will try to list them all!!!! I love threads like these, because I get to learn about new products I haven't yet found or heard of.
And don't forget - there are so many choices that there really isn't a "correct" or singular answer to your question. There are too many variables for "under 20 bucks". Arko is great and is super cheap. ToBs (ToBs grapefruit is my favorite cream at any price point) is better than Arko. Or is it? Price variables, etc make it hard to determine.
And no matter what, as Jimmy discussed in his beginner tip this month, YMMV. You and I could be given the same puck of soap in the same scent. We can each whip up a beautiful bowl of lather. And based on our individual preference for thickness, cushion, glide and scent, you might say it is the greatest soap you have ever used. And I might say it's the worst. Who is right????
The answer is we are BOTH right - it's what works best for us.
This was a long way to say use this list to buy a bunch of soaps and creams and find YOUR favorite. Go nuts! I do.
Spot on ^ .
Bob
I read threads like this and I just go out and spend $$$!!!! Geeeez!:gaah:
I guess I should've titled this "your favorite under $20". I tend to keep a couple high end options on hand for special shaves, but my workhorse creams an soaps are of the cheap versions. Like in my original post RR mudderfocker gets a lot of use. Reading the replies I now too have money to spend. Blessed cursed whatever. It's all worth it when the end result is a fantastic shave.
Yes, my workhorse soaps and creams are all the sub $20 variety. I do have a few high end options also. I am in the middle of a week of using Palmolive shave sticks formed into a bowl for lathering. At this point I am really wondering why I even bothered with the high end ones. Live and learn or rather relearn.
Bob
I agree with you bob. I use my cheaper stuff mainly an get amazing shaves with them. An the expensive ones will take years to use up. I've wanted mdc for a good while now. But I told myself I have to use up 3 soaps in my rotation before I will buy it. Simply because 3 soaps in normal price range will pay for mdc lol.
+1 to Obies Institute Karrite soap,under 20 and its in my top 5 for performance , and coupled with its balm its hard to beat for under 20, unlike some I still like my upper end stuff better , just not much because under 20 I find I have used a lot of them , so if you haven't tried the Institute Karrite , your missing out on a high end shave without the cost YMMV tc
My personal favorite cheap cream at the moment is "The Real Shaving Co. pro formula shave cream, moisturising skincare." Always gives a great slick effortless shave.
An interesting one. Made by Creightons, like basically any big brand name English shaving cream. While we are at it, let us add St. James Cedarwood & Clarysage Shaving Cream 150ml by the same producer.
That said, let us come back to the original question for a moment: "cheap soap/cream". There are quite a few such products in the market. The question is, do they offer a good price/performance ratio. In most cases, the answer will be, "no, they do not." If we agree on a benchmark first, that is.
Let us skip a lot of arguments, and agree on Castle Forbes as the benchmark. Personally, I would by now argue that, but that is a different story. So, what makes CF the benchmark? It contains high quality ingredients, is not known to cause irritations, is highly efficient, and has outstanding skin care properties.
Now, are there any "cheap" products in the market which have the exact same properties? At a lower price (which would make them "cheap" by comparison)?
No, there are not. If you take a look at "high quality ingredients" first, all "cheap" products named so far fall short. Green Mountain Soap would be one product I could think of that qualifies. Le Père Lucien and Savonnerie du bon Berger would be two others not yet mentioned.
Incidentally, all three of them are also highly efficient. A characteristic where Proraso (and others, but that one in particular) fall miserably short. Proraso is not cheap. In fact, is incredibly expensive. It combines a working class scent with bad efficiency and mediocre (at best) performance. If it were not readily available, I doubt that it would sell at all.
Valobra is decent, but comes nowhere close to the three soaps mentioned above. Additionally, it leaves a smear. Some think that is outstanding lubrication or "glide", but in fact, it is just slime. Utterly disgusting.
One product not mentioned yet, and an unsung hero in my opinion, is Haslinger Soap from Austria. At least en par with Klar, and only costs a fraction.
Also not mentioned yet, Pollena Lider Classic shaving cream, Wars shaving cream (both from Poland, if memory serves me right), and anything coming from the Balkans. Their scents all scream unwashed grey masses, but their performance is commendable. All available for less than $2 if you know where to look.
But coming back to efficiency, "cheap" is a very relative term. I am currently using a soap that makes Castle Forbes look cheap. It is, however, extremely efficient, again putting Proraso and several other creams into stark perspective. Four tubes of Proraso will give me less shaves than this one soap. Shall we re-define cheap?
I think i just changed my mind. My new cheapo favorite is Van Der Hagen Luxury Soap. I just picked this up not having used it in about 2 or more years, I even threw away a puck just because it was occupying shaving bowl real estate for a better soap. It was my 6/8 Boker Silver Steel's turn today and I whipped up some of this soap and was really floored by its performance i'm convinced they either changed the recipe or maybe I used another version of this companies soap. Solid easy to produce lather you can thin this stuff with a lot of water and it still holds up. Its main ingredients are glycerine based with shea butter, mango butter and cacao seed butter for fats. Enjoyed this very much for 4.99 a puck cant go wrong.
In price order:
1. Arko
2. Stirling (the new MWF)
3. Omega Cream (with a little hint of eucalyptus)
http://i.imgur.com/fqMsgCU.jpg
Just got a tub of Omega and have to say it is very nice. Like the hint of eucalyptus very much.
Bob
Omega is awesome and for the price. I half 1/4 of a tub left. It gets used every week.
Most underrated soap in my opinion is Palmolive. That stuff lathers up like nobody's business and doesn't dissipate. It provides a thick creamy lather and smells pretty dope. Easily blends in with any aftershave.
I believe you were praising it Bob so I went ahead and ordered some.
Great stuff
Cheap soap: Tabac, anything RazoRock.
Cheap cream: Palmolive, Nivea.
(obligatory YMMV...)
I would say pre de provence , osma, and VDH deluxe
Nivea shaving cream
I gotta agree
Can get it local
They have deals which often get me the cream free or the wife something free
Gives a excellent lather
Very few products can beat the feel of my skin after the shave with this (Most important for me now)
The scent is simply ok, nothing to brag about for sure hehe
I am fairly new at this....so I have tried and bought some soaps and creams. So bear with me with my decisions. I am a bit frugal and a cheapskate at heart for some things but will splurge where I have too.
So here is my list.
Soaps.
1.Peraso, green and red...they seem to last forever
2. Williams shaving soap
Creams
1. Proraso green in the 500 ml tube.....I got 2 tubes for $20
2. Bigaloe
3. Musgo as long as its not the original scent....this is the cream I use when I want to splurge.
Put an Arko stick in a saucepan and let it simmer until the smell is gone. Add essential oils if you like. Affordable soap with very decent performance.
Right on the money. This soap has been in my rotation for at least 6-7 years. I bought several pucks at the time and the ones I use (Honig Rasierseife) are tallow based. It's a hard small soap, 2 3/8" in diameter, with a terrific lather and excellent shaving properties for the price. Truly an underrated soap for $9.00 (I paid $5.00 at the time). Skip the soap+bowl version as the bowl is a complete joke. It's not very functional and the only advantage I see would be to use it for travels.
A lot of what is being suggested are not under rated at all, but well known to be among the best for the money.
I have to agree with B&M being worth a try.
And speaking of The Body Shop, they have a 40% off sale on their web site. Soaps and creams $7-$10 with $8 shipping.
I had a crack tonight with plain old water and nothing else. Worked a treat and didn't cost me a cent. I used the neighbour's tap.
I've been on a real kick with Through the fire fine craft shave soap I have 3 of their scents 2 showed up in the mail yesterday so I haven't tried those 2 yet but I did build a lather with them to see if they preformed like the other an they do. They are great soaps incredible lather an not an overpowering scent.
One for the Brits here, Boots' own brand shaving soap (in bowl/puck or stick form) has usually done a good job for me, and at about £3/£1.50 a go respectively it's a bargain. I've not tried their shaving cream, but I've heard very good reports. Otherwise a refill of Mitchell's Wool Fat shaving soap (yes, I know it's not underrated as such) costs about £7 here and is well worth it.
Maggards. Good stuff most good scents.
+1 for Haslinger. I think its a really bulletproof easy to lather soap. Good product actually exceptional. I like the Ringelblumen.
To me it's William's mug soap(modern), i have amazing results whit that soap and i can get it for $1.69 localy. Gino
The other day I went to the local "Dollar Tree" store with my wife & while browsing through the store I saw the shaving area & they had "Body Prescriptions clean citron Shaving cream. Made in China of course but for a buck, what did I have to lose??
Got it home, opened the jar & it smelled nice. Very clean aroma so I gave it a try. Used my latest razor purchase, 15/16 W&B hollow ground that is a little over 1/4" thick on the spine. Big old razor! Anyway the Shave cream was really nice & I had a great shave. I took some pictures of the jar but trying to get it to download.. New I phone 6s has a learning curve for me & we just put Windows 10 on this puter!
For a buck at Dollar Tree it's a steal.
Slawman:hmmm:
As far as inexpensive shave soap goes, I realy like the blades grim brand 'smolder' scent. 14$ and it's quite nice.
For about 12 bucks it's hard to beat Cade. It's not my favorite soap but it does everything my favorite soap does except for the scent.