Thread: Shaving with Bar Soap & Goat's Milk Soap!

Originally Posted by TwoBirds

Thanks everybody, I never thought about pressure, I'm pretty careful, but I could be more careful on both pressure and angle.

most of my problem is that my skin is pretty sensitive to chemicals, I can't use anything with stearic acid and the lube strips on cartridge razors are pretty bad as well so I have to peel them off.

I just got to wondering if stretching might make a big difference, something I've never done, probably why DE razors didn't work for me.

I'm also going to try different kinds of soap and see if that helps. Also, I've never used an alum block or after shave which might help quite a bit as well.

I've found a couple of recipes for witch hazel based aftershaves that might be just the ticket, alcohol based aftershaves haven't worked out well so I've never used them more than once.

2b

Seems you do have really sensitive skin. I guess you will just have to experiment with different soaps till you get one that works. I'd stay away from the alum block if you do normally get irritation because the alum will really sting your face in that case.

Bob

Howdy TwoBirds,
I also don't like the alcohol based aftershaves. Would rather the aftershave work more toward soothing, healing, balancing skin.. I've also scraped the lube strips off the cartridge multi blade razors mostly because I can't stand the goopy sticky stuff on my skin.
My skin is fairly tough, but I like to put more natural, healing, balancing products on it.
One of my friends was having some issues with aftershave. I let him use the toner that I was using as an aftershave, called Answers From Nature Balancing Toner. His problem went away.
Mind you that it may simply have been that he was no longer using that gnarly aftershave anymore.. you know, the kind of aftershave that doubles as bug repellent.. hehehe

You can shave with WD -40 but why? I'll stick to my good shave soaps, cause it's the pleasure of the routine that I like, otherwiae it's just removing hair. And most soaps don't have the clay in them like shaving soaps. Tc

Although I love shaving with a good shaving soap, sometimes I will try shaving with a bar soap.

Ivory soap was invented by the JB Williams company who sold the product to P&G when they decided to focus on shaving soaps like Williams mug soap. Thus, Williams did not consider Ivory suitable for shaving, and neither do I.

A couple of bar soaps that I have found to be suitable for shaving if no shaving soaps are available are: Yardley of London Shea Buttermilk and Irish Spring Men's Signature. If you compare the listing of ingredients of these bar soaps to many good shaving soaps, you will find many of the same ingredients. Both bar soaps are very slick, but they do not possess the same degree of cushion as the top shaving soaps. They are likely to be suitable for shaving with a cartridge, SE, or DE razor, but perhaps less desirable for a straight razor shave where more cushion is needed to protect the skin from a naked edge.

Dishwashing gel and WD40 seems like a bit of a leap from bar soap. Either I lucked out with this soap, or I'm just not that discerning.
Next time I mail anything to a member I may cut a piece off a new bar and get them to try it.

Found that video of Sheffield grinder Billy Hulkin making and shaving with a straight. Shaving demonis about 10 minutes in.




https://vimeo.com/268814380

I can see a new tide pod challenge coming on

well, after all the helpful posts here I've managed to get 2 shaves with very little irritation, just one pass wtg using all the tricks in the lathering video and paying close attention to angle and pressure, tomorrow I'm going to try relathering and doing a second pass wtg and see how it goes, if that goes well i guess I'll be ready for wd 40

2b

Originally Posted by JP5

Dishwashing gel and WD40 seems like a bit of a leap from bar soap. Either I lucked out with this soap, or I'm just not that discerning. l]

I don’t think you lucked out at all. Moreover, I would argue you ARE discerning. A good bar soap that’s hand made and not detergent based like nearly all mass produced soaps, should work just fine for shaving, and leave your face feeling softer to boot.

The only difference between your bar soap vs a shaving soap is some added ingredients to increase viscosity and lather... but then, i’ve used bar soap with more glide than many of my shaving soaps. I just got few bubbles. But who cares?

Well I do. All those bubbles in a good shaving soap are there to soften your beard and loosen the follicle for a shave with less pull. If you’re a man with fine scruff, that might not matter.

Of course a good shave soap also focuses on viscosity so your blade will run smoothly over your face. This could be argued as being more important to a traditional straight razor shaver but I will not generalize. Lol. But again, I’ve had bar soaps with more viscosity than any shaving soap/cream.

Seriously, with the exception of lather, I could see many handmade “bar soaps” being a great shave. It’s whatever works. Your face will let you know.

Originally Posted by earcutter

Seriously, with the exception of lather, I could see many handmade “bar soaps” being a great shave. It’s whatever works. Your face will let you know.

I wonder whether that’s what Van Gogh (the guy on earcutter’s avatar) thought when he tried an unknown soap just before he sliced off his ear.

Maybe it was just an accident with a cheap olive oil based handsoap from nearby Marseille that severely lacked in lubrication - and history had it wrong all along and Van Gogh just wanted to look nice and clean-shaven for Christmas 1888??


B.