Thread: Why are traditional soaps/creams better than canned creams?

Let me say the first time I shaved with a str8 I used foam from a can. The results were less than ideal. I started using a brush and soap or cream very soon after and found a big difference. That was the last time I used canned foam. In addition a cake of soap lasts a lot longer than a can of foam.

The traditional art of shaving with soaps/creams and a brush is to lather and lubricate, but also to help the hair lift off the face for an easier shave. The moisture and lubrication in the soaps/creams used with the brush does a much more effective job of this that the canned shave creams/gels.

I'd like to add one thing: "rinseability"

The canned stuff is made particulary for those razors with ´many,many, MANY...(and so on and so forth) blades, witch means lesser space betwen blades, so the lather-whisker-dead skin mixture must be easy to rinse of with water, thus making it less lubricant,less "rich", and prone to dissolve more easily when in contact with water.

Did ANYONE get the point of that??

Almost me neither, I have it in my head, but translating that to english was almost too much!!

A little edit: My point with this is: The traditional soaps/creams are better especially when used with a straight or DE, but when used with a multiblade thingy not so good. When using (hypothetically, of course!) multiblade canned might be better from a rinse p.o.w, but not from a lubricant/hydratin p.o.w.

Best regards

Clas

I ditched the canned stuff more than a decade before getting a straight. The main reason for me, price. At that time I could buy a cheap brush, a mug, and a puck of soap for the same cost and from the same store as I got my can of stuff ( and the "stuff" was usually on sale, I wasn't brand loyal). That brush still worked after 15 years when I got a nicer one and I still have that mug. So for simply the amount of money saved It is worth it to switch.

Now my "gourmet" soaps cost as much or a little more than they can of stuff, but they do last longer, and other have described the advantages of those.

Like Scott I have taken a can of Barbasol on trips since switching, and it did work about as well as my cheapest soap, at three times the cost. It took up more room in my luggage. It also isn't allowed on an airplane any more so now I take a puck of soap in a baggie. Airplane safe, and cheap enough that if TSA has a bad day and gets ****y about it Its easy enough to ditch.


If you want an excuse to spend the money on a brush and mug. Here you go: you can still get the cheap ones with a puck of Williams for roughly the same cost as another can of stuff!! There is no monetary reason not to try it, if you have a hard time with it, get some advice, learn to make better lather. I garantee that by the time you finish your first puck you will begin saving for a better brush and running out for more soap, not a can of goo.

Originally Posted by cako72

I'd like to add one thing: "rinseability"

The canned stuff is made particulary for those razors with ´many,many, MANY...(and so on and so forth) blades, witch means lesser space betwen blades, so the lather-whisker-dead skin mixture must be easy to rinse of with water, thus making it less lubricant,less "rich", and prone to dissolve more easily when in contact with water.

Did ANYONE get the point of that??

Almost me neither, I have it in my head, but translating that to english was almost too much!!

Best regards

Clas

I definitely got that point,but even with that rinsability,those blades were constantly clogged up with me and I swear I would get cuts from the whiskers stuck between the blades and turned so they stick out.Talk about ideas that are way out there!Off topic,sorry.I think the brush and bowl lather just adds to the experience as a whole.Once you try warm lather combined with the scents traditional soaps and creams manage to emanate,you will understand.Maybe the scents is a large part of it.

Another, lesser-known fact about canned goo is that canned goo is, from a user viewpoint, fraud: whatever the can says it contains, it does contain. However, you will never be able to get all of it OUT OF the can! The manufacturers do this on purpose so you have to buy more goo sooner.

With a bowl / bar of soap or a pot of cream, you get to use 100% of what you paid for.

Thanks a bunch for all the answers everyone, my question seems to be thoroughly taken care of