Thread: Classic shaving soap

Hi everyone.
I have recently changed from using pro rasso soap to a puck of classic shaving soap. When I was using pro rasso I had no problems with whipping up a great lather. But I'm having trouble getting a good lather using the classic shaving soap. I'm sure its a good product and I'm just doing something wrong. So what I'm doing now, and what used to work well with the pro rasso, was to get a little soap on the end of the brush, when form the lather in a mug, adding a little water at a time until I had a thick white lather.
When I use this method with the classic shaving soap I get a lather of bubbles which disolves fast. By the time I have done thirty strokes on the strop the lather on my face has disolved to a few bubbles.
Needless to say the shave was less than perfect. Looked like I had shaved with a rusty cheese grater.
If anyone else here has experience with using classic shaving soap I'd love to hear some tips.
Also, I have to add that just before Istarted using the classic shaving soap I purchased some diamond strop paste. There is a posibility that I may have over honed my razor which could partly account for the less than perfect shave.

I've used Classic sandalwood and almond. My solution was to use it in the shower and buy something else to shave with. If you have any unscented cream, you could try them both together.

I haven't used classic shaving soaps in a year or so, but I like them. I would face lather. The lather wasn't thick, but it was VERY SLICK, so I got a nice shave. The key as with most soaps was to loap the brush real heavy with soap, and then face later. If you try to whip up a lather on the puck or a bowl my guess is you are going to over dilute it and inject too much air. So don't go for gobs of shaving cream like lather, just go for a good slick covering on the face. Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by loueedacat

I haven't used classic shaving soaps in a year or so, but I like them. I would face lather. The lather wasn't thick, but it was VERY SLICK, so I got a nice shave. The key as with most soaps was to loap the brush real heavy with soap, and then face later. If you try to whip up a lather on the puck or a bowl my guess is you are going to over dilute it and inject too much air. So don't go for gobs of shaving cream like lather, just go for a good slick covering on the face. Hope that helps.

I just got a puck of the CS stuff today, and I found this to be true...lathering this on the face with a good, light swirling motion produced a 1/4" layer of dense, slick lather that had some serious staying power.

OTOH, I was a little disappointed in the scent.. .it didn't have much.

Classic has two types, the premium and the regular. I hate the premium its kind of a brushless type concoction. It really doesn't lather you just apply it. The regular ain't bad. If your coming off basic soaps like Williams or VDH or Surrey its a real improvement but its pretty far down the ladder from a triple milled English soap. I found the classic, being a glycerin based soap to lather pretty easy. Its just a thinner lather than a milled soap.

I'll have to try the classic sometime, so I can compare. To really get a 'lather' rather than a 'bubbly slime' with the Premium I've found that using my brush angled about 45' so that I only catch the very edge of the outside bristles helps...a little.

Try Vintage Blades Triple Milled brand, it's great. You won't be disappointed...

I have used classic pucks and they lather up no problem i use on my customers now and again some of them do give a burning sensation depending on the sent.

Every time I have used classic shaving soap I have sworn with each pass of the razor that I would never buy this soap again. But now my resolve is starting to melt away. I finaly figured out how to get a good lather using classic shaving soap. I put the puck in to a shaving mug and whipped up the lather in the mug right on top of the soap. I got a thick lather that not only lasted for the entire shave, but also stayed on while I was stropping the razor. The shaving mug is just a cheap Japanese style large cup with a matching lid. I don't know if it just works better in a shaving mug, or if it now works better because I melted the soap into the bottom of the shaving mug. Either way I'm happy with classic shaving soap now.

I was using Classic soaps when I was using my Merkur twin safety. However, they don't have the performance in either lather generation or on my face that I need for straights. They don't hold a candle to Colleen's soaps. Colleen's are more expensive than Classic's, but the performance more than makes up for the price differential...