+1 on this! It's all that I use nowdays. It may be a bit more bother, but it's more than worth it.
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I'm on a cream kick.
Proraso and musgo real are on the top of my list. They seem to work well for me.
I havent tried too many hard soaps.
The ones I've tried left a smart chemical burning sensation that I can live without.
There are some creams that are not designed for use
with a brush. Do any of these rise to the top of the
shelf for any of you. Not the goo in a can ones... but
some of the fancy pants ones.
I prefer cream for a reason somewhat unrelated to the quality of foam it produces. I'm addicted to hot foam, so I use a scuttle with a water chamber that wraps around the mixing bowl. I used a Moss Scuttle at first, but I came across an Italian job that's simply huge and that's what I use now.
I nuke the water-filled scuttle -- I turn the microwave on just before I get in the shower, then run it for a minute afterward. Obviously, you can't do that with a mug with a cake of soap in the bottom. That means I can either throw a daub of cream in the scuttle to whip up my burning-hot foam, or I can mix lather in a separate mug and feed it into the scuttle.
My favorite commercial cream is Vulfix, since price as well as quality is an object. I've come up with my own creations, though, which I actually like better because I add bentonite and lanolin. Musgo has lanolin, of course, but I don't know any commercial cream that has bentonite. It took months to get the recipe right and it cost a bit, too, but now I shave in absolute luxury on the cheap.
For all around comfort, either Musgo or Vufix in the scuttle after you've tuned it up in the microwave for about 90 seconds is some of my favorites.
Thus far, the only stuff I've tried with bentonite clay is Classic shaving's pucks for mugs or scuttles. It's not bad, but doesn't compare to Vulfix. Where do you find the bentonite clay as I too would like to add some to make my own home brew.? Always looking for that perfect blend. I'm sure it's probably in the SRD Wiki or forums some where, I just haven't run across it yet.
There are multiple types of clay....
Bentonite clay is available from a lot of place.
You only need a little bit and that is the hard part.
Since you are in the midwest you might find a water
well, oil shot hole, drilling company that has a broken
sack of it. That would be industrial grade and you might
need to classify and clean it up. Toss some in a big bucket of
water and blend it like you might thin set. Then let
it settle and use the top thin layer when it settles out
and the water gets clear.
It is also available from soap making and cosmetic supply sources,
Cosmetic grade is recomended:
Clays and Muds - FNWL
French Green Clay | Bentonite Clay | Soap Making Clays | Red Clay
Soapmaking Botanicals, Fruit & Vegetable Pulp Powders, Cosmetic Clays
You should be able to grate common soaps, dust with clay
then toss the grated bits like a salad, mist with water
and press into a tub/ mold/ container. Perhaps a mist
of glycerin as well.
Just be sure to measure well so you can reproduce the
winner.
IME, problems such as what you're describing comes from not using enough soap. You really need to load your brush with soap (don't count swirls, just load for 30-45 seconds)... Then, a quality soap will provide more than adequate lather. In fact, very few creams perform as well for me as soaps. Many appear to have as good a lather, but Castle Forbes is the only cream I've tried that really performs as well as a soap
MWF, Dr Harris, uberlather. Never tried quality creams exclusively but will now from reading this thread to get a comparison.
+1 on not enough hard soap.
None of us pickup an "almond" sized bit of hard soap
with our brush. A cream makes it easy to get an abundant
amount of product into the lathering process.
The good news is that less hard soap is needed to
make a great lather. Still the point is that too little
AND too much is a problem.
One solution is to splash some water on the puck
prior to shaving so the surface can soften for a couple
of mimutes. Another is to use a boar brush...
Or just know that this might be an issue and take a
measure of time to pickup enough soap.
Soap 80 % & cream 20%. I enjoy having many different scents to choose from without breaking the bank (SAD I guess). SRD's Opus X, TGQ's Cavendish Black & Leatherneck are among my favorites right now. AOS Sandalwood cream is my favorite so far (though I will have to try TGQ's Creams soon). I'm still new to this, so I still have a lot to learn.
Funny story, I went on a business trip and only took my Straight razor (had only been doing 1 cheek up to this point and thought not having another option would force my confidence). Let's just say I went to my meeting with a clean shaven right cheek and a patchy looking lest side and chin. I finally got the whole face right today...Hooray!
O and one more tip, SRD's sample soaps are great for travel! Small, great lather, and no worry about leaving anything behind!
I think he's referring to Devo.
YouTube - Devo "Whip It"
+1 for sample creams; I sometimes take a Trumper's sample tub on a 3-4 day trip along with an open comb Tuckaway.
The tubs are about the size of a quarter & good for 3 double pass shaves using a Wee Scot.
Anything longer than that & I take a shave stick rather than a tube of cream.
I'm with Tom here, and I strongly suspect the biggest thing most shavers could do, to improve their lather, is trade in the badger for a boar-bristle brush. I started out with badger just because people make so much noise about it, but then a customer of mine sent me a nice, big Omega with a two-inch loft with a thick knot of tapered board bristle, and I haven't used anything else since. I gave away one badger brush and sold the other.
I also always splash water on my soap before I get in the shower, as Tom suggests. Between having a pre-softened soap and a brush with the strength to dig into the cake, I can get a perfectly acceptable lather out of my soap.
As mentioned earlier, I'm addicted to a hot-lather scuttle, so I end up tipping my Edwin Jagger mug and sweeping the lather into the scuttle. It takes longer, even with moistened soap and a boar brush, to get enough lather to fill my scuttle. That's why I prefer cream. I make my own cream from scratch and I make it soft enough so I can twist the brush in the can of cream, then swirl it in the scuttle until I get a huge pile of lather. To adjust the wetness I splash water in with my fingers. A big "head" of lather is important so the brush and lower layer of foam soaks up the heat from my nuked scuttle. I lightly lather my face before building up the head, then let it sit while I strop for the first time. By then the lather is burning hot and I shudder with happiness as it goes on.
I haven't experimented with blending anything into commercial creams. To be able to use a kitchen blender for a smooth batch, you need a LOT of cream, so I make it from vegetable oils, tallow, potassium hydroxide, cosmetic-grade bentonite (from Redmond Minerals), scent oils and lanolin. I put the lanolin in after the other oils have been saponified, because saponified lanolin loses the properties people value it for. We want it there to soften the skin. So you don't need a lot of lanolin; in fact, if you use too much its waxiness makes the cream start shedding water or sliding off the brush.
Prepare to experiment a lot and spend a lot up front if you want to make your own creams, but it's a lot of fun and if you get it right you'll have a lifetime supply. It amortizes to being cheaper, especially if you're as hooked on creams as I am. With Vulfix, which is the best bang for the buck I've found and as good as anything I've tried, I was still spending about 75 cents a day to shave the way I really wanted to -- that is, if I rinsed the brush afterward. If you let the cream dry in the brush you can cut your consumption in half. Just wet it again the next day; the dried cream even keeps a badger brush from getting frazzled, just like if you were putting mousse in it. ;)
The biggest pain is learning to get the balance of water right in the final mix. It's astonishing how many times a batch can go from solid to slop, back and forth, when you want something in the middle. It's an art form -- which is another way of saying I'm getting good at it personally but I couldn't write an exact recipe.
When I first started out with a straight razor I got some shave cream because it required less to get started. To lather a cream I haven't needed a brush. Granted making a usable lather takes an outrageously long time...I still don't need a brush to use a cream. Now that I mostly us my Merkur 41C I still only use creams. I have no desire to get hard soaps nor am I in any rush to get a brush. After I get a brush I'll probably try a soap or two but creams are ideal for me because it lets me get a good shave with less equipment.
For the most part, right now I got a razor with Red IP's, a tub of shave cream and an aftershave balm. Simple yet effective. At some point I'm going to want to try TGQ's Autumn Spice which is not available in cream so that will have to wait until I get around to picking up a brush.
Well I've been using both Creams and soaps from TGQ for so long I don't remember any of the others I tried when starting out. I like both for different reasons. I now like creams, I didn't care for them early one, as they are easy for me to use and last a good bit longer. However they do leave more residue than the soap does, so the soap seems to clean off better but also doesn't last nearly as long. So I rotate weeks from soap to cream and all is well :)
I like both creams and soaps performance wise. I think I like soaps more when it comes to making lather (face lathering). Some creams tend to irritate my skin (T&H Trafalgar). This problem never occurred with soaps.
I usually go for soaps because I like to lather mostly on my face and not in a bowl or cup or some kind. That way I can just cake the soap on my boar brush and work it in with drops of water until I get slick lather.
come to think of it, I haven't gotten a cream in a while...
Maybe I'm due! :thinking:
When working with soaps, I have found the best combination is to face lather, but start with a soaked brush that has almost all of the water sqeezed out, swirl the brush on the soap for 15 seconds or so and slowly add a few drops of water on the brush as you swirl it around on your face. You will have tons of thick creamy lather in no time :) If your brush is too wet you get get a foamy soap, the goal is to get the soap in the brush but you don't want lather yet. Holding the brush bristles will help if you have a soft bristle brush. This took me a while to figure out, I sure someone else has posted it somewhere but I may be a slow learner.
You could also do this with a mug but I am too lazy I guess and I like the feel of making the lather on my face.
Jim
I am presently Mitchell's Woolfat with a very small amount of Castle Forbs Cream. It makes a rich lather that lasts very well.
Lewis
Soap (face lathered) is fast and easy for me. Creams (bowl lathered) are more trouble to get right and take longer, but wow they are amazing when you take the time. So I use MWF a lot, but switch to TOBs creams when I want the luxury. When the cream is lathered perfectly it goes on the face like a warm, cushiony cloud, and I can't even feel the brush!
Gentlemen,
I have a couple of questions peripherally related to this discussion, I guess I'll put them here instead of creating another thread. (Moderators- If that's not kosher, let me know and I'll fix it.)
1. Is there any science behind soap vs. cream? I.e., what in the heck is in there and how does it affect whiskers/skin? (Was soap lather the first and only shaving cream at one point, then cream evolved to meet this specific need?)
2. Following on from #1, can one use any old soap for shaving or does soap have to contain -- or lack -- particular ingredients or elements in order for it to be useful or even harmless for shaving prep? Specifically, if I find a particular cologne I like that happens to make soap also, can I use that soap for shaving?
Thanks,
Derek