Thread: Soaps vs. Creams

+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!

Originally Posted by The_Pastor

I really dont care much for soaps at all.
Maybe I need to practise more on making lather from a soap.
I have 4 TAOS soaps, and I also have some mamma bear soap.
Neither makes good lather for me.
The lather is way to light and fluffy, and I breaks down after sitting on my face for a few minutes.
I truly enjoy the heavy thickness, and the whipped cream like feeling of a cream, and the lather will not break down on my face.
I will sometimes use soap in my uberlathers, but more often I will simply make lather from a cream + glycerin, and leave out the soap entirely.

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