Thread: new soap

Been at this straight razor thing for about a month now. I have the hang of it now. Just it seemed no matter how close i paid attention, or how careful i was, I was going to bleed, even if it was a miniscule amount. Well I tried it today with a glycerin based soap. And I have seen the light. The blade glided effortlessly. Finished in probably half the time it normally took, and was the best shave I have had thus far.
I know, I know. I should have known to start with that type of soap. But being a penny pincher, is hard to get away from lol.

I've moved this one to the soaps forum for better coverage.

Nice job on the shave! Thats why a lot of guys here say make sure you get a good soap when you start, as it really does make all the difference.

Originally Posted by unholyalmond

Been at this straight razor thing for about a month now. I have the hang of it now. Just it seemed no matter how close i paid attention, or how careful i was, I was going to bleed, even if it was a miniscule amount. Well I tried it today with a glycerin based soap. And I have seen the light. The blade glided effortlessly. Finished in probably half the time it normally took, and was the best shave I have had thus far.
I know, I know. I should have known to start with that type of soap. But being a penny pincher, is hard to get away from lol.

And what was the "old" soap to which you are comparing? I recently gave some SRD soap a whirl, it likes more water in the badger to begin the loading process than some of my other soaps, man that was a thick and comfortable shaving lather. Even a freshly honed razor didn't faze most of my face (excessive strokes on one part caused a few hours of post-shave "bloom", but definitely not the fault of any shaving soap).

Excellent, the important thing is that you are making progress. What you are experiencing is very common, sometimes we switch from one brand to another and voila! Glycerin soaps in general are very robust and hence, forgiving; higher performance soaps are not necessarily so.

I am not sure what soap you were using before but you may want to visit the wiki for tips on how to improve your lathering skills and perhaps watch mantic's lathering videos (if you have not done so already), there is always room for improvement. This would make lathering higher performance soaps much easier. Lathering is an essential skill in this hobby.

Al raz.

Originally Posted by unholyalmond

Been at this straight razor thing for about a month now. I have the hang of it now. Just it seemed no matter how close i paid attention, or how careful i was, I was going to bleed, even if it was a miniscule amount. Well I tried it today with a glycerin based soap. And I have seen the light. The blade glided effortlessly. Finished in probably half the time it normally took, and was the best shave I have had thus far.
I know, I know. I should have known to start with that type of soap. But being a penny pincher, is hard to get away from lol.