Thread: What makes a Cream or Soap your Favorite?

With all the great shaving soaps and creams out there and getting to try so many, I was wondering what the attributes were for making a soap or cream hit your favorite list? Is it big suds, cushion, fragrance, how long the suds last, ability to stay warm and not dissolve??

For me, the fragrance is not the big thing although there are some that purely are not my taste. I really like big, long lasting suds with a lot of cushion and I love being able to use the scuttle so that I have warm suds for a couple passes.

I am a big fan of Caraceni and Castle Forbes for these reasons, but have been enjoying Bluebeards Revenge and a few other new creams. I really like the old Trumpers soaps and the Truefitt for these reasons too.

There are just so many great creams and soaps out there now that I'm not sure I will ever get to test them all let alone use what I have.

So what makes them great for you guys?

Have fun,

Lynn

Well, I haven't tried many, Edwin Jagger Cream, Tabac cream and Williams. So far, I'm loving the Tabac, it's so slippery that when I get it on the handle of my brush it tries to slip out. I need a longer brush handle lol. But it's about time to re-stock and I want to get a soap, I'll probably get some Tabac soap. I love the smell cushion and glide, but need to try a few others as well to form a really good opinion.

for me it's the results of the shave and facial conditioning.. i love french soaps for this.. shea butter treats my face better than anything else out there.

+1 to the above post, it all comes down to how the face feels post-shave. That plus I like a lather that I don't need to re-whip halfway thru my shave, smell is not overly important important to me although there are some old timey smells that make me feel like I'm in a 1920's barber shop which make for a great experience.

Hello, Lynn:

What makes a soap or cream for me is how well it blankets my Hollywood face for a comfortable shave. I like luxurious lather that offers the ideal glide and cushion. The fragrance is not all that important to me, although lather that smells good is a plus.

Also important is how the soap or cream leaves my face after the shave. For this reason, as well as all the other qualities I have noted, I do prefer French soaps overall. That load of shae butter in most of them feels like a sweet smooch.

Yes, I do prefer shave soaps over shave creams, not because they are better, but because they carry a bigger taste of tradition.

Stay well.

Obie

It's all about the performance for me. The scent is second. Though there are many great soaps and creams out there I've found really a few with that really thick dense lather that does it all. There are many that come close but the English soaps are over all at the top of the heap for me.

Maybe when I get that tub of "Obie's Revenge" I'll feel that way about French Soaps too.

I judge them by how good lather they can give, how long it stays "up" and don't start to loose cushion and glide.
Furthermore, scent is important to me, a shave should be a comfortable and luxurious experience.
So no Arko in this house, that got tossed in the bin!
How my skin feels afterwards is also important. Ease of lathering is not very much of an issue, I find that most quality products deliver on that, once I get to know them.
It should also feel nice whilst applied, no stinging or burning feeling.

For those reasons I tend to use the following products as they are the best I've tried yet:
Domenico Caraceni, Castle Forbes, Martin de Cadre, Al's shaving creams,MWF, Penhaligons creams, Acqua di Parma and T&h creams.

I must say that scent is a key player for me. If a cream or soap smells fowl, then it's performance won't matter to me. On the other hand, if the scent is tolerable, then the performance will still be considered. I like creams that do not dry out easily, provide good cushion, and have a nice glide. I find that my skin will thank me when these conditions are met. I will often make uberlathers to attempt to improve on products that do not perform to my standard by themselves (including trying to make something smell better). A good example of a combination that I like how it performs, yet I'm not a huge fan of the smell is Tabac. I love the lather (both soap and cream) and I often use them together, yet the scent is not my favorite (tolerable). Another thing I look for is how much product is required to produce a bowl full of lather (read economy). I've yet to try Martin de Candre (I really want to, but the shipping is $$$) or other french products (wish I'd been wet shaving when I went to France in 2007...even visited Provence ). That's just my 2 cents

Glenn

To me, performance is king. I like a good scent, but it doesn't matter how good a soap/cream smells if it doesn't perform! That said, defining performance is necessary to identify why I like a given product. Now that I've made straight shaving de riguer, I feel like my technique is pretty consistent. So now I look for a product that makes a thick, cushioned lather and allows my blades to slide smoothly over my mug. I tend towards 3+ passes when I shave, so the lather has to have some legs as well. The final attribute I prefer is a product that doesn't dry my face. I almost always use an ASB, so I'm not looking for something that necessarily leaves my face moisturized on its own, but it cannot degrade my skin to the point that an ASB can merely return my skin to a baseline...

To my estimation, there is no real comparison between MdC on this comprehensive scale and any other soap I've tried yet. For creams, there are many I still need to work with, but AlRaz's Bomb is pretty hard to topple for me...

Thick lasting lather that doesn't dry out before I get one pass completed. The sent needs to be there as well otherwise I'd just shave in the shower. DR Harris and T&H seem to have this covered, Castle Forbes hasnot done nearly as well for me it just drys out too fast. My water is extreamly hard so that may be a contributing factor.