Thread: Beginner Q: Soap vs Cream? Which is easier to lather?

What are you using for your post shave routine? The Nivea stuff for sensitive skin is great.

picked up a tube of the real shaving co from rite aid. for $4 it was worth a try. i'll put a little dab in my soap lather tomorrow.

as for post-shave, I dab the bleeding areas with my styptic, then apply Gillette Aftershave gel for sensitive skin. I like it a lot, but I'm open to other things too.

I get more irritation when I shave after a shower, so I'm going to try a cold shave tomorrow before I jump in the shower to see how it goes.

Originally Posted by U2Bono269

picked up a tube of the real shaving co from rite aid. for $4 it was worth a try. i'll put a little dab in my soap lather tomorrow.

as for post-shave, I dab the bleeding areas with my styptic, then apply Gillette Aftershave gel for sensitive skin. I like it a lot, but I'm open to other things too.

I get more irritation when I shave after a shower, so I'm going to try a cold shave tomorrow before I jump in the shower to see how it goes.

That reminds me of my pre straight razor days when I got the idea of using my disposable to shave in the shower. Man did my neck get irritated, well so was I that day. I still use Gillette's post shave gel too, I alternate it with Nivea's after shave balm.

Try a pre shave oil, make sure it's not for electric razors, we'll hear you scream!! I use Anthony pre-shave oil on my neck and it's great!

Originally Posted by U2Bono269

picked up a tube of the real shaving co from rite aid. for $4 it was worth a try. i'll put a little dab in my soap lather tomorrow.

as for post-shave, I dab the bleeding areas with my styptic, then apply Gillette Aftershave gel for sensitive skin. I like it a lot, but I'm open to other things too.

I get more irritation when I shave after a shower, so I'm going to try a cold shave tomorrow before I jump in the shower to see how it goes.

I do a warm shave every now and then but a cold or cool shave is what I do most often. Feels good. Then I do cold water rinse, splash on a bit of the Thayers + Aloe Witch Hazel (I like the cucumber scent) which I purchase at my local GNC or Hippie store.
Then I massage in an asb of some sort. Usually Nivea (i bought a lot when it was on sale) or I will mix some of an after shave splash with some corn huskers lotion in my palms and rub that in.

Originally Posted by U2Bono269

I ask about volume because every video or pictorial I've seen seems to create more lather than I do. So I wasn't sure.

It's good that my method sounds ok...I feel like it might be too dry, which is why it's drying out so quickly. It feels fine in my hand, but it just melts away on my face, which I've read may indicate too little water. I'm going to stop at the store today and maybe pick up a cream or another soap, although I do really like the soap I have now.

I'm a recent defector from electric shaving. The cost of that became prohibitive so I switched to mach3. Besides the fact that my face doesn't like those blades, I can only use them once before the blades go too dull, because I have a tough beard. I don't want to spent $400 on a new electric, and I don't want to spend $400 on cartridges every year, so here I am dawdling with straight razors. I'm hoping to have my straight back from the honemeister this week so I can begin in earnest. But I've put together a decent beginner's kit for about $75, so I'm pretty happy so far and my face is happier with each passing day.

Oh, I think maybe they 'overdo' the volume a little for demonstration purposes. If you've seen the Uberlather video the amount of lather is astonishing! I found when I started I actually had to practice lathering. Weird, I know, but it saves having to shave with a second rate lather. Just make some up, add water in tiny increments, keep track of what you are doing, and stop when it looks right. Then keep adding water. It should collapse. You then know the right amount and the 'too much' amount. Temperature also seems to be a determinant. The Windsor cream I have also 'melts away' on the face and disappears almost.

Electric razor shaving, to me, sounds awful, which is clearly why you've changed :-)

It's good you're keeping at it. My beard is quite light, and i don't know HOW I would have got on if I had a thick beard like an Italian man or something, I guess it would be very difficult.

Go well, Carl

well, I guess I've got some good news and bad news?

So the good news is that I tried the Real Shaving Co cream. I mixed it with my soap, decided I didn't like it, and then just whipped up a batch of cream. I got a pretty good lather on the first try and it went on well and stayed on much longer than the soap. It was smoother, creamier and more workable than the soap or the soap/cream combo. I loved it. But, then, I shaved.

I realized I had no more Mach3 cartridges, so I was stuck using a mach3 disposable I had laying around from the summer. It handled my cheeks pretty well, but by that point my beard made the blades so dull I had the worst, most painful shave of my life. I can't even give a fair assessment of the cream because the razor was such a battle it's not even funny. I had about 10 or 20 little nicks all around my neck, huge razor burn, and IT DIDN'T EVEN CUT ALL THE HAIR. I still have some stubble.

It's going to be at least 3 or 4 days for me to heal from this before I can shave again. By that point, my straight will FINALLY have returned to me (mail delayed it).

This was truly awful.

While you can use wet shaving soap and cream with a Mach3, it doesn't give you the protection like you would get from modern shaving gel/foam. The soap/cream is about water volume while a modern shaving cream/gel is about glide or lubrication. Whenever I shave with wet shaving soap and a Mach3, my skin is irritated.

I would give your skin some time off to heal. At least, you have experienced a good shaving cream.

I think I'm definitely a cream person now. Even though my face feels a little healthier after the soap, I get a better lather and a cleaner shave with the cream. So I've been using the cream to shave and the soap just to clean my face. I need to get to B&BW for some of that Bigelow cream.

BTW, Bay Rum is the greatest scent ever.

Creams are definitely easier to start with but building a lather with (good) soap isn't hard at all.
I don't have much experience with the more traditional soaps yet but the SRD & Mama Bear soaps both lather up easily and have a lot of glycerin in them so your face should feel really nice when you're done.
For the creams my faves are palmolive, al's (member alraz) bomb's and TOBS. Al's is the best cream I've tried bit it doesn't seem to like my hard water so it takes some work to get it right but it's worth it.

U2,

Maybe after all is said, done, and tried, you are a beard person. If modern steels in triplet can't cope with your beard, it would seem that one, big, old fashioned straight would be challenged beyond its ability to cope with the apparent 12 gauge wire of your whiskers. Or stock up on barber hones and touch up your blade after each cheek and before the jowls. Best of luck.