My favorite inexpensive soap would have to be Palmolive and my favorite cream so far would be proraso (C.O. Bigelow).
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My favorite inexpensive soap would have to be Palmolive and my favorite cream so far would be proraso (C.O. Bigelow).
Palmolive and Arko for soaps. I have stopped searching creams. Maybe?
Tebac for 7 bucks a tube from QED can't be beat !!!!!!
I recently bought two 3" pucks of Classic Shaving Soap. It was $5.99ea, and the soap does a fine job of cushioning and moisturizing. Additionally, I can load my boar bristle brush in seconds and use that amount for three passes. That is my vote, right now, for bang for the buck.
My goto cheapie is proraso. Love it. For some reason it is finicky, though. I find that some days it just refuses to richen up. Rather the lather stays soupy and thin. Still love it though. I suspect it is my technique.
I have a different definition of cheap. Last time i got a cheap soap was williams from CVS. It was 99 cents there, but it's 1.99 now. It takes about twice as long to get a decent lather out of it, but it does lather if you keep at it long enough.
What I did notice about it vs. the tabac that I use on a daily basis, is that I felt like the tabac keeps the edge away from my skin a little better - the williams makes it feel as though you're feeling the edge a lot more. I don't get razorburn from it, it just doesn't feel as nice.
I use either tabac or MWF daily, but I consider them expensive soaps, despite getting them for half the price or so that they're charged in the US by finding export sellers who listed and sold the soaps cheap. Cheap to me is a soap that you can use for the entire year for $4.
I've been a fan of the Arko shave stick for a long while but I've also now tried the Arko shave cream in tubes. Several varieties, different scents, and dirt cheap. Oh yeah, it works great.
If all I could use for the rest of my life was VdH Deluxe, I'd be OK with that. Less than $2, love the scent, love the lather and performance. But we're into this to spend money because we've saved so much so I only hit the VdH once a week or so because I'm using Truefitt, Trumpers, TOBS, MWF, Cella, Speick, Palmolive, Bigelow, PdP and so on. But it's not because they're so much better but because I paid the damn money for them so they're gonna get used!
Speick shave stick... $5
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As "cheap" is a relative thing...
I don't mind VDH from my local store. It lathers well with a few drops of glycerin, and leaves my skin soft after the shave. Just picked up a puck of Williams at the local pharmacy, and with glycerin it works ok as well. Just dries out a little faster. I also like Mama Bears soaps as well, but lately they were drying my face out more than I like, so I put it away for a while.
I also have some Cella, and P.160 that I enjoy as well as far as creams go, and some I got from CarrieM...a great cream!
I picked a tub if Proraso green on amazon for $9 with free shipping.
Not as cheap nor expensive as other ones:
Pre de provence (moisture,consistency)
Provence sante (smell!!!! great lather, but finicky).
Taylor of old bound street. My favorite right now: Avocado. Smelles like Lavender and peony, just subtle and fresh. I have their lemon/lime as well, but prefer the Avocado style.
I have tried cella, and did not like it as much. Great sopa, just not for me. Same with proraso. Good, but I don't use it often, I don't enjoy the menthol.
Just got a brick of cella last night, for the wife (the 1 kg brick).
But I had to turn a little bowl with a lid for it on the lathe last night and try the soap this morning instead of just giving it to her.
I think it's my favorite soap per unit of cost (though I still like MWF and Tabac a lot, and they're what...about $14 shipped for a 125 gram puck if you look around and don't wait until the last second to buy them).
I'm relatively new to a straight razor, but I've been using a DE for some time. I have had to really start working on that "cushion" effect from my lather with a SR. Doesn't seem to matter with my DE, as much. Of course, I know that will come with time and practice. Anyway, Proraso seems to be working well for me with a bit of glycerine. Also, I just received a bunch of samples from Mama Bear's. Don't want to order a whole puck of something I don't like (SWMBO and SWMBO jr must approve). Seems to be working great.
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Cheap soaps........
Ogallala
Benton Clay
HoneyBee Spas
All good soaps, all great prices.
VdH and the real shaving co. cream. Not great, but they get the job done
Cella - did I say that already? if I didn't, cella.
Cella, Speik, Palmolive classic cream, Kiss My Face. I have some Arko shave sticks on the way, looking forward to trying them out.
I'm also a Bald Frog fan. When I melted the small cake in the bottom of a mug it worked great. Then I got a G5 scuttle and a tin of BF. I was having trouble getting the brush to load up in the tin. So I removed the cake from the tin and ran it through the wife's cheese grater. Now I sprinkle a little in the bottom of the scuttle and go to town.
Hot water melted the BF off of the cheese grater just fine. I can't say the same thing when I grated MWF. I had hell getting the grater clean.
Wilkerson Shaving Stick.
Razorock XXX Shave cream.
What do you think is Inexpensive?
If i think of cheap soaps/creams I go for proraso white or green, Arko or Cella. Al very good soaps and there can almost nothing go wrong when you make lather whit those.
depends what you consider cheap...under $5 its always gonna be williams for me :) under 10, proraso all the way
I agree with Croatalus and bottomfeeder. Bald frog is my favorite inexpensive soap. I also had trouble getting the tin to lather the first time, but a little hot water soaked on top of the puck did the trick for me.
Palmolive shave stick (50p) and suds law goats milk puck (4.50) lather up on the shave stick and load up with the suds law and your swimmin' in lather, expecially good for face lathering.
Depending on what you mean by cheap. For me cheap means under $10.00. For that money you can't go wrong with Kiss My Face Creams (their mint and lime are very nice) and either VDH or Williams shave soap.
Van der Hagen Deluxe is my "everyday" soap. Williams irritates my skin and takes too long to make the lather I want.
Inexpensive with great performance would be C.O. Bigelow cream, RazoRock Classic and RazoRock XXX.
For a couple bucks, Williams Shave soap hands down. Proraso when I want to change it up. I'm a cheapskate what can I say.
And remember, keep your razor sharp and your mind sharper.
Williams mug, ftw!
Real Shaving Co. $4 for a tube, lasts me about 3 months of continuous use...longer now that I've finally built up a stable of other soaps and creams. If they made a menthol I'd never buy anything else...
I just tried Razorock XXX and was impressed. It's about 8.59 or so for 150ml, not sure if that's cheap enough. Other than that, I'd have to say, Williams...It's a classic. My Grandfather used it...
Thought i'd ressurect this thread as I have new soaps to add to the list. Over the last week or so I've become rather enamoured with both the RazoRock La Famiglia line and the RazoRock Artisan line. All of them come in at that circa-$10 and under price tag. They all have wonderful scents and they explode with lather easily. Definitely worth the money if you are looking for a new soap/cream.
I personally think Al's creams are great, and he's selling quite a few at a reduced price right now making it a steal if you ask me.
What makes me like Al's and also include it in this category is that he sells a sampler pack. This makes getting a scent you don't like a non-starter and adds to the utility. I wish all vendors did it!
My vote - Al's
Al's Shaving Products