Thread: Soap Vs. Cream

I'm still new to the entire process, so I still qualify as learning even for making a lather, but I tend to find creams more forgiving. At this point that alone has earned them a preference at the moment. It may change.

I find Proraso soap is more of a mixture of soap & cream. I love it, but it's also the only soap I've used. Maybe the reason I like it is because it has a softer "cream" property. P.S. I'm assuming you mean Proraso, as opposed to "Prorazo"? As for creams, I also like Proraso, and The Body Shop Maca Root.

I fall into the camp of having an easier time creating the proper lather using creams. However, I do like the scent of many of the soap pucks, and don't want to give up on them. So I sort of use them both - and sometimes the soap in an unconventional way:

After stepping out of the shower, I wet one side of the puck, and begin swirling the puck directly onto my face [wet side to face]. The whiskers act like a shaving brush, peeling some material from the puck, and creating a pseudo lather on the face. What this does for me is to get the whiskers hydrating and lubricating immediately upon exiting the shower. Now, I can make my "real" lather in my mixing bowl using a cream. One can consider the soap application as a pre-shave or pre-cream prep step.

Since I have this lubricating layer of shaving soap already on my face, it helps the skin from drying out while I whip up the lather - especially important during winter. I don't feel rushed in making the lather, because my skin remains hydrated. The other benefit is that during my lather making operation - I can enjoy the scent of whatever soap is sitting on my face.

Just before applying the cream-created lather to my face, I lightly rinse off to insure the soap hasn't filmed-up on me.

I'm going to have to try this out. Thanks, nvpliers!

nvpliers

Sounds like a new twist on making uberlather, using the soap puck as a shave stick.

Bob