The basics of creams and soaps

Hi Gents,
I'm new to both the forum and DE shaving in general. I've enjoyed reading and learning many tips and thoughts from many of you. Thanks!
I started off about 3 Months ago by wandering past an Art of Shaving store while on a business trip. I was sucked right in. Although I didn't make the plunge at that time, I did end up buying my first setup from Art of Shaving. I've since realized how vast and diverse the world of wet shaving truly is!! I'm just now feeling fairly confidant in technique. The "salesperson" didn't really offer much advice and I've learned more on YouTube then anywhere. The first few weeks (until I found YouTube videos) were brutal!! lol
So I just ordered some additional supplies to get a better understanding of what works best for me. Primarily, I'm trying to understand the differences, +/-to creams and soaps.
Thus far, I had only used the AoS lavender cream, so I ordered some Castle and Forbes lavender cream, and a RozoRock lavender artisan soap to try.
I guess my main question is this... The RazoRock soap seams very similar to the creams in consistency. I was expecting the soap to be harder, like a bar of soap is, not soft like the creams. If this normal? Is it just the type I bought?
Any insight, suggestion or advice anyone can give me is greatly appointed!

Thanks in advance!!

-John

It can vary by brand..I also thought that soaps should be or would be harder but it is not always the case...really only if it is a puck are you kind Of guaranteed it will be harder..you are at mercy of the manufacturer..soaps tend to be harder but not always..sometimes the weather affects them depending on storage and shipping of them but there are no hard set rules to them.

Hope that helps a little
Anthony

I've used soaps and creams. I must say that I have gotten the smoothest shaves from AOS creams. I do the whole kit though. But soaps are cheaper and work pretty good for DE shaving.

Soaps vary. Proraso soap is pretty soft.

Mitchell Wool Fat is hard -- so hard that it's helpful to put some water on top of the puck for a few minutes, before trying to build lather. Without that, it takes a lot of brushwork to get enough soap for a good lather.

Don't worry about it.

. Charles

razorock is an italian soft soap, like proraso and cella.. somewhere between a soap and a cream i think.

A triple milled tallow based soap will be hard, like the AOS soaps, for instance. As already stated, some of the Razorock soaps are italian soft soaps. There are some that are tallow based. If you want to try a hard tallow based soap, which BTW are excellent for shaving, give the AOS soap a try, if you're willing to spend the $$. Some of the folks at AOS will tell you it is a glycerin based soap, but it is not. Just look at the ingredients. Also, Crabtree & Evelyn sells very good tallow based soaps in three scents that are reasonably priced, and will last a long time. I have the Sienna scented soap, and it is my favorite. The other two are the Nomad and West Indian Lime. A simple search will reveal many more.

Generally, the other type of soap is a glycerin based soap. One example are the Mama Bears Soaps, which are also excellent. They are softer, and, in my experience, a bar will go faster than a tallow based soap. Hope that helps. Good luck!

Great info on the soap varieties, ImSt8ght, thanks.

I like the Mama Bear soaps very much. When I haven't shaved for a couple days I frequently load up my brush with the fragrance of the day and add an inch of Bigelow cream in my bowl, then lather the two together. IMHO, I find that the mixture softens the longer beard for an easier shave.

This is all great info everyone and exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for all the comments!