Bumping a great thread back to the top! Anyone found alternative not-for-shaving soaps that produce lather, cushion, or glide?
With all the options with shaving soap, why would you want to use a non-shav8ng soap ro shave with? I could understand if one had very limited choice.
Because the young lady running the shop was cute, and I'd never tried a goat milk based soap. Opps, did I type that out loud?
That's exactly what happened yesterday when I was out and about looking for shaving soap at the local groceries and chemist's. Suddenly Williams and VdH are nowhere to be found. Looking for possible alternatives, I brought home a bath bar of Yardley Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, and Vitamin E, and gave it a whirl. Took a stiff boar brush to get it going, but once that mystery was solved it proved to be a better-than-average shave soap. A bargain at US$1.25.
A few days ago, I was staying in a Hampton Inn which featured Nutragena products. On a whim, I decided to try the "French Milled" soap as a shaving soap. Lather was good and, if it is possible, I though it almost provided too much cushion and glide. I'm kicking myself for not taking the bar with me as it turns out that it is only made for the hotel trade.
My father is retired Army Reserve. During the world hopping travels he & mom enjoy, they load up on samples soaps supplied from Base hotels. I don't recall the brand marked on the tube, but there is a liquid body wash that make a very serviceable shave lather. I did look it up, & it's only available to the Service members through the hotels. Next time they travel (you, too!) talk to the room service folks. For a nice tip I suspect they would supply you with some extra to take home.
The only bath soaps that lather well for me when I was out of shave cream, pre DE days with disposables, are glycerine base soaps. Actually worked better than some can shaving gels
I like to try and find different bath soaps that I can use to shave with from time to time. I guess it's just the cheapskate in me that is always looking for a cheaper shave soap to use. While I don't use bath soaps to shave with very often, I have found that Brut Revolution bath soap is decent to shave with. It is a glycerine soap and only cost $1 for 2 bars at Dollar Tree stores. I like to use it on my body when I shower, then when the bar is almost used up I put it in a shave bowl to use shaving my face occasionally. It is pretty slick so does a good job, but it does seem to dissipate fairly quickly.
Dollar Tree recently started carrying the Brut green classic bar soap. I keep a bar in my sock drawer, never thought about shaving with it, but it may be a interesting experiment.
I'll have to look for the Brut green classic bar soap next time I go into Dollar Tree. I've never tried it before, but would like to.
In most cases, glycerin based soaps can be melted and just adding a teaspoon of bentonite clay per pound will make it a shaving soap. My base soap for making shave soap is glycerin. And you won't have to add essential oil cause it already has a scent, maybe even a touch of Aloe Vera gel. Bentonite clay adds slickness for the razor.
Some stores have it and others do not, so you may want to check availability online first. The scent is much closer to original Brut.
I've only used bar soaps for breaking in or defunking new brushes, it may work in a pinch but any shave soap would be a better option. Most soaps today are actually detergent bars but older soaps like the old formula of Peers and Ivory were supposedly good for shaving. Ivory was actually invented by JB Williams who makes Williams Mug soap but then sold it to Proctor & Gamble.
I'll be trying some bath soaps in the future. To me, they appear similar to body washes that you would squeeze onto a washcloth. I wouldn't do that with a shave soap.
