What is the best buy between sosp and cream? Now i'm just using gillette gel on a box and I really want to try the real deal but i'm not sure what to buy?
Buy both, start with TSD soap, which is not very expensive. And they also have Palmolive cream, again not very expensive. Both are high quality. You may be like most around here and use both. have fun with it Dave
Wow that's a decision you will have to make in time. Creams tend to be easier at making lather but creams are soap with more water on them. Just starting off I would recommend trying both. My picks would be for cream Mem Olive and soap Arko both easy to find and won't break the bank. Welcome to the Den.
Using either is really just a matter of preference, while one may work better for you than another they both do the're jobs equally well....I'd second the above answers and say buy both so you can really know if you have a preference..Although I use creams on occasion, I prefer hard soaps myself, with as of now at least, Arko leading the way...Two inexpensive and locally available soap choices would be a puck of Van der Hagan Delux hard soap and a tube of C.O. Bigelow for a cream...Another soap application choice you may want to check out is a "shave stick"..I've never seen any locally, but you can find Arko, Palmolive,Speick,etc. easily online.. Another tool you will need is a brush and bowl..Van der Hagan sells a shave kit(brush,bowl and puck of Delux shave soap) relatively cheap and locally,sometimes you can find the kit sold under a storebrand a little cheaper... to the addiction errrr hobby....
Personal preference. Some prefer soaps, some prefer creams. Me, I prefer soaps. They take a little longer to lather up, but I like the ritual. Creams are a bit easier to lather. As for one or the other providing more slickness or cushion than the other, I can't tell the difference in general. I do know a good soap from a bad soap, and a good cream from a bad cream. But put a good cream up against a good soap, as I said, I can't tell the difference on my face or with my shave.
I'm with Steve here. I too prefer soaps, but that's from personal preference also. However, a soap last longer than a cream, so the price-ratio is in the soaps favor.
I prefer soaps, except when I prefer creams. There is nothing that says it has to be all or nothing. Use both. I agree with Martin about the price per shave being in favor of soap. That said, I think you have more scent over the lifetime of the product with shave creams.
Van Der Hagen shave kit w/soap should be at Walmart or Target...Some Drug stores as well. C.O. Bigelow cream is at Bath & Bodyworks. Creams are probably easier for Newbies to get a decent lather with. TSD has great creams and soaps as well.
I'd start with TSD store. You also can pick up some M-Bomb. Which will bring your shave to an entire new level. Happy shaving!
I actually find creams harder to lather because I have to squeeze the right amount out. Much more intuitive to get the right soap amount IMO.
It's fairly difficult to find a less expensive soap than VDH that's even close to as easy to lather; VDH has the advantage of being widely available in pharmacies and even grocery stores. For myself, I find VDH just as easy to lather as the cream I've used.
Soaps are always my preference, but creams are quicker—if I'm in a rush—which isn't a common occurrence when I decide to shave. Some good suggestions in this thread to get you going in a proper direction.
The VDH Select I have is quite harder to lather than compared to other soaps, eg. Speick, Arko, D.R. Harris etc. It took me a while to figure it out. It turned out I found that it needs a brush that's a lot wetter than normal. VDH here is a ghost, wastly expensive due to import from the US.
Excellent example of YMMV, then. Here - and, from what I can tell, elsewhere in the USA - it's abundantly available, and I honestly rarely see people say they have difficulty making it lather. That's not to say your experience is wrong.
I have a lot of creams, but prefer soaps. I think they do a better job at moisturizing my face. My favorite creams: Palmolive Menthol, Mem Olive, Mem Original, Ingram, Proraso Red. My favorite soaps: Mike's Natural Barbershop stick, Palmolive stick, Cella, Proraso White, Irisch Moos, Tabac, Stirling. With the exception of Irisch Moos (discontinued,) all these items can be bought reasonably cheap. Check out vendors like Bull Goose shaving, Razor Blades and More, West Coast Shaving, and Italian Barber.
Yes but that is USA. Our friend here is from Scandinavia. I doubt he'll be able to find VDH locally. Europe, especially Scandinavia is a whole other world when it comes to wet shaving. We're sadly a cartridge/canned goo part of the world. Get it on eBay. Forget US vendors, it'll break your bank in shipping alone when compared to eBay vendors close by.
True story. The only wet shaving thing I know of from Scandinavia is Fitjar soap. Connaught in England might be cheaper. So would Barbiere di Figaro in the Netherlands.
