Hey everyone, I'm new to this site just had my first shave with my merkur classic 33c and Proraso shaving cream. I've been trying to read about the differences between creams and soaps, but I'm still not really sure of the benefits of each. Could anyone explain and give me some ideas of the ones to try as a beginner?
Well, I will give you a basic overview of the two, take note there are always exceptions to everything. Soap generally takes more work to lather and often provides more glide than cushion, D.R. Harris however can be both thick and slick (I don't really like their soaps btw); cream on the other hand tends to provide better cushion and less glide, TSD Wheat would be the exception here, as its very slick. There are also soft soaps which are somewhat of a hybrid of the two. Lastly to answer your question, I'm more of a soap guy myself: sticks, hard pucks, soft soaps etc.
I started out as a soap guy but left the dark side and have now crossed over to creams. Love the stuff and a ton of variety too.
I like both, use soap 6 days a week and cream once. Sticks are my preferred style but I have several in bowls that I use as well. The creams I use seem to have as much glide as my soaps and the scent is stronger with creams than soap. Long story short get some of both.
Hmmm. That's a tough one. I like both for different reasons and some of these reasons are specific to certain makes, so that's another complication. Oh and then there's the issue of brush to consider. In a very general sense, I find soaps to be more economical as they last a long time. I use Pre de Provence pretty regularly, and I've been on the same puck for something like two years! Great soap by the way, but I wouldn't recommend their cream. Anyway, I think I tend to agree with Aaron in a general sense, though Proraso and Musgo feel quite slick to me and near the slickness of some of my soaps and even surpass a couple in this regard. Over all, I think Speick shave soap stick is a perfect product in that it lasts a long time, is super slick and super cushionny and easy to lather....I just wish they would make a puck-in-bowl version of the same recipe, but I digress. Well, I guess I'll have to go with soap.....but I might change my mind tomorrow, so take that with a grain of salt. My product experience is somewhat limited by comparisons to many of the heavy weights here at TSD, so that means more salt grains. :biggrin: But for now, I'll go with soap.
I prefer soaps, and I don't have any great reason, I just do. I travel alot and the soaps just seem simpler. I do use both, but soaps more often. They both work great. If you go through the shave of the day postings, you will see many great recomendations.
I tend to like my Kent soap at the moment (but I have a scuttle on order so that will change very soon) so im thinking my creams will get a lot of use very soon. I know its more of a fence sitting by be but both creams and soaps have there merits to me and it depends how im felling as to which im using, but if im tring something new ie blade/razor I will always use the kent so I can gauge how the new item has performed.
Soaps. It just feels like there's more of a ritual to whipping up the lather off a puck of soap. That being said, I do use a cream every Monday, just to change things up.
I'm seeing ritual being a lot of the reasoning for choosing soaps. This being only my first week should I stick with the cream until I get better at creating a lather or just dive right in and start trying soaps?
Josh you can do as you would like, but I always recommend newer users or anyone having lather trouble to go and pickup a tube of C.O. Bigelow: $5 for a small tube, $10 for a large one, you can find it at Bath & Body Works. As for a good starter soap, head to Walmart or Walgreens and pickup a puck of Van Der Hagen Deluxe Shave Soap, should be about $1.50 ish; while this soap is not a triple milled soap it performs about as well and is user friendly. Regarding D.R. Harris, I'm not the worlds biggest fan, I prefer Trumpers; that's just me. While I enjoy MWF the most, its not something I would recommend as a lot of people have trouble with it or just plain hate it compared to triple milled soaps.
Thanks Steve Some things just work, I think Bigelow and VDH are prime examples that price really doesn't make a great product nor does the term "Cheap" mean a poor product.
I prefer soaps because I primarily use vintage stuff that I find at antique stores, flea markets and the occasional mom and pop grocery or drug store, and have built a pretty big stash of Williams, Old Spice, Surrey, Barbershop, Colgate and Rawleighs. Finding usable vintage creams is almost unheard of.
Van Der Hagen's is a good starter soap. You may want to avoid the other budget soap- Williams. That soap also doubles as citronella scented mosquito repellant. Generally speaking... soaps tend to take more water, more effort, more time and a stiffer brush to work into a lather. Creams take about a third of the water, a fraction of the time, and lather with any brush. Soaps last longer, creams are more moisturizing. If you have "The Body Shop" at your local mall, hit them up for their Maca Root Shave Cream. $15 for a large tub. The three "T's" Trufitt &Hill, Trumpers, and Tobbs are all great brands to try for both soaps and creams (a bit high end, Trumpers will set you back $30) The Shave Den Store also sells high quality creams made in-house by JoAnna. EDIT: The difference between most high and low-end soaps and creams is not the quality of the shave or lather. Rather, it is the cost of the fragrances used to perfume the soap or cream. Thus, a person can get just as good a shave from a $2.00 soap as a $30.00 soap. There are exceptions however. Usually it is a mid-range soap in the $10 - $20 dollar range that refuses to lather. You hear about them from time to time on this forum.
Cream Week is coming! I'll agree with all I clipped out (see previous post), but I don't believe there is such a thing as a "soap" brush or a "cream" brush. I do appreciate the fact you prefaced this with the term "generally". Thank you. But for new people out there, don't think you need an assortment of brushes to use creams or soaps, or to bowl lather or face lather, you just need to learn how to use what you have.
