Basic question: Ever had a bad shave soap or cream experience as a rookie but come back around with more experience and loved it? There are a couple high quality soaps I used in my first year that gave me ingrowns every time. But after 3+ years wetshaving now I wonder if I should go back and try 'em again? Thoughts? Worth it?
I see it all the time on this forum. I'm still too new to have run into this but I would revisit some and see if you still don't like it.
I've had that experience with some razors and certain blades, but not with soaps. It would be interesting to hear if people have had that experience with soaps and if so which ones.
Never experienced it myself, but, heck yeah, it's worth tryin'! Nothin' to lose, might even gain some new soap!
Yep, go for it. I've found that as my "experience" grows my enjoyment grows and my problems decrease. I've revisited a razor that I was sure was made by the devil just to rip my face apart and subsequently found that it was really made by an angel. I would imagine the same could be said for soaps...except (and I apologize to the shaving purists out there) for bay rum scented or lavender scented soaps...I'm never going back to those.
Can't say this has happened to me. My re-do experience with certain poor performing soaps (a puck of D.R Harris 'Marlborough,' several from Stirling) only reaffirmed the poor results I got from them initially. These soaps are no longer in the rotation.
I've had a few that my inexperience deemed poor, or just not to my liking. only to try later and seemed much better. Jack Black magicly got better while sitting on the shelf, go figure? only one I have right now that I'm not happy with, Gillette cream didn't do well for me, it's waiting for the box tour to come back to town.
I guess if you get to the point you need to. But there are so many, why? I'd just keep trying new ones. Are other's opinions causing you doubt or something?
I'd say YES...If you have the soaps already and they are just sitting on the shelf anyway. Who knows you might get a surprise and get to use up some already spent money. If the soaps don't perform any better this go round, you can PIF them or use them in the shower, knowing for a fact they don't perform as a shave soap for you. Win Win!!!
Kind of. There is one I've never been able to get over and that's Speick cream. Speick AS is my go to splash so I want to like the cream. Love the scent but in the past for whatever reason I seem to end up with ingrown hairs when I use it. But everyone loves this stuff! Maybe I need to try again.
Totally worth for those you want to like. I'm reticent to give/throw away soaps for exactly that recent. I feel like my technique and sense of how to build a good lather is still improving, so I have a few soaps I'm hanging on to just so I can make a more informed keep vs PIF decision.
I'd say by all means then retry that one. I don't see how a soap could cause ingrown hairs but then I really don't know what causes them at all.
My fiance vetoed that one for the smell. It has been banished from my shave den never to return again.
I'm still a newbie myself. I loved the smell of Wsp barbershop formula t. I was getting in growns all the time. I'd switch to tsd soap and no ingrown hairs. So I pinned it on the soap. I am now in on the novariation November using.....you guessed it Wsp soap. I'm learning now that it's not the soap but the lather I was making with it....plus my technique is improving. Go back to them and try....IMHO.
