How I do all my soaps. I never soak (bloom) any of my soaps and have zero issues with this method... http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/lathering-tsd-soaps.27563/
I started with Nivea shave cream. I was not sure if I would enjoy wet shaving and chose an easy to use, inexpensive, reliable product. Widely available in the US. I did not even use a brush. It was not needed with a cream.
I started with VDH soap from the cheap set and with never doing it or researching it got acceptable lather. Now since finding all kinds of wet shave resources I have tried a good half dozen soaps and all can give a fine shave. I still have a long way to go with experience but so far Arko may well be the easiest soap to whip up. I've been using Stirling a lot lately and it is great but the Arko seems effortless at times. It isn't too brush picky either.
Arko hands down. If you want fast and easy, above average performance (plus a low price) it's hard to beat. The smell so so. It's tolerable. I only use for travel.
Although it's already been mentioned a few times, I'll give another vote to Tabac. You pretty much just look at the soap while holding a wet shave brush, and your lather will be phenomenal. That stuff is stooooopid easy to get crazy good lather out of. And the price is very reasonable, even with the great bowl you can get it in.
As always, great information from the people on this site. Greatly appreciated. I noticed that several questions were posed to me early on. In reply, I have used both a standard badger brush and a boar bristle brush, with equally poor results. The soap in question is Trumper's Rose.
Ironic. I just tried Trumper's Rose cream in a large bowl and whipped up very rich lather in a brief time. Of course there must be some difference either in the items or technique, I cannot figure out the diff. I am a relative newb at this.
