I'm on the college student budget as well. Generally, all of the home made soaps are very reasonably priced including TSD. QED lime stick is pretty awesome. I dont think VDH and williams are worth the dollar. If you have any cigar stores near you they tend to sell Col. Conk, and for cheap. So you can save on the shipping. Frasers cream from shavingessentials.net is awesome. Its cheap as well. All the glycerines mentioned above are moderatly priced. Deffinetly check out samples from the TSD store of all the different creams. IMHO, any tripple milled soap you like under $20 is still reasonably priced because they do last for a long time. I'm talking a year + if you mix it up and have a couple other choices to go along with it.
Honestly? I've never met a budget shave soap that I didn't like. The most I'll pay on a soap seven or eight dollars for Tabac, which some consider a budget soap. I'm a fan of the Col Conk and VDH lines, (Col. Conk being the same soap as VDH with different scents, as far as I can tell) and I won't throw out Williams or Colgate either. At under five bucks a puck, the Ogallala brands are my new favorites. I've yet to sample JoAnna's soap though I've heard nothing but positives. I take that back, Arko has a place at the bottom of my trash can. I wouldn't recommend this to my enemies, much less a fellow wetshaver. But, like all products it does have its fans. Since its been brought up in this thread, I have to ask why some people dislike VDH so much but speak of Col. Conk positively? The scents are different, but the soap performs exactly the same.
It was a gift from a French partner. I don't think it was discontinued, at least in France. I can't find it here because the cosmetic group that owns the brand (Sara Lee) doesn't export it here. :mad:
VDH soaps at $1.54 at Walmart is very hard to beat. The best part is the soap is excellent. So for 2x 1.54 you get 5oz of pure please and easy to lather.
OK, I see. Sara Lee produces the Williams shaving creams also, which are wonderful. I believe this company is based in Holland, not France.
Read through this thread and made a list of what to try. Cant wait to get me some Williams as I like a challenge. Bet its got a manly smell too.
In that case, we would have a good chance of getting some of these soaps. I'll check where they are based and if they also have wholesellers in the Netherlands. Bye, Eric
Eric, I love the Williams creams. They are great latherers, they both smell fantastic, and they have wonderful skincare. The menthol version is very, very cooling.
Well for the budget hands down I would steer you towards Arko-(made in Turkey) is a great lathering stick that can be milled into a bowl. At under $2.00 a stick:shocked003 it will last at least a good 3 months....and you will have a great lathering soap.:happy096 A lot of people are put off by the scent....if it is too strong just leave it un-wraped and it dissipates quickly. Good Luck!
Arko shavestick VDH Glycerin VDH Deluxe Williams Soap All very affordable, VDH Deluxe and Williams are available off the shelf in most of the U.S. All of the above will deliver great shaves and are great values for the money. However, Williams can be a bit stubborn for the uninitiated and generally takes quite a bit more water than the others.
If there is a Body Shop in your area, try their Maca Root SC. Very nice for about $10.00. Find a Bath and Body Works for C.O. Bigleow SC. It's like Proraso and works great. Rite Aids carry Real Shave Co SC which is reportedly very nice also.
My thought exactly! Proraso is great for the $. If you where living in Europe, I might have suggested: Things that grow on trees: Nivea, Palmolive, Palmolive stick Look around, both worth it: Speick cream, Speick stick, Florena, Kaloderma , These cost under 6 bucks in Europe. Even less. There are many more of great quality! I don't know what you might find in NY, but Proraso is a good start
Only if smelling manly means you smell like a skeeter candle! Only half kidding. The smell is definitely not my cup of tea (I'm not big on tea, either :happy102). Many others like the scent. As far as lathering and giving a good shave, again, many folks here like it. I would recommend you try it. It's not expensive at all and you may just be one of those who likes it.
I don't mind a Williams shave ( I happen to enjoy the citronella/lemon scent ), but don't discount the inexpensive VDH soaps either. I often see them side by side on shelves at many stores, and at least to me the end product ( lather ) is a touch nicer from the VDH.
I haven't seen any soaps from them. Everything I've seen from them has been brushless cream type stuff or shave oils. Not my thing at all, but some folks have given KoS good reviews.
I agree for the most part. I've been experimenting lately with Williams and I've gotten lather from it that rivals Tabac by not pre-wetting the soap and shaking my boar brush out fairly well. I had not been getting good results with it for the last year. Then it occured to me that when I started out using a mug and brush and Williams and Colgate soaps back in the early 90's the brush I had was a Burma Shave boar (tiny compared to my Omega). I tried reducing the amount of water I use with Williams and voila, I get a very thick, creamy lather, that is as slick as can be. I do have to whip my brush harder and longer into the soap to get the lather, but it's worth it!
