I had a weird dream about this last night. Where you were lathering with yogurt and a scouring pad. I dunno I guess you were trying to show you could whip up a lather with anything. Lol yes I know I'm weird but that's who I am
like just plain neutrogena facial bar. I melt it double boiler style and pour into any bowl or mug you like. put just a dab of any cream you like on top before you begin lathering and it whips up really nice.
Many members have good things to say about KoS, I believe that members have found that KoS is marketed for shavers of African heritage. Many of them get terrible ingrown hairs shaving with the multibladed cartridges and by neccessity need to use single blade disposables or DE razors. KoS is found at Targets that have a large ethnic population close by. The badger brush at these Targets is considered by many on this forum to be the best budget badger brush for the money out there. I like the bowl better than using a mug. The brush is big, blooms nicely and sheds for a month or more. Once the break in period has passed, it's a nice brush, I like it better than my badger brush. The soap is budget priced, makes decent lather and I never use it. (I prefer creams) Anything that keeps blades off of the skin as much as possible as well as reduces friction between razor blades and skin will work. One thing you should be leary about though, is weighing the benefits...regular soap and shaving soaps/creams are not created equal. soap contains detergents designed to strip oil from your face, shaving soaps and creams, by thier nature, moisturize your face without scouring the oil away. I would compare the ingredients of your favorite creams or soaps to the "facial soap," if they appear to be in harmony, whatever works best for you. I know this hasn't been brought up in this thread yet, but still it should be mentioned. Conditioners fall into their own category...never use conditioners on your beard. Conditioners are designed to strengthen hair...not exactly what you want when you are getting ready to cut it all away.
I bought a puck of Cade at the L'Occitane store in the mall Thursday for $10. I grated it down and had enough to make 2 very firmly packed shave sticks. So, we are talking top shelve soap at $5 a stick. Comparing Cade to Ogallala (sage and cedar) and MWF which both give me a DFS I have to say so far Cade is beating them by a mile. I gotta think it would take at least a year to use 2 sticks of Cade. (or most anything else) If I was on a budget I would get a puck of Cade $10 = 2 sticks The Shea pure badger at Target $8 or so Face lather which I always do
Just resist the temptation of buying the soap bowls...but most of the refills for "high-end" soaps are at a reasonable price...and they go a long way.
Palmolive sticks are cheap. I can't make it work as a shave stick but grating it to a soap container and using as a puck works for me. As shave stick I would use only Tabac from the ones I have known since it is a softer soap and a lather monster. The scent of Palmolive brings me memories of bath soaps my grandparents used in sauna when was a child. It is nothing classy as a shave soap scent, but there is nothing offensive about it either. Some have been saying that Arko looses its smell over time. But it is not so. If used as a shave stick and keeping it in the bathroom, it overpowers everything else. You have got to like that "scent" in your bathroom. I don't. Maybe to have the soap grated in an airtight container would work, since it produces quite good lather.
The Dirty Moose.. Goat's Milk (soap, shampoo & shaving cream). $3 a bar and free shipping! great to shower with, decent to shampoo with and great to shave with. http://shoppe.thedirtymoose.com/pro...E3D2E4.qscstrfrnt06?productId=11&categoryId=1
For value, I like Cella or P.160. These are high class Italian barbershop soaps. I just spent $40 shipped for P.160, but it is a 1kg block. That is a lot of soap. A Willaims sized puck works out to be $2, and an Art of Shaving sized puck works out to be $3.80. What an awesome deal for a such a great soap. Buy a block and it'll last you a couple years, at least.
