Soap Vs. Cream (dumb question?)

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by ehehat, Jun 7, 2011.

  1. Shep

    Shep The Shep Abides

    The "Ah-Hah" moment for lathering soaps came to me when I left more water in the brush when creating the initial paste. In other words don't shake all the water out of the brush. Just turn it upside down and let the water naturally fall away. Maybe one quick half shake before moving to the soap puck. All that water makes a quick and frothy paste...the stuff will probably be massing up and out of the container. Take all that paste and then start whipping lather, maybe adding some more water as you go. This procedure works on all my soaps (and I have plenty), and I find it whips up the finished lather quicker than when I was using less water.

    I go through my cream phases too because they are simply quicker, but many soaps are slicker and shave better. More water is usually the answer to most lather problems though.
     
  2. Art Vandelay

    Art Vandelay Active Member

    I prefer soaps, but I really couldn't tell you why. I just like them better. It's more organic somehow, if that makes sense. A tube of cream is just ... store-bought. Manufactured. Obviously soaps are too, but somehow ... less so. They don't need no stinkin' tube. You can toss a puck of soap to someone across the room. It's minimalism, it's manliness. It's an acquired skill to master the lather, by a man who appreciates the finer things, the simpler things, and who's taken the time to get good at it. A cream is utilitarian, like toothpaste and hairspray. It's canned (even when it's not canned). I like cream sometimes, but going back to my soaps feels like coming home.
     
  3. MarkStar

    MarkStar Well-Known Member

    That's how I feel. Don't know why either.

    I keep several tubes of the one creme I really like (Arko Commando, I just love the scent) and I still reach for one of my 10 soaps most of the time.
     
  4. PanChango

    PanChango Not Cute

    I used to be exclusively in the soap camp, but have started using creams more and more. Regardless of soap or cream, I face lather and get nice quality shaves using either.
     
  5. Brian

    Brian Active Member

    :sihns011
     
  6. jtb

    jtb New Member

    I tend to like soaps a little better, mostly cause I just love to load the brush and face lather. I can do that with creams too. Hey, sometimes I use both in one shave! Spread a little cream all over my beard, then load the brush with soap and go to town!
     
  7. Mr. Imperial

    Mr. Imperial Member

    I recently switched to primarily being a soap user. I found that I was going back to the various creams I liked more for the scent than for the performance...but if I can get the cream scent in a cologne/EDT, why keep using the cream?

    Plus, being a recent straight razor convert, I find the lather I get from (to echo Xezmer's pep) tallow to be so much better than anything else.

    To think, it took me 2 years to find DRH Arlington. Sometimes my brain dun no work no gud. :D
     
  8. ehehat

    ehehat Active Member

    See I think this is exactly what keeps me coming back to soaps. There's a "process" involved that just seems to romanticize the whole process for me. Creams get me faster results but they just seem "automatic". In a fast-food world, I'm a little tired of automatic.

    I will definitely check back once they come in. I should have said "just ordered" not "just got".

    I've tried super-lather (soap and cream mixed) and had great results. I just need to devote some time to practicing and not wait until shave time to experiment.

    OF COURSE! :happy102

    Took the words right out of my mouth.:happy096
     
  9. Soaps vs. Creams

    Are there more available scents/smells in soaps than creams?
     
  10. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    First, welcome to the Den.

    As to your question, I doubt anyone has done an actual count. I'm sure it depends on the artisan/manufacturer as to what they make more of. And with the number of makers out there, the possibilities are almost endless.
     
  11. Regan

    Regan Well-Known Member

    Yessir. You do not have enough money to buy all the scents of either soap or creams. :happy102

    Just look at TSD store. There are dozens of scents, then can get menthol. Can combine them. Then go look at other artisans and big companies there is literally too many to know what to do with them all... Besides try to try them all :D
     
  12. Birkut

    Birkut New Member

    Creams can be used by people unfamiliar with wet shaving : the vast majority of consumers not owning a shaving brush and using their fingers to create lather. In other word, the "can of goo" crowd.
     
  13. stingraysrock

    stingraysrock PIF'd away his custom title

    Cream's = automatic transmission.

    Soap's = manual transmission.

    Both will get you to where you are going, but I have more fun rowing my own gears.

    I have and use both.

    At one time I was a pure soap guy. Then I switched to creams only, then back and forth. Now it is whatever strikes my fancy on a given day.

    I have more creams than soaps now only because of my trades with ASD / Dmitry.
     
  14. tomnat

    tomnat accepting applications

    I had used soaps with my Mach 3 for many years until I started using a DE and found this site. Now I use both. I still mostly use soaps but love making superlather with creams or occasionally use them by themselves.
     
  15. Queen of Blades

    Queen of Blades Mistress of Mischief Staff Member

    Moderator Supporting Vendor
    I use both, but don't feel there is any time difference to lather between the 2.
     
  16. Kyle

    Kyle New Member

    Ever since I've started wetshaving, I've been using soaps and creams at the same time, I guess its called uberlather, or something. I tried just soap once with Col. Conk, and it wasn't slick enough, nor hydrating enough, so I didn't try it again.(I shave with a straight razor 99% of the time) I tried just cream also, and it also wasn't slick enough, and dired really quick, so I didn't try that again. But I have found a good mix for using both at once, so that has been my routine. But now that I have a Speick and Arko stick, I think I may just have to try just soap again. Seems to be pretty popular here! :D
     
  17. Shep

    Shep The Shep Abides

    I don't shave w/ straights but lather slickness is an independent factor so I'll chime in here. Col. Conk is a cheap glycerin soap. Some find that enough, but others like me do not get good shaves from strictly glycerin soaps. If you want to try experimenting a bit get yourself a decent tallow, triple milled soap like MWF, Tabac, Irisch Moos, L'Occtiane Cade to name a few. Speick and Arko also get good press. Others enjoy the clay based soaps too; I find them better than glycerin but not as good as tallow. A few of the creams I like are Proraso, JM Fraser and The Body Shop cream. All of these products provide very rich, slick lather that shave great on their own...for me. As always when slickness is an issue try adding more water. Give one of these a try and see what you think. :happy088
     
  18. battle.munky

    battle.munky Has the menthol.munky on his back!

    It really doesn't matter to me. I use my soaps a bit more though. It takes me a few minutes extra with creams since I only bowl lather them and it takes the extra minute or so to de-scuzz my bowl afterward; I float it in the sink :ashamed001 . Creams normally get used on the weekends for me, since I don't have the time constraint of getting out the door.
     
  19. Kyle

    Kyle New Member

    Thanks for the brands, I'll keep my eye out for any of these when I'm feeling froggy :D
    Best wishes!
    Kyle
     
  20. Regan

    Regan Well-Known Member

    I keep a list on my computer of things i want to try.. It just keeps on growing and slowly getting smaller. I also keep on there some products that i really enjoy so if i need i have something to toss in an order because i know it will be used up.
     

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