I look at the soap thing like many other things in life. I could live with VDH Deluxe for the rest of my shaving life if I had to. It's clean, mild scent is nice and it lathers well too. I also enjoy a bologna sandwich for lunch occasionally, (Although I've not had the extra premium kind that Rollah makes.....Lordy, that looks good!) and I could probably get by eating those for lunch from here on. My wife is a lovely woman with long dark hair... (uh....wait. Nope, bad example.) Anyway, I find it one of the nicer things in life to try something different now and again. I wouldn't do it if it took away from someone else in my family, but $10 for a cake of soap that will last me several months doesn't seem selfish or excessive. I admit it. I slow down and really enjoy my shave when I use Cella, MWF, green Proraso, etc. So, should you dole out that $15 for the TOBS soap? I don't know. Do you eat that same bologna sandwich every day for lunch? Happy shaving everybody!!
Haha, this is a great analogy and I find that it fits for me too. I don't want to use the same soap every day. I like to mix it up and try different things. Some soaps I like a lot, and tend to use often. Other soaps I don't care for at all and will never use again.
Proraso creams make nice lathers, but I have to make sure I use plenty of cream and shake out the brush so it's not overly wet when I start. I see recommendations to use an almond size dab of cream, this works for me if I use a dab the size of an unshelled almond instead of just the nut.
For your cheapest soap, I buy a block of glycerin soap from A.C. Moore. 2 pounds of it goes for about $12. Every week, there's a coupon in the paper for 40% off one item. I use it on that. The block looks a lot like this: I take three of the "cubes" and put it in my shaving mug and microwave it for 20 seconds (depending on your microwave, YMMV). Once it is melted, I add three drops of cucumber-melon scent (you can choose your own scent, and the little bottle lasts forever) and one drop of green soap coloring (not needed but it makes the soap in the cup look nice). This gets you soap for about $0.25/month, more if you like different scents and colors and want to buy more of the additive.
I newer but i love tabac and paraso and cit shave soaps , ihavent tried creames yet but i really want to try some creams so i can say if i like creams or soaps more or the same lol
Hi I've tried loads of soaps, but still rate Arko ...and as it' also very cheap, wow!! Mostly, I use either Prorazo sensitive (in the White tub) Aloe & Green Tea, as it smells like freshly laundered shirts, or my overall preference is Professor Blightys Bespoke Shaving Soaps (various). Favourite is Blackberry; smells so good it nearly makes you salivate! I get all my stuff via e-bay, so easy to get hold of. NB I now use Derby DE blades; at £5 for 200 delivered; how do they do it?? Cheers .Dave
My local barber supply has a no name soap that is $10.49 for 8 pucks! I've tried other soaps but I like theirs the best!
I need to add some recent 'acquisitions' to this previous list: Stirling ($) and MdC ($$$). One is inexpensive, the other, a significant jump in price. Both lather well and both are excellent soaps. Stirling is an top value, a real bargain at it's current price; the MdC, I feel, has such an incredible luxurious quality—and I don't doubt that a single jar will last considerable time (at least a year of daily shaves). So even with the higher price tag, the MdC soap is, at least in my initial impressions of it, well-worth the investment.
The most aggressive razor one can use is a str8. When I first started using a str8 (and the first several months of using SEs, for that matter), TSD soaps were all that I would use because of the slickness and glide they provided. TSD does have unscented.
You should also check out Stirling Soaps. They offer very generous samples ($2 each); and each sample is approx. 1.75oz. You can easily get 15-25 shaves from one sample, depending on how you store it and load your brush. Also, they are world-class, tallow-based soaps, with a TON of great scent options. Rod's service is fantastic too. He always throws in some freebies with your shipment.
