Reply With QuoteIts been a few weeks now with probably something like 5-6 shaves with each cream. I'll still keep alternating for a while, but I'm feeling like I have a pretty clear winner already.
I am not an expert. But I would guess it has to do with the additives in the soap/cream. The Proraso that I use has aloe in it. Aloe is a natural lubricant that should make the razor glide over the skin. Of course variables such as water temperature and lather thickness are controlled by the user, so it's not impossible that you take more care whipping up the soap the first time you use it. Only experimentation over a period of time will tell.
Its been a few weeks now with probably something like 5-6 shaves with each cream. I'll still keep alternating for a while, but I'm feeling like I have a pretty clear winner already.
I'm all but certain that every element of shaving, traditional wetshaving or not, is highly YMMV. I mean, is there a realistic reason why a Derby blade in a Merkur 34C used on the same shaving cream at the same angle and pressure by two different men would be behave completely differently? Well, obviously there is a reason, but I've never heard a legitimate-sounding one proposed by anyone :)
Anything from lubricating properties, hair-softening properties (glycerin is supposed to be good at this), water-holding ability, thickness, and water-friendliness (if you've got hard water, soaps probably suck for you) can vary from soap to soap, and your face may very well just agree with a certain combination of levels of those various attributes.
For me, the best shaves come from slightly dried-out TOBS Avocado cream. After a certain amount of soap collecting, I'll probably stop questioning that and just roll with it :)
Quick status update - getting better! Had a third shave on the same blade this morning and only suffered 2 small nicks. Almost have the feel for a perfect shave down. Almost...
I think part of it is that my skin is toughening up as well. My neck isn't as tender afterwards as it was when I started.
Lurvely. Glad to hear it, cap'n.
I actually stopped by Father & Son's antiques out on Hargett the other day and found a few antique razors. Most were in pretty bad shape, but a 1971 Black-handled Super Speed from Gillette was available for a handful of dollars and looked okay, so I snagged it.
It's actually a bit milder than my Edwin Jagger, but doesn't like my Gillette blades as much (ironically). I'll try a few other brands in it and either hang onto it or sell it for cheap on eBay, most likely. Cleaned up and properly IDed, I might even turn a tiny profit on it.
Nice. I do also want to emphasize Armando's earlier advice about trying out different blades as well. I was not thrilled with the first blades I tried. (Sharks maybe?) They left my face a little irritated, didn't give me the closest shave ever and I got the occasional nick trying to compensate for the non-closeness of the shave. I switched to Feathers and it was like night and day. Fantastic, close shaves, no irritation and no nicks.Originally Posted by WarrenM
Some people find them a little pricey but, you can get 50 for $22 on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/FEATHER-Hi-Sta...9168452&sr=8-9
I use about a blade a week so for me that's pretty much a year's supply for $22.
One of the surprising things about shaving this way is the reduction in cost. I can get blades for a year that would have only lasted for a month or so at the same price for a disposable. And the same goes for shaving soap. I tended to have a heavy press on the button and often wasted canned shaving cream. So I'm guessing that the bar of Proraso will also pay for itself several times over.
I'm working my way through the sampler pack that Armando recommended. I'll figure out which ones work best but it will take awhile to get through all of these!
I definitely didn't end up settling on a brand till late February after getting a sampler pack in September, so yeah, no kidding!
Regarding soap longevity; I've been using the Crabtree & Evelyn Sienna soap daily for 7 days straight, loading my very large brush heavily with it; we're talking 5-6 passes worth of lather if I wanted it. I still haven't even worn down the imprinted logo on the top of the soap noticeably!
Any idea if drying out affects shaving cream in any way? It seems like it shouldn't since you're adding water to it anyway. I've got three creams that are on the dry to very dry side of things.
I just had my first shave in over a year (loooong beard). I'm definitely rusty, but had a good shave using my slant bar, second-to-last super iridium, and ToBS Avocado. The avocado was my first cream, so I figured it was a good place to start again.
The Avocado was (and is) one of my best latherers in that dried out state; I honestly couldn't tell a difference (in end-result lather) between that tub and the new one I bought the lady friend that came in much moister to start with. Obviously the two required different procedures to get going, but aside from that, it worked out well. I'm sure I subconsciously adjusted the water levels slightly or something (swirling a super wet brush into soap/hard cream leads to soapy water overflowing the container, so I tend to go in a little dry for those), but as you said, in the end, you're just adding water to product, right?
Armando, how are those soaps? I am trying to decide if it's worth picking a few up. Not that I need more.
Meanwhile, I think I have a new favorite cream. Cyril R. Salter Wild Rose is pretty damn good. It lathers as well as the ToBS Avocado, is less expensive, gives me a better shave, and smells wonderful. The container is ugly as hell, however.
The Queen Charlotte soaps? I ended up getting a big tub of their Esquire cream, which is quite strong and masculine (and lingers more than typical shave cream). It's extremely dense and thick; I really can't "dip" some out and rub it into my beard very effectively. So I just load the brush on it like it's a soap; it produces a very fine lather, but loading is still hard since it comes right up to the edge of the tub it's in (lots of foam slides down the sides making it hard to hold).
I ended up falling in love with the Crabtree & Evelyn hard "Sienna" scent soap; even after more than a month, the lettering is still faintly visible (I alternate between that and the Esquire, with a couple of dalliances off to Tabac + the Sandalwood TOBS). It lathers very well and smells absolutely divine: slightly floral yet leathery. My face feels great after using it, too.
The dried-out Sandalwood TOBS behaves virtually identical to a dried out Avocado, so that's pretty great, too. Haven't had a bad performer in quite some time (I was disappointed in my Tabac stick's lather and got a really bad sample of a redditor's personal soap mix from his trial run in soapmaking. His new stuff is supposed to be a lot better), to be honest.
So how are the Queen Charlotte soaps?
It seems that my sweet spot for blades is the Astra. I like the Feathers but Astra is my daily blade these days.
Does nobody use Mama Bear soaps? I have tried several and been mostly quite pleased.
Sorry, not trying to be a douche, just didn't want to re-write it.
It lathers well and lasts forever because it's super thick, but it makes it harder to work with than a normal cream. Treat it like a soap and you're good.
The scents on the others I got (the tiny samplers) were all divine, further back in the thread I described them as best I could.
But I was specifically asking about the soaps. I was thinking that you got a sampler of soaps, but maybe it was the creams. I'm mostly interested in the soaps because I have enough creams.
D'oh, apologies tiohn; I was mentally replacing with the question I could answer. No, I did not get a sampler of the soaps, although I think someone else may have. Can't remember if that was here or over at /r/wicked_edge, to be honest. Again, sorry :(
Oh! Sorry. I must have just assumed they were soaps being Queen Charlotte Soaps and all.
In all fairness, I am in love with their Desert Sands body/hand soap and their Cedarwood Rosemary shampoo bars :D
You guys are all getting to be Queen Charlottes yourselves. Whatever happened to shaving with your kukri before going out of jungle patrol, that's what I want to know.
I'm too busy knitting doilies and skipping for that sort of thing, to be honest.
I dunno about a Queen Charlotte, but I wouldn't fuck with the Princess Patricias.
Please talk me out of a Semogue boar brush. On one hand, they're so cheap, and I've never used boar. On the other hand, I really shouldn't be spending the money. On the third hand, see the first hand and fuck the second hand.
I've never seen any reason to update from my $10 Tweezerman badger brush. If it loses bristles, I just buy a new one. It's like the Mosin-Nagant of shaving brushes.
I mean, if you're going to buy a boar, you may as well get an Omega. The Pro 48 and 49 are both super reasonably priced and one or the other is usually available with Prime shipping on Amazon.
You guys talked me into trying Feather blades again and the first shave went really, really well using my slant bar. I've got this spot on my neck that always ends up extremely irritated and never smooth, but it is now smoother and less irritated than it has been in years. Assuming the blades hold up as long as they do for most other people, the extra cost will be worth it.
Changing tack slightly, do any of you have a Merkur slant bar? If you don't, I highly recommend one. They've got a reputation for slicing your face off, but really aren't bad at all. If you can shave without cutting yourself with a normal razor, you'll do fine with a slant bar. The reason you want one is efficiency. The blade angle cuts the hair closer with less effort, allowing you to do in two passes what might otherwise take three.
I bought a tube of the Musgo Real shaving cream locally and like it a lot. It lathers really, really well. I'll have to pick up some Proraso next time I'm in there. I also grabbed the Musgo Real Lime Glyce preshave soap and like it as well.
I have way too much fucking cream and soap.
I would so love to use one of these old fashioned razer things but... I could cut myself with a saw and not be bothered, getting cut with a razor freaks me out something awful. I don't know why - maybe it's the being cut and not realizing it thing plus the delayed pain response. Like how paper cuts do way more to irritate than a big deep gouge. Anyone else feel like this before going the old fashioned shaving direction?
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