Shaving soap recommendation

[Wet Dottle]

I'm surprised this thread is still going, but I guess it is a good thing. Enjoyed reading it.

On my side, after three years of testing I've decided to go back to creams. Not that there is anything wrong with soaps, it's just that creams are much easier to use. Performance wise, I find them all to be similar.

I bought many, many soaps in these last three years. Some were very good, others not so good, none was bad. But, because I bought so many and had to store them, some went bad in storage. Never had a cream go bad. Well, I suppose the lesson is to use the whole puck before buying the next one. Occasionally, I'll still use some of the pucks that are good and that I specially like. It was great fun to try so many new things, but I'm done with the experiment and back to shaving as usual.

 

[nismo270r]

I'm surprised this thread is still going, but I guess it is a good thing. Enjoyed reading it.

On my side, after three years of testing I've decided to go back to creams. Not that there is anything wrong with soaps, it's just that creams are much easier to use. Performance wise, I find them all to be similar.

I bought many, many soaps in these last three years. Some were very good, others not so good, none was bad. But, because I bought so many and had to store them, some went bad in storage. Never had a cream go bad. Well, I suppose the lesson is to use the whole puck before buying the next one. Occasionally, I'll still use some of the pucks that are good and that I specially like. It was great fun to try so many new things, but I'm done with the experiment and back to shaving as usual.

I too find creams easier to use with essentially the same performance, especially if you're within the same brand. I have some soaps in storage as well, so I'm curious how yours went bad. Last I checked, mine were looking okay, but now I want to go through them all to double-check everything. Were the ones you had in storage used or new?

 

[Wet Dottle]

All of them were used. But they were stored in cool and dry conditions (Colorado weather) in my basement. A few examples from the top of my head:

Many of the soaps were fine, with little to no change. Many others were drier and showed some cracks, but were also fine. Some of the softer soaps hardened and shrank a bit.

The most common change is for the soaps to become darker and loose their scent. I ended up with several different soaps that smell the same. They still perform well.

There was a soap that not only lost its scent but also became granulated. It's like pimples appeared all over the soap.

Most of the soaps did not smell bad after loosing their scent except Cella. It still performed well, but it smelled bad.

Of all the soaps that went bad, only one lost its lathering abilities and became unusable as a shaving soap. The manufacturer doesn't seem to be in business anymore.

On retrospect, I had one cream also change with time. It is an Indian cream, Biotique Palmyra. It became harder and slightly darker, but it kept its smell and still performs wonderfully.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Razorock is having another big sale. It's not quite as drastic and money-saving as their recent moving sale, but it's still very good. I bring this to your attention because I think their proprietary soaps are a very good value. You get 5oz for $10 or less at full price, and with their relatively consistent sales, $3-4 is common. Unfortunately, there's shipping too though. Their argan oil formula will leave your face as soft as any soap I've tried. I will say that they are a softer soap. You can't dig your finger into them and get a scoop like you would soft butter, but they are a bit softer than say Stirling, B&M, or Declaration. They're also not so soft as to leave a freshly loaded brush looking like bristles of goop. It's just a bit softer than many is all. They do have a couple of very soft soaps, like soft butter, if that is your thing, but that is a different formula than the argan oil soaps. Dead Sea is one of them.

https://www.italianbarber.com/collections/vendors?q=RazoRock

 

[eggman]

Thanks, Zeno, for posting the link. I might have to pull the trigger on a couple of those and give them a try.