Top shelf Vs Low cost

[wimbouman]

True, he was a churchgoer as far as I ever knew.

Oh yeah... Chet must have been a remarkable person!

Well, at least I had the chance to contribute to his memorial plate here in Amsterdam where he fell out of a hotel window.

I was a student then, so the 12,50 euros or so were really something.
Man, I am so lucky to be at that plate as one of the contributors!

 

[kwsher]

Wow!
Another Sea Buckthorn addict in the making!
Let us know how you like it!

Will do Wim! I must say that it smells great and looking forward to giving it a lather for sure.

 

[DFrancis]

Excellent post Morco, very true. Some of the best products out there are inexpensive and it would be sad if some people did dot try them because they were deemed to be cheap and not worthy. Prorasso is probably my favorite cream on the market.

 

[DE Shaver]

Prorasso is probably my favorite cream on the market.

Yes, definitely a product worthy of respect. It's my standard to measure other soaps and creams by.

 

[BCatl]

I've always said that if you are going to die in Amsterdam, it's much better to go out the hotel window, than to be found in the canal! Nice memorial to Mr. Baker, and good of you to contribute Wim!!

I guess I should move this back to products:

Marco, can you comment on Acqua Classica Borsari? They say it's strong and it lasts.

 

[wimbouman]

Will do Wim! I must say that it smells great and looking forward to giving it a lather for sure.

Thanks, looking forward to that!

It is not only a truly unique scent but also a cream at least at par with the great creams of our time.

IMHO.
YMMV.

 

[Chester]

You know, I appreciate the sentiment of the OP. That said, I think that sometimes it's very easy to find what works. I have only my own experience as an example, but I started with proraso and a puck of williams. Both were easy to find, and pretty cheap. I found that proraso doesn't exactly agree with my skin, and I get redness after a few days of it. Basically, it's got the same ingredients as Barbasol, which my face loves, so it must be something in the fragrances.

So then I'm working on my soap technique and find that I have to put a lot of effort into Williams, and I try a cheap puck of VDH glycerine. This was magical. So much better, so much nicer on my skin. The williams is in a bag under the sink for the shavepocalypse, and the VDH is in the mug.

So then I figure I'll try something new on the cream side, with a different fragrance, and I get a travel tube of T&H 1805. Ah! Now, this was a whole new experience. I bought a couple tubs, an I'm happy as a clam.

My point is that this doesn't need to be a near-endless persuit of an ideal. It can be a matter of simply finding what works. I don't seem to have ASAD or SCAD as a result of this, and I've settled on T&H for the time being... yes, it's pricey, but I enjoy what it offers, and it works. Oh, the proraso comes out once in awhile (I have to use up that tube, after all) and it won't go to waste.

I think that many folks spend lots of time and money thinking that they need to try it all, and expensive is probably better. Let's face it, sometimes expensive is better for a person, but I don't think anyone has to go on a years-long personal journey of discovery over this stuff.

-- Chet

 

[Marco]

Marco, can you comment on Acqua Classica Borsari? They say it's strong and it lasts.

Acqua Classica Borsari was first introduced by Ludovico Borsari in 1880.
Therefore this is a TRUE CLASSIC, for a true Gentleman.
The Cologne, in particular, has the same formulation of 130 years ago.
Its scent is of Citrus, Sandalwood, Leather and Oak Moss.
The fragrance is strong and sticks around for a long time.
Acqua Classica Borsari is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

 

[BCatl]

Acqua Classica Borsari was first introduced by Ludovico Borsari in 1880.
Therefore this is a TRUE CLASSIC, for a true Gentleman.
The Cologne, in particular, has the same formulation of 130 years ago.
Its scent is of Citrus, Sandalwood, Leather and Oak Moss.
The fragrance is strong and sticks around for a long time.
Acqua Classica Borsari is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Thank you for the great review. I am looking forward to trying this.

 

[RandySp]

Opened it again for a reason.

I think that I overdo it with expensive shaving products. Sometimes I underestimate the quality of low cost products and ignore them without tried them before.

Arko shaving creams & stick
La toja stick
Palmolive cream classic & stick

These are little gems without fancy package but with them you can have THE perfect shave and your money stays in your wallet. Maybe sometimes I think the price is going parallel with the quality. So wrong.

 

[Boring Euroshaver]

Opened it again for a reason.

I think that I overdo it with expensive shaving products. Sometimes I underestimate the quality of low cost products and ignore them without tried them before.

Arko shaving creams & stick
La toja stick
Palmolive cream classic & stick

These are little gems without fancy package but with them you can have THE perfect shave and your money stays in your wallet. Maybe sometimes I think the price is going parallel with the quality. So wrong.

My humble opinion, is that ANY modern cream sold today, is more than enough to shave well, because the manufacturing of soaps and creams, is not rocket science anymore. And frankly, i think that soon enough, you start paying more for something "a bit extra" in glide or cushion and even more for a better scent, a better packaging, a wooden bowl or a "famous brand".

My father, who was a wet shaver all his life, when he started DE shaving, in a mountain village, he wouldn't even have "shaving cream" or "shaving soap". He was using a very pure soap and kept doing so through his university years. I can still remember him sometimes, there were times his shaving soap was finished and he had forgotten to buy new, he would ask my mother what kind of soaps she had in house and he would pick one and shave with it. Which is why probably he was damn good in wet shaving. I can't recall him having blood on his face, ever.

Nowdays, especially in a forum like this, you get brainwashed about why you would need this or that or something other. "But this has amazing cushion!". "Oh no, i found this one has even more amazing cusion!". "But wait, cancel that, now it's a new one".

Fact is, the best thing i ever read about wet shaving was "don't apply pressure, let the razor's weight work for you". This and a mild razor and you 're done. The rest, about "how my new 15 EUR french soap is 1% slicker than my 20EUR english soap, which though has better scent", has nothing to do with real need. It's more like women and shoes or bags. They never end and each one is "unique".

I like variety, but i also don't like being fashion victim. There are at least 10 very cheap but more than adeguate european shaving products. Enough to never get bored. If i ever bother to buy 15 EUR creams, it will be one in an odd moon. You can buy yourself essential oils in bottle and add few drops to your humble lather and make it smell much better, if you are a scent-hunter.

Like i have mentioned many times, for me, a cheap preshave cream with some kind of oil and high in glycerin, is the ultimate equalizer, as far as mechanical properties go.

 

[alex2363]

By the way, here is a list of EXCELLENT low cost shaving brands that I truly love:

Cella,
Valobra,
Proraso,
Italian Floid,
Speick,
La Toja.

Hey you forgot Biotique Palmyra shaving creams. .lol
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...ggjMAI&usg=AFQjCNH8ub_8M7sEKQzyHA40h_xlwe_hAA

 

[Mtn Man]

Wow! Way to ressurect an old thread. However OP is just as true today. I am guilty as most of enjoying trying different new products. However this is good advice that more money will not necessarily make a better shave. My 2 favorite are prorasso red cream and Tabac soap. Cheap but work very well for me.
I think it is important for new people starting out to not get mislead or discouraged by the idea that a great shave needs to be expensive.

 

[djh]

Ha! I posted in this thread almost 7 years ago... and it still holds true today. There is a large amount of good quality kit available to the wet shaver without the need to empty one's wallet.

 

[Boring Euroshaver]

Ha! I posted in this thread almost 7 years ago... and it still holds true today. There is a large amount of good quality kit available to the wet shaver without the need to empty one's wallet.

I ordered a TOBS cream, just out of curiocity, to see how much more amazing it will be compared to my mass production eurocreams, if we leave aside the scent and the pretty plastic bowl.

That said, 3 nicks in 4 months, with 11 different blades used, for a newb with very hard water that is still working on perfecting the lather, with the cheap eurocreams, i think says plenty.

 

[djh]

I ordered a TOBS cream, just out of curiocity, to see how much more amazing it will be compared to my mass production eurocreams, if we leave aside the scent and the pretty plastic bowl.

That said, 3 nicks in 4 months, with 11 different blades used, for a newb with very hard water that is still working on perfecting the lather, with the cheap eurocreams, i think says plenty.

I hope that the TOBS cream performs to your liking. Depending upon where you are located and how much shipping you need to pay, it can still be quite reasonably priced. Like many of us, you will possibly end up shopping less often but buying more items when you do in order to keep shipping costs under control.

 

[Boring Euroshaver]

I hope that the TOBS cream performs to your liking. Depending upon where you are located and how much shipping you need to pay, it can still be quite reasonably priced. Like many of us, you will possibly end up shopping less often but buying more items when you do in order to keep shipping costs under control.

Since i am not too sensitive on how creams perform (for instance, i find nothing wrong with Derby lemon and aside from the scent which feels more synthetic, performance wise, i am not sensitive enough to see the difference with proraso blue or white), i don't think i can possibly be disappointed by TOBS. The best price i can get it here is 15EUR shipped (no matter what combination of shipping fees i try).

For something that will probably last me 3-4 months, it's not expensive by absolute terms. However, compared to something like Proraso at about 2 EUR, Derby at 1.45, Nivea Men aloe at 1 EUR, Palmolive at 1.30, it does stands up to the eye badly, in relative terms, doesn't it... Because, if one starts overlooking relative performance to price on this, it's very easy to do it on pretty much every other article of everyday or not so everyday use. And before you know it, you get the habbit of just paying everything X10, just to get "that extra mile of luxury".

I will probably keep one expensive cream in a loose rotation pattern (like for weekends, for a more slow shaving), but for everyday shaving in a hurry, frankly, my brain rebels at the idea of paying X15 the price of Nivea, for something that lasts 10 minutes. I actually ordered 4 more Niveas too (now i will have total of 8), which will bring my total cream stash to about 7,5 years. And this will be the last cream i buy for a long time. With the exception of probably some other more expensive cream to put in loose rotation again (Truefitt and Hill goes for 12 EUR for the 200ml, so it will be next on line, when i will finish TOBS. Say in 2 years).

Fact is, ever since i started using glycerin cream with argan oil as preshave, my face is as slippery as when i tried Arko, which is tallow based. And this happens before i even apply the lather, that gives its own slippery property.