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Bar Hand Soap for Shaving. Any Recommendations?

I don't know a lot about soaps. I need your advice.

I have tough whiskers, hard water, and I brush lather. I've used dedicated shaving soaps and like them, but I would like to experiment a bit with a regular bar soap for shaving. I have used Dove bar soap for shaving, and had surprisingly good results.

Today I was in a "health-oriented alternative super market" and purchased a bar of Kirk's coconut oil castile soap and a bar of One with Nature Shave and Shower soap. I plan to use them for shaving experimentation in a few days. If they don't work out, I will use them for bathing and showering.

I would value your comments, and any recommendations for using bar soap for shaving.
 
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lasta

Blade Biter
Any soap would work honestly. I routinely shave with just Senka face wash. For bar soaps, lather are less stable than dedicated shave soaps, but look for palm based ones and stay away from coconut. They dry just a little bit slower.
 
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I tried Kirk's Castile soap once and it never really came together in a good lather.

Palmolive has a bar soap that does pretty well, but two that I have really enjoyed are shugar soap works and Yardley Shea and buttermilk, which are both available at the Dollar tree as of a year or two ago at least.

They both have nicely slick creamy lathers.

Pears glycerin soap is also a wonderful performer although the scent is a little bit on the medicinal side.
 
I tried Kirk's Castile soap once and it never really came together in a good lather.

Palmolive has a bar soap that does pretty well, but two that I have really enjoyed are shugar soap works and Yardley Shea and buttermilk, which are both available at the Dollar tree as of a year or two ago at least.

They both have nicely slick creamy lathers.

Pears glycerin soap is also a wonderful performer although the scent is a little bit on the medicinal side.
I've used the Yardley Shea and Buttermilk, and the Oatmeal and Almond a few times to shave with and they worked surprisingly well ( I think both of those have tallow in them and aren't just detergents ). The Dr. Bronner's castile soap bars work in a pinch but like you noticed with the Kirk's you get a reduced lather lifespan ( probably the olive oil in the soap ) so it makes me shave a little quicker than I really want to but it can be done. The Peppermint Dr. Bronner's is invigorating at least :)

In the past when this subject has come up I've seen people mention Dove and Ivory being used for this purpose, but I haven't used either for shaving, but I did purchase an Ivory 3 pack with the idea of testing it out for that. Maybe I'll try it tomorrow.
 
Ivory bar soap maybe? it's still the main soap I use for face washing, and it still seems to have less crazy ingredients than other body bars.
 
A hand (bar) soap tends to drop my face out. I'd be more likely to use shave gel or cream.

But when I've tried it in the past, I used the bar like a stick and rubbed it on my beard. I then used my hands to make a rough lather.
 
Three low cost bar soaps that lather up good for shaving that I bought at Dollar Tree are Pears Transparent Glycerin Soap, Yardley London Shea Buttermilk soap and Shugar Soapworks Oatmeal + Coconut Plant based scented soap.

A more expensive soap that lathers up good that I bought at CVS pharmacy is CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser Bar.

I regularly use CeraVe and Pears soaps for my pre-shave routine to help soften and moisturize my beard stubble.
 
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I find that most bar soaps dry me out. I even have Avon Skin So Soft shaving soap that works better as a hand soap than shaving soap.
 
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almost any will do tbh lol out of curiosity I shaved a few years ago with Palmolive ….dove…nivea….some cheap $2 store off brand…Lux…sunlight soap lols all are useable…now in saying that…should I of been putting a bar of normal soap to my face …probably not lol
 
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I have tried a lot of different products for shaving including bar soaps, shampoo, and both traditional and artisan shave soaps and cream. My preferred products are artisan shaving soaps. However, if I were on a very limited budget, I would use Yardley of London Cocoa Butter Soap. Amazon sells a dozen 4.25 oz bars for under $20 and you might even find it locally for $1 per bar.

The ingredients are: Sodium Tallowate, Water (Aqua), Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa), Seed Butter, Fragrance (Parfum), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Tocopheryl (Vitamin E), Sodium Chloride, Titanium Dioxide, Tetrasodium EDTA, Iron Oxides, Yellow 5, Red 33

Inclusion of tallow, cocao butter, and Shea butter help it perform like a real shave soap. It produces a very slick lather. Because it is not designed for shaving, the lather does not provide a lot of cushion/protection, so it is not ideal for those with sensitive skin.

Because it contains cocoa butter and Shea butter, the post shave is decent, better than some shaving soaps and creams I have used.

Overall, I give Yardley Cocoa butter a score of 80% which I consider adequate, but far from ideal.
 
Medimix, from India

medimix soap.jpg
 

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
Filarmonica 14 Rejoneo, soap was Martin de Candre 4-oil Marseilles soap that I was trying out for this thread, but have been meaning to do anyway. It’s so slick that it will slide off that soap saver if it isn’t perfectly level on my sink. The soap worked really well with a SR but I doubt that it would appeal to DE shavers, but who knows. It will lather, but as expected from a Marseilles soap, the lather is not stable, so it’s basically a brushless product. Post shave is better than expected, this 4-oil soap is very ‘nourishing’ for a bar soap. A little Myrsol Blue finished up a great shave.

If you were a minimalist and so inclined, this soap would work in a travel kit as both a bath and shave soap.

DA822516-1561-4086-8DD2-807915FF5012.jpeg
 
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