Pursuit of the perfect shave soap. What's your experience?

[Dov Shaves]

I'm interested in others comments about this. I started wet shaving in January of 2018. Within a few months of working with a Merkur 34C, a 26" Yaqi synthetic brush, Astra SP blades, and a tub of Taylor of Old Bond street, I became infatuated with finding the best of all of them, or at least the top 3-5 of them. Of particular interest was finding the best soaps. I tried or owned many soaps over the years and I participated in a 400 soap pass-around about two years ago. Thank you defoulk! Today I own 16 soaps across 8 soap makers.

It seems to me that many of the artisan soap makers have mirrored this endeavor leaning heavily towards maximizing post shave while holding shave performance or pleasure the same. For me, I found that the better the post shave, the worse the shave performance or experience. I finally gave up the pursuit this week in favor of sticking with the simple formulas that maximize shave performance and pleasure and leave the majority of the post shave performance to post shave products. I like Thayers witch hazel with aloe, another simple but very effective product. My soap keepers today are Caties, Mike's, Shannon's (original formula), PAA (Crown King formula), and Sudsy Soapery. The closest I'll go to the face food category is Wholly Kaw (original formula). These are the soaps I will continue to use and rebuy as long as they keep making them.

Comments all?

 

[tyoung]

I've been traditional shaving for several years now, and was really into chasing the "best" soap for several years. Honestly looking back, I'm not even sure what would have made something the absolute best. I think I just jumped on every single hyped release that came out. But one thing I learned for sure, at least for my skin, I don't care at all for any soaps purported post shave claims. I want a slick, creamy, no nick shave, and then will slap on an aftershave anyway. The over-fatted, over-buttered soaps just seem to leave my skin more oily.
But, I think the whole thing was still really fun and interesting. Part of the joy of traditional shaving to me, was all of the experimentation, the excitement of waiting for something new arriving in my mailbox, or trying a new base that all the cool kids were hyped about!

 

[Atlantic59]

I was more interested in exploring than chasing "the best". I'm just interested in mildly-scented, hard milled soaps that meet or exceed my fairly modest requirements. Favorites so far are soaps such as Klar Seifen, Golddachs, Haslinger, etc. I've also developed a thing for French milled shaving soaps with shea butter such as Provence Sante.

I've picked up a lot of good soaps along the way, but eventually reached a point where I had explored enough and it was getting ridiculous. How many years of soap do I really need to have stashed away?

 

[awk_m4]

I've been seriously into wet shaving for about a year now. With so many choices it's super easy to go overboard. I've purchased several over the last few months and my keepers are Headslick, Proraso red/white, and Captain's Choice. I recently purchased a Captain's Choice sampler. I'm on my fourth and it's going to be really hard to land on just one. Creamy, slick, great scent, and vegan are all important factors in making my decisions.

 

[Kyle89]

I could care less about post shave feel. That’s why I use post shave stuff. I like a good lather that doesn’t require too much thought. Great scent is great, but not a priority for me.

 

[Herrenberg]

There's an awful lot of really good shave soap out there. For me, "the best" means that I have a lot of great choices when it comes time to pick a soap for the day. I feel no compulsion to narrow down more than that.

 

[old_school]

I hope passarounds can resume, at least among the willing at some point soon. That is my single most important fork in traveling The Soap Road (thank you @dfoulk). Paying keen attention to forum posts, learning how some ingredients contribute (or degrade) your shave is a turning point in soap selection.

Here's what has floated to the top as a result, add a handful of Williams pucks and a bowl of Tabac to the inventory. Simple, clean, top tier shaves...
View media item 67185

 

[BigJ]

Interesting thread!

For me it is performance first, also second and third! Haslinger’s, MWF, Cella are generally more to my taste than the newest creation from the most stylish artisan. But, what do I know?

 

[SCh5]

As each individual skin has different
surface attributes,different healing properties,different surface chemistry ,different flora and fauna as also few
other things being different,as
the stubble of each individual has also different properties ,as our shaving habits ,techniques ,etc are also different, not surprisingly every each one of us will eventually form a different ( if not unique ) experience of which is the “perfect“ soap ,blade,
razor ,brush and so on .

Myself for example can not
easily comprehend how its possible
for some folks to find Proraso ,Arko
and the rest of sub-lame, mass-produced industrial abominations ,to be excellent shaving products .

Saponificio Varesino ,
if you ask me .
Best shaving soaps ,ever to be made .
And taking into account how long they
last and the number of shaves they output ,they are rather cheap for the
quality and luxury they offer.

 

[JCarr]

In reference to a "perfect shave", why the heavy emphasis on soaps and creams? A good soap or cream will give you a better experience, sure...but it's the hardware that's going to weigh in a lot more than a soap or a cream. The soaps/creams you listed look top notch to me.

What's the actual issue with missing the mark on the "perfect shave"? Too much stubble still there when it's done? Irritation, nicks, weepers?

Just from reading your post, I would say, keep at it. It'll pop one day and you'll be like.,..THAT'S IT! THAT'S PERFECT!

 

[DaveHStone]

Myself for example can not
easily comprehend how its possible
for some folks to find Proraso ,Arko
and the rest of sub-lame, mass-produced industrial abominations ,to be excellent shaving products .

Saponificio Varesino ,
if you ask me .
Best shaving soaps ,ever to be made .
And taking into account how long they
last and the number of shaves they output ,they are rather cheap for the
quality and luxury they offer.

+1

For the traditional, hard, tipple milled soap Saponificio Varesino. No contest! Post-shave feel and strength of their scents are second to none (sorry MdC fans).

For croap / soft-soap Ariana & Evans kaizen (2) base.

For a "low budget" product Cella Bio wins it for me.

 

[DaveHStone]

For me, I found that the better the post shave, the worse the shave performance or experience.

Comments all?

One word: Nonsense. Complete, utter, total nonsense.

 

[Dov Shaves]

I appreciate what I'm reading, some good reminders too like, "Part of the joy of traditional shaving to me, was all of the experimentation, the excitement of waiting for something new arriving in my mailbox..." (toung). Regarding DaveHStone's response, he's probably got something there. I was struggling with how to express the thought. I think it's more like maximizing shave performance and post shave peaks at some point and then shave performance starts diminishing as post shave is pursued further. I don't know the science behind the balance but this seems to be my experience. I look forward to more comments.

 

[Cracker]

Saponificio Varesino has great post shave, and the shave performance is IMHO outstanding. Also A&E and Stirling are great (with A&E's Kaizen now before Stirling for me). Also Tabac shave soap or Speick Men as a shaving cream are good on both ends (maybe Tabac not so big on post shave).
On the other hand, I also enjoy Proraso, or Figaro and RazoZero by TFS: very simple, dead cheap mass market grocery store products, not great but very enjoyable.
So, perfect does really not fit for me. There is time for a lot of soaps and creams, not nececerely every time the best performers you can get but on a certain morning the best to enjoy.

 

[RenoRichard]

Like many, I did a lot of experimenting early on, after discovering brushes and the feel of real lather. About 2011-2012 I settled on a few soaps with Mitchell's Wool Fat as my most often choice. Tabac, a Cella brick, Speick, and ARKO (mostly for traveling), as well as a few others were also always around. Staying home during the pandemic prompted me to start experimenting a lot again. Also, my supply was starting to run short. Over the last year or so I've tried some from A&E, Mike's, Stirling, Declaration Grooming, MdC, RR, Arch. Brito Mongo, Cella Extra Extra Bio, LEA, and a few others. Most are really quite good and will be used in rotation. Each has its pros and cons. This round of exploration was wide, but considered, because I focused on what I really want from my lather. For me a lather that softens my old whiskers really well, lathers readily, has good residual slickness between passes, top notch protection/cushion, and is not drying to my face post-shave is what I look for. The one soap new to me that has been most impressive is the unscented Canada Shave Soap. I actually ordered a second puck sent on for my current two-month stay in New York. I haven't reordered anything that quickly in years. In the coming year I'll likely try SV, although I now have a lot of soap to go through.

 

[Wetfred]

To me, trying out all the great soaps out there is the fun part if not addicting in a way. I thought I found my perfect soap in MdC a few years ago, great slickness, post shave ,scent and that tub would have last me years and I should have stopped there and could have saved a few hundred bucks. If I did stop there I would have never had experienced Jabonman soaps, Declaration Grooming, A&E, Panna Crema, Arko ,etc....
Shaving has turned into a hobby for me and I'll never have a bad shave as far as soaps are concerned and I'll continue to try out new soaps as long as I enjoy this hobby so I don't have a problem spending $50 on a tub of SV. To think I started wet shaving to save money.

 

[jackgoldman123]

imho, ymmv
my 0.02 cents
CRSW, Wholly Kaw, A&E, Jabonman, Speick, Weleda have mid and post shave excellence

 

[JCarr]

Captain's Choice, Barrister and Mann, Zingari Man and Taylor of Old Bond Street are the best performing and post feel soaps/creams I have. Honorable mention to Chiseled Face and Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements both in their regular and Silk Tallow and CK-6 formulas. But, again, I could list three or four soaps that work just fine...wouldn't call them top notch...and I still can get a fantastic shave with them. A "perfect" shave, for me, has very little to do with the soap/cream...unless, of course, the product is just absolute garbage. I mean...that can happen, but...generally happens very little.

 

[Beefdrippings]

I was recently surprised at how nice La Toja’s post shave feel was. It was never something that occurred to me to test but for some reason that day I didn’t use any after shave products and my face felt great. Hard to beat, especially for the price

I hope passarounds can resume, at least among the willing at some point soon. That is my single most important fork in traveling The Soap Road (thank you @dfoulk). Paying keen attention to forum posts, learning how some ingredients contribute (or degrade) your shave is a turning point in soap selection.

Here's what has floated to the top as a result, add a handful of Williams pucks and a bowl of Tabac to the inventory. Simple, clean, top tier shaves...
View media item 67185

 

[jackgoldman123]

imho, ymmv
my 0.02 cents
CRSW, Wholly Kaw, A&E, Jabonman, Speick, Weleda have mid and post shave excellence

Forgot Boellis Panama, Barrister & Mann