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

In the end I've found there is no perfect soap because other variables that can prevent the perfect experience.

My favorite soap is Cold River Water Works brand. Also, Barbasol and Harry's Shave Gel provide me the most consistent pleasurable shaves. YMMV as always.
 
just enjoy the journey!!
here are 2 of my 8 years of 'exploring'!

shaves 2016 2017.jpg
 
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?
I have many top tier soaps and I can get a great shave from any of them. These include, but are not limited to, Barrister & Mann, Declaration Grooming, Grooming Dept, Wholly Kaw, Jabonman, Saponificio Varesino, The Club/A&E, and Stirling.

Given that most of my soaps are excellent performers, I find myself gravitating toward soaps with great scents and rich, creamy lather. Here are a few recent soap/scent choices that approach shaving nirvana for me:

The Club/A&E Khalifa or Tibetan Temple K2 base
B&M Le Grand Chypre Excelsior base
B&M Rhapsody Soft Heart base
Wholly Kaw Rebelle Siero base
Los Jabones de Joserra Rodrigo de Jerez
MacDuffs Backcountry Bourbon
Highland Springs Soap Company Eclipse
Tallow and Steel Sicily
Declaration Grooming Yuzu Rose Patchouli Milksteak base

Into every life a little rain must fall. Here are a couple of duds:

Moon Soaps Havana
Southern Witchcrafts Druantia
 
For me the "perfect" shave soap is one of the many that I love and choose for that day.
This seems to be a common thread and I whole heartedly agree. However, I still get caught in the next "best" thing merry-go-round and self control isn't always easy. My wife certainly insists. :001_smile I'm also surprised to see the number of members who enjoy commercial soaps over artisan soaps.
 
I didn't try as many soaps as some here (maybe 20 at best), but no matter which soap I tried I always kept coming back to Tabac and Palmolive shave stick. Palmolive is dirt cheap (1,5€/stick), Tabac is a bit pricier but still cheap and well worth it. A stick can easily deliver over 100 shaves. For me it is slickest and gives the best shaves.

I do enjoy some other classic soaps and artisans, but nothing beats Tabac for me
 
Tabac is the king of the castle to me. But i like a few of the artisans- my favorite of them is Barrister & Mann. I'll buy more B&M soaps knowing i'll probably never get to kill a tub in my lifetime. There are some others that i really like but a good chance i'll be giving Will more of my money even though i have an every day soap that i could user forever and be perfectly happy with every shave.
 

Owen Bawn

Garden party cupcake scented
I started using Williams Mug Soap in 1974, probably as a way of rebelling against my father who thought using soap and a brush was stupid. Or at least my decision to use soap was solidified when he declared that it was stupid. Later that year, or sometime in 1975 I first used a Palmolive stick in Ireland. In the old days Palmolive was essentially the only bath soap cake available in Ireland, so the scent of the shave stick took me back to early childhood memories there. So for about the next 25 or more years I used Williams, and supplemented it with as much Palmolive as I could reasonably bring back to the States each time I went to Ireland.

When I discovered online shopping I bought all kinds of soaps and creams, and I still have too many piled up around here. But I would pick Palmolive and Williams over any of the others, perhaps adding the Wilkinson Sword and maybe even the Arko sticks. Looking back I see that I've wasted a lot of money on soaps and creams because I had it right from the beginning.
 
Hmmmm, it appears that few have noticed a diminishing return on shave quality or pleasure at a certain point as more fats and butters are added to increase post shave. Maybe it's mythology but I'm curious if others have noticed something like this or wondered about it.
 
I guess I'm fortunate in that I both found a few shave soaps that just work for me, consistently, and that I have no burning desire to try dozens of others in the hopes that, maybe, something will work better. Once I run out of something that's in my current stock I'll branch out and try something else but... I doubt it. Once I find something I know works for me I tend to stick with it. I dunno, maybe I just have low standards.
 
I guess I'm fortunate in that I both found a few shave soaps that just work for me, consistently, and that I have no burning desire to try dozens of others in the hopes that, maybe, something will work better. Once I run out of something that's in my current stock I'll branch out and try something else but... I doubt it. Once I find something I know works for me I tend to stick with it. I dunno, maybe I just have low standards.
What are you sticking with?
 

Mike M

...but this one IS cracked.
I started using Williams Mug Soap in 1974, probably as a way of rebelling against my father who thought using soap and a brush was stupid. Or at least my decision to use soap was solidified when he declared that it was stupid. Later that year, or sometime in 1975 I first used a Palmolive stick in Ireland. In the old days Palmolive was essentially the only bath soap cake available in Ireland, so the scent of the shave stick took me back to early childhood memories there. So for about the next 25 or more years I used Williams, and supplemented it with as much Palmolive as I could reasonably bring back to the States each time I went to Ireland.

When I discovered online shopping I bought all kinds of soaps and creams, and I still have too many piled up around here. But I would pick Palmolive and Williams over any of the others, perhaps adding the Wilkinson Sword and maybe even the Arko sticks. Looking back I see that I've wasted a lot of money on soaps and creams because I had it right from the beginning.
My Dad always used Palmolive classic cream so I still make sure to always have a tube on hand and the smell always reminds me of him.
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
Here are my own personal conclusions:

  • Most soaps are good enough for a great shave.
  • High end soaps are typically not worth the additional cost.
  • Best is irrelevant, as whatever I use, I'll probably fancy a change within a few weeks of using it anyway.
  • I like a bit of variety, but don't want to face a daily choice of more than three soaps.
  • As my skin varies with the seasons, so do my preference for both soap and post shave.
 
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