A thought on shaving soaps and variety.

[Foyle]

Many of us on the forum like to have a variety of soaps to play with. It's part of the fun or our little hobby. Some of us have more than others. I have a few. Seven to be exact. However, I find that only two or so really perform at the level that I like. Proraso Green is one. It's just about the best soap I've ever used. The only hangup I have with it is that I don't always want menthol on a chilly morning. If they made Proraso Blue in a soap, I'd just use that for those occasions, but they don't. Tabac seems to fit my non-menthol needs quite well. I like lots of cushion, and Proraso and Tabac seem to provide at a level of cushion matched by few as far as I'm concerned. Cella does so as well, but I seem to be sensitive to the almond scent. It turns my skin red.

Back in the before time, I think most men around the world used just one or two shaving soaps, foams, what have you, and were perfectly happy. I recall a thread where Marco said that his grandfather only ever used one soap, guess which one.

I'm thinking of pairing down the soaps to just two. Proraso and one non-menthol soap. I'll only have the very best performers.

Variety is nice, but it also means that I wind up using a lot of soaps that work well but not great. Scents aren't big for me. I can't smell most of my soaps anyhow. I can smell both Proraso and Tabac, but that's about it.

Do any of you feel the way I do about this? Are there any other gents who only use one or two soaps, or are thinking about culling their collection until only the very best performers remain?

 

[dushea]

I'm more of a scent guy myself. The performance certainly has to be there, but I find myself reaching for different soaps depending on my mood.

As of right now, I have Cella, RR Don Marco, Mike's Coconut, Barbershop and Lavender, Synergy's Pumpkin and Cavendish and some CF Lime (and a shave stick or two). Other than a puck of Valobra Patchouli when it comes out (and unless someone makes a tallow based grapefruit soap), I don't see many other additions I'd like to make.

I was initially bit by the sample bug, which has allowed me to identify the types of scents I like and weed out some of the mediocre performers without blind buying whole pucks that sit and collect dust.

 

[volleymh9]

before de shave i would pick up a can of barbasol from the store. maybe the red can, maybe the blue can, it'd change but it would always be barbasol. if this was the 30s/40s i could see myself just using proraso every day to shave. summers would be the green and winters would be the red. now that i know about the variety or soaps and the wonderful scents out there, there is no turning back for me giving up my collection of soaps. it's my favorite part of the hobby. what i do, however, is find a quality soap before i buy multiple pucks so there isn't a mediocre soap in my batch (Mike's, MW, Stirling, DRH, Proraso, B&M, Klar, MB)

 

[Eeyore]

I used one soap for 30 years, before I discovered B&B.

That was more economical, but this is far more fun

 

[martym]

RR Don Marco
Stirling Soap--all of them so far
Cella
Good to go with these but have a whole mess more soaps and creams I have to use up
Then these will probably be it.

 

[Catalin]

Variety is the spice of life! Why limit yourself to one or two? There are winter soaps (Tabac, Cella), summer soaps (DRH Windsor, MDC) and all year-round soaps (MWF, La Toja stick). I love the scents, the performance of all my soaps; if I don't love it I let someone else enjoy it.

 

[ByMyBeard]

I'm with the OP on this one. I'm not too big on having a ton of different scents. In fact, I'm kinda picky about scents. I can see having a mentholated product and a non-mentholated one. Perhaps I'll narrow it down to one of each and use those forever. Or maybe I'll use one up, then try a different one. But no, I do not intend to go out and purchase several full size soaps to swap out depending on my mood. It's just not my personality. For those who it is, I'm glad you enjoy it.

That being said, I am intending to order some sample packs to try various mentholated creams when the summer gets here. That could be the end of my statement above. But I doubt it.

 

[Luc]

You could try to make a soap with the Proraso Blue... http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/129506-Drying-some-shaving-cream-in-a-jar

 

[Cricket1]

Variety is good! There is enough great quality soaps out there to make an excellent rotation of top performing and smelling soaps. I've got:

Tabac
MWF
Panna Crema: Namaste, San Francesco, Nostalgia
Arko
La Toja
Wilkinson stick
Speick stick
Palmolive stick (not tried yet)
Col Conk Bay rum puck (not tried yet)

And Kiss My Face mint cream- a good performer for a cream, but not in the same league as the soaps.

 

[aimsport]

Do any of you feel the way I do about this? Are there any other gents who only use one or two soaps, or are thinking about culling their collection until only the very best performers remain?

I absolutely agree that every wetshaver should know their list of performing soaps. But the non performers are fun to re-visit as your technique advances or scent tastes change with the seasons.

That being said, having only two and 1/2 of those being a menthol and the other half being Tabac.... may be a bit constricting. Perhaps find an AOS Sandalwood tallow version, a Mike's Orange/Cedarwood/Black Pepper, a puck of Napa Soap Ocean Blend, an HTGM Pumkin 3.14, a latest generation Stirling any scent, a Cella, a D R Harris Arlington... you get the idea.

 

[aimsport]

And what Cricket1 said,

especially
MWF
Palmolive stick
Arko
Panna Crema
...

 

[BigKev77]

I believe I could use Stirling Cool everyday and be happy. However, I am too early into my wet shaving journey to stop trying new stuff.

 

[djh]

I have a bunch of different soaps which are being put to the 3017 treatment. Scent is nice, but performance is paramount. If the soap isn't at least good, it goes to the shower. Life is far too short to shave with anything but good soap.

 

[Brauntex]

So many soaps, so little time.
I've only been back into DE shaving for a few weeks and I've already amassed 5 soaps and 2 creams .

CO Bigelow (Proraso)
TOBS Coconut
C&E Sienna
Stirling - Scots Pine Sheep, Sandalwood, Tuscany and Barbershop

I have not even tried the Tuscany & Barbershop, but the Stirlings are performing great and all smell wonderful. I hate to admit, but I'm already lusting after more of the classics like MWF, Cella and others already mentioned on this thread .

I regret that I have but one face to give to my soaps.

Attention 3017'ers future member inbound.

Buster

 

[bclaw]

Right now for soaps I've got:

• Mike's: Vetiver, Bay Rum, Lime, Hungarian Lavender
• Stirling: Naked and Smooth, Coniferous, Anise
• Tabac

While I like most of these, I think I'd be pretty happy narrowing it down to Mike's Hungarian Lavender and Stirling Anise. In fact, as my pucks run out there's a good chance those'll be the only two I replace (especially since I'm on a bit of a cream buying spree these days).

 

[bassopotamus]

I have amassed a decent collection (probably 25-30 soaps if we are counting different scents of the same brand). That said, There are maybe 5 I gravitate too more naturally (Barrister and Mann Solstice, Mike's Barbershop, Klar Kabinett, Al's Sapone da Barba, Arllington). I doubt i will pare down much, if at all, as I don't think I could sell off the soaps I'm not using for enough money to be worth the hassle.

 

[Ronnie Aloha]

No will power.

 

[njpaddy]

I would be content with 2-3 brands, but because I like a variety of scents I'll always have multiples of those brands.

Between the late 50's and early 2000's, I don't remember my stepdad ever shaving with anything other than a SuperSpeed and Noxzema brushless shaving cream in a tube. He passed away about the same time Noxzema brushless was discontinued.

 

[Antique Hoosier]

I would be perfectly happy to use Santa Maria Novella Crema da Barba and MdC Fougere exclusively. Might just happen.

 

[MartialArtist]

I am not big on scent and I have allergies that prevent me from using some products. I just keep a few that I know I can use. Nothing with menthol or eucalyptus because of my allergy.

I found Proraso Sensitive as a soap and ordered some. . .prior to this find, I could not use Proraso because of the menthol and/or lanolin.