Are Soaps More Popular Than Creams?

[cottontop]

Personally, I prefer shaving creams to shaving soaps. More specifically, I like to put a dab of cream on the soap in my shaving cup and lather them both together. The main reason I ask this question is that I always see many more forum members "viewing" the soap section than the cream section which leads me to believe that soap must be more popular than the creams. Do you think I am correct in my assumption?
cottontop

 

[Kotton]

I believe they are in my short time here. Reason being is that soap is more protective, at least it is for me. I believe creams are popular bc they are easier to lather. If it wasn't for the ease of lathering creams, soaps would be vastly superior imho.

 

[TacticalPanda]

I don't know exactly, you would have to find sales data to really know the true answer I guess. There is more discussion on the soap forum here, I generally get better results from soaps and I haven't used a cream other than Proraso Red in awhile. I think part of it might be the ritual of lathering from a puck, I know I enjoy it.

 

[CalmAsHinduCows]

I believe they are in my short time here. Reason being is that soap is more protective, at least it is for me. I believe creams are popular bc they are easier to lather. If it wasn't for the ease of lathering creams, soaps would be vastly superior imho.

Yep, this is why I started with creams when I first began wet shaving. The lather was so easy to whip up and I thought I was getting great protection.

Then, I switched to soaps and there was a vast difference in protection and thickness that most of the creams I had tried just didn't have. Give me a soap any day over a cream. (Although, TOBS makes a FANTASTIC cream.)

 

[sharpen]

Plus, a good dense puck of hard soap, MWF for example, lasts a longer than a cream IMHO.

 

[buyandhold2018]

Based on my sales data, YES, soaps are far more popular amongst traditional wet shavers.

 

[Scott0079]

I prefer soaps for 1 major reason - Shelf Life (typically - not so much with croaps) I buy a lot of stuff, A LOT, and I know creams would go bad before I used them up if I bought similar count to my soaps.

 

[evnpar]

There are a lot of great creams, and many, such as Al's, will produce a lather that rivals the best of soaps. However, it seams that people often start off with creams because of their ease of use, then gradually gravitate to soaps because of the greater variety, top notch lather, and shelf life.

 

[BigKev77]

Soap is more fun!

 

[IMightBeWrong]

I haven't found a truly all natural cream yet. I like Natural soaps, i.e. Mike's. Plus I started on AoS Sandalwood. While I loved the scent, it hasn't even come CLOSE to any of the better soaps I've used.

 

[tomharr51]

I've been wet shaving for almost a year now. When I started I used creams because they were easy to lather. Over the past 3 months I switched almost exclusively to soaps since I've got my lather technique down. I find the soaps to have a tiny bit more slickness. When I use creams with the same razor and blade set up I feel a little more tugging, nothing painful. In the end I could use either one I just prefer soaps right now but that could change since I'm loaded up on creams and I'll need to use them up.

 

[Demaskee]

I like using artisan products and it seems there are a lot more artisans making soaps than creams.

 

[Face Bannon]

I've been wet shaving for almost a year now. When I started I used creams because they were easy to lather. Over the past 3 months I switched almost exclusively to soaps since I've got my lather technique down. I find the soaps to have a tiny bit more slickness. When I use creams with the same razor and blade set up I feel a little more tugging, nothing painful. In the end I could use either one I just prefer soaps right now but that could change since I'm loaded up on creams and I'll need to use them up.

This is true for me, too. The soaps just perform better on the face if you pay attention to getting the lather right.

 

[Eeyore]

Soaps were much easier to find in the shops than creams, at least in the past.

Nowadays that point is moot, of course, with online shopping. And with the disappearance of many soaps from B&M shops.

This is true for me, too. The soaps just perform better on the face if you pay attention to getting the lather right.

Hmm ... I can get an excellent lather from Palmolive Classic cream. I usually take that with me on my travels.

 

[Chadao]

As much as I like Godrej cream, I use MWF almost daily. It has everything I want. Now, if MWF made a cream...hmmm.

 

[Face Bannon]

Hmm ... I can get an excellent lather from Palmolive Classic cream. I usually take that with me on my travels.

Creams lather much better. Did you understand what I was saying, or did you think I was having difficulty lathering creams?

 

[Eeyore]

Creams lather much better. Did you understand what I was saying, or did you think I was having difficulty lathering creams?

I may have misread ... I thought you stated that soaps perform better on your face than creams?

YMMV of course, like always, but the protection and glide that Palmolive cream offers is very good, imo.

OTOH, I have used soaps for over 20 years, and they work great as well. I only "discovered" the convenience of creams about a year ago.

 

[SilentTuba]

I, too, started with creams, and have since switched to mostly soaps. I still keep some Bigelow cream on hand, but most of the time, I use soaps. I enjoy the process of lathering a soap more, and they last longer, making them cheaper per shave. A tub of TOBS, at 150g, will last 2-3 months, while Tabac, weighing 25 grams less and costing about the same, will last much, much longer (I've had mine for about two months, and I've barely put a dent in it).

 

[Face Bannon]

I may have misread ... I thought you stated that soaps perform better on your face than creams?

YMMV of course, like always, but the protection and glide that Palmolive cream offers is very good, imo.

OTOH, I have used soaps for over 20 years, and they work great as well. I only "discovered" the convenience of creams about a year ago.

Oh, they do. The way you posted about Palmolive, it sounded like you thought I was having an easier time lathering soaps than creams. But you just meant, "There are some good creams." I agree. I don't ever intend to stop using creams.

I suppose we have to make some generalizations to discuss a topic, and there will be numerous exceptions across the board.

In general, creams explode more with lather, and lather better than soaps. In general, soaps pay off more in the shave.

But again, some creams are better than many soaps on the face. Some soaps lather better than some creams. And every combination you can think of.