Back to Barbasol

[morijinal]

First a little background:

I have used nothing but a badger brush and good, mail order creams and soaps for over a year now. And yesterday i decided to try Barbasol again. Part of it is your fault. I saw what wonderful reviews it had. I wanted to shave a little time off shaving. I found myself wondering if it's better than the expensive stuff I have been using.

I shaved with Barbasol this morning before work. Allow me to report:

Nice cushion and lots of lather. Smell was a lot better than I remember too. It is kind of fun to push the button and produce mountains of exceedingly thick cream!

It is not so fun to shave with however. I got little to no lubrication. My whiskers were dry for the shave even though I had just gotten out of the shower. I did a 3 pass shave wielding my razor as skillfully and carefully as possible. After the shave my face was red, blotchy, had a couple of nicks on it, and still rough to the touch!!! The Aqua Velva burned like the fires of hell!

The moral of the story is this my fellow gentlemen:

No matter how badly you mess up your lather ratio: it is still better than Babasol.

 

[kingfisher]

Good to know.

Thanks for confirming it for me, so I don't have to go and do it myself!

 

[GoldenMonkey]

LOL...you think THAT's bad, try going back to a Fusion in the shower using Edge Gel. I don't know what insanity struck for me to try that, but I will NEVER do it again. I'd rather just go a week without a shave than perpetrate that level of violence on my self again...

 

[strat1117]

Whew . . . based upon the title of this thread, I thought we were going to have to whup you!

 

[neli]

edge gel is the worst

 

[SavantStrike]

Try adding a bit of water to the barbasol before putting it to your face, you'll get better results.

That said I'm still a soap user and will remain so.

 

[bubalu]

If you feel the need to try Barbasol again try the skin conditioning version with lanolin or the soothing version with aloe. These two do not smell as well as the original scent, but work much better. In fact, I have not turned back on my experiment using these; i.e., I have been using these two for about a month now with no complaints.

 

[ZZTop]

Made the same mistake a few weeks back. I should have stopped you!

 

[Kevan]

I know there are plenty of people who prefer the canned stuff and that's fine...I won't get on their case for it. I still use some canned stuff to shave the hairline on the back of my neck. But a water-based lather provides slickness - and that alone makes the shave superior, IMO. What I cannot understand is why on earth traditional lather cream has been removed almost entirely from shelves here in the US in favor of the canned stuff.

I've never heard any argument from the manufacturers why it's better to shave with canned foam or gel. It may be more convenient, but I've never seen anything where they even try to say that it's BETTER than lather cream (at least they try to convince us about the new blades).

Barbasol already makes several foams, gels and even brushless cream, for crying out loud. Why do they even make that? For people who prefer tubed creams but like the convenience of not having to use a brush? So why not re-launch the lather shave?

 

[pmast]

Try adding a bit of water to the barbasol before putting it to your face, you'll get better results.

That said I'm still a soap user and will remain so.

+1-When I used it, I did the same.

 

[morijinal]

Oh good so it's not just me. Neli you should check out the review on edge gel somebody disagrees with you. As for me, I won't be using any canned-goo anymore!!!

 

[Walter Sobchak]

Now that I'm finally getting really nice, irritation free shaves on a regular basis with the DE, I planned to give a run with a Fusion and some Gel next week just to reaffirm that I made the right decision... I'm rethinking that now.

 

[kzoo1]

Actually Barbasol does have a good use. I use it as part of a modified "Kyle's Prep".

As soon as I get out of the shower, I re-wet my whiskers, and apply the Barbasol, I then go about preparing for the shave, making real lather etc. Once my prep is done (2-3 minutes), I rinse off the Barbasol, and proceed with my routine. Works great! And at around a buck a can, I don't mind washing it down the drain.

YMMV...as always...

 

[MAK]

I definitely find the good stuff works better for me. But on occasion (when I'm in a big hurry) I use the can of goop in the shower.

 

[Emmett]

I definitely find the good stuff works better for me. But on occasion (when I'm in a big hurry) I use the can of goop in the shower.

You can use KMF brushless in the shower. My SO does this for her legs.

 

[kingfisher]

Actually Barbasol does have a good use. I use it as part of a modified "Kyle's Prep".

As soon as I get out of the shower, I re-wet my whiskers, and apply the Barbasol, I then go about preparing for the shave, making real lather etc. Once my prep is done (2-3 minutes), I rinse off the Barbasol, and proceed with my routine. Works great! And at around a buck a can, I don't mind washing it down the drain.

YMMV...as always...

I've done this, too, but with a higher quality "goo" (Aveeno gel). Works pretty well.

 

[dwnwrdishvnwrd]

The canned stuff is just horrible. Haven't used it in years and I don't miss it one bit.

 

[Jethro1984]

I tried some Barbasol not long before making the switch over to good creams a few weeks ago. It was awful. Most recently I was using the Gillette Series Foam.....I thought that was good until my first day with a lathering cream and DE and I could see how raw my neck and jawline was. I'm proud to say that things are starting to clear up. Now just to work on my technique..........

 

[christopherh]

I went on vacation recently and brought a can of shave cream with me... it did the job, but man was I happy to get home and bust out my shave brush and cream.

 

[joto]

I've done that once or twice. Tried on the old Mach 3 for size as well. You just can't go home again. Of course, in this case, why would anyone want to?