I would suggest that you concentrate on getting your lather right and then adding a good moisturiser after you have finished shaving. If you are located in the northern hemisphere and coming out of spring and heading towards summer, you will probably notice that your skin is no longer quite so dry in any case.
Best soap or cream for dry skin?
- Thread starter Dilettante777
- Start date
There are a lot of good suggestions here. If, after you get your lathering technique down, you're looking for soaps that build a good, slick long lasting lather and have excellent post-shave conditioning, I would add a couple more. Cold River Soap Works (CRSW) and Shannon's both have great post-shave properties. You might also want to look into getting a good aftershave balm (no recommendations here - I make my own).
No offence but I had a bit of a chuckle when you said you think your face is drying out your lather. I highly doubt that is even possible to any noticeable extent, most likely it is your technique which is normal for a new wet shaver. You may want to watch some videos on how to properly build a lather, there are tons out that. Make sure you load enough soap on your brush and that you add enough water. My skin is very very dry, especially in the winter. Look for soaps with butters like shea butter as well as other moisturizing ingredients like glycerine. In my experience soaps are not moisturizing for those of us with dry skin, it's just finding those that are the least drying, and make sure you follow up your shave with a good quality balm. A preshave oil or cream may help as well.
I see a bunch of people suggested Mitchel's Wool Fat to you and I would disagree with that suggestion. If you have Italian soft soaps, those are usually easy soaps to lather. If you are having trouble with those, MWF is a whole other story. Get good at the easier soaps, and once you feel confident than you can move up to those harder soaps. Good luck.
I see a bunch of people suggested Mitchel's Wool Fat to you and I would disagree with that suggestion. If you have Italian soft soaps, those are usually easy soaps to lather. If you are having trouble with those, MWF is a whole other story. Get good at the easier soaps, and once you feel confident than you can move up to those harder soaps. Good luck.
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This.
Your skin is not too dry. Your lather is too dry. Definitely add more water, and stay away from the Italians (at least for now) as they have been a bit drying on my skin as well. Something more foolproof to lather and great for your skin would be Castle Forbes creams.
Haslinger or mitchells. The later is my first choice, but be warned most soaps after these will not stand up to the new standard, the face feel post shave is amazing.
That said the soaps are fantastic for during the shave but post shave you need a good balm or facial moisturiser, during the winter months I forgo all alcohol based aftershaves as they do dry out my skin too much so I just use an alum block then load up on a quality facial moisturiser.
That said the soaps are fantastic for during the shave but post shave you need a good balm or facial moisturiser, during the winter months I forgo all alcohol based aftershaves as they do dry out my skin too much so I just use an alum block then load up on a quality facial moisturiser.
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- Thread starter
- #26
Fellas, thanks for all the advice! Looks like I have some soap shopping to do, and thank you for all the people that told me to work on my technique, because I would have to agree (after thinking about it for a second) with the gentleman or two who said the properties of the skin are probably not soaking up the water in the lather once on the face. Guess I'll just have to keep experimenting !
- Thread starter
- #27
Cella soap or cella cream ? I didn't know they made a soap
Another vote here for Haslinger sheep milk and lanolin. It is very gentle on the skin and very moisturizing. From your description I think your starting lather is too dry as others here have suggested. The best way I found to get a nice slick hydrated lather was to experiment with test lathers. What I do is hand lather and keep adding water a little at a time until the lather falls apart. Next time I use the soap for a shave I add just a bit less water than what it took to have the lather fall apart. This usually gives me the best hydrated lather. That being said different soaps will take different amounts of water and some will retain more cushion at a given hydration level than others. Haslinger has tonnes of cushion while remaining very hydrated. Keep experimenting and you'll find what works for you.
I suggest trying either MWF or Haslinger's schafmilch (really you should try both)!
+1 Both Mitchell's Wool Fat & Haslinger Sheeps Milk & Lanolin (very similar to MWF) are fantastic for moisturizing you're skin.
It took 22 posts for CRSW to be mentioned? That's a great shame!
I have very dry skin. I've never had anything resembling my skin sucking the moisture out of lather -- but anyway -- Shannon's, Mystic Water, B&M & Strop Shoppe LE (RIP) have been great. Proraso blue cream is also a good one.
I think a preshave oil might do you some good. You can buy it for pretty cheap or make it yourself for even cheaper!
One thing I did when I started was simply put coconut oil and olive oil mix on my face. Really helped me stay moisturized.
Also, don't be afraid to keep adding water to your lather. Keep experimenting. Even just practicing. After you get it down, you'll reap great benefits.
One thing I did when I started was simply put coconut oil and olive oil mix on my face. Really helped me stay moisturized.
Also, don't be afraid to keep adding water to your lather. Keep experimenting. Even just practicing. After you get it down, you'll reap great benefits.
Van der Hagen Glycerin soap
Nivea Sensitive Shave cream
Both are gentle and leave my skin feeling hydrated
Nivea Sensitive Shave cream
Both are gentle and leave my skin feeling hydrated
What is the condition of your brush? I noticed that my newly acquired boar brush really sucked at making lather before it was broken in. Other than that i would suggest doing as the others have suggested.
- Thread starter
- #37
Brush is somewhat new. Just bought a semogue 1305 and 620, so I can see where those still need some time to break in. But I also have a razorock plissoft that still sometimes produces some flaky dry lather. The problem is, sometimes it drys out on my face and I think well I definitely did not use enough water, but other times it seems like I use a ton of water and it still is dry.
CRSW works for me never needed anything extra before or after. Give it a try it may help.
IMightBeWrong
Loves a smelly brush
In my experience... Nuavia absolutely dominates every other soap mentioned in this thread so far for moisturizing. No contest. It outdoes MWF, Mike's, Cella, CRSW, Tabac... All of them. It's practically half lotion in my mind, it even seems to condition the hair of my brushes somehow. It's not as SLICK as these other soaps, but it's moisturizing properties are the absolute best around right now from everything I've tried, and I've tried a lot.
