frustrated with budget soaps

[Eeyore]

I tried a second Dorco blade... it was better, no tugging, but the shave was still mediocre. Maybe double edged razors just are not for me. The shaves I'm getting are not as good as a modern razor or a disposable, I don't mean in terms of closeness- they are close enough. Just uncomfortable.

Not sure how you long have been DE shaving, but give yourself at least two months to adjust.

Nobody can recommend the best blade for you, but some blades that are generally accepted as middle of the road, are Israeli Personnas and Astra SPs. Note that some vendors sell the Israeli "Crystals" as Israeli Personnas. In my experience, these are not the same blades.

Of these two, the Israeli Personnas and Astra SPS, I have a strong personal preference for the Personnas. But again, never mind what someone else wants to recommend to you ... it is your face, not theirs. That includes my advice as well.

 

[Dastill93]

For budget soaps I'd suggest:
La Toja
Arko
Palmolive
Proraso (green or white are the best in my opinion)

All reasonable prices and can produce great results from my expirence!

 

[prairie-dad]

Anybody know a decent, not too expensive, triple milled soap, or is that an oxymoron? I don't much care for creams, sticks are OK, but it's a hard soap I'm really after. Organic would be great, too.

 

[FireDragon76]

Anybody know a decent, not too expensive, triple milled soap, or is that an oxymoron? I don't much care for creams, sticks are OK, but it's a hard soap I'm really after. Organic would be great, too.

In my experience, the price of the soap has little to do with the shave quality. I have tried a few triple milled soaps that were just mediocre or even bad (Crabtree and Evelyn). Worse than Williams Mug Soap (which is actually a decent soap in comparison).

 

[HisDukeNess]

I'm not saying you should try proraso... But, I'm saying you should try proraso! Give it to ya it's a CROAP, but if u want something thicker with plenty of glide, on a budget. Might be the best bet
i use the C.O. Bigelow from bath and body works. It's proraso relabeled and is $10.

 

[FireDragon76]

The Dorco's I have BTW are a few years old. They have a swoosh around the Dorco logo. Not sure what that means. I just notice a huge decline in quality from other Dorco blades I have used.

 

[chansta]

Some more suggestions that lather easily:

ANY razorock soap
Cella
Catie's bubbles

often overlooked but very, very good for the price: Haslinger

 

[AbbyW2]

I just got a puck of Through-the-Fire's Tinder. It lathers with amazing ease and richness.

 

[JaredB]

I ordered a bar of Col. Conk Bay Rum and it should get here today. I read a few reviews and some thought it lathered better than VDH. It has a water softener as an ingredient, that one thing I have noticed also is found in Williams and it worked acceptably to shave with. I've never tried Conk.

I seem to recall now, though it has been years ago, that I had trouble with VDH before. In fact I had trouble with soaps in general, but not creams. So I think Conk will be the last soap I try before I just become a cream man. The only soaps I have not tried are the Italian soft soaps, and those seem to be in a category all of their own.

I've asked my dad, who lives in DC (at least until weekends) and also is into traditional wet shaving (he uses open-comb DE's and a Weishi), to keep an eye out for some high end shave cream like Trumpers or Taylor's, and bring me back some next time he visits. He prefers the Body Shop Maca shave cream.

Before recently when I decided to enjoy shaving, and started trying new products, I shaved exclusively with Col. Conk's soaps for years. I tried it once, it worked well, I never looked back. Just don't be disappointed if it doesn't seem to be a lather freak. It makes a thinner, but slippery lather. My wife will often just grab a puck and use it like a bar soap to shave her legs. I've been having a lot of fun lately playing with gobs of lather, but the Conk's glycerine might just be what you need.

 

[FireDragon76]

I notice that hard tallow soaps like Williams or C&E tend to make a thick lather, but that it's not necessarily slippery or protective.

 

[dpm802]

I'm not saying you should try proraso... But, I'm saying you should try proraso! Give it to ya it's a CROAP, but if u want something thicker with plenty of glide, on a budget. Might be the best bet
i use the C.O. Bigelow from bath and body works. It's proraso relabeled and is $10.

Shop a little harder, wait for the B2G1 sales and $10 back on a $30 purchase and you can pick up 6 big tubes of Bigelow for $20. Even if its the only thing you shave with every day, that should be a year's supply.

Proraso is one of those iconic shaving products that belongs in everybody's shave den. It works with even the hardest water, and any type of skin and beard. Its virtually foolproof.

I use it mainly in the dog-days of Summer since the menthol/eucalyptus is so nice and cooling. I usually keep a mostly used up tube in my travel kit since its so easy to get a great shave anytime, anwhere. And when I recommend a starter kit for a brand-new wet-shaver, Proraso always makes the list.

 

[FireDragon76]

The local Bath and Body has Bigelow for $5 in the travel tube. I plan to stock up when my current tube runs out.

 

[HisDukeNess]

Totally agree DPM,
when I first started wet shaving, I used a lot of higher dollar stuff. Over looking proraso...
It's not the only thing I use but, I always have a tube or tub around... Always

 

[FireDragon76]

tried Col. Conk Amber today. I got a decent shave, and it lathered easily. The lather was very slick and cushiony, to the point that my Gilette Guard razor skipped over a few places. The soap is soft to start out with, softer than most glycerin bath soaps. The only thing I did was I used distilled water to soak the brush. I will try this again tomorrow with the VDH to get a good comparison. If it's as simple as using distilled water to soak the brush, it might save the soap from the bathtub gulag.

Conk seems pricey for the amount of soap one gets, however. It's probably the most I'd pay for soap or cream routinely.

Are all the Conk soaps equal in performance? I notice a few are clear, some are opaque.

 

[rlsinaz]

Ivory. Lathers as well as Arko, but without the old urinal smell.

 

[FireDragon76]

Today's shave left my skin under-the-weather. I don't think it was particularly harsh, but the razor burn from the day before hasn't fully healed: I've got some slightly reddish patches on my right cheek and after shave and witch hazel don't seem to help much. I think brush lathering on my face just exfoliates too much . I may try Cremo or Barbasol tomorrow to let my face rest.

 

[clyde2801]

I dip my omega boar and WMS in 85 degree water from my hot water dispenser while I shower. It shows the williams who is boss, and gotta love the hot lather.

 

[FireDragon76]

Today I did than Van Der Hagen retry again, this time with the puck soaking in distilled water while I showered. The shave was better, but still not as good as Col. Conk. Getting the lather just right without it falling apart was very tricky, in the end it seemed to shave best with a watery lather that almost slid off my face. It also didn't rinse quite as clean from my razor (which is black so I can see soap scum easily). Overal, not that impressive as far as soaps go.

 

[takeshi]

The few times I have used softened water to shave seem to have been much better.

If that's the case then you may just need to load more (very common). Separate loading from building so you can get a better handle on each step.

 

[JaredB]

You will get a misleading number of shaves out of that Conk puck. It's pretty small but mighty stuff.