Hand Soap for Shaving?

[Shave Souffle]

In a rush today I used liquid hand soap some lavender branded scent. I wet my face and then face lathered the liquid soap and distributed it equally. Then used my Winner razor with a low usage (under 10 shaves) Personna Lab Blues blade. Nice slickness but no cushion at all really so I was careful. 2 pass decent shave. No irritation which was surprising and no AS.

Didn’t leave my face as dry feeling as if using Arko. What is in Arko that creates that drying post Shave feel?

 

[FarmerTan]

In a rush today I used liquid hand soap some lavender branded scent. I wet my face and then face lathered the liquid soap and distributed it equally. Then used my Winner razor with a low usage (under 10 shaves) Personna Lab Blues blade. Nice slickness but no cushion at all really so I was careful. 2 pass decent shave. No irritation which was surprising and no AS.

Didn’t leave my face as dry feeling as if using Arko. What is in Arko that creates that drying post Shave feel?

I used Arko today, and yes, if it weren't for aftershave lotion I do not believe even my incredibly handsome yet sometimes sensitive face could use it daily.
I was at the "Dollar Tree" store tonight and ALMOST bought some Yardley Rose bar soap. First ingredient is some kind of "Tallowate"! I was afraid of my lovely War Department, so I didn't try to slip it in the cart. But it smelled HEAVENLY even through the cardboard box it was in! So VERY tempted....

 

[nemo]

I was at the "Dollar Tree" store tonight and ALMOST bought some Yardley Rose bar soap. First ingredient is some kind of "Tallowate"

That's a great bar soap. Mrs Tan would probably agree ... lovely hand soap, shower soap, bath soap.

I wouldn't shave with it, too many others, but I'm sure it'd be fine. Liquid soap -- no way, my friends.

 

[geneaut]

Used this last Saturday, and it provided an acceptable shave. It was obvious it wasn't a dedicated shaving product, but it worked well enough. Yardley has a shea butter bar I like a little better for shaving.

Dove has a 3in1 Men+Care bar that specifically mentions shaving on it and I've used it a few times and it works extremely well. Pears facial soap is another product I've used that shaved very well though I admit the scent is nothing to write home about.

 

[Shave Souffle]

This is what I used on Tuesday. Shouldn’t be good but it performed well despite no tallow.

 

[Lane101]

Used this last Saturday, and it provided an acceptable shave. It was obvious it wasn't a dedicated shaving product, but it worked well enough. Yardley has a shea butter bar I like a little better for shaving.

Dove has a 3in1 Men+Care bar that specifically mentions shaving on it and I've used it a few times and it works extremely well. Pears facial soap is another product I've used that shaved very well though I admit the scent is nothing to write home about.

View attachment 1495757

Dove Men+Care produces lather that is very thick. Have found it to be an excellent superlathering ingredient when blended with other soaps. Keep it to around 15-20% of the blend by weight.

 

[CCS]

Hand soap is for those who feel they get a proper shave with a cartridge or disposable razor. Neither is a great idea.

 

[geneaut]

Hand soap is for those who feel they get a proper shave with a cartridge or disposable razor. Neither is a great idea.

I'll argue it's a great idea for the people it works for. If it doesn't work for you then that's fine, but no reason to question other people's results.

 

[JCarr]

I was so impressed with this soap that I just purchased another bar to use exclusively for shaving.

 

[geneaut]

I was so impressed with this soap that I just purchased another bar to use exclusively for shaving.

View attachment 1513455

That looks good. How does it smell?

 

[CCS]

I'll argue it's a great idea for the people it works for. If it doesn't work for you then that's fine, but no reason to question other people's results.

It's a discussion forum, not a collective hivemind!

 

[geneaut]

It's a discussion forum, not a collective hivemind!

I agree it's a discussion forum. One based heavily on personal experiences. If someone gets a good shave from a product there's not much else to question.

Like I said, if you don't get good results from hand soap then that is perfectly fine. Some of us do. YMMV

 

[Rudy Vey]

This is what I used on Tuesday. Shouldn’t be good but it performed well despite no tallow.View attachment 1495769
View attachment 1495770

That is not soap, but a surfactant. Used in cleaning compounds, such as hand "soaps".

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

Hand soap is for those who feel they get a proper shave with a cartridge or disposable razor. Neither is a great idea.

False.

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

It's a discussion forum, not a collective hivemind!

Exactly. So when someone says something works for them that doesn’t work for you, maybe you should listen up, you just might learn something.

 

[Shave Souffle]

That is not soap, but a surfactant. Used in cleaning compounds, such as hand "soaps".

I won’t argue with that but it worked great in a pinch and no razor burn or irritation even without aftershave.

 

[VintageGent]

I’ll admit it: I shaved with nothing but whatever bar soap was in the soap dish for over 30 years. Using a Trac II if I was lucky, a Bic disposable more often.

I don’t think I ever bought a can of foaming goo back in the day - I couldn’t stand that stuff.

I love my artisan shaving soaps now! But in a pinch, I’ll still run a wet bar of soap over my whiskers. My Superspeed doesn’t seem to care.

 

[VintageGent]

I’ll admit it: I shaved with nothing but whatever bar soap was in the soap dish for over 30 years. Using a Trac II if I was lucky, a Bic disposable more often.

I don’t think I ever bought a can of foaming goo back in the day - I couldn’t stand that stuff.

I love my artisan shaving soaps now! But in a pinch, I’ll still run a wet bar of soap over my whiskers. My Superspeed doesn’t seem to care.

“Back then, we used rabbit fur for condoms… tied ‘em off with a bungie cord. Of course you couldn’t feel anything, but we didn’t know any better - it’s all we had, and we liked it!”

 

[Lane101]

Hand soap is for those who feel they get a proper shave with a cartridge or disposable razor. Neither is a great idea.

CCS, hand/bath soap works for many at B&B who have achieved good shaves from it per the posts above. Respect, given YMMV, that it does not work for you per your post above. Was surprised by the nature of this post, that came after mine, given the quality/insight of your many other comments on B&B.

Shifting us to a more fact-based discussion I've tested multiple bath soaps and found the following to be true:

• Most hand soaps can provide at least a passable shave when nothing else if available (used to travel extensively and found this out of necessity due to delayed flights or a packing omission). When nothing else is available hand soap is a great idea.
• Tallow based hand soaps (tested Ivory, Dial & Zote) provide great slickness though the lather dissipates quickly (typically saponified with sodium hydroxide vs potassium hydroxide). Was curious about Zote (thanks to experiments from other B&Bers) as it is one of the purest pieces of saponified tallow out there however the citronella smell made the experiment a one-off. These results are consistent with findings from other B&Bers. Others who use/tested different brands of bath soap, such as Yardley, have achieved better results as noted above.
• Dove Men+Care easily produces lots of thick rich lather thanks to its surfectant. Many others have posted about this. While the lather provides lots of cushion and is resilient I've found the slickness to be average compared to other shaving soaps. An additional test I posted found that the slickness could be improved by blending the Dove with Ivory.
• My experience with custom blends has shown that hand soaps can be added to the blend to create an excellent shaving soap. Specifically a small amount of Ivory enhances slickness and I've found that Dove Men+Care is an excellent superlathering ingredient at 15-20% of the mix. It helps turn a Williams and Van Der Hagen blend into something that punches well above its weight in slickness, lather qualtiy and ease of lathering.

See that you have lots of years of DE shaving, own a nice collection of equipment and have used many different soaps such as Arko, Palmolive stick, La Toja, Speick, Proraso, MWF, TOB and T&H. Since you like to use a wide variety of soaps why not experiment with some of the well regarded hand soaps (e.g. Yardley or Dove) and let us know how they worked for you?

 

[JCarr]

That looks good. How does it smell?

The scent is very nice, a tries Bay Rum scent. Their Bay Rum aftershave is expensive, but also has a genuine Bay Rum scent.