Hand Soap for Shaving?

[CCS]

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?

Skipping through all your post save for the last bit, what makes you think I haven't done all that when I was young and didn't know any better either? It's a been there, done that, got the t-shirt experience for me.

Some of you guys take stuff too way too personally/seriously. Sorry I forgot to put a winkie emoji in there. You want to use hand soap? What do I care? But MY OPINION is, if you're using "hand soap" to shave with, then a cart is a better choice. If it isn't for you and others, cool. Makes no difference to me. But a discussion forum is just that, people posting and sharing thoughts, opinions, ideas, etc. It's not a collective hivemind. If B&B is, I'm sure a mod will dispatch of me in due time. Or, do what I do - if someone drives you a little nuts, put them on ignore.

 

[Lane101]

Skipping through all your post save for the last bit, what makes you think I haven't done all that when I was young and didn't know any better either? It's a been there, done that, got the t-shirt experience for me.

Some of you guys take stuff too way too personally/seriously. Sorry I forgot to put a winkie emoji in there. You want to use hand soap? What do I care? But MY OPINION is, if you're using "hand soap" to shave with, then a cart is a better choice. If it isn't for you and others, cool. Makes no difference to me. But a discussion forum is just that, people posting and sharing thoughts, opinions, ideas, etc. It's not a collective hivemind. If B&B is, I'm sure a mod will dispatch of me in due time. Or, do what I do - if someone drives you a little nuts, put them on ignore.

CCS, Your are missing the key issue with your post "Hand soap is for those who feel they get a proper shave with a cartridge or disposable razor. Neither is a great idea.". It is insulting as it implies that those who use hand soap for shaving are less than those that don't. That is why there were multiple negative reactions to it. No one is taking issue with your opinion that hand soap doesn't work well, it's that instead you experessed a derogatory opinion of those who think it does.

No one has any issues with different opinions. Look at all the respectful discussion throughout this thread around a diversity of opinions. No collective hive mind here.

Regarding you question on why we may think you haven't done this you made your comment with out backing it up with any examples from your experience. Also I glanced through many of your excellent 890 prior posts just now (my list of soaps you use is based on this) and did not see any mention of experience with hand soap for shaving. I get great shaves from MWF, Proraso and Arko just like you do. Will also use soaps that work for me even if they are not labeled as a shave soap.

Let's put this behind us and move forward. As mentioned your contributions to the B&B forum have generally been well regarded.

 

[JCarr]

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

That's supposed to be a "true" Bay Rum scent.

 

[Eric_75]

That's supposed to be a "true" Bay Rum scent.

And here you had me googling some fancy, obscure, artisan bay rum soap called "tries"

 

[JCarr]

And here you had me googling some fancy, obscure, artisan bay rum soap called "tries"

I blame autocorrect.