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Hand Soap for Shaving?

Unless you have oily skin, it is not necessary to remove all of the soap from your skin. I find that those soaps with superb residual slickness also provide a wonderful post-shave feel. The soapy components are water soluble, so they will rinse away leaving skin friendly ingredients behind. Oatmeal is supposed to have antioxidant and anti-inflamatory properties that are good for the skin.

I'm on my second shave with Yardley and I'm quite impressed so far. This stuff has the best residual slickness of any soap that I have tried. Admittedly, I haven't tried more than a few dozen, and most of them were old standbys like Arko, Cella, Haslingers, Proraso, Etc. That said, even the artisan soaps I've tried from Stirling, Grooming Dept, & Wholly Kaw, haven't had this level of residual slickness.

I know you've tried a bazillion soaps; are there soaps you would recommend that have residual slickness on par or superior to Yardley (irrespective of price)?
 
I picked up some Yardley Shea Buttermilk at my local grocery store for $1.50/bar. I gave it a try this morning and I was quite impressed. It's really, really slick stuff. The residual slickness in particular is superb. I'm not sure it's because I loaded more than usual (I used it as a shave stick), but I had to spend more time rinsing after the shave than normal, and my skin still had a bit of slickness. I hand lathered it today, and tomorrow I'm going to see how it does with a brush. It's definitely made a good first impression.

Thanks for the recommendation!
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Here is a video I found on youtube by a guy who experimented with bar soap before moving on to the classics (Proraso, Cella, etc). Like you, his conclusion was that Yardley was the only bar soap that lathered on par with dedicated shave soaps.


By the time that guy got his brush loaded I'd already have my first pass done. There's no way I'm going to spend that long building a lather. I did pick up a bar of this a few months ago with the intention of using it as a preshave face wash. I just never got around to trying it. Activated charcoal is in many preshave soaps and boosters and I've seen some soaps use clay to help lubricate. Maybe it's worth a try shave stick style.
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I did pick up a bar of this a few months ago with the intention of using it as a preshave face wash. I just never got around to trying it. Activated charcoal is in many preshave soaps and boosters and I've seen some soaps use clay to help lubricate. Maybe it's worth a try shave stick style.

I bought a bar of the Yardley activated charcoal out of curiosity as well. It's very slick stuff. I'd recommend using a synthetic brush with it because the activated charcoal does leave a black residue. Definitely try it as a shave stick and let us know what you think. I'm really impressed by the residual slickness of Yardley and I'm keen to hear a second opinion.
 
There are some other threads open in which I list my elite and super-elite soaps. Since this is a thread about using hand/bath soaps, I do not wish to hijack the thread. If you are interested look up some of my recent posts.
 
Well, I broke down and tried the Yardly charcoal soap for my shave today. It worked, but I'll not make it a habit.

I treated it like I treat all shave sticks and wound up with a thin watery lather that dissipated quickly. That made it more difficult to see where I had already shaved or not. Globs of water/soap/stubble fell on the sink and my chest. The residual slickness was not as good as true shave sticks. The face feel afterward is actually decent though and better than some shaving soaps. I followed with a splash of Clubman Classic Vanilla.

It might have performed better if I spent more time building up a lather in a bowl or mug and getting more soap in play, but that's not how I roll. I want to be shaving in about a minute of opening the soap.
 
Well, I broke down and tried the Yardly charcoal soap for my shave today. It worked, but I'll not make it a habit.

I treated it like I treat all shave sticks and wound up with a thin watery lather that dissipated quickly. That made it more difficult to see where I had already shaved or not. Globs of water/soap/stubble fell on the sink and my chest. The residual slickness was not as good as true shave sticks. The face feel afterward is actually decent though and better than some shaving soaps. I followed with a splash of Clubman Classic Vanilla.

It might have performed better if I spent more time building up a lather in a bowl or mug and getting more soap in play, but that's not how I roll. I want to be shaving in about a minute of opening the soap.

You'll never get a photogenic lather with bath soap because it doesn't have the stearate or whatever in it that makes the lather build up and stay there.

I'll just point out that the stearate or whatever makes pretty lather is not the same ingredient(s) that make for a nice shave. It's not slick, it's not nourishing, it's just there to build up a lather. Doesn't help the shave smoothness or slickness nor moisturize.

A shave soap with slickening and moisturizing ingredients can also be hand lathered. And it'll work just as well. But many shave soaps don't have any more of those ingredients than bath soap. Some do, but some bath soap has more than some shave soaps or creams. Especially nicer bath soap with Shea butter, lanolin, or whatever your preferences are. But with a shave soap or cream all you're getting is the foaming ingredient, no guarantee it's going to be any slicker or more nourishing than plain soap. And much of it in my experience isn't.

If you're going to use bar soap you need to just hand lather. Whipping it up with a brush makes it airy and thin and it'll dry quickly. And yes it makes a mess.

Slathering it on with the bar and your hands makes the soap layer thicker and the water ratio is micro-adjustable on an ongoing basis while you shave. And you're getting hand feedback about the areas that need more attention.

Not to say you'll ever like it either way but it'll work better if utilized simply and directly-- no brush no pretty lather just hand application with water/soap ratios on a case by case basis.

I too need to be shaving quickly, not frigging about with brushes and whipping up a froth. Straight to the business for me- work it by hand directly into and under my whiskers and off we go.
 
I had a bar of Yardley Oatmeal and Almond sitting around so I bowl lathered it tonight. I liked the slickness but it seemed to have a little less cushion than most of my shave soaps, but not by much.

I enjoyed the experiment and may come back to it later. :biggrin1:
 

Whilliam

First Class Citizen
Tried some Yardley soaps a few years ago; I was underwhelmed. They just didn't produce the solid lather I seek.

But, that's just me. It sounds as if others have had greater success. Certainly the cost and the fragrances of Yardley bath soaps are hard to beat.
 
I had a bar of Yardley Oatmeal and Almond sitting around so I bowl lathered it tonight. I liked the slickness but it seemed to have a little less cushion than most of my shave soaps, but not by much.

I enjoyed the experiment and may come back to it later. :biggrin1:

That is my experience as well. It is not designed to be a shaving soap, so while the slickness is fine, the cushion/protection is not as good as a soap designed for shaving. For those who do not need the skin protection, you cannot beat the value.
 

Ad Astra

The Instigator
There's a shampoo bar called Broo that makes an excellent shave soap.

🤔 Perhaps other shampoo bars do too.


AA
 
I'm not into sophisticated or expensive shaving soaps, though I'm not against them. I wonder how you guys feel about using certain inexpensive hand soaps for shaving? For several months I've used hand soap that I grate on a vegetable grater and compress into my shaving mugs. The results seem ok. It's inexpensive.

I've used Dove, and I've used Sappo Hill which is available at stores that are "health oriented." (Sappo Hill is round and it fits perfectly in one of my Old Spice mugs.) When I was a boy during WW2 I vaguely remember my father putting worn-down slivers of Ivory soap in a coffee mug.

Any experiences (pro or con) on shaving with hand soap to share?

Sappo Hill Soap-Natural, Fragrance Free 1 Bar - VitaminLife
You could certainly do it. Ive read that back in the '50s, a lot of women would shave with bar soap and as a kid, I remember once seeing my mother shaving her legs with bar soap.
Im sure its fine, as it will make your skin slick. Its not going to produce the lather that you probably want though and I could see it clogging up your razor.
IMO, with all the inexpensive shave sticks that are out there, if you want to save a few bucks; why not just get some Arko, some Speick or some Palmolive?
 
You could certainly do it. Ive read that back in the '50s, a lot of women would shave with bar soap and as a kid, I remember once seeing my mother shaving her legs with bar soap.
Im sure its fine, as it will make your skin slick. Its not going to produce the lather that you probably want though and I could see it clogging up your razor.
IMO, with all the inexpensive shave sticks that are out there, if you want to save a few bucks; why not just get some Arko, some Speick or some Palmolive?

Typically, though, your facial skin is far more sensitive than your legs would be. Although I could shave with one of the soaps you mentioned, my face would not enjoy the experience.
 
By the time that guy got his brush loaded I'd already have my first pass done.

I would have finished shaving.

It's not the soap. This guy spends, what I consider, an inordinate amount of time lathering. I saw one where he bowl lathered Long Rifle for over five minutes. I can load and lather Long Rifle in a minute. Maybe it's because he's doing a youtube video and talking. Maybe he just likes to lather. I don't know. But if you lather quickly, by nature, you can get a decent lather from the Yardley in no time.
 
I know you've tried a bazillion soaps; are there soaps you would recommend that have residual slickness on par or superior to Yardley (irrespective of price)?

I just picked up Cremo's shave stick and it's residual slickness is amazing. Rinsed and rinsed and my face was still slick; I had to apply alum just to remove it.
 
Laurence of Arabia (T E Laurence) shaved with Carbolic hand soap. In the heat of the desert it no doubt helped combat infection, which, apparently was a problem among soldiers serving in the desert and during the Civil War. Also Lord Carnarvon died from an infected cut caused whilst shaving with a straight razor in the heat in Egypt who worked alongside Professor Carter on the Tutankhamun's tomb excavation.

So treat yourself someday with a Laurence of Arabia shave using Carbolic hand soap (the red stuff)
 
Typically, though, your facial skin is far more sensitive than your legs would be. Although I could shave with one of the soaps you mentioned, my face would not enjoy the experience.
Very true. I used to work with a lady who told me one time that she shaved her legs with body wash and when I told her that was crazy, she was like, "its fine, the skin on the legs isnt as senstitive as the skin on the face."
FWIW, I saw her legs one time and they were all cut up from shaving, sooooo....LOL
 
I've been doing some experimenting, and agree that Dove works the best. Problem is, there's about 15 varieties of Dove soap, including a "calming" one (but, oddly enough, none for shaving). I chose the one for sensitive skin.

The key advantage of Dove is its neutral pH. No stinging, thick lather.

Yardley is too alkaline, as are most hand soaps. And that Yardley with oatmeal really does have oatmeal in it, which I do not want in my shaving brush. But it smells (almond) and washes really nicely -- excellent bath soap.

Dial white seems a lower priced version of Dove, and is worth trying. Their red Power Berries semi-glycerin soap is also very mild and nice.

Stay as far away from Kirks as possible, unless you want to use it as a laundry soap. WAY too alkaline.

I also found a common glycerin bar soap that works very nicely.

Frankly, I think these soaps work a lot better than many shave soaps.

If you are experimenting, start with Dove. I'm still experimenting, myself.
 
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