It's just soap?

[old_school]

You wrote:

I hate getting ripped off. It's not that I can't afford $30.00 soaps, I just would feel like a chump shaving with them. That is why I can't use Tabac, it cost 2-3x here in the U.S. compared to what you can buy it for in a drug store or market in Europe.

So, for me the expensive soaps are worse than the good/cheap ones.

So I wrote:

English Shaving Co. is 7.65 pounds for a refill or ~$10, shavemac is 13.10 Euro or $14.25. US $15 - free shipping off Amazon.

Where can a fellow get a puck of Tabac for $5 in Europe? Maybe we can we set up a group buy to save on shipping, eh?

I'm in!

You claimed Tabac is 3x the price in the US than Europe no? So the cheapest refill I can fine is ~$10 at English Shaveing. That would make a Tabac puck $30 local US. Clearly it's not at $15 delivered to your door, so if your claim is real then there must be ~$5 pucks in Europe?

I can't find the 2-3x rip off between US vs European prices for a puck of Tabac that precludes your using it. But I am on the hunt for the rare and elusive $5 puck. Any help is appreciated.

 

[musicman1951]

You can get a great shave with $2 soaps, maybe not every time - but it's certainly a possibility.

So why are you buying $15 soap?

I think there are two reasons to reach for higher quality products:

1. You can perceive the higher quality - never pay for quality you can't see, feel or taste. If you can't tell the difference between $10 wine and $50 wine buy the $10 wine! But if you can find it in your heart, please don't insist that there is no difference just because it's beyond your ability to appreciate.

2. Assuming you can appreciate/experience the higher quality - you have to believe it's worth the extra price.

My wife gave me some expensive foot cream for Christmas. Yes, I can feel an improvement in performance, but I personally don't care enough about my feet to pay the difference. It's better, but it's not worth it to me.

Lots of people think we're all crazy for even being on a shaving forum - it's just shaving.

Find some products you like and enjoy them. If I think you're crazy for spending too much that shouldn't affect your enjoyment. Use what you like and enjoy yourself.

 

[old_school]

You can get a great shave with $2 soaps, maybe not every time - but it's certainly a possibility.

So why are you buying $15 soap?

I think there are two reasons to reach for higher quality products:...

Good points...

See - Another Williams Thread Post #21

 

[samhain666]

Lots of people think we're all crazy for even being on a shaving forum - it's just shaving.

You got that one right. BUT my friend who also thought that of me for like 2 years...once he discovered SR it was really funny to observe how he was telling me how better the shaves are and how he likes the soaps and I was like I TRIED TO TELL YOU!!!

 

[Tedolph]

You wrote:


So I wrote:


You claimed Tabac is 3x the price in the US than Europe no? So the cheapest refill I can fine is ~$10 at English Shaveing. That would make a Tabac puck $30 local US. Clearly it's not at $15 delivered to your door, so if your claim is real then there must be ~$5 pucks in Europe?

I can't find the 2-3x rip off between US vs European prices for a puck of Tabac that precludes your using it. But I am on the hunt for the rare and elusive $5 puck. Any help is appreciated.

A jar of Tabac is $24.90 USD on Amazon and you have to pay for shipping. A replacement puck is $16.00 on Amazon and you have to pay for shipping. So the delivered price is about $24.00 to $33.00 in the U.S. You can't find it in a brick and mortar store so Amazon or something like it is the only way. In a grocery store in Europe, specifically Italy, a puck of Tabac is less than 10 Euro's, about half to 1/3 the U.S. price as I said.

Why be so insulting and condescending in your response. Are we not all gentlemen here?

 

[Atlantic59]

A jar of Tabac is $24.90 USD on Amazon and you have to pay for shipping. A replacement puck is $16.00 on Amazon and you have to pay for shipping. So the delivered price is about $24.00 to $33.00 in the U.S. You can't find it in a brick and mortar store so Amazon or something like it is the only way. In a grocery store in Europe, specifically Italy, a puck of Tabac is less than 10 Euro's, about half to 1/3 the U.S. price as I said.

Good news, the Tabac shaving soap in 100gm stick form is available with free shipping on Amazon for $10.89. If you don't want the stick, you can slice it up and put it into a container of your choice to make a puck. It is much less expensive to buy this way.

Amazon.com : Tabac Shaving Soap Stick by Tabac : Beauty

Amazon.com : Tabac Shaving Soap Stick by Tabac : Beauty

www.amazon.com

 

[Tedolph]

Good news, the Tabac shaving soap in 100gm stick form is available with free shipping on Amazon for $10.89. If you don't want the stick, you can slice it up and put it into a container of your choice to make a puck. It is much less expensive to buy this way.

Amazon.com : Tabac Shaving Soap Stick by Tabac : Beauty

Amazon.com : Tabac Shaving Soap Stick by Tabac : Beauty

www.amazon.com

Thanks for the info.

 

[old_school]

A jar of Tabac is $24.90 USD on Amazon and you have to pay for shipping. A replacement puck is $16.00 on Amazon and you have to pay for shipping. So the delivered price is about $24.00 to $33.00 in the U.S. You can't find it in a brick and mortar store so Amazon or something like it is the only way. In a grocery store in Europe, specifically Italy, a puck of Tabac is less than 10 Euro's, about half to 1/3 the U.S. price as I said.

Why be so insulting and condescending in your response. Are we not all gentlemen here?

hmmm curious. You're comparing jar to puck at US$33 to 10 Euros? Apples, oranges.

Here's the $15 puck with free shipping on Amazon for reference. Your 10 Euro puck in Italy is $11 roughly the same price I cited by English Shaving Co. So puck to puck ie. oranges to oranges we're at $15 vs $11 (less shipping from Italy of course.)

If you thought pointing out that your 2-3X claim maybe condescending or asking where the $5 pucks are was insulting it wasn't my intent. Trying to keep things short I suspect I could be perceived a curt.

 

[Tedolph]

hmmm curious. You're comparing jar to puck at US$33 to 10 Euros? Apples, oranges.

Here's the $15 puck with free shipping on Amazon for reference. Your 10 Euro puck in Italy is $11 roughly the same price I cited by English Shaving Co. So puck to puck ie. oranges to oranges we're at $15 vs $11 (less shipping from Italy of course.)

If you thought pointing out that your 2-3X claim maybe condescending or asking where the $5 pucks are was insulting it wasn't my intent. Trying to keep things short I suspect I could be perceived a curt.

No problem, just a misunderstanding. I will see if I can contact someone to get a shopping market price in Italy. Last time I was there (probably seven years ago at this point) it was something like five Euro's in the local market for a puck.

 

[lurchbrian]

how can anyone justify spending £20+ on a shaving soap ? im a great lover of the cheeper end stick soap Palmolive so much that I have stocked up with 15 sticks . even on soap like proraso im only paying £10 for 3 tubs off the bay . both are a usable soap . yes there are other cheep soaps out there that I wouldn't use point blank for different reasons but its down to my choice you may differ .

 

[Chevyguy]

There are many great soaps at low prices. I get the same great shave and result from any of the soaps below, my personal opinion, it is a matter of choice what soap to buy, all that lather, expensive or cheap goes down the drain. There are many great inexpensive soaps but if high priced soaps make you feel good, go for it.

Arko shave soap-$13.05 per 12 sticks
Cella, kilo @ $37.00 lasting over 2 years Less than $1.54 per month with exclusive use
Tabac $15.00 per refill puck
Williams $0.99

Sometimes I miss the old days when we just bought shaving soap when we needed it. Half the time I just built my lather off of the bar of Dove, or Palmolive soap that was by the sink.

Clayton

Sent from my SM-A705U using Tapatalk

 

[RayClem]

how can anyone justify spending £20+ on a shaving soap ? im a great lover of the cheeper end stick soap Palmolive so much that I have stocked up with 15 sticks . even on soap like proraso im only paying £10 for 3 tubs off the bay . both are a usable soap . yes there are other cheep soaps out there that I wouldn't use point blank for different reasons but its down to my choice you may differ .

Shaving soaps are like anything else, you can justify whatever makes sense to you. I love using luxury shaving soaps as they provide a great shave for me that inexpensive soaps are unable to provide.

Do you carry the latest model iPhone, Google Pixel or Samsung Galaxy or are you using a phone that is several years old? Either can be used for phone calls or text messaging.

Do you drive a late model SUV, or a used car with 100,000 miles or more? Either should get you from place to place.

Do you purchase you clothing at high-end department stores or do you shop second hand thrift shops? You body will be covered either way.

Do you take vacations on cruises or venture to far away places, or do you stay at home or take day trips?

We all make decisions on how to spend our limited disposable income? In some instances, we choose the inexpensive option, in others we choose to splurge. We choose whatever makes sense to us at the time.

I understand your love of certain cheap soaps, even though I do not share your passion for them. If they work for you, great! I just have not yet found an inexpensive soap that works as well for me as more expensive soaps. I can use them, but I do not enjoy doing so. However, not every expensive soaps performs as well as its price might suggest? Some soaps have not been worth what I paid for them.

 

[ShaverAZ]

I was surprised that different soaps have an immense impact on the quality of a shave. I can lather up a bar of Dove and get a good shave. ToBS or Stirling Soaps give a fine shave. Mix equal parts of Cremo and Neutrogena for Sensitive Skin & I get a shave that I use to measure all other soaps by. Yesterday I got out an old can of Equate Gel - the Generic to a Gillette Shave Gel. It whips up a lather that beats all other soaps in density & slickness. The shave was among the best of the year.
Unfortunately, many gauge the quality of a soap by not only price tag, but scent. I've got several soaps that smell nice & give above average shaves. The scent is usually gone by the time I'm finished with the shave & apply an after shave balm, anyway. Williams - no glitzy foo foo scent, but a good solid lather that gets the job done every bit as well as a spendier brand.
As it stands this very moment, my brush lathered $3 can of Walmart Gel outperforms my [favorite smelling] ToBS and Stirling. I measure soaps by performance compared to my Cremogena blend - it's cheap and unrivaled by anything else I've used over the years. But the even cheaper gel, whipped up with a brush may be just a little better.

 

[JoeLr]

how can anyone justify spending £20+ on a shaving soap ? im a great lover of the cheeper end stick soap Palmolive so much that I have stocked up with 15 sticks . even on soap like proraso im only paying £10 for 3 tubs off the bay . both are a usable soap . yes there are other cheep soaps out there that I wouldn't use point blank for different reasons but its down to my choice you may differ .

For me it's just a luxury. I will always have at least some MdC, SV, etc. of that ilk around.

Likewise, I will always really like using my Cremo + Arko super lather; my Razorock soaps; my Speick & La Toja creme; my La Toja stick when traveling. Unless one is spending rent or grocery money on niche items, I just can't get myself to question the spending. It's likely because I spent years entrenched in high-end audio. Niche shaving expense, even at the high end, is couch cushion money compared to what I know others in the audio hobby spend. I spent plenty, but compared to dozens of guys I know, I would've been classifed as "mid-fi" in comparison, LOL.

 

[Rustyshackelford]

Tabac and MWF can be stupid pricy here in the US for a newcomer who doesn’t know where to look. Shamefully, I paid about $28 for my bowl of tabac when I started and didn’t even consider MWF because all I could find it for was $34-$38. I have since discovered good sources for certain products and if you are willing to make the large purchase and spread the cost out over time, purchasing at the free shipping threshold from Connaught will give one access to tabac and MWF for a very fair price. Putting them into the $15 max range. Plus given their reputation for longevity, they are a pretty sound bargain.

If sticker shock is the bigger issue and not so much the number of shaves, there are some great artisan soaps to be had that can deliver even better performance characteristics for around the $15 threshold. My favorite artisan brand was given to the men throughout the extended family this year for the holidays. And from those who have been excited by using these soaps, they have surprised me by finding more value in the soaps than I would have thought. The residual slickness and post shave of my preferred brand is saving people from having to by moisturizer for their faces post shave in addition to reporting the best shaves of their lives. One report was the husband shaves his face and leaves the lathered brush by the shower and his wife uses it on her legs and loves it because of how smooth and moisturized her legs feel. They are reporting about 75 shaves/latherings this far and probably will get to 100 before the tub is spent.

I have an assortment of razorsock soaps and aftershaves that’s I picked up for a huge bargain around the holidays, and despite the deeply discounted prices, I dont find performance to be at all good compared to many general store brands and artisan brands. Tabac, palmolive, Arko destroy them in shave performance. (Dead sea and SMDF are the exceptions)

 

[JoeLr]

For me it's just a luxury. I will always have at least some MdC, SV, etc. of that ilk around.

Likewise, I will always really like using my Cremo + Arko super lather; my Razorock soaps; my Speick & La Toja creme; my La Toja stick when traveling. Unless one is spending rent or grocery money on niche items, I just can't get myself to question the spending. It's likely because I spent years entrenched in high-end audio. Niche shaving expense, even at the high end, is couch cushion money compared to what I know others in the audio hobby spend. I spent plenty, but compared to dozens of guys I know, I would've been classifed as "mid-fi" in comparison, LOL.

I failed to add: I also mostly avoid the latest & greatest, made from unicorn milk, soft, short-lasting, super-fatted new wave artisan offerings. I'm glad they exist for those in the hobby who want something new on a regular basis. IMHO, ~$65 shipped (depending on source, and timing) for 7 oz of MdC is much better value-buy than ~$30/3 or 4 oz for a lot of this new, soft artisan stuff. Obviously, YMMV, and again, I'm glad it all exists. Choice is good.

 

[LewisW]

Martin De Candre is a very expensive soap but last forever.

 

[Tallships]

Sometimes I miss the old days when we just bought shaving soap when we needed it. Half the time I just built my lather off of the bar of Dove, or Palmolive soap that was by the sink.

Clayton

Sent from my SM-A705U using Tapatalk

Those were the days when when a puck of Williams or Old Spice served us well, I even remember putting slivers of used up bathe soap in my shave mug,as long as it made slick lather.

 

[ShaverAZ]

Martin De Candre is a very expensive soap but last forever.

It doesn't really last forever - it just seems like it.

Why do married men live longer? They don't, it just seems longer.

 

[RayClem]

Those were the days when when a puck of Williams or Old Spice served us well, I even remember putting slivers of used up bathe soap in my shave mug,as long as it made slick lather.

Many bath soaps do produce slick lather. I have shaved with Irish Spring, but I prefer Yardley of London Cocoa Butter soap as the cocoa butter and Shea butter are good for moisturizing. The problem with bath soaps, however, are that the lather tends to be very foamy, lacking density. If you have less-sensitive skin, that may not be an issue, but my skin is sensitive and I prefer the cushion/protection provided by shaving soaps that provides a denser lather.