Soap advice

[Ranchers daughter]

For Christmas this year, I surprised my sweetheart with a double edged razor, a vintage shaving mug, a badger brush, and a jar of shaving soap. He was thrilled because I caught onto his complaints about the price of shaving cartridges. I was thrilled because it is appealing to watch a man shave, and plastic just doesn't do it.

I bought the Proraso Sensitive unscented cream soap. He likes it, but he wants the hard soap so he can lather it up in the mug.

He has extremely sensitive skin, and still has occasional acne outbreaks. Also, we get our water from a windmill well, and it is very hard. Regular hand soap won't lather up at all, and even liquid soap has a problem. And he isn't crazy about "smell good."

I would appreciate guidance on the soap, and any other advice you may have for me. Thanks for the help!

 

[jovan]

This is very thoughtful of you and he is a lucky guy. The first question is a price range. I use MdC unscented which comes in a jar which is available from Damon at Old Town Shaving in Pasadena but price around $70 a jar. There are numerous other choices out there so I will defer to the other members. Good luck.

 

[Mick]

Hard (triple milled) soap is going to be "hard" to lather with "hard water"

Not sure if it is worth buying bottled water to make shaving lather. If it is not, see if you can find some KMF locally and give one of their products a shot with the hard water. It "should" explode into lather even with hard water.

Stick your zip code into the Kiss My Face store locator to find a retailer near you and grab a tube ($5) or pump bottle ($8) of any scent.

http://www.kissmyface.com/store

These are amazing creams and one of the easiest to lather. They are sold as "brushless" but stick a brush to it and you will have a lava flow of slick, luxurious, lather to use.

 

[driftwood]

Not sure what "isn't crazy about smell good means", but if it means doesn't care about the smell if the soap I know that Tabac, Arko, and Cella both lather better than others in hard water.

Proraso also makes a soap In A tub that we sometimes refer to as a croap (harder than cream, softer than milled soap).

Razorock just put out a line of Sensitive skin products and I've never had a bad Razorock product. They can be purchased through the Italian Barber.

Hope some of that helps.

 

[Ranchers daughter]

He would die if I spent that much money on soap. He wouldn't use it because he would think it's wasteful.

My husband is a very good man, works six and sometimes seven days a week. Anything little gesture I can make to show I love him, I will.

 

[AngryGreek]

Really now...Cella,Tabac, Arko....is there a reason to go on any further? All three are great stuff.

 

[Ranchers daughter]

Sorry, "smell good" is a regional, maybe Southern expression. It means scents like aftershave or colognes.

 

[Ranchers daughter]

Thank you all for your help. There is a Kiss My Face dealer in the city where I work. I'll research the other brands on-line. I think what you all are telling me is it's a matter of experimentation and personal preference.

My daddy and granddaddy just used the Old Spice soap, but I guess they don't even make that anymore.

 

[vickywally]

+2 on Arko. I read that you:
1. Don't care about fragrance,
2. Need the soap to lather in hard water
3. Need excellent protection during shave
4. Would prefer an economical soap
5. Would like to lather in mug

Arko is the best fit - no Q about it. Buy 2 sticks (incl free ship) or a tub on ebay for $5. Can't beat it for the above requirements.

 

[sarimento1]

These shave soaps are really concentrated and will last 50 to 80 shaves per average 4 oz puck. By comparison a can of foam will last 15 to 25 shaves. Try a glycerine shave soap, CVS and Walgreens carry it, it might lather easier for him than a milled soap.

 

[eyebright]

If he doesn't care about scents, and he has sensitive skin, then you might want to try an unscented soap. Soaps with a chelating agent of EDTA might lather easiest in your hard water, but if you buy him a gallon of distilled water to wet his brush with (most grocery stores and drugstores will have it for around $1) he can use any soap he likes. There are lots of nice choices for < $15 or so. Considering how long one soap lasts, it's still cheaper than canned goo.

 

[mblakele]

Arko does well in hard water, at least up to 240-ppm. The scent is not fancy, and it is cheap. My last stick was good for about 90 shaves.

 

[Mick]

Thank you all for your help. There is a Kiss My Face dealer in the city where I work. I'll research the other brands on-line. I think what you all are telling me is it's a matter of experimentation and personal preference.

My daddy and granddaddy just used the Old Spice soap, but I guess they don't even make that anymore.

Look for RS brand (Real Shaving Company). Also in a tube. That English company manufactures many of the top shelf British shave creams under the big name brands but their house branded (RS) is the same product without the propriatary scent of the big boys products.

Another good value that you "should" be able to locate locally. I found some in Bed Bath and Beyond (of all places). Reasonable price. Exceptional performing product. It is another one that should work well using hard water.

 

[driftwood]

You will have to let us know what you choose to get him.

 

[lmill999]

The Real Shaving Company creams that Turtle mentioned are also available at Rite-Aid. I got a tube for about $5 and it worked well with my well water.

 

[jddssc121]

I'd say Valobra, Stick or bowl. Barely scented at all and quite wonderful. Also, Mitchell's Wool Fat is another lather champ that does not have a cologne smell. Stirling also has an unscented I believe, and is incredibly inexpensive for its quality.

 

[mesmo]

My vote goes to l'occitane cade $12, fantastic soap and can be found in almost any mall.

 

[coryforsenate]

The soap maker at LA Shaving Soap specifically mentions that he formulated his soaps to work well in hard water, which Los Angeles certainly is. I'm not sure if you're saying your husband likes unscented soaps or if he isn't concerned with what the soap smells like, but for $5 plus shipping you can get a sampler pack of all their soaps in little tubs that will give about 3-4 shaves each. But they don't have an unscented soap at the moment.

 

[evnpar]

Stirling is easy to lather, inexpensive, and comes in a large variety of scents, and is one of the more popular soaps on this forum. I'm sure that he would love two or three of the scents that Stirlings Shaving Soaps has to offer.

 

[ThePatrician]

I'm gonna have to second ARKO. In terms of bang for the buck, it beats darn near everyone out there, but the scent is quite powerful. It is not a cologne-y or perfumed scent, but I think the best way to describe it is simply "soapy". I have seen people who can't deal with the scent leave it in their garage for several days to let the scent die away (personally, I rather enjoy the scent, but YMMV). If I was determined I could probably build a lather with rubbing alcohol. L'Ocitane is another great one, not too expensive but still easy to lather.

If you want to bring Old Spice back into your life, several vendors here sell Old Spice knockoffs that are pretty close. Mama Bear's Aged Spice comes to mind as a really close ringer. Her soaps are glycerin-based, and lather extremely easily. I'm using distilled water now (the water here is non-potable), but the last place I lived had EXTREMELY hard water, and I was still able to lather it easily.