I've often heard that shaving soap is cheaper than shaving cream, and this seems to be true... however, I believe in my brief experience that shaving cream is better for sensitive or dry skin than hard or triple-milled soap. I haven't had a really great shave yet with hard shaving soap, it doesn't happen for me, no matter how carefully I lather the lather is relatively thin/dry feeling. I get better results with a hard soap like Williams or C&E Sandalwood using a pre-shave oil but it's still ho-hum shaves with a little irritation and the skin feels dry after the shave, and there is no margin to push for a closer shave without getting razor burn. And in this regard I think Williams is as good as any of the other hard soaps I've tried. OTOH, I've had better shaves with glycerine/shea butter infused soaps like Surrey/VDH, but they pretty much are creams in puck form, aren't they?
What do you all with more experience think?
What do you all with more experience think?