If you are new to wet shaving the first two in your bathroom should be TOBS Sandalwood and Proraso Green. Two all time classics!!
Taylor Old Bond St
- Thread starter Drax100
- Start date
Ron R
I survived a lathey foreman
I agree with the TOBS Sandalwood but I'm on the sidelines with the Proraso green- its in the penalty box until summer!
Totally agree with TOBS sandlewood, but Poraso leaves such a soap scum layer on my razor, even with extra rinsing. Is it doing the same to my face?
I get no excessive scum from Proraso Red or Green. All I do is light rinse on my razor and face.
Totally agree with TOBS sandalwood, it was my first cream and I still love the scent!
I started with AOS, loved the scent, didn't love the price and didn't know what to make of the performance as I was new to shaving. Switched to TOBS and loved it but when I discovered the "better" stuff I started to look down at TOBS. Having tried all the "better" soaps and creams, I currently only have 2 brands of cream/soap: Sudsy and, you guessed it, TOBS (Jermyn Street). Love my Sudsy by TOBS might be even slicker. Sure it leaves something to be desired in post shave but there are many products to remedy that. Don't sleep on TOBS.
I got the same thing as what @Roccomon is describing, both on razor and in the sink, both needed extra scrubbing comparing to many other products I use.
In my humble opinion (yeah, this is all subjective), Proraso gives you exactly what you pay for. It's cheap, and not that it's horrible, but I don't quite understand stellar reputation to be honest. I'm assuming it's what people use first, so there's some sort of "connection" based on that.
TOBS or some of the new artisan soaps as "intro to shaving", that's what will get everyone "hooked" in my opinion.
TOBS Grapefruit gives a great shave. I don't know where you are located but I bought grapefruit and coconut off Amazon. No issues. I will say the coconut did not smell like coconut but now that I have used it a few times it smells great, just like coconut.
I agree with the sandalwood suggestions. You can also get some trumpers sandalwood skin food to go with that.
I agree with the sandalwood suggestions. You can also get some trumpers sandalwood skin food to go with that.
AOS and TOBS were my first products actually. Haven’t gotten into Proraso until the last half year. I like soap products because they work for me and smell great, no other reason.
Oh well, it is what it is.
@Drax100
Screech, put on the brakes! Do not believe all the propaganda about shaving soaps. More $$ or Rand in your case doesn't mean a better product. One of the Classic, tried and true, pure as the driven snow is made locally in SA. I'm talking about Williams' Mug Soap and not just the modern version but the original Deluxe version. It has the Deluxe rose smell and is sold in the shaving stick version. You won't have to learn how to make a lather.
So go down to your local market and pay a few Rand for a stick of William's Mug Soap in the stick version. Probably the slickest soap you will ever use.
Screech, put on the brakes! Do not believe all the propaganda about shaving soaps. More $$ or Rand in your case doesn't mean a better product. One of the Classic, tried and true, pure as the driven snow is made locally in SA. I'm talking about Williams' Mug Soap and not just the modern version but the original Deluxe version. It has the Deluxe rose smell and is sold in the shaving stick version. You won't have to learn how to make a lather.
So go down to your local market and pay a few Rand for a stick of William's Mug Soap in the stick version. Probably the slickest soap you will ever use.
Preshave oil is not required. If you want to try it out, just rub 2 or 3 drops of vegtable oil on your face before shaving and see if you like the results.....
But it gets worse.Now I believe I have to invest in a preshave oil as well, and they ain't cheap either. Also a post shave oil. Aahhhhhhhhhhh...
You might need a postshave, but it depends. If you feel dry and tight or irritated after a shave any inexpesive postshave balm or just hand cream will do. If your skin is oily an aftershave, toner, astringent (usually witchhazel), or alum block might help prevent ingrown hairs. But if you feel good after shaving you can skip the postshave.
@Drax100
Screech, put on the brakes! Do not believe all the propaganda about shaving soaps. More $$ or Rand in your case doesn't mean a better product. One of the Classic, tried and true, pure as the driven snow is made locally in SA. I'm talking about Williams' Mug Soap and not just the modern version but the original Deluxe version. It has the Deluxe rose smell and is sold in the shaving stick version. You won't have to learn how to make a lather.
So go down to your local market and pay a few Rand for a stick of William's Mug Soap in the stick version. Probably the slickest soap you will ever use.
Do you know how to get this in the US?
Hi, did you get right here in SA?Haha.... that's what I'm finding.
River Valley Trading | South African Wet Shaving Fanatics
They are very reliable as in good service and you will see there are many products in price ranges. Get the omega boar or simalar, soaps are plentyfull- Arco is good. Blades are plentyfull- get the 7 o clocks, and you will see other highly quality blades there too.
regards, C
Ok, I see the Arco out of stock etc but scroll through the items, Godrej creams are there etc... Just keep an eye out every once in a while and he gets some good stock in... Dischem sells Tabac- very good soap and the sticks are not expensive and lasts very long...
TOBS organic cream was my first buy. I ran into a medley of issues with it. And it was way more expensive than the rest of the TOBS line. It was a good starting point because I thought I had to have it. And it opened my eyes to the world of shaving creams outside of aerosol cans...
however i finally cleaned out my TOBS tub and keep my maggard samples in there. been using boreal by tallow + steel and i have come to really love shaving soap vs shaving cream. getting more use out of my empty TOBS container than when it had TOBS in it.
however i finally cleaned out my TOBS tub and keep my maggard samples in there. been using boreal by tallow + steel and i have come to really love shaving soap vs shaving cream. getting more use out of my empty TOBS container than when it had TOBS in it.
I didn’t want to spend a bunch on new creams I hadn’t tried either. I contacted TOBS directly to try to locate someone who carried it near me. No luck. But, I was able to buy a few samples for only a few bucks each at Maggard Razors, so
I am trying the, now. I face lather, and these are much thicker than Art of Shaving, but they feel nice and slick. Hope that helps.
There are creams out there that go for 30 bucks a tub + so I think TOBS is reasonably priced.
Truefitt and hill is good but they’ve priced themselves out of the market for me. Used to be same price as Trumper but now they’re 10-15 more and I’ve always thought Trumper was the better of the 3 Ts. Taylor is a great product but their prices are about in line with Trumper now so unless I find a deal on Taylor, I use Trumper exclusively now. I’ve also purchased the Musgo Real and the jury is still out for me. Only soap I use is the extremely expensive MDC but I have a jar I purchased 3 years plus and I’m not even a quarter of the way through it. It’s worth the cost.
I don't recall when T&H was at the same price as GFT. I seem to recall the pricing as T&H being the most expensive of the three with GFT and then TOBS following in that order. My time frame is probably over the past 10-12 years. I have 5 T&H creams, 1 GFT, and 1 TOBS.
