The New Guys Guide to Soaps & Creams

[Eagle]

Gents I have posted about this in another thread and want to add it to this discussion as well. I purchased a bottle of glycerin at CVS Pharmacy for less than $4. Last night I melted my two pucks of Col. Conk down and added roughly 1 to 2 tsps. to each. My goodness what a difference! Much smoother shave and very slick (think of the slippery fish analogy in my original post). I included Col. Conk as an example in my original post because it is cheap, available, smells nice, offers good shaves and lots of guys love it. It had never been at the top of my list however due to slight razor drag when using it. Adding this small amount of glycerin has bumped the Conk up in the standings.

If you are experiencing problems with any product in terms of slickness or moisturizing this may be your solution. In keeping with the theme of our thread you will still be getting cheap shaves. Adding in the price of the glycerin I'm still under $10 with a puck of Conk. FYI another member has informed me that he adds up to 10 drops of glycerin straight into his lather mix so if melting and mixing isn't your thing you can still enjoy its benefits. I am sold on this method and highly recommend giving it a try if you choose.

 

[THECHEBB]

Thanks Eagle - invaluable info indeed!

 

[BatNastard]

Tabac has lavender?!? that explains a lot. I am cursed with both sensitive skin and some kind of lavender reaction. Phooey cuz I love the scent.

 

[koso]

The Kent shave soap is the same as Mitchell's Wool Fat. It's a great soap with a very mild scent. Quite moisturizing too. You'll get the best deal on this (about $13 shipped) from a fellow member from England. A couple members in the UK did group buys for MWF recently, so keep an eye out.

Fendrihan's in Canada also carries Kent for $14; they give B&B members a discount, would be worth emailing them or I think the code is listed in the 'discounts' thread somewhere.

+1 love it or hate it Arko: two bucks. Hate the smell, love the lather.

 

[apswartz]

Williams Mug soap is another cheap brand but it gets such mixed reviews I decided not to include it. Plus which I've never used it.

Actually, I do like the Williams, but then again, I haven't tried a soap I haven't liked after a while

 

[Eagle]

As promised a quick rundown on the Pirates Cove shaving soaps. In a word, try some. First of all the price is right at $3 per puck, and they have some of the best shipping costs going at $2. Two pucks cost me $8 shipped; it doesn't get much better than that. As soon as you open them you know they are loaded w/ glycerin and other moist ingredients. The paper actually sticks to the puck a bit. I melted them down and cooled them in my trusty rubbermaid dishes. The scents have muscle though when shaving I wasn't overwhelmed. I always spend 30 secs. loading my brush, but with this I could have spent half that time. The soap paste started building up right away. I had mounds of lather after two mins. of whipping. Next time I'll back off when loading. The shave was quite nice. Fairly slick, slippery and a DFS when done. I went ahead and added some after market glycerin to further assist its performance. My whiskers are pretty coarse, and I find the addition helps. This is a decent cheap soap. I really get better shaves from the glycerin creams and tallow based hard soaps, but the Conk and Pirates Cove pucks do the job well enough. If you find they are not performing quite up to snuff, try adding some glycerin and see if it helps. Because of their price and decent results I am comfortable having them in this thread.

Pirates Cove Soap
Glycerin based. Essential oils and Vitamin E. Full ingredients listed on website.
Available in nine scents (currently)
www.piratescovesoapworks.com/
$3
View attachment 30551View attachment 30552

 

[Eagle]

As indicated in an earlier post this thread will get the occasional bump if I or anyone else finds a cheap (under $20) cream or soap that does the trick. Well I've found one that many already knew about: Honey Bee Soaps located at www.honeybeesoaps.net. All I can say is wow. If you know anything about me you know my ultimate favorite shave product is Tabac. For me it provides by far and away the best lather and shave I've attained. HBS is now running a very close race. It provides a rich, slick lather that shaves very well. The bonus here is that you have your choice of several scents and oils. The shave soaps come in loose pucks, fragrance oil soaps in a tub and essential oil soaps in a tub. Prices range from about $6 up to $14 depending. The packaging is no muss, no fuss, white plastic tubs and tubes thus keeping prices down. She offers very cheap shipping methods though I strongly urge you to avoid the parcel post option as it can take forever to receive (personal experience speaking here). I believe her soap base is shea butter, and she also sells lotions and body soaps. As of this writing her website is down due to a computer crash but the word is she will be back up and running the first part of Nov. (2008)---can't link to a pic yet but will add one when she's back up. Make sure to choose your scent oil wisely. I noticed a slight stinging sensation with the Lilac FO, and I do not have sensitive skin. I highly recommend giving this product a try as I don't think you will be sorry.

 

[prometheus]

Musgo Real is a fine shaving cream, which can be had for around $9-12 per tube. Surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet. Produces a nice slick lather.

 

[EmTea]

Has anyone tried the Jack Black face bar? It's only $12-$13 depending on where you find it. I like all of thier products but I've yet to wet shave, so I'm considering this as my first soap bar.

 

[FLTiger]

Musgo Real is a fine shaving cream, which can be had for around $9-12 per tube. Surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet. Produces a nice slick lather.

+1

Now, if I can just find someone who can puzzle out the scent!

 

[Dink]

The Real Shaving Co. cream is $4.99 for 5oz. at Rite-Aid. it's pretty nice stuff for the price. I would also add the Speick shave stick, lathers and smells great and only costs $6.

Cheers,
David

 

[thepugilist]

I got 2 Wars and 2 Liders, both great stuff, I thought, on Ebay for $10 at a store called Open_razor or something like that. The Wars. I noticed, lathers up really quickly.

 

[Hoseman]

Recently I bought a tube of Nivea shave Creme for $3.98 and I like it very much. You only need a "quarter size" dab in your bowl and it produces a whipped cream lather. I don't know if it is available in the USA but it is a nice addition to your shave stuff if you can get it..........Ed

 

[SRock]

Don't forget about Wars shave cream. I can't remember the exact cost but it is around $3 a tube and is one of the slickest creams I have tried.

+1 on the Wars, great shave at a great price!

 

[strat1117]

Thanks guys... Would it be fair to say that a bowl would be easier to work with than a mug?... I've been using Wilkinson blue bowl soap for the last week or so which obvviously comes in it's own bowl... I like that you can turn the brush sideways etc and scoop up all the lather... Is it just personal preference?

I find that with either, bowl or mug, the soap cake adheres to the bottom and stays put after the first time you use it. If you just run some hot over the soap when you first put it in the mug, spill the water out immediately, and let it sit for awhile, it will have the same effect. If you let it sit in hot water for more than a few seconds, however, it will come unstuck (useful if you want to remove it).

I don't believe one or the other (mug or bowl) is better or worse. Whichever works best for your size hand and brush is what's best for you.

BTW, I forgot to mention that I have found the classicshaving.com house brand soaps to be wonderful to use, and very cost-effective.

Enjoy!

 

[ContenderhunterPA]

Great thread!

I have had tremendous results with Van Der Hagen Deluxe and Mama Bear. Just because something is inexpensive, it is not necessarily cheap (or bad)!

 

[ContenderhunterPA]

The Real Shaving Company makes a 5oz tube of cream (Walgreen's, I think...) that also works well for $5-6, too.

 

[Fernando]

Tks for this post. Now we know we can do it cheap and great.

 

[moonshine44]

I would like to add Susie's Bubbles N Squeak to the mix. I got three pucks from her store on the bay for $14.99, including shipping, my choice of numerous scents. Very slick, builds good lather, no razor drag if I do my part on the lather mixing. Scents aren't overwhelming. I like her bay rum, but if cloves don't do it for you, you might want to avoid that particular one; it does tingle the skin...

Three pack page on her website

 

[tblech]

I got my start, years ago, on Col. Conk's Amber.