Vacation shaving

[kingfisher]

So, I went to Indiana for a week to visit my son. At home I always make lather from a shaving soap and shave primarily with a replaceable-blade straight razor, using DE only for a little clean-up. I attempted to simplify this regimen for my vacation week, so I took only my Fatboy with a fresh Polsilver SI, an old tube of I Coloniali cream, and my smallest synthetic brush.

I thought I had planned well, but apparently I had failed to account for how incredibly hard the water in southern Indiana would be. Despite all efforts, I could not coax even a remotely viable lather from the I Coloniali, which is a quality cream. Consequently, the first shave I had on vacation was pretty bad.

I went to a local drugstore and purchased a travel-sized can of Gillette Foamy (red cap), and for the subsequent two shaves, I wet my face, applied canned foam with my hand, and shaved it off with the Fatboy.

This was surprisingly effective, and immeasurably better than what I was able to do with a quality cream and a brush. I haven't used canned foam in a very long time (20 years, maybe?). The Foamy was a lot better than I remembered canned foam to be. I didn't like the scent at all, but the foam was both slick and reasonably protective, and provided for a good shave. Post-shave face feel was terrible, of course, but I didn't expect otherwise.


Moral of the story: If you are traveling to a place with really hard water, you may actually be better off with canned foam!


I really appreciate the soft water I have at home, and relished my first shave when I got back home using my usual tools/lather.

What do you gentlemen do when traveling? Anybody else resort to canned foam?

 

[Benzadmiral]

My water might as well have granite dissolved into it. I use my Barbasol Original 100th Anniversary can every couple of weeks, sometime mixing it with some TOBS or Trumper's cream, and get very good shaves. In fact Barbasol was what I used when, after bugging out for a hurricane in 2012, I visited Target for some disposable Bic razors and a can of foam, and got the best shaves I'd had in years. It led me to researching DE shaving.

 

[KW Driver]

I’ve got hard water that I learned to work my regular soaps with and I face lather. How hard? Hard enough that I had to adapt to it. Travel is just me using what I always do with soaps sticked for ease of travel, a couple straights, travel strop, a Feather SS when I’m lazy. and a Trac II for Carry-on travel when that happens.

Soft water these days tends to surprise me with it’s ease of use and difficulty sometimes of washing away soaps, either shaving or bathing. My dad’s place is super soft.

 

[DoctorShavegood]

When traveling I like to take my (Speick) stick. It’s small and holds up to all kinds of water issues.

 

[santamariasteve]

So, I went to Indiana for a week to visit my son. At home I always make lather from a shaving soap and shave primarily with a replaceable-blade straight razor, using DE only for a little clean-up. I attempted to simplify this regimen for my vacation week, so I took only my Fatboy with a fresh Polsilver SI, an old tube of I Coloniali cream, and my smallest synthetic brush.

I thought I had planned well, but apparently I had failed to account for how incredibly hard the water in southern Indiana would be. Despite all efforts, I could not coax even a remotely viable lather from the I Coloniali, which is a quality cream. Consequently, the first shave I had on vacation was pretty bad.

I went to a local drugstore and purchased a travel-sized can of Gillette Foamy (red cap), and for the subsequent two shaves, I wet my face, applied canned foam with my hand, and shaved it off with the Fatboy.

This was surprisingly effective, and immeasurably better than what I was able to do with a quality cream and a brush. I haven't used canned foam in a very long time (20 years, maybe?). The Foamy was a lot better than I remembered canned foam to be. I didn't like the scent at all, but the foam was both slick and reasonably protective, and provided for a good shave. Post-shave face feel was terrible, of course, but I didn't expect otherwise.


Moral of the story: If you are traveling to a place with really hard water, you may actually be better off with canned foam!


I really appreciate the soft water I have at home, and relished my first shave when I got back home using my usual tools/lather.

What do you gentlemen do when traveling? Anybody else resort to canned foam?

Very educational. I wonder what the specific ingredients were in the can of Gillette Foamy that fixed the hard water problem?

 

[kingfisher]

Very educational. I wonder what the specific ingredients were in the can of Gillette Foamy that fixed the hard water problem?

I think the solution lies in the fact that one does not need to use much of the local hard water to make the lather, since it just comes ready made out of the can. I suspect the water used in making canned foam is distilled.

 

[ksblazer]

I always like to take Arko stick for my travels. Haven't had any issues getting it to lather up wherever I go, so far.

 

[Kyle89]

When flying, Gillette sensor and Barbasol. When driving out, I’ll pack Cella and a mild razor/smallest brush I got

 

[santamariasteve]

I think the solution lies in the fact that one does not need to use much of the local hard water to make the lather, since it just comes ready made out of the can. I suspect the water used in making canned foam is distilled.

Outstanding point, brother kingfish. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't consider that.

However, if that be true, then it would make sense for all of us who live in hard water areas to use canned goo, not lather made with a brush and (hard) tap water. I'm not quite prepared to go there.

There's also the picayune issue of do we dip our razor in a cup of distilled water and shake our razor when rinsing the lather off?

The perfectionists among us would say Yes. Others would say No. Still others might not understand why the question is asked.

 

[Atlantic59]

Usually it will be a Speick or La Toja stick. If the water is really bad, distilled water from the supermarket can take care of it.

 

[ajkel64]

Canned products have improved dramatically compared to canned products of old. No reason you cannot get a decent shave using canned products while on holidays. Plus if you leave the can behind, no great loss. If you leave your MDC soap and Simpson Brush behind time for tears.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Time for a road trip to test some of these ideas!

Oh. Wait. Too hot in any place I can drive to. Well, maybe in December. . . .

 

[BigJ]

I use a La Toja stick when traveling! It lathers great under any conditions that I have encountered!

 

[kingfisher]

Outstanding point, brother kingfish. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't consider that.

However, if that be true, then it would make sense for all of us who live in hard water areas to use canned goo, not lather made with a brush and (hard) tap water. I'm not quite prepared to go there.

There's also the picayune issue of do we dip our razor in a cup of distilled water and shake our razor when rinsing the lather off?

The perfectionists among us would say Yes. Others would say No. Still others might not understand why the question is asked.

You have hit upon the crucial point, I think. I have been spoiled beyond belief by our amazing water. Pretty much every place I go away from here has harder water than we have, and I realize how awesome it is here.

If I lived in a place like Evansville, Indiana (which was where I was when I resorted to canned foam), I do believe that I would probably convert to canned foam permanently. The other choices would be to purchase distilled water and use it for shaving or to install a water softening system. For ME there would be no option of attempting to lather product the way I currently do using that water. As George Bush Sr used to say "Not....gon.....doit." I don't know how those of you who live in hard water areas do it.

In answer to your more detailed question, if I lived in Evansville and went the distilled water route, I would use the distilled water to lather my soap, but I would use tap water to rinse the razor.

 

[Brutus]

Moral of the story: If you are traveling to a place with really hard water, you may actually be better off with canned foam!

What do you gentlemen do when traveling? Anybody else resort to canned foam?

In a nutshell: No and No.


This illustrates how people can arrive at different solutions when confronted with the same problem.
Due to my work I used to travel extensively between major cities and used to encounter all sorts of water hardness over the years.


My experience:
1. Some creams or soaps cope better with hard water than others to the extent that some seem to work always.
2. If in doubt, get some demineralized/soft mineral water, although I never found myself in a situation that would really make this necessary.
3. Creams seem to be less susceptible to water hardness. The cheaper ones (Palmolive, Nivea, La Toja, Proraso) often cope well with hard water because they were meant to work in a large market and wide range of conditions.
4. In all these years I found canned foam or gel (which I would rather use) never really necessary.
5. Water hardness plays an important part in a shave, yet is rarely mentioned when people praise or complain about a shaving soap or cream.
6. In areas with very hard water some hotels have surprisingly soft water because they have installed equipment that reduces water hardness.


Hope this helps…


B

 

[musicman1951]

I've yet to experience hard water on vacation, which is fine with me. We are often at a timeshare, where my wife complains the water is too soft and affects her hair.

 

[camoloc]

im in the Hoosier state......limestone.

MDC, B&M, and WK lather well for me.

camo

 

[Timor1322]

Arko and Wilkinson stick works good even with hard water.
In furtherence they are soft enough that you can slice and press into a coffee cup (That's what I excatly did on my todays shave).
So you can either apply to your face or press a thin slice in to a coffee cup/bowl...

 

[GV27]

I take Arko. Hard to go wrong with it. Just works....

 

[5whiskey]

While dealing with hard water has never come up for me, I will say I tend toward taking canned foam when traveling for a couple of reasons. I am concerned with packing a way a wet brush and possible mold/mildew. Also, I have broken a razor handle while keeping it in my rucksack during a field exercise. I've since left the military, but while I was still in I converted to carts or a braun razor for field and deployment use. I also don't have to concern myself with packing a wet brush away. Also, plain old Barbasol cream actually works ok if you cut just a bit of water in it. I've SR shaved with Barbasol a number of times, and it works pretty well. Much better than any "new and improved" canned shaving gels.

These days I don't use carts period. I deployed in 2019-2020 and I dreaded shaving with carts (as I knew I would). I'm now out of the service and I will travel with a DE or SR. I will probably continue to use Barbasol for travel though. It works well and is awful convenient.