What shaving products have you "gone off" and why?

[Herrenberg]

I'm not talking about things you disliked from the first, like me and Acqua De Parma, which does not get along with my skin, alas. I'm talking about things that you liked for a while, then banished from your shave den because you realized they just did not work for you. Here's mine.

Muhle shave soap in the Blue Concrete bowl. Good soap. I like it. But when I got halfway through, the lather started to be blue, and it got more blue as I used up the cake. No. Into the trash it goes.

A custom razor in CPM-M4 steel. I honed this for a gentleman on another forum, and got a great shave from it, and sent it off to him, with high hopes. He got disgusted with it and offered it to me for free, for my honing efforts, and I eagerly took him up on the offer. When I got it back, the edge was full of chips. OK, maybe he doesn't know how to shave yet. Nope. This steel, however great it may have looked as a razor steel, on paper, with its dense grain and all, chips really easily at razor dimensions, and is really hard to hone. I can't bear to toss it, and I'm sure that one day I will take the trouble to give it an edge and shave with it some more, but my former infatuation with it is utterly gone.

 

[sarimento1]

I liked Palmolive stick early on, but over time the scent became objectionable.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Post shave products is the first thing that springs to mind.

I still use them occasionally, if my skin feels like something extra is genuinely needed, or sometimes just on a whim. However, for the most part, my skin is happiest after just rinsing off the lather.

 

[Wogus]

An alum block.

While my Osma alum block hasn't been banned from my bathroom, per se, neither has it seen the light of day in a very, very long time, and I don't see it being used any time soon, if ever. I found using an alum block irritates my skin and is quite drying.

 

[Kyle89]

Muhle R89 / Edwin Jagger DE89

And I guess Proraso. I’ll probably keep some green around once I’m out of my white and red, but I don’t see that happening for a very, very long time

 

[Roedeer]

Speick stick.

Its shaving properties (lathering and slickness) were perfectly good, I liked the scent, but I always got skin irritation after using it.

 

[rbscebu]

Multi-blade carts because I discovered SR shaving.

 

[Tomo]

Preshave oil. Yeah nah….

 

[CTM]

I'm not talking about things you disliked from the first, like me and Acqua De Parma, which does not get along with my skin, alas. I'm talking about things that you liked for a while, then banished from your shave den because you realized they just did not work for you. Here's mine.

Muhle shave soap in the Blue Concrete bowl. Good soap. I like it. But when I got halfway through, the lather started to be blue, and it got more blue as I used up the cake. No. Into the trash it goes.

A custom razor in CPM-M4 steel. I honed this for a gentleman on another forum, and got a great shave from it, and sent it off to him, with high hopes. He got disgusted with it and offered it to me for free, for my honing efforts, and I eagerly took him up on the offer. When I got it back, the edge was full of chips. OK, maybe he doesn't know how to shave yet. Nope. This steel, however great it may have looked as a razor steel, on paper, with its dense grain and all, chips really easily at razor dimensions, and is really hard to hone. I can't bear to toss it, and I'm sure that one day I will take the trouble to give it an edge and shave with it some more, but my former infatuation with it is utterly gone.

Mine would prob be stuff like Arko and Palmolive, I don’t anymore Arco and I don’t use Palmolive as much as I used to. I have the cream and the stick, but with so many soaps it’s hard to squeeze one in there but I think I’m gonna do a classic Shave coming up, with products that were out years and years ago

Because my rotational system is actually pretty great.

I have a spot where I keep all of my soaps, my straight razors, my stones, and my brushes. It’s in this bottom cabinet on the entertainments system Tucktaway in the bottom left compartment.

And what I do is I lineup all my brushes and when I use one I put one at the end of the line

With the soaps I will Stack up and line them up from the Soap Artisan/ manufacturer. Like Stirling, RazoRock, PAA, A&E, Etc. Than I will put all of my one offs into a few stacks.

So I took out one soap from each maker per week Stirling RazoRock and PAA because those three are the ones I have the most of. Then I will pick another one from the “one offs” pile

So in one week I’ll use let’s just say

Stirling: Barbershop
PAA: Sangre De Drago
RazoRock: The Dead Sea
Then
I’ll pick a stack from something I only have one or two off like A&E “ The UnderSea” , or Mikes Natural, Caities Bubbles, Dr. Jon’s, Fine Accoutrements

So this way everything goes according to plan. Everything get used and then on my soaps brushes are razors are angry with me! Haha It’s the Same Thing with my Razors… I use every Razor one time than I go back into the rotation.

 

[zacktracy]

I have stopped using the alum block unless I get a weeper and then I only use it on the weeper and not my whole face. I also stopped using AOS sandlewood pre shave oil, shave cream, post shave balm and Proraso white pre shave and shave cream. I’ve had a skin issue and have switched to skipping a pre shave oil, using only PAA unscented soap and witch hazel as an AS. I do use CeraVe mosisturizer and the end of the routine. I was prescribed Ketoconazole and my skin is clearing up quickly. I can’t say exactly what was feeding the fungal acne but I’m sticking with soaps and AS that pass the “fungal acne safe ingredient checker” from now on. Same thing with face cleansers. It’s amazing how many products contain ingredients that feed the yeasts on your face. For most people it isn’t an issue, for me it is. Unfortunately I do enjoy scented shave soaps and since I shy away from them I have been using PAA Bay Rum soaps for the body so I still get that great smell on my skin! My jump into a Bay Rum AS/cologne as well and just use it on the neck, wrists and behind the ears.

 

[cwiscarolina]

VDH pink soap. I used it for years as a super lather base. I still love the scent. But I have gotten away from it. I recently used an old puck as a bath soap. The scent takes me back to late 2007 when I first began wet shaving. (Along with “Bigelow” green!)

The reason: boredom, and wanting to branch out.

 

[Yuritau]

Duke 2 in Best. Second brush I ever owned, after the walmart Wilkinson Sword brush. Loved it at first, but then I started to feel like it was a little big. Then based on some posts on B&B, I picked up a Wee Scot and the Duke's tenure was immediately ended.

The alum block. There's just no need for it.

Cast or stamped metal razors. If I'm spending $30-60 (Canadian) on a razor, I'm already halfway or more to a Razorock stainless beauty.

Blades that are anything less than excellent. I don't want 'okay' or 'decent' or even 'good'. There's no blade that's so expensive in the 100-pack that it even remotely approaches cartridge prices, so why make myself use anything less than the best? I do tend to keep 10-20 of certain blades in the 'good but not excellent' category (like astra/tiger), just to make comparisons when I try new brands. But my regular shaves are with only the best.

 

[Herrenberg]

The alum block is definitely in this category for me. I somehow had the idea that if I didn't use it religiously, I would get infections from invisible cuts and die. Gave up the alum, except for occasional weeper surgery, and I'm still here.

 

[Frinstance]

I've sort of accidentally taken Feather blades out of my life. I'll use a DE +/- once a week for my face, every 2-3 evenings on the melon and I've been using up the samples from however many orders. I was alternating between Feather and the next lovely contestant, having fun with the compare & contrast game.
Then I thought, 12 blades per year for the ugly mug. 1 blade per week give or take for my head.
Why not just stick with samples?
This may change too, but my experience with Arkansas-finished straights has changed my point of view on blade feel. Feathers were a nice marriage, time for an amicable divorce.

 

[Herrenberg]

This may change too, but my experience with Arkansas-finished straights has changed my point of view on blade feel. Feathers were a nice marriage, time for an amicable divorce.

Took me a long time to even try an Ark. I was busy with JNats, which I don't expect to have fully figured out in this lifetime. Still, at some point, I got a Black Ark from Dan's, and after it had sat in a cupboard for a while, I tried it out. Once I figured out that I couldn't play pressure games with it, like I do with the JNats, I got a really impressive edge, one that I keep on a couple of my razors because I need that edge available.

Gotta admit, were I confronted with a SR semi-newbie who acknowledged the excellent keenness and simple steps of the Method edge, but sought an alternative with some character, I'd point him in the direction of the Ark, rather than my beloved JNats, which are a very hard road, and getting harder all the time, with what I perceive as a drying up of sources for the good stuff.

 

[Frinstance]

The "not figured out " has a magical appeal. I'm in the position of quietly admiring the Jnat folks and the long traditions of those stones. I don't want to have to learn a new language though
Arks are just so familiar from childhood to my late 20's with knives and chisels that they were the instinctive go-to when I finally tried straights. I have to step back mentally to realize how careful you have to be. A couple of bevel sets on forgiving Nortons really made me glad I didn't have to learn the stones while learning what sets razor honing apart.

 

[Zora]

Pre-shave oils. I just can’t stand any of them.

 

[Chandu]

For me it's mostly scented items.

La Toja A/S liked and now dislike
Cheap U.S. drug store A/S Liked and now dislike. Avon, British Sterling, Aqua Velva, Mennen Balms, Old Spice. I do still like Skin Bracer.

These days I like to shave and then rinse and eschew any A/S, balm or post shave at all.

 

[Yuritau]

Just remembered another one. La Toja shave stick. I wont be throwing out the two sticks I currently have, but I will not be buying it again, since it is made with palm oil.

 

[OkieStubble]

Just remembered another one. La Toja shave stick. I wont be throwing out the two sticks I currently have, but I will not be buying it again, since it is made with palm oil.

Is palm oil bad? Never mind, I just googled it. Apparently, I have been living in a dark cave.