What is the most slippery cream/soap around?

What is your opinion on fine shaving creams and hard soaps? Do you like Trumpers, Coates, Taylors, Truefitt & Hill? Post your reviews and opinions here!
User avatar
FiReSTaRT
As straight as they come
Posts: 612
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2006 9:06 am
Location: Toronto

Post by FiReSTaRT »

I'd go with any TGQ soap. Colleen adds sick amounts of bentonite and kaolinite clays to give the best glide in the biz.
"The downfall of any system of government is that it is run by humans." -- Ilija Milicevic
User avatar
DavidB
Posts: 1722
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2005 11:43 am
Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Post by DavidB »

bernards66 wrote:Doug, Well, the QED soap is a good case in point. It has little cushion, little lubrication, so it cuts very 'fast'. Something like Cremo Cream, or even Nancy Boy has a lot of lubrication and cushion, and cuts much 'slower'.
Gordon, could you explain what you mean by cushion and lubrication? To my mind, lubrication makes things glide easier and faster (e.g., the lubricant that Chevy Chase applied to the snow dish in "Christmas Vacation"). But you say that creams with little lubrication cut faster than those with more.

And could you explain the relationship between cushion and lubrication, and give some examples of creams that have one or the other attribute (or both)?

Dave
User avatar
ScottS
Posts: 3440
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:39 am

Post by ScottS »

Easiest to go by example.

For a soap that offers lubrication with not much in the way of cushioning, Gold Dachs/Rivivage reigns supreme for me. In fact, I tend not to use it on a brand new Feather blade.

For something that offers cushioning and lubrication, Mitchell's Wool Fat is a great example. In fact, the way I've been mixing it up lately, it's TOO CUSHIONING for use with a DE, but the Feather AC laughs at the lather and makes it disappear. I need to add a bit more water to use it with a DE.

Absolutely everything we use should be lubricating enough to shave with comfortably, unless we add too much water, or whip it into something as stiff as a meringue. For some products, its easier to do this with than others. For me, for example, Eshave products get very stiff unless I take care. Aside from this, though, I don't worry too much about how lubricating a product is.
User avatar
DavidB
Posts: 1722
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2005 11:43 am
Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Post by DavidB »

Thanks, Scott. So by "too much cushioning" you mean that the blade doesn't really get down to the whiskers to get the job done?

Dave
User avatar
ScottS
Posts: 3440
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:39 am

Post by ScottS »

Pretty much.
User avatar
rustyblade
Shaving Paparazzo
Posts: 10472
Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:27 pm
Location: Ontario

Post by rustyblade »

Scott, you are correct. I sometimes forget when I'm about to use a DE (which is probably why I mentioned above that slickness doesn't matter). I make a lather with Mitchell's you could stand a spoon in, but then have trouble getting the razor to cut at all. It just goes over the skin and clogs the razor quickly. Perfect for the Feather AC though, you are right there.

Yes, slickness is needed for a DE mainly due to all the extra metal touching your skin and for the comfort factor.
Richard
bernards66
Duke of Silvertip!
Posts: 27393
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:02 pm

Post by bernards66 »

Dave, Yeah, that's pretty much it. A lather that cuts 'fast' means there's little in the way of a protective layer between the blade and your skin. Using just water is the fastest cut of all, but, the blade will tend to skip, and you'll probably get irritation, as there is no lubrication and no protection. Lather from shave soaps, like those opaque glycerine numbers have more water and less lubrication, hence they cut fast or close, but don't have much cushion. Heavy brushless creams work on lubrication entirely, no water. So they cut very slow, ie, not very close. If you don't believe me, try one of the Kiehl's creams some time ( chuckle ). So, either end of this spectrum could be considered as 'slippery' or 'slick', depending on how one is defining or understanding those terms. This is why I, personally, don't like to use them; too ambiguous.
Regards,
Gordon
User avatar
ScottS
Posts: 3440
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:39 am

Post by ScottS »

rustyblade wrote:Scott, you are correct. I sometimes forget when I'm about to use a DE (which is probably why I mentioned above that slickness doesn't matter). I make a lather with Mitchell's you could stand a spoon in, but then have trouble getting the razor to cut at all. It just goes over the skin and clogs the razor quickly. Perfect for the Feather AC though, you are right there.

Yes, slickness is needed for a DE mainly due to all the extra metal touching your skin and for the comfort factor.
The first time I noticed this, BTW, was with the Valobra Shave stick. I was on the road with a DE, as I was flying with no checked baggage. I pulled the shave stick from my kit, worked up a lather with the SMF III (my first SMFIII/Valobra Shave stick combo), and pretty much couldn't get blade to face until I added much more water. Fine shave, though, with the Feather.

For some reason, lathers this thick with a cream aren't the same experience.
User avatar
Risky
Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:39 am
Location: Scotland

Post by Risky »

Monsavon Shaving Cream
James R
bernards66
Duke of Silvertip!
Posts: 27393
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:02 pm

Post by bernards66 »

James, Yeah, I've heard that it's good, and their hard shave soaps too, but they are basically unavailable in North America. Someone was going to send me one of their soaps, but he never got around to it.
Regards,
Gordon
CMur12
Posts: 7461
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2006 8:41 pm
Location: Moses Lake, Washington, USA

Post by CMur12 »

QED soap has been mentioned a couple of times in this thread.

My main soaps are T&H Luxury, Mitchell's Wool Fat, and QED Lime. I find with the QED that I get a closer shave, with possibly less irritation than I do from the others.

This would be in agreement with the premise that QED is "fast-cutting." On the other hand, it doesn't seem less protective than anything else I use. At the very least, it would have to have good lubricity for this result, and my impression is that it has some cushion as well.

I use about the same amount of water with the QED as I do with the other soaps (perhaps a tiny bit more), and I get a dense lather from all of them.

- Murray
Tryphon

Post by Tryphon »

Risky wrote:Monsavon Shaving Cream
Thsi is new, very old stock MOnsavon (about 25 years old!!!).
I was already collecting shaving stuff back then!

Image
therealjackhammer
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:58 pm

Re: What is the most slippery cream/soap around?

Post by therealjackhammer »

I have used the Billy Jealousy Hydroplane super slippery is the absolute for slick performance. I have never had anything that dropped the coefficient of friction as much as this product. It is expensive but a dime sized dab will shave the toughest beard. Hope this helps!
CMur12
Posts: 7461
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2006 8:41 pm
Location: Moses Lake, Washington, USA

Re: What is the most slippery cream/soap around?

Post by CMur12 »

Welcome to SMF, therealjackhammer!

- Murray
Post Reply