So at first I thought that shave soap was a replacement for shaving cream - but now I'm not sure, and I don't see a thread on it, so I thought I'd ask:
What exactly is shave soap for? Are you supposed to actually shave with it, or just clean your face with it and shave with cream?
I suspect you can shave with it, since it sometimes comes in bowls.
Shave Soap purpose?
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BeatlesFan
- Posts: 935
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- Location: USA
I note that you are a relative newcomer here, so welcome.
Shave soap is for shaving. It is NOT intended as a "pre-shave wash." Rather, you scrub the puck of soap with a brush, and then develop a lather.
There is a range of styles about how and where to work up the lather, but here's some general pointers:
1) Most guys seem to feel that they do best by first soaking the brush, then draining it (either upside down, or perhaps squeezing it out gently).
2) You can then scrub the brush over the soap puck until the brush is loaded. How many scrub swirls you need depends on a lot of factors (water softness, type of soap, type of brush, etc.), but I generally work the puck for a few dozen swirls.
3) In the next step you have choices. You can lather in a bowl. You can lather in the palm of your non-brush hand. Or you can lather directly on your face. In any case, the goal is to develop a nice thick lather.
4) Note that, during lather development, you made need to add back in a few drops of water to get it to work up well.
All this takes some practice and experimentation. It's well worth it however; there are some lovely soap products out there that deliver outstanding shaves.
You might take a look at some of the sticky posts in the "Soaps and Creams" section about lathering.
Good luck with your shaving, and feel free to ask any shaving questions here.
Shave soap is for shaving. It is NOT intended as a "pre-shave wash." Rather, you scrub the puck of soap with a brush, and then develop a lather.
There is a range of styles about how and where to work up the lather, but here's some general pointers:
1) Most guys seem to feel that they do best by first soaking the brush, then draining it (either upside down, or perhaps squeezing it out gently).
2) You can then scrub the brush over the soap puck until the brush is loaded. How many scrub swirls you need depends on a lot of factors (water softness, type of soap, type of brush, etc.), but I generally work the puck for a few dozen swirls.
3) In the next step you have choices. You can lather in a bowl. You can lather in the palm of your non-brush hand. Or you can lather directly on your face. In any case, the goal is to develop a nice thick lather.
4) Note that, during lather development, you made need to add back in a few drops of water to get it to work up well.
All this takes some practice and experimentation. It's well worth it however; there are some lovely soap products out there that deliver outstanding shaves.
You might take a look at some of the sticky posts in the "Soaps and Creams" section about lathering.
Good luck with your shaving, and feel free to ask any shaving questions here.
Your first thought is correct, shave soap is a replacement for shaving cream. The lather generated from a high-quality shave soap can be very similar to that of a shave cream, the only difference is the lather has a little less cushion. While there are some members who use creams or soaps exclusively, most of us here have both in our rotation.
Clint
Clint
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notthesharpest
- Assistant Dean SMFU
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