Your approach to choosing soaps and creams

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!
brothers
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Your approach to choosing soaps and creams

Post by brothers »

1. One way to do it: Buy wildly and randomly, get it all and get it now (the shotgun approach)

2. Another way to do it: One at a time, use it, then get another one (the linear approach)

3. Maybe this is an alternative that might work for some of us: just get a few and use them exclusively for a set period of time. No more browsing and shopping. Just be happy with your chosen group. Then after the time runs out, out they all go and in comes the new group (the shopping/sampling approach)

The more I think about option 3, the more intrigued I am becoming. The benefit? I don't feel "married" to ANY of them. They're as good as gone at the end of the predetermined time. We know they're all good, some are just better than others, right guys? I get to play the field with no guilt. Along the way, I can keep the chosen few for long term revisitation with no committment, but I'll always have new options. Something to consider.
Last edited by brothers on Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
loueedacat1
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Post by loueedacat1 »

3 becomes 1 after a little while. : )
brothers
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Post by brothers »

Having lived with the turmoil of number 1 for what seems like an eternity, number 3 starts to look like a very good option. It will require a certain amount of self control, but at the same time, it offers the prospect of a very satisfying sense of structured freedom.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
SiR-ed8

Post by SiR-ed8 »

Gary,

For me I believe it's a little bit of all 3:

I bought randomly ( didn't read reviews ) and sampled the product. If I was impressed with it I'd pick up my favourite scents from proprietor and stick with them for period of time. Call it hoarding. Then I'll try another type of soap/cream.

I've used in general at least 5 or so scents from each proprietor and stuck with those and didn't sample other scents bought for whatever the reason. Not to say other scents chosen were bad or even off putting, just didn't get it in my rotation. To remedy this I compiled a list so each will have fair amount of rotation.

I reckon I have enough to last 2 lifetimes based on my lathering method as well as smaller brushes. Come to think of it, it's better this way it would curtail my addiction or spending for that matter.
gsgo
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Post by gsgo »

This is a hard one to call...I like the premise of number 3, I can understand the compulsion of number 1 (been there, done that) and number 2 would take a noble and dedicated commitment.

The availability of product today and the chatter on our shaving forum and others definitely has a big bearing on demand and sales trends.

While I am stocked on only one soap (Gold Dachs Spezial) and one cream (Lucky Tiger Molle) I like to think of myself in the number 3 mode. Buy and try, if something stands out - then back it up and move along. I would also add that don't be afraid to revisit something after a period of time, I recently found this with Musgo Real, first go was sort of "uhmm" while a recent revisit has yielded very good results.

PS - I will add - ITDATM - In the den at the moment:

Soaps - Gold Dachs Spezial, Speick, Cella, Valobra
Cream - TOBS Mr. Taylors & Almond, Musgo Real, Nivea, Speick, Palmolive, Godrej, Lucky Tiger Molle, DRH Arlington

Recently Departed - DRH Arlington Soap, Proraso
Good shaving,

Gary
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jww
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Post by jww »

Easy for me -- if the label says Mitchells Woolfat, Trumpers Limes, Rose or Sandalwood, or Dr. Harris Lavender I am all in. So I suppose I gravitate to #3.
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Post by drumana »

For the first two years of wetshaving I did a variation on #1. I bought and tried a lot of soaps/creams, but based my purchases on what seemed popular with the gents on the forum(s) and my previous experiences. After trying a few dozen products I started to get an idea of what I liked.

From there I started selling off/giving away what didn't work for me and eventually wound up with about 4 or 5 soaps.

I'm open to trying new things now, but I don't have much urge. I've pretty much tried what I want and know what works for me and doesn't. There are still a few soaps that I know I'll be getting, but I'm in no rush. If for some reason I get back into shave creams I'll have more experimenting to do...
-Andrew-
notthesharpest
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Post by notthesharpest »

My method:
Read here, pick something I might like.

Buy it. Try it. Decide whether to sell or keep.

After finding favourites among the keepers, get extras of favourites.

End up with almost the same list as Wendell, but with more Harris and less Trumper.

The end. :wink:
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Post by Thalay Sagar »

For me, pretty much what Andrew and David said.
Best,
Chris

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GA Russell
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Post by GA Russell »

I've always been a number 3 man.

I have twice bought four soaps highly recommended by the group here, and I then spend the next year using them.

It means that there are some very highly regarded soaps I haven't tried yet, but it also means that I give each soap a trial of at least three months, so I can be confident that my appraisals are trustworthy.
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marsos52
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Post by marsos52 »

many years i had no clue there where quality soaps and creams
so canned goo, and williams where all i new of

then came smf...tried some samples and about 5 or 6 others and settled in with trumpers and mwf

im happy and dont need to search any farther

marc

what number is that??????
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Post by MitchOspa »

I guess I would experiment one at a time. For the most part, I used whatever my dad used back in the day. . .and whatever worked for him, actually worked for me.

Of course, I got kind of sick of barbasol and decided to stick try something else. Unfortunately (or fortunate -- depending on how you look at it), commercials did their magic and I purchased shaving creams/soaps based on how good the lather looked on TV. While it sucks that I'm a sucker for advertising, Old spice commercials did introduce me to their shaving cream -- which I'm now an avid fan of.
I don't do Tanning Beds. . . .I burn in 5 seconds.
brothers
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Post by brothers »

marsos52 wrote:many years i had no clue there where quality soaps and creams
so canned goo, and williams where all i new of

then came smf...tried some samples and about 5 or 6 others and settled in with trumpers and mwf

im happy and dont need to search any farther

marc

what number is that??????
Marc, I think that is the final stage that anyone might graduate into at any time, once the old adrenelin rush of the hunt is in the past, replaced by the warm and comfortable reassurance that we know where we are and how we got there, and we control where we'll be tomorrow, because we found what we were looking for.

But! For me, I'm letting go of old #1, knowing I've already been at #2 for those lost decades of shaving when it was all canned stuff, one after one, and I'm eager to get firmly hold of #3, so I can enjoy it as long as I want, then sooner or later I'll just know when I get ready to move to that final stage.
Gary

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ChemErik
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Post by ChemErik »

How about #4: Buy 4-6 soaps/cream and try them all for a period of time. Keep 1-2 favorites and buy more to create a new rotation. Repeat until you don't have any soaps/creams you're willing to give up to try something new.

So far, I have 2 I absolutely must keep: MWF and the Speick Shave Stick.
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Post by CMur12 »

At first, I bought soaps offered by vendors I knew - often their own brand name that sold at lower cost. As I got into this forum, I started buying soaps praised by my co-members.

I quickly recognized that many shaving soaps are heavily fragranced and have an aggressive effect upon my olfactory, so the quest turned to mildly scented, unscented, and EO scented soaps. My favorites are tallow-based, but others, such as Institut Karite, are also excellent.

Since each soap behaves a little differently, I have narrowed down my favorites to two or three and am now dedicated to getting to know them and their particular characteristics well.

- Murray
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Post by Tye »

When I first started this I bought soaps that other more experienced members recommended. Then I started finding what worked for me and have mostly gone from there. Every once in a while I wil llose my mind and buy something like Lush that was reviewed by Corey Greenberg even though I knoe that it's going to stink on ice.

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merkri
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Post by merkri »

Option 3 is what I generally do. Some run out before the others, though, so it sort of drifts to Option 2 in some sense.

I usually have two at a time. More than that and I can't cope.
brothers
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Post by brothers »

merkri wrote:Option 3 is what I generally do. Some run out before the others, though, so it sort of drifts to Option 2 in some sense.

I usually have two at a time. More than that and I can't cope.
Decisions, decisions! :lol:
Gary

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KAV
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Post by KAV »

The under or unemployed guide to selecting soaps.
When disposables became cost prohibitive I returned to DE.
A quick number crunch of X$ initial investment for 1 year proved longterm savings. I did not factor in X$ saved that would expand into this hobby and endanger another-eating.
A review of the forum revealed worthy performers in soap and blade.
Two soaps selected; Trumpers Rose and MWF. Trumpers given as gift to Nephew who uses a straight @ once a week.
MWF selected because lanolin improved skin health and @ 2/3rds the expense. $7 not spent= one month oatmeal and loose black tea for breakfast.
Relative cost is subjective to personal whim we call 'taste.'
brothers
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Post by brothers »

Chris, you went right to the top with your two soaps. Either one of those bad boys would suit just about everyone if they wanted to go to it everyday. What's next on the wishlist?
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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