Best for sensitive skin - the most slick cream?
Best for sensitive skin - the most slick cream?
I have been using Taylor old bond Sandalwood and GEO trumper sandalwood cream. Wanted to try and venture out for something different. I really care about how slick it is on my skin - to be sure I get the less irritation. Suggestions?
Hmmm --- cold pour soaps tend to be very slick, but you won't get the cushioning you do with the TOBS and GFT creams. An tallow based soap will give great results so long as you don't have any allergies. Palmolive shave stick is about the cheapest soap out there -- why not give that a try? Or you could also get any one of the English brand soaps -- GTF, DR Harris, TOBS, MWF .... they are all very good.
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ShadowsDad
- Posts: 3121
- Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:13 am
- Location: Central Maine
You can get the effect you want from almost any soap or cream if you make it the way you want. Allow me to explain.
One way to make lather is to use a quantity of product and dilute it down with water and air to get lather. OK, no surprise there; everyone does that.
Another way to do the job and get what you want, is to use more product, add the same amount of water and air as above (NOT % wise, just the same quantity). What you have now is a fully hydrated lather that has far more of the good stuff in it, and correspondingly higher levels of slickness, and cushion. In short it has everything you're looking for. All you changed was technique. The lather should not be dry. You want it fully hydrated. What you are giving up is that instead of getting a quart of lather by adding all the water and air it can hold, you're holding back on the quantity produced and getting much higher quality. I haven't found a soap or cream that this won't work with yet; from Williams and ARKO to MdC. The amount of product required to get this varies all over the board between products, but the final result ia always what you described that you want.
You know it's right when the lather resembles yogurt or a butter cake icing. Yes, it'll be that dense.
FWIW, I have very soft water. You have what you have. I know of a gent in Nashville who uses very hard water to achieve this lather, but if you have difficulty get some distilled water and use it only for lather.
It's not the bow, it's the Indian.
I can suggest soaps up to and including >$50 soaps, but they all act the same as the inexpensive soaps and creams. That is, make them the way you want them to behave and they will. They vary in scents mostly, and super fatted content.
OK, if you still think it's the bow and not the Indian... MdC and Klar Seifen require far less product to achieve an ultralather, giving the illusion that they are slicker. But you can spend far less and get the same effect. A stick of ARKO will do what you want if you do as I wrote.
One way to make lather is to use a quantity of product and dilute it down with water and air to get lather. OK, no surprise there; everyone does that.
Another way to do the job and get what you want, is to use more product, add the same amount of water and air as above (NOT % wise, just the same quantity). What you have now is a fully hydrated lather that has far more of the good stuff in it, and correspondingly higher levels of slickness, and cushion. In short it has everything you're looking for. All you changed was technique. The lather should not be dry. You want it fully hydrated. What you are giving up is that instead of getting a quart of lather by adding all the water and air it can hold, you're holding back on the quantity produced and getting much higher quality. I haven't found a soap or cream that this won't work with yet; from Williams and ARKO to MdC. The amount of product required to get this varies all over the board between products, but the final result ia always what you described that you want.
You know it's right when the lather resembles yogurt or a butter cake icing. Yes, it'll be that dense.
FWIW, I have very soft water. You have what you have. I know of a gent in Nashville who uses very hard water to achieve this lather, but if you have difficulty get some distilled water and use it only for lather.
It's not the bow, it's the Indian.
I can suggest soaps up to and including >$50 soaps, but they all act the same as the inexpensive soaps and creams. That is, make them the way you want them to behave and they will. They vary in scents mostly, and super fatted content.
OK, if you still think it's the bow and not the Indian... MdC and Klar Seifen require far less product to achieve an ultralather, giving the illusion that they are slicker. But you can spend far less and get the same effect. A stick of ARKO will do what you want if you do as I wrote.
Brian
Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
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EL Alamein
- Posts: 3102
- Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:55 pm
For the most part I agree with Brian. To use his phrase "it's the Indian, not the bow".
He describes a technique for lathering that will get you what you want with just about any decent product and I have to concur that technique is king with lather. Once one has mastered the technique to be employed with any product worth it's salt one will achieve the cutting lather. After that it's all preference as to what product one gets the best performance from.
Most products these days (as well as in days gone past) get their superior slickness from glycerin. It's great because glycerin can make a bad lather better and help an excellent lather maintain it's excellence for longer without drying out. However some products do just fine without it and some of us prefer these because glycerin can be an irritant for some.
Personally, I find the products with little to no glycerin to produce "as good" or even superior lather to products with a generous amount of it. These products are almost exclusively hard soaps. Something about the lather they make with proper technique is superior in slickness and protection to me. Of course, ymmv so find what you like and use it in good health.
Chris
He describes a technique for lathering that will get you what you want with just about any decent product and I have to concur that technique is king with lather. Once one has mastered the technique to be employed with any product worth it's salt one will achieve the cutting lather. After that it's all preference as to what product one gets the best performance from.
Most products these days (as well as in days gone past) get their superior slickness from glycerin. It's great because glycerin can make a bad lather better and help an excellent lather maintain it's excellence for longer without drying out. However some products do just fine without it and some of us prefer these because glycerin can be an irritant for some.
Personally, I find the products with little to no glycerin to produce "as good" or even superior lather to products with a generous amount of it. These products are almost exclusively hard soaps. Something about the lather they make with proper technique is superior in slickness and protection to me. Of course, ymmv so find what you like and use it in good health.
Chris