Safety Razor Appreciation

[DocDave]

So I smashed my bowl last week. Which wasn't such a big deal as I was wanting to purchase a different bowl for lathering. A quick trip to the Sally Ann and presto. New bowl for lathering.

I went with more of a deeper bowl with straight walls. As opposed to a more shallow bowl and wider walls. So far, I'm much happier with the new bowl.

Now I need to look at getting some more blades. The 100 I'd bought from West Coast Shaving are starting to come to an end. I'm not sure what I'll go with this time. The Gilette's were good, but maybe I can use something different/better.

[Geo]

Today's post on Best Posts of 2017 inspired me to revisit this thread. After a little research and suggestions from the Dappered forum, I bought a closed comb safety razor and sampler pack of blades from West Coast Shaving, a synthetic brush off Amazon and Cremo shaving cream as suggested by someone in this thread.

After making the switch I have seen a drastic reduction in razor burn on my neck. I still get it occasionally but nowhere near as bad as before. I also found that replacing aftershave with tea tree oil has helped a lot. Tea tree oil is a natural antiseptic and anti-inflammatory.

Now that I'm getting more comfortable with the razor, I'm looking for shaving cream recommendations to replace the Cremo that I've been using. Cremo isn't bad but I'm sure there are much better products out there. I'm looking for a shaving cream ideal for sensitive skin. Anyone have any suggestions?

[paintflinger]

Today's post on Best Posts of 2017 inspired me to revisit this thread. After a little research and suggestions from the Dappered forum, I bought a closed comb safety razor and sampler pack of blades from West Coast Shaving, a synthetic brush off Amazon and Cremo shaving cream as suggested by someone in this thread.

After making the switch I have seen a drastic reduction in razor burn on my neck. I still get it occasionally but nowhere near as bad as before. I also found that replacing aftershave with tea tree oil has helped a lot. Tea tree oil is a natural antiseptic and anti-inflammatory.

Now that I'm getting more comfortable with the razor, I'm looking for shaving cream recommendations to replace the Cremo that I've been using. Cremo isn't bad but I'm sure there are much better products out there. I'm looking for a shaving cream ideal for sensitive skin. Anyone have any suggestions?

Do you want to stick with brushless creams like Cremo or do you want suggestions for regular creams?

If the former, stick with Cremo (the Cooling Scent is my favorite) or Kiss My Face. There are not any better brushless creams.

As far as regular creams go, the best bang for you buck used to be the Unscented XPEC from Connaught, but nobody seems to be carrying XPEC anymore. Therefore, I'd go for Meißner Tremonia shaving paste. They have scented and unscented options available and their shaving soaps are really very good.

Finally, I would recommend that you really do not limit yourself to creams. The best shaves I've had were from shaving soaps. My top soap right now would probably be Cold River Soapworks Glide, but there are so many amazing soaps out there that creams really do not have much interest for me.

[Geo]

Do you want to stick with brushless creams like Cremo or do you want suggestions for regular creams?

If the former, stick with Cremo (the Cooling Scent is my favorite) or Kiss My Face. There are not any better brushless creams.

As far as regular creams go, the best bang for you buck used to be the Unscented XPEC from Connaught, but nobody seems to be carrying XPEC anymore. Therefore, I'd go for Meißner Tremonia shaving paste. They have scented and unscented options available and their shaving soaps are really very good.

Finally, I would recommend that you really do not limit yourself to creams. The best shaves I've had were from shaving soaps. My top soap right now would probably be Cold River Soapworks Glide, but there are so many amazing soaps out there that creams really do not have much interest for me.

I didn't realize Cremo was meant to be applied without a brush. I've been using a brush and getting decent results. I read that creams are better for beginners because they're easier to lather. I'm not opposed to soaps but figured I should get the technique down before advancing past a cream. Maybe I should start looking into better brushes and going with a soap instead. Thanks for the recommendations.

[bassoonguy]

Do you want to stick with brushless creams like Cremo or do you want suggestions for regular creams?

If the former, stick with Cremo (the Cooling Scent is my favorite) or Kiss My Face. There are not any better brushless creams.

As far as regular creams go, the best bang for you buck used to be the Unscented XPEC from Connaught, but nobody seems to be carrying XPEC anymore. Therefore, I'd go for Meißner Tremonia shaving paste. They have scented and unscented options available and their shaving soaps are really very good.

Finally, I would recommend that you really do not limit yourself to creams. The best shaves I've had were from shaving soaps. My top soap right now would probably be Cold River Soapworks Glide, but there are so many amazing soaps out there that creams really do not have much interest for me.

I really like Taylor of Old Bond Street. I use the Sandlewood scent and although its not specifically for sensitive skin I don't have any problems with it. I consider myself to have sensitive skin as before the switch I would get razor burn all the time on my neck. However, they do have a cream specifically for sensitive skin if you need it.
https://www.amazon.com/Taylors-Old-B...d+street&psc=1

[bassoonguy]

I didn't realize Cremo was meant to be applied without a brush. I've been using a brush and getting decent results. I read that creams are better for beginners because they're easier to lather. I'm not opposed to soaps but figured I should get the technique down before advancing past a cream. Maybe I should start looking into better brushes and going with a soap instead. Thanks for the recommendations.

How do you lather the soap as compared to the cream? I just put some of the cream on my brush and apply it directly to my face without the use of a mug first. I seem to get a pretty good lather that way and always think the soaps would be more work. Your post got me wondering if I should try.

[Geo]

How do you lather the soap as compared to the cream? I just put some of the cream on my brush and apply it directly to my face without the use of a mug first. I seem to get a pretty good lather that way and always think the soaps would be more work. Your post got me wondering if I should try.

I do the same as you. I apply directly to the brush and then brush it on my face. I've never used a soap, so obviously I'm no expert, but I read the reason creams are recommended for beginners is because soaps are more work. But it seems you get better results with soaps so I'm wondering if I should give it a try too.

[paintflinger]

I didn't realize Cremo was meant to be applied without a brush. I've been using a brush and getting decent results. I read that creams are better for beginners because they're easier to lather. I'm not opposed to soaps but figured I should get the technique down before advancing past a cream. Maybe I should start looking into better brushes and going with a soap instead. Thanks for the recommendations.

There is a version meant to be used with a brush, it comes in a tub, but I am assuming you're using the stuff in the tube. You can lather either version with a brush, but it's easier to just rub it on your face with some water.

With regards to creams vs. soaps, I wouldn't actually call creams easier for beginners. The thing with creams is that they already have a high moisture content so you don't have to add much to get the right lather. With soaps, you need to add more water (typically, it does vary though) and in general you need to add it slowly if you want your lather to be extremely hydrated. That said, you need to know with either soaps or creams when you've got it correctly hydrated so I've never really understood why creams are considered "better" for beginners. Especially with the new artisan soaps, which seem to lather if you look at them funny. If you want soap suggestions, I've personal experience with the majority of the products on the market at all price ranges, so feel free to ask away.

How do you lather the soap as compared to the cream? I just put some of the cream on my brush and apply it directly to my face without the use of a mug first. I seem to get a pretty good lather that way and always think the soaps would be more work. Your post got me wondering if I should try.

I guess in that regard its more work, but really only 10-30 seconds more for softer soaps and maybe 90 seconds more for very hard triple milled soaps. The nice thing is that as long as you are adding the water slowly and you've loaded enough soap, you can easily control the lather and maximize the hydration. If you want my thoughts on a particular soap, ask away. Lastly, I wouldn't ever recommend loading a soap from a mug. Much better to load it from the tub it comes in typically.

Some recommendations if you are looking to try soaps:

Cheap/Soft/Almost Top Tier/Easy to Get: Lisa's Natural Herbal Creations
Expensive/Soft/Top of the Line/Easy to Get: Cold River Soap Works Glide

There are plenty of others like Mike's, Mystic Waters, Meißner Tremonia, Nuavia, Grooming Dept., Tallow & Steele, etc., but those two are easy to get, lather, and leave the skin feeling great.

I really like Taylor of Old Bond Street. I use the Sandlewood scent and although its not specifically for sensitive skin I don't have any problems with it. I consider myself to have sensitive skin as before the switch I would get razor burn all the time on my neck. However, they do have a cream specifically for sensitive skin if you need it.
https://www.amazon.com/Taylors-Old-B...d+street&psc=1

I find TOBS to be very drying on the skin. I've used 1 tub of Mr. Taylor and 1/2 a tub of Grapefruit before I started trying other products and realized how drying it was for me. I've also used a full sized sample of the Sandlewood and a smaller sample of the peppermint scent, so I'd say I'm fairly experienced with how TOBS works. In general, I find all of the Creighton's produced creams (TOBS, Trumpers, etc.) to be very drying and overpriced for their performance.

[Geo]

Thank you for the insight @paintflinger. I'm going to sample Lisa's Natural Herbal Creations soap. Are there any in particular that you recommend? Also, should I upgrade to a natural badger hair brush? I'm currently using a cheap synthetic brush. I like that it dries fast but not sure if the bristles are stiff enough for a soap.

[paintflinger]

You'll be fine with the synthetic as Lisa's soaps are fairly soft and load easily. Even with something like DR Harris, as long as you bloom the soap, you'll be able to load easily. If you do upgrade to badger, I can suggest a few knots.

With regards to Lisa's soaps, just go with whichever scent you like, they all perform the same. Personally, I'm very partial to Lavender and cannot get enough of her Gentleman's Lavender.