Shave soap thoughts (and whatnot)

Tabac: Well, the price ain't bad. The smell... is... uh... yeah. I'm okay with the scent after having used it about 10 times, but it smells very "old man". That's not necessarily a horrible thing, honestly, but it IS something I had a hard time getting around at first. It's a good soap, does what it's supposed to do, and is very mild on my face. Good, productive lather (once I figured out how to get it to work). Also, it's pretty economical.

The other soap I've tried recently is discontinued - Crabtree and Evelyn's Sandalwood soap. I picked up a couple of pucks in wooden bowls from a B+B member along with a tube of C&E's Sienna cream, and I'm very glad I did. The sandalwood soap is incredible. Lathers up fairly easily and performs easily as well as any cream I've used. The scent, though, is what sets it apart. The scent is more subtle than most creams I've tried (Art of Shaving, I'm staring at you), but the cool thing is that the subtle scent lingers after the shave at exactly the right note. The girlfriend loved it.

Finally, a word about Sienna - I tried it today, and while the lather is very slick and the scent is awesome, it was a bit rough on my face. Might just be I'm too sensitive for the cream and one of the chemicals or scents involved just doesn't agree with me or somthing. That's a shame, though - it's a killer cream otherwise. I love the tube it comes in (and a TUBE KEY!), too. I'm debating holding onto the cream to try again another time.

Oh and FINALLY finally, a thank-you-shout-out to Mantic for the link. Mantic is the god of wet shaving. Go read his site and watch all of his vids. 3 times. At least.

Been a little while, so HEYA!

Right then. Status updates, thoughts, yadda yadda.

It's been a while. I think I've found some specific "go-to" shaves that have changed a bit.

First off, Proraso is still my hands-down favorite. Green OR red tube. Also, I've tried their aftershave splash - and WOW. Incredibly soothing. Highly recommended.

Second, I'm onto feather blades permanently. They work very nicely with my superspeed - turns out that the problems I've had in the past are mostly due to technique. Now that I know what I'm doing, I can shave quickly and without irritation, and the shaves last 36 hours before looking unacceptable... which means I can shave less if I want to - leading to less irritation and whatnot.

Third, soaps: I've begun to like using some soaps in the rotation, though nothing has the slickness of Proraso's cream. QED's fresh limes is probably my favorite, but there are good things that can be said of others. Tabac, in particular, works pretty well, though the scent is... kinda old-mannish, I guess. I'm not a big fan of it, but it DOES fade immediately after the shave.

Fourth - Speick. I tried Speick shaving cream again and have decided that I like it. The scent is a bit off-putting, but it's a very soothing cream that lubes the skin wonderfully.

I'll update again when I remember to. :)