Thread: Are soaps better then creams?

I am finding that as I progress both with the DE and the Straight that there is a noticeable difference between the cushion and glide I get with soaps and creams, namely that the soaps seem to always outperform the Creams.

So far for creams I've tried:
Trufitt and Hill:
1805
Grafton
Rose
Almond
Trafalgar

Castle & Forbes:
Lime

Art of Shaving:
Lavender
Sandalwood

Razorock:
Cacao

Poraso



For Soaps I have used

MWF (so far my favorite)

Tabac

TOBS Sandalwood

Casewell & Massey Eucalyptus



So far, I get a richer, creamier more cushioning lather with the soaps, is there some trick I am missing with the creams? Or is it just that soaps are more to my liking and I should just stick with it?

It will depend on your preferences, and may also vary based on your water, how you lather, the temp you lather at, your brush, etc. In general, a quality product is a quality product, and the rest depends on what you like.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

....In general, a quality product is a quality product, and the rest depends on what you like.

Yes, that sounds about right. There are great performers in both soaps and creams.
Given the various factors given by Dylan, it would be hard to say one is any better than the other. IMHO anyways

Hmm, interesting, I am just curious why it seems I get better results from soaps, maybe I need to go on a lather practice frenzy and really experiment with the creams. I love the scents but they just shave like crap

I use distilled water so I get great lather with soap and creams. I like using both so for me there is no clear winner.

I'm not sure what you're doing wrong, but it's all personal preference and one is not really "better" than the other as they both have their pros and cons. Next week we may very well get a "Are creams better than soaps" thread posted, who knows?

This is a great question. I use both soaps and creams.

I have not yet settled that question after two decades of use.

My experience is that there is a wide range of great and poor performance from several vendors.

Some cheap ones work great and some very expensive ones are a major rip off.

I love them both for different reasons and continue to use both soaps and creams.

The Van der Hagen soaps are solid performers. I favor the luxury unscented.

I have Proraso, Muhle and Edwin Jagger creams right now and I like them all.

I will never stop trying some new soap or cream just to keep expanding my experience.

Good luck and don't ever settle for one brand of soap or cream.

You would simply be depriving yourself of some of the finer points of the wet shaving journey.

Creams are not better than soaps, and soaps are not better than creams.
Soap or cream is a matter of personal preference, but to get best performance from either you need quality product as well as proper lathering technique.

Originally Posted by mainaman

Creams are not better than soaps, and soaps are not better than creams.
Soap or cream is a matter of personal preference, but to get best performance from either you need quality product as well as proper lathering technique.

I couldn't agree more with mainaman.

The only advantage of soaps over creams is that there may be a cost saving over time if one uses shaving soaps because in my experience they seem to last longer than creams.

When I first started straight razor shaving I read The art of the Straight Razor Shave by Christopher Moss. In that he said "Shaving creams for application with a brush are the Rolls Royces of the shaving world." so I initially bought creams rather than soaps. They've worked so well for me I haven't yet branched into soaps much. I know one thing is certain, I know a few really crap soaps but I don't know any really crap creams...