As for soaps, there are so many different kinds out there that it may be too hard to truly say which is best. I have two really strong recommendations here that I would like to share. First are Mama Bear's soaps which are made by a woman in Wisconsin and are really great. Most of them are scented which I do not recommend for someone with sensitive skin like Rydub, but they do come in a variety of scents and they have a really strong following. I have used Aged Spice, Rosemary Mint, and Marauder's Citrus.
http://mamabearssoaps.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1
I have recently tried the Van der Hagen's luxury line of soaps and think they are the best bang for the buck. They are available from Amazon and work great and are super popular at the moment.
http://www.amazon.com/Van-Hagen-Luxury-Scented-3-5-Ounces/dp/B004L4AMIG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1323491310&sr=8-5
Now how does one apply soap? I had been using a bowl to mix the lather, but now I am directly applying to the face. I bought a few vintage Old Spice shaving mugs on Ebay.
But how does one get the soap in there? For the Van der Hagen's soap, I just simply put the soap in the mug and that was that. If you go to a soap like Mama Bear's, then you can melt the soap in the microwave for a few seconds (slower the better) and pour it in to your mug. I usually pour a little bit of hot water into the shave mug and get an initial lather in the mug with my brush. This lather will be extremely wet which is the point. You should then apply this hyper wet lather to your face with the brush and begin to lather directly on the face. Your skin soaks up moisture very well and the lather will begin to thicken while your face becomes hydrated. The water that was in the shave mug will dry out and won't affect the soap at all. Take a look at this video for more thoughts.
Now what do you use for a post/pre shave? There are several schools of thought here. For an aftershave, the cheapest and most readily available solution is the nivea sensitive skin shave balm. The sensitive skin is more moisturizing than the regular version and is recommended highly. Definite all time great product. I use witch hazel (Thayer's Rose Witch Hazel btw) after the shave to clean my skin before I apply shave balm. As for pre shaving, a few drops of oil like olive/grapeseed/almond/apricot is very popular. Another internet favorite is Proraso Pre/Post shave lotion which I have read is a lot like Noxzema is terms of smell. I have asked for it for xmas. One other thing the pros recommend is an alum bar. You run the bar over your face after a shave and it helps to close any nicks and cuts you may have incurred during the shave. Very soothing. You can find these products here and I highly recommend this website.
http://thesuperiorshave.com/Shaving_Creams.html
For general shaving product reviews badger and blade is an amazing resource.
http://badgerandblade.com/
I think i came a little.
ReplyDeleteA lot of this stuff i already do/use so that makes me feel good. I started using the nivea sensitive skin balm a couple years ago and i've never looked back. Amazing stuff.