Bar soap vs shaving cream

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The use of regular soap as shaving soap has previously come up. Not too long ago I mentioned that regular soap leaves residue on the blades while shaving soap rinses more cleanly. To back up my claim I ran a test. 5 shaves over the course of 5 days with shaving cream, starting with a new blade, and 5 shaves also over 5 days using bar soap. I used that confiscated bar of Dr. Bronner's soap I recently found. I used the same adjustable DE razor at the same settings and I used the same number of passes with each blade. The razor was thoroughly rinsed under warm, running water to clean it after every use. I shook off excess water and let the razor airdry between uses airdry. Neither blade was removed, turned over, or cleaned manually at any point.

On the left you see a new and unused blade for comparison. The blade in the middle was used with shave cream. The blade in the right was used with bar soap. The blade that was used with shave cream has less soap residue and shows less corrosion with the antirust coating remaining in better condition.

razorbladetest.jpg
 
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I mentioned that regular soap leaves residue on the blades while shaving soap rinses more cleanly.
What's the issue with residue? And I see some white residue on the new blade as well. And those look like blades from the 60's. Does anyone still use that style instead of the multi-blade cartridges that have been out for 30 years?
 
Depends on the water, but real lye bar soap will typically leave soap scum unless somehow you're using distilled water. For that matter, liquid soap will also leave soap scum.

What kind of shaving cream? Barbasol doesn't have any soap ingredients. There's a little bit of detergent.

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For the test I used Trumper Sandalwood shaving cream. It doesn't matter if you use a puck of shaving soap or cream. You get less residue than you do with either liquid soap or bar soap. I've never come across any aerosol shaving cream or gel that I liked. Water quality does matter. We have very soft water and scale buildup is virtually non-existent.
 
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What's the issue with residue? And I see some white residue on the new blade as well. And those look like blades from the 60's. Does anyone still use that style instead of the multi-blade cartridges that have been out for 30 years?
Residue is disgusting. A breeding ground for bacteria. The residue makes the blade less slippery and hastens corrosion. The white stuff on the new blade is protectant, probably wax, they put on the blades before wrapping them individually. The coating glues the blade to the wrapper so that the edge of the blade does not rub against the wrapper. Most blades have such coatings. Personna and at least some Merkur blades are free of any coating. Many people use DE razors. Less costly and superior with less waste than multi-bladed disposable razors, they still are in production. I'm using my dad's old razor. It's older than I am.

Does anybody here use a straight razor, and if so, do you use it on yourself? 🩸
 
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Is the bar soap blade duller?
That's difficult to gauge. It doesn't glide as smoothly as the cleaner blade. How smoothly the blade glides is probably more important than how sharp a blade is. Feather blades are among the sharpest blades which is why many people avoid them. A week old Feather blade is probably still sharper than many other brand new blades.
 
For the test I used Trumper Sandalwood shaving cream. It doesn't matter if you use a puck of shaving soap or cream. You get less residue than you do with either liquid soap or bar soap. I've never come across any aerosol shaving cream or gel that I liked. Water quality does matter. We have very soft water and scale buildup is virtually non-existant.

I get really soft water too. I used to check water softness for an aquarium setup, and it was quite soft without being excessively so. But all it takes is a little bit of magnesium/calcium for soap scum. I did look up what soap scum is, and it's the result of calcium and magnesium ions interacting with stearic acid in soap. So if there's stearic acid in many commercial shave creams in a can, but that will be in a mixture that contains mineral free water.

I also looked up your product, and here's the ingredient list. You know what that is? It's mostly soap. However, I'm guessing you're not wetting it with tap water.

gft-sandalwood-ingredients_2048x2048.jpg
 
The word "soap" is an alien concept to me. I have semi-hard water and don't use "soap" for anything. It's detergent instead, and razor blades, the key is shake/dry all water off so it doesn't rust the edge.

I've never had anything close to the pictures you posted. Maybe I lost interest and stopped reading too soon but otherwise, if my blades looked like that, it means I needed to replace them weeks ago.
 
What's the issue with residue? And I see some white residue on the new blade as well. And those look like blades from the 60's. Does anyone still use that style instead of the multi-blade cartridges that have been out for 30 years?

Those are apparently still in production even though they have an old-fashioned label.


And Gillette still makes traditional double-edged blades, although they don't come in that special container where a new blade slides out. It has a distinctly retro look to it.

DEBlades_v04_D1-sm__91191.1604988004.jpg

Then there's this:


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I see where you might get the wrong idea by looking at the picture. The edges look dark on all blades, including the unused one. That's a trick of the reflective nature of the edges. Even the blade on the right does not have rusty edges. I was trying to show how shaving soap leaves less residue on the blades compared to regular soap. I'll try and shoot the edges in better light tomorrow. I wonder if I should have removed the wax coating before running the test.
 
One does not shave with soap, one shaves with lather. ;)

Chuck that Williams hockey puck soap and get some Taylor of old Bond Street, Proraso, Cella or the like and whip up some lather, preferably with a real badger hair brush.
 
Just use body wash from Dollar Tree and five blade Walmart blades that I change monthly. Just dry ;em off on a towel, I've even gotten two months per blade. Not as cheap as skinflint Clark Howard who mentioned on his podcast that he switches blades when daylight savings time comes and goes. I've got some shaving cream around here someplace but it was harder on the blades than my body wash. Keep the blade dry and it'll last.
 
Here are the same blades, shot in brighter lighting with the blades angled so the edges don't look black. If you look at the unused blade on the left, its very left edge looks actually black from this particular angle. The blade in the middle, which was used with shaving cream looks considerably better than the one on the right that was used with regular soap. In this image it's also easier to see the glop of wax on the new blade on the left. My concern was never with the edges. They are subject to friction and remain clean throughout the life of the blade. It's the body of the blade that accumulates more or less residue based on the soap used.



I just noticed the blade on the right was flipped in the above image. Here's another image with every blade showing the same side as in the original image. Oops, I left a partial print on the waxy stuff. The filthiest areas near the edge are the four contact points with the razor head. The contact points are bare brass because the chrome plating has worn off a long time ago. Every time I adjust the setting on the razor there is a bit wear on those contact points and on the blade.

 
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I use EDGE sensitive shave cream with Schick Xtreme 3 sensitive razors.
I used to use the Edge green gel. And that crap really left a ton of residue all over the inside and outside of my razor. (Standard double edge). So much so I had to clean it with a toothbrush and Softsoap once a week.

I switched to the cheapest Barbasol Shaving Cream I could find, and it leaves zero residue. Shaves better too.
 
If you're adding tap water to create a lather with real soap, it going to leave a little bit of soap scum. Now I'm not sure what the deal would be with the shave cream since that's also clearly soap, but that's only going to be rinsed off.
 
I used to use the Edge green gel. And that crap really left a ton of residue all over the inside and outside of my razor. (Standard double edge). So much so I had to clean it with a toothbrush and Softsoap once a week.

I switched to the cheapest Barbasol Shaving Cream I could find, and it leaves zero residue. Shaves better too.

I almost never bought Edge (might have bought it once), but I remember getting samples several times somewhere when I was a kid and older. I think they might have even just been mailed for some reason as a promotion. But even when I was too young to shave, I played around with the gel and always thought it was cool to see it expand once it was agitated. Then there was playing around with the vent at the bottom of the can. I would only eject the propellant through the vent hole.
 
If you're adding tap water to create a lather with real soap, it going to leave a little bit of soap scum. Now I'm not sure what the deal would be with the shave cream since that's also clearly soap, but that's only going to be rinsed off.
To you the blade in the middle does not appear to have less residue than the one on the right? I ran this test at home. Filtered tap water was used in the shower. I've been making the observation that regular soap or shower gel leaves more residue than proper shaving soap or cream for a long time. When I travel I use Proraso because it's convenient and no great loss if it disappears. Whenever I forget my shaving cream and I use some other soap/bodywash and I notice the buildup within a couple of days.
 
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