The razor blades are intentionally hidden from view in the packaging.
This is the back of the package. https://i.imgur.com/UMK0a4g.jpeg
The razor blades are intentionally hidden from view in the packaging.
This is the back of the package. https://i.imgur.com/UMK0a4g.jpeg
Sounds like you have it all figured out for yourself.
I use artisan shave soap because they work extremely well and smell awesome. Commercial soap also works well, but there isn’t as much variety in the smell department. I have a handful of brushes and I use whichever one I feel like on a given day. They all offer something unique.
I use aftershave for the same reason you mentioned. Aloe sounds like it’d be sticky and unpleasant for my skin type.
Soap is soap. I make my own soap from only 3 ingredients: lard (that I process from bacon grease, instead of throwing it out, and no it doesn’t smell like bacon once it’s been processed into pure lard), lye, and water; no fragarance or colors, and it’s one of the best soaps I have ever used (except for an old homemade powder soap that had borax in it, that stuff works miracles for cutting away the grease, dirt, and oil on my hands after working on the car. I wish I had the recipe). I make a years supply in one batch.
BUT enjoy what you like, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying stuff. Mixing up fancy potions in a bowl with a brush sounds fun, but in wet shaving spaces online, people seem to lose their minds acting like this is what you NEED to do just to shave hair off your face
If it’s the best soap you’ve ever used, that would negate the claim that soap is soap. I’m happy you’ve found something you like.
There are always people in all hobbies that think it’s their way or the highway (no offense, but your comments have that tone to them).
I try to avoid that and just share what I enjoy.
One of the biggest things I hear is “cartridges cause irritation and DE razors don’t!”. That is 100% false and I disagree with it. Still, I love using DE razors and would recommend them to anyone interested in “enjoying” shaving.
Disagree, the difference is that there is stuff in it that isn’t soap… in the case of that powder soap being superior, it is the added borax that acts as a great detergent, but probably not something you want to use on your skin regularly. And sure, there can be different ratios of water to fats in soap or different fats (lard, tallow, olive oil, beeswax, etc) that do not saponify fully (no soap should be 100% saponified or it would be possible that there is still lye in it that was not used up in the chemical reaction) and give the product different qualities, but the soap in it is still just soap. Or it could be sodium hydroxide lye vs potassium hydroxide lye to make solid vs liquid soap, respectively.
My comments are not really meant to be about hobbies but BS products marketed from massive corporations that are just adding more to our mountain sized landfills.
RE: BS products from massive corporations, I’m with you for sure.
RE: soap is soap - there are lots of different types of soap. Each type of fat has differing amounts of loric acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, etc. Lard makes a soap that’s a good firmness (not too soft, not too hard), not very cleansing (so it won’t dry your skin out, but also won’t do much hard cleaning), very conditioning, not very bubbly, but very creamy. Other fats/oils yield much different results. Soaps with a lot of coconut oil are very cleansing, so they’ll dry your skin out. Your soap sounds like it could be used daily without any problems.
So, I disagree that soap is soap. Soap that’s made specifically for shaving typically has a lot of added stearic acid, because no natural fats have enough natural stearic acid to produce a really stable lather that won’t dissipate during the shave. Most use a lot of beef tallow, but there are also a lot of vegan options.