We regularly hear from our customers that they have been suffering from razor burn during or after shaving for years. They have already used a bit of everything: shaving foam from a can, shaving gel and shaving soap. After yet another bad shaving session, people desperately buy the well-known shaving soap in the yellow plastic container at the drugstore or supermarket. You would expect that a shaving soap brand with a history of more than 400 years should do its job well. Even after using this shaving product, the shave is disappointing. Grumbling, it disappears into the trash. In this blog we explain what bad and good shaving soaps are.
Why are there bad shaving soaps for sale?
Because men are more concerned with their appearance and shave regularly, you now see various trendy brands also developing and marketing shaving soap. This often concerns so-called sustainable environmentally and skin-friendly care and soap brands. These brands also want to get in on the action and therefore also sell shaving soap for shaving. Or it concerns well-known major perfume and retail brands that put a popular men's fragrance in a shaving soap. You or your partner will buy this product with great enthusiasm. After one shave you will come home from a rude awakening.
Usually these shaving soaps are actually regular hand or bath soaps, but in a round shape. These brands put regular soap in a can or cardboard box and stick a mustache or beard on it.
There are also some well-known cosmetic brands or cosmetic store chains that sell a cream as a classic shaving cream. It usually involves a thick cream that you have to apply and distribute by hand. These shaving products do not produce shaving foam. Applying with water and a shaving brush does not work with these products.
How do you recognize a bad shaving soap?
To recognize a bad shaving soap, you first need to know what a good shaving product should do. A shaving cream is creamy and comes in a tube or a jar. A classic shaving soap has a hard composition, always has a round shape and comes in a jar. Both should be foamed and applied with warm water and a shaving brush.
Good shaving products do the following:
- retain water and do not dry out, causing the beard hairs to absorb water and become softer;
- produce a full-fat creamy protective shaving foam to protect the skin and allow the razor to glide comfortably over the skin;
- care and nourish the skin while shaving, prevent irritations during and after shaving and provide a pleasant after-shave feeling on the skin.
Soap is made by reacting vegetable or animal oils and/or fats (triglycerides) (the saponification process) with a lye, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. These soaps have a high pH value and degrease your skin. That is of course logical because a regular hand soap should clean your skin. Shaving soaps and shaving creams are over-greasy soaps and contain proportionately more oils and fats. They also contain various caring oils, such as Argan oil, Shea butter and Castor oil. Shaving products should nourish your skin and protect it from the razor.
Bad shaving products do the exact opposite. The well-known shaving soap in the plastic container foams up very quickly but also dries very quickly. You apply it to the skin and after a few seconds the foam dries. What remains is a dry white 'cake' on your skin. While shaving, you should reapply the shaving foam 2 or 3 times with the shaving brush. Some other drugstore brands also have shaving soaps that dry very quickly after application. Instead of a creamy shaving foam, these shaving products produce a weak, thin shaving foam with large air bubbles. Soon after application, the shaving foam on your face disappears.
The fake shaving soaps usually have exactly the same composition and recipe as regular hand soap. Instead of nourishing and caring, they have a strong dehydrating effect. After shaving you often suffer from dry, tight skin. Or a burning, scratchy feeling and red spots around the mouth, cheeks and neck area. Every day we hear complaints from customers that after shaving with the cheap shaving soap from the supermarket, they suffer from chapped skin all morning. People often think that they have sensitive skin and therefore quickly suffer from razor burn. But it is not the skin at all, the problem is the aggressive and skin-unfriendly shaving soap or shaving foam.
What are good shaving soaps?
A good shaving soap and shaving cream foams up easily with water and shaving brush and provides a smooth, fresh and comfortable shave:
- the foam sticks well to the face;
- retains sufficient water for a long time;
- makes the beard hairs soft;
- protects the skin;
- provides good slick and protection;
- and finally it prevents razor burn after shaving.
A good shaving soap and shaving cream feels greasy and contains various oils and fats, such as coconut oil, Argan oil and Castor oil. These ingredients retain water well, provide sufficient foam and a firm, stable compact shaving foam and nourish and care for the skin. The greasy film on the skin ensures that the razor blades do not sit directly on the skin but glide smoothly over the skin. After shaving you will have little to no trouble with dry, tight skin. The freshly shaved skin feels pleasant.
Of course, everyone should know for themselves which shaving product they use. And if you don't have that much to spend, you can quickly grab a super cheap shaving soap in the supermarket. But it is of no use to you if you are slippery and then walk around with skin irritations all day long. In this case a good example of cheap is expensive.
