"I like creams because soaps are harder to use"

I see this come up a lot, especially from newbies who start with a tub of TOBS or tube of Proraso and then branch out into soaps. With all the gear and "methods" brought up here, I can see why it might be confusing, but it's really not harder to use a soap. What it is is 30 seconds longer.

Here's how I just explained it to a newbie friend of mine, and I could see the lightbulb turn on above his head, so I'll share here.

Take a step back to that tub of cream. To use it, you get some of that cream out of the tub into your brush. Doesn't matter if you're dipping your brush, scooping with a finger and placing it into the brush, or scooping with a finger and placing it on your face (and then into your brush when you lather). You're extracting concentrated shaving cream from a container and then lathering it, in a bowl or on your face.

For soap, you can't just dip your brush. For all but the softest ones, you can't easily scoop with a finger and load up the brush. But one way or another, what you're really trying to do is the same thing you did above: load up that brush with concentrated shaving cream. Think of brush-loading, in the context of a soap, as getting some unlathered shaving cream from that puck.

(I think this is where some newbs get confused, having seen the old-fashioned mugs with a soap puck at the bottom, and grandpa building a lather right in there. Let's simplify for now. Don't do this.)

So whether you're using a damp brush or a wetter brush, a harder puck or a softer croap, all you're really trying to do in step 1 is make that same TOBS/Trumper/Proraso/AOS cream from your soap. It should take about 30 seconds, give or take--don't be shy about loading up that brush. Once your brush is loaded up (with what some call "protolather," and what I'll call "shaving cream"), you're now at exactly the same step you were when you dipped that brush into your TOBS. Step 2: Build a lather in your bowl or on your face just like you do with a cream.

Hope this helps!

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"I like creams because soaps are harder to use"