I'm a newbie who wants to get away from the highway robbery of "high end" cartridges and the lacerations of cheapo cartridges. So with time on my hands I've reviewed a bunch of you-tube videos and various "review and ranking" posts on DE shaving to find what DE equipment might deliver a great shave at a reasonable price.
I started with the "Side by Side Test of 10 Top-Rated Blades" here:
http://ift.tt/21fbHRe
With proviso that there is a degree of uniqueness to each person as to technique and what they find comfortable, after multiple side-by-side tests, Derby Extra and Astra Super Platinum were the best blades for me...
NOW, on to find the best soaps. I have a closet-full, mostly selected from the "review and ranking" recommendations. The first test today is Tabac vs. Zi Peppino from RazoRock. The test is done with a Derby Extra blade in a Merkur 34-c razor. Both soaps were whipped up with a boar brush in a warmed scuttle. The shaves were basically 3-passes and a light touch-up, I re-wetted and re-lathered before each pass.
Closeness: Have to give this to Tabac. The ZP just left significant patches of un-shaven stubble here and there, especially central cheek.
Comfort and nicks: dead even. Neither side of my face felt the least bit irritated after the shave. I attribute that at least in part to the Derby, which has remarkable comfort noted in the 10-blade shave competition. Very few as in no nicks on the face, and one nick on each side on my neck.
Lubricating: Clearly to ZP. After one pass that removed a swath of Tabac I couldn't comfortably go back and re-shave that area much, it was just too dry. But the Tabac made up for it by first-swath closeness. In contrast the ZP left my face more wet and moisturized and it was comfortable to go back over a shaved swath multiple times on the ZP side. I was thrilled with this while shaving, but a bit disappointed it didn't render greater closeness.
Scent: Both are fair, nothing not to like, but scent is going to be a very distant selection variable until I boil this test down to the final 3 or 4 soaps. Until then, Closeness is #1, followed by Comfort and Nicks.
Winner of first qualifier: Tabac. It will move on to the Quarter-Finals.
Side-by-Side tests of "Top Rated" Shaving Soaps
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