Question:
Hi everybody,
I've found a shop in my town in Italy, who sells original American shaving foams like Barbesol, Colgate and Noxema and Edge shaving gel.
The price is around 6 - 9 Euro.
Are these products really good or better than the European Noxema?
The seller claims the American cans have a bigger content by the same can size and the ingredients are better than average.
Does anyone know this? What to buy, Barbesol, Edge or Colgate?
Please advise and thank you in advance.
Hugs. W

Answer:
If what you've got works, don't let yourself be sold a bill of goods; after all, the man in the shop has a reason for wanting you to buy this stuff!
If what you're using is NOT working so well for you, the best advice I ever got on shaving (courtesy of a male friend) is that a thin layer of baby lotion (or similar) is THE best substance for shaving. Cheap, a bottle lasts forever, and it leaves the skin looking and feeling gorgeous.
I've tried various shaving products--including the ones you mention--that I've found in boyfriends' medicine cabinets. Stripping off the top layer of your skin with a soapy foam... beh. Not worth it.

Answer:
Wald, are you happy with gel and disposables/cartridges?
I ask because you can do so much better with a nice silvertip badger brush and some real cream or shaving soap and a decent DE razor.
Even if you don't, do you really dislike Proraso for some reason?
Here, i saw this a while back and sent a link to a friend, still got it:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6886845/

Answer:
Thank you very much for your opinions.
So, I'll stick to my old proraso cream (Euro 1,7) but I will try the baby lotion system.
I did know that brush + glycerin shaving cream is the best traditional way, but, as I am a lazy and sleepy boy, especially at 6.30 am, I need also an emergency quick shaving product and thought that Barbesol and similar products could be better than the usual booooring and ordinary Gillette gel...
As far as the blades, I'm pretty satisfied with the Gillette sensor 3 (no cuts, nicks, rashes, bumps and so on) and I left the ultra expensive Mach3, which isn't better.
Cheers. W

Answer:
Sounds pretty reasonable, Wald. Do what's right for you ... i tend to find it's worth an extra ten minutes on the days i feel like shaving to respect tradition and feel like i'm actually using a bit of technique in the ritual.
The Sensor's nice enough. I keep a Fusion around for occasions when i'm in a hurry and whatnot. Actually, i'm thinking of going to a straight razor because i learned that Feather makes DISPOSABLE STRAIGHTS. Oh happy day! It's mostly the sharpening and stropping i wasn't going to deal with ...
Ciao!

Answer:
While I tend to agree with CoTHukoB on how to shave (love the DE, brush and creams), I have to say it takes me a bit longer to do. But to me it's worth it.
If you want to try something to help your shave, you can try using some shave oil. Dermalogica and King of Shaves both make good products. In fact, King of Shaves makes some very good shaving gels that always worked better than the can shaving creams for me.
You can find out more about the line at http://www.shave.com/. I know they offer free samples in the U.S., but I'm not sure about elsewhere.

Answer:
That's pretty good advice, too. A major thing i would add/disagree with in that msnbc article is their recommendation of shaving AFTER showering. Not necessary - a nice two minute soak (or not even) will be just fine. Good lather's pretty key though. Proraso works very well for me, maybe due to water type.
Oh, don't shave in the shower! Imagine a straight razor slipping and falling out of your hand in that situation ... might lose something important.