Overrated Shaving Stuff

I hesitated about posting this thread. One of the best things about this forum is that everyone seems to play well with others. Civility obtains. 

Which leads me to believe we can have a civilized discussion about products that let us down, with the understanding that, when it comes to shaving, one man's Derby is another man's Feather. There simply is no one blade, soap, aftershave that will be perfect for everyone. So, with the caveat that we are to avoid rants, e.g., "I hate Tom, Dick, and Harry's Shaving Soap!!!!!! Anyone who likes it is a fool. Not only did it cut my face up, after I was done shaving it kicked my dog, stole our silver, and hopped a bus to Charlotte….", I'd be interested in seeing what people disliked. 

Finally, no need to iterate "In my opinion," and such. We know this is all opinion. 

I'll start. 

1. Catie's Bubbles LPV and Quatre Cent Vingt. These are two of Catie's most loved soaps. Chris Bailey, a trustworthy source, calls LPV the "Soap of the Gods." I do love my Catie's Ocean Grove. But these two made me feel like I was shaving with fire ants. 

2. XPEC. The more I use this the less impressed I am. It's a good product. But it's not worth the price. I'm not wild for the scent, which lingers, and I get as good performance from, say, Reef Point and Soap Commander and LPL, to name a few. 

3. ATT R1. I find the R1, which is supposed to be the middle of the road plate as far as aggression, harsh as hell. And my all-time favorite razor is the Feather AC, so I don't think I have an overly sensitive face. I love the M1 plate, which is supposedly mild, but feels a lot less mild than, say, my Merkur 34C. The good news is that, thanks to this site, I was able to trade my R1 for an M1, which will be my back up. And, to be fair, let me add that ATT razors are things of beauty. Wonderfully made, precise, just great. They ain't cheap but, in this case, you get what you pay for. And I know that many shavers have found whiskerless bliss with the R1. 

4. Trumper's Skin Food and Shaving Creams. The skin food just felt sort of sticky and didn't do much for me. The shaving creams were just okay. 

5. Razorock Aftershave Balms. Great strong fragrances, very good value in terms of how much you get for your money but, on me, they didn't do any soothing. And the ingredient list is full of those polysyllabic words that sound like they came from a lab run by Terminators. Sorry, Joe. I do like your soaps!!!

I hesitated about posting this thread. One of the best things about this forum is that everyone seems to play well with others. Civility obtains. 

Which leads me to believe we can have a civilized discussion about products that let us down, with the understanding that, when it comes to shaving, one man's Derby is another man's Feather. There simply is no one blade, soap, aftershave that will be perfect for everyone. So, with the caveat that we are to avoid rants, e.g., "I hate Tom, Dick, and Harry's Shaving Soap!!!!!! Anyone who likes it is a fool. Not only did it cut my face up, after I was done shaving it kicked my dog, stole our silver, and hopped a bus to Charlotte….", I'd be interested in seeing what people disliked. 

Finally, no need to iterate "In my opinion," and such. We know this is all opinion. 

I'll start. 

1. Catie's Bubbles LPV and Quatre Cent Vingt. These are two of Catie's most loved soaps. Chris Bailey, a trustworthy source, calls LPV the "Soap of the Gods." I do love my Catie's Ocean Grove. But these two made me feel like I was shaving with fire ants. 

2. XPEC. The more I use this the less impressed I am. It's a good product. But it's not worth the price. I'm not wild for the scent, which lingers, and I get as good performance from, say, Reef Point and Soap Commander and LPL, to name a few. 

3. ATT R1. I find the R1, which is supposed to be the middle of the road plate as far as aggression, harsh as hell. And my all-time favorite razor is the Feather AC, so I don't think I have an overly sensitive face. I love the M1 plate, which is supposedly mild, but feels a lot less mild than, say, my Merkur 34C. The good news is that, thanks to this site, I was able to trade my R1 for an M1, which will be my back up. And, to be fair, let me add that ATT razors are things of beauty. Wonderfully made, precise, just great. They ain't cheap but, in this case, you get what you pay for. And I know that many shavers have found whiskerless bliss with the R1. 

4. Trumper's Skin Food and Shaving Creams. The skin food just felt sort of sticky and didn't do much for me. The shaving creams were just okay. 

5. Razorock Aftershave Balms. Great strong fragrances, very good value in terms of how much you get for your money but, on me, they didn't do any soothing. And the ingredient list is full of those polysyllabic words that sound like they came from a lab run by Terminators. Sorry, Joe. I do like your soaps!!!

I've had similar experiences with soaps where some that would be in my top five (for scent and performance) just burned like hell so I gave them away. It is an interesting irony that perhaps the same DNA that gave me a strong preference for the scent of one soap also makes me hyper sensitive to the essential oils that makes the soap so appealing.

For me, I have found Razorock XXX to not live up to other wet shavers advertisements. The performance it great, however, I think it must be purely my preference for less complex scents. Also I've never used ADP and so if I paid $75 for ADP I would probably change my mind.

For me it would have to be my Shavemac 177 silvertip brush. After hearing only good things about it I sprang for what was then a lot of money for me to get it. The thing shed for way too long after I got it and it was weeks before I heard back when I got in touch with customer service. I found that I had other brushes that I liked much better, were less expensive, and came with no hype. That taught me that price is immaterial in our hobby. Things can be expensive or inexpensive and not be so great but, just as often, expensive or not, a product more than lives up to the great reviews. In that sense, the Shavemac proved to be a lesson learned.

For me it would have to be my Shavemac 177 silvertip brush.  After hearing only good things about it I sprang for what was then a lot of money for me to get it.  The thing shed for way too long after I got it and it was weeks before I heard back when I got in touch with customer service. I found that I had other brushes that I liked much better, were less expensive, and came with no hype.  That taught me that price is immaterial in our hobby.  Things can be expensive or inexpensive and not be so great but, just as often, expensive or not, a product more than lives up to the great reviews.  In that sense, the Shavemac proved to be a lesson learned.

I agree wholeheartedly--when it comes to shaving, more expensive does not necessarily = better by any means. Haven't used a Shavemac but I've had that experience with other items. I've used some very inexpensive items and gotten great results. And vice-versa, of course.

---

I hesitated about posting this thread. One of the best things about this forum is that everyone seems to play well with others. Civility obtains. 

Which leads me to believe we can have a civilized discussion about products that let us down, with the understanding that, when it comes to shaving, one man's Derby is another man's Feather. There simply is no one blade, soap, aftershave that will be perfect for everyone. So, with the caveat that we are to avoid rants, e.g., "I hate Tom, Dick, and Harry's Shaving Soap!!!!!! Anyone who likes it is a fool. Not only did it cut my face up, after I was done shaving it kicked my dog, stole our silver, and hopped a bus to Charlotte….", I'd be interested in seeing what people disliked. 

Finally, no need to iterate "In my opinion," and such. We know this is all opinion. 

I'll start. 

1. Catie's Bubbles LPV and Quatre Cent Vingt. These are two of Catie's most loved soaps. Chris Bailey, a trustworthy source, calls LPV the "Soap of the Gods." I do love my Catie's Ocean Grove. But these two made me feel like I was shaving with fire ants. 

2. XPEC. The more I use this the less impressed I am. It's a good product. But it's not worth the price. I'm not wild for the scent, which lingers, and I get as good performance from, say, Reef Point and Soap Commander and LPL, to name a few. 

3. ATT R1. I find the R1, which is supposed to be the middle of the road plate as far as aggression, harsh as hell. And my all-time favorite razor is the Feather AC, so I don't think I have an overly sensitive face. I love the M1 plate, which is supposedly mild, but feels a lot less mild than, say, my Merkur 34C. The good news is that, thanks to this site, I was able to trade my R1 for an M1, which will be my back up. And, to be fair, let me add that ATT razors are things of beauty. Wonderfully made, precise, just great. They ain't cheap but, in this case, you get what you pay for. And I know that many shavers have found whiskerless bliss with the R1. 

4. Trumper's Skin Food and Shaving Creams. The skin food just felt sort of sticky and didn't do much for me. The shaving creams were just okay. 

5. Razorock Aftershave Balms. Great strong fragrances, very good value in terms of how much you get for your money but, on me, they didn't do any soothing. And the ingredient list is full of those polysyllabic words that sound like they came from a lab run by Terminators. Sorry, Joe. I do like your soaps!!!

I've had similar experiences with soaps where some that would be in my top five (for scent and performance) just burned like hell so I gave them away.  It is an interesting irony that perhaps the same DNA that gave me a strong preference for the scent of one soap also makes me hyper sensitive to the essential oils that makes the soap so appealing.

For me, I have found Razorock XXX to not live up to other wet shavers advertisements.  The performance it great, however, I think it must be purely my preference for less complex scents.  Also I've never used ADP and so if I paid $75 for ADP I would probably change my mind.

I had that experience with XXX. I like it, I think it's a good value, but really don't understand the love fest. However, as much as I love Acqua di Parma Colonia, there is no way I'm parting with the coin they're asking for 4 ozs of their shaving cream. Not unless it comes with a barber.

I hesitated about posting this thread. One of the best things about this forum is that everyone seems to play well with others. Civility obtains. 

Which leads me to believe we can have a civilized discussion about products that let us down, with the understanding that, when it comes to shaving, one man's Derby is another man's Feather. There simply is no one blade, soap, aftershave that will be perfect for everyone. So, with the caveat that we are to avoid rants, e.g., "I hate Tom, Dick, and Harry's Shaving Soap!!!!!! Anyone who likes it is a fool. Not only did it cut my face up, after I was done shaving it kicked my dog, stole our silver, and hopped a bus to Charlotte….", I'd be interested in seeing what people disliked. 

Finally, no need to iterate "In my opinion," and such. We know this is all opinion. 

I'll start. 

1. Catie's Bubbles LPV and Quatre Cent Vingt. These are two of Catie's most loved soaps. Chris Bailey, a trustworthy source, calls LPV the "Soap of the Gods." I do love my Catie's Ocean Grove. But these two made me feel like I was shaving with fire ants. 

2. XPEC. The more I use this the less impressed I am. It's a good product. But it's not worth the price. I'm not wild for the scent, which lingers, and I get as good performance from, say, Reef Point and Soap Commander and LPL, to name a few. 

3. ATT R1. I find the R1, which is supposed to be the middle of the road plate as far as aggression, harsh as hell. And my all-time favorite razor is the Feather AC, so I don't think I have an overly sensitive face. I love the M1 plate, which is supposedly mild, but feels a lot less mild than, say, my Merkur 34C. The good news is that, thanks to this site, I was able to trade my R1 for an M1, which will be my back up. And, to be fair, let me add that ATT razors are things of beauty. Wonderfully made, precise, just great. They ain't cheap but, in this case, you get what you pay for. And I know that many shavers have found whiskerless bliss with the R1. 

4. Trumper's Skin Food and Shaving Creams. The skin food just felt sort of sticky and didn't do much for me. The shaving creams were just okay. 

5. Razorock Aftershave Balms. Great strong fragrances, very good value in terms of how much you get for your money but, on me, they didn't do any soothing. And the ingredient list is full of those polysyllabic words that sound like they came from a lab run by Terminators. Sorry, Joe. I do like your soaps!!!

I have to say that I agree with everything except for the Catie's Bubbles. The LPV is my personal favorite. I received an XPEC sample and I was not impressed. Everythng I have tried from Trumper is overpriced and underwhelming. I also agree about the Razorock balms but their splashes are excellent. I wanted to add some more for this list:

Mitchell's Wool Fat: not worth the effort as the scent is not very good, Art of Shaving Shave soaps are overpriced and do not lather as well as other lesser priced soaps, Truefit & Hill same reasons as At of Shaving, Mike's Natural: underwhelming performance all told, Razorock XXX which is no better than the other Razorock soaps, and finally to me none of the Personna blades are woth the hype as IMO there are several more superior blades on the market such as Polsilver, Gillette Silver Blues, and Feathers.

Overrated Stuff:

First Place- Razorock P.160; nothing special, just hype.

Second Place- Whipped Dog High Mountain White;  folks love'em but God knows why.

Third Place - Martin de Candre; it's very good but the hype and the price are both over the top; several better soaps in my opinion and for less shekels.

Fourth Place - Various pre-shave products; who needs them?  I take shaving soaps that I don't reach for any more and convert them to shave sticks.  I then apply two coats by hand lathering and rinsing with hot water.  What can be better for preparing a beard to be cut and conditioning skin for protection than a shaving soap?

Fifth Place - Merkur Futur; very good for something developed for small cattle.

Honorable Mention - The proliferation of shaving brushes that use the same old grade B knots stuck in "designer" fancy shmancy handles.  We who respect quality should know better.

It is really interesting to see the old adage made large.  That is, "One man's treasure is another man's trash."

Martin De Candre
Dont get me wrong it's a very good performing soap but the price point and scent for me makes it overrated
Especially in light over the last 2 years of quality Artisan Soap makers coming to the fore. Especially in the U.S.

Feather Blades - I'll take flak for this ...... I do like them ..... just not in my top 7 or 8 blade choices.
They are sharp, yes but not as comfortable as a blade should that cost this much - I like Pol Silver better, but their are better choices than even Pol for the money.
.Blades are very subjective to the individual - some love some don't, YMMV - But I say Feathers are over rated -

Overrated Stuff:

First Place- Razorock P.160; nothing special, just hype.

Second Place- Whipped Dog High Mountain White;  folks love'em but God knows why.

Third Place - Martin de Candre; it's very good but the hype and the price are both over the top; several better soaps in my opinion and for less shekels.

Fourth Place - Various pre-shave products; who needs them?  I take shaving soaps that I don't reach for any more and convert them to shave sticks.  I then apply two coats by hand lathering and rinsing with hot water.  What can be better for preparing a beard to be cut and conditioning skin for protection than a shaving soap?

Fifth Place -  Merkur Futur;  very good for something developed for small cattle.

Honorable Mention - The proliferation of shaving brushes that use the same old grade B knots stuck in "designer" fancy shmancy handles.  We who respect quality should know better.

I agree, pre-shaves are the snake oil of shaving products