Everyone asks me what's so wonderful about the Lady Shaver and the Shaver's Soap.  Aside from the fabulous scents of Mango/Mandarin/Orange and Bay Rum, the shaving soaps are a top notch for getting a close shave.  Your face, armpits, and legs will thank you for using a quality shaving soap!

The bentonite clay in the soap helps to create a smooth, tight shave.  I've had several different customers mention that they think their razors last longer, and I'm guessing that the clay helps with extending the life of their razors.  Guys will mention that they are "addicted" to the shaving soap because they aren't dried out or feeling violated from the shave.

These shaving soaps have a tight, slippery lather, allowing an effortless, painless shave.  It doesn't foam up like your usual shaving products.  And thank GOODNESS, there's no funky junk in our shaving soaps, unlike other commercial shaving products.

Here's some tips I put together from several different sites on how to USE the men's shaving soaps if you're new to using a mug and brush.

USING YOUR SHAVING SOAP

Half the fun of creating lather is experimenting to perfect the lather. So, we recommend you try create lather in a shave bowl or mug, in the palm of your hand and directly on your face. Have fun and also try different shave creams and cake soaps.

Some general tips:

• A necessity to getting a great lather is the brush you use. We will presume the use of a good quality badger hair brush. Allow your shaving brush to gain both heat and water either by running it under hot water (from handle towards hair ends) or by soaking for a few minutes either in the sink or in a mug. As a rule, the harder the water, the harder it is to get a great lather. This situation accounts in large part for the differing results two people will get using the same soap in the same manner. It is not at all uncommon for one person to claim superior results while another is totally dissatisfied.
• Always load water first and then soap.
• If toweling off when getting out of the shower, leave your face wet. If necessary, add more hot water from the sink tap to keep your face wet while preparing your brush. Load your brush with the maximum hot water it will hold. Allow it to drain only the excess water which the bristles are unable to hold—when the steady stream has stopped draining and all that remains is an intermittent drip. Experiment with how much water you want to load depending on the lather you are crafting. Add more water to your brush during the lather process if needed.
• Generally speaking, cake type shaving soaps are easier to use and will provide consistently good results. The fact that they also tend to be less expensive than most creams is an added bonus. Of course, all soaps, or creams for that matter, are not created equal. A good quality shaving soap or cream will have ingredients specifically intended to produce a rich moist lather to soften the beard and moisturize the skin, and to provide lubricity to allow the razor to glide effortlessly and painlessly over the skin. If the soap or cream you are using fails on either of these counts the resultant lather will be less than optimal. Most readily available canned shaving foams fall far short.
• When using a solid cake soap load the water first. Do not shake, tap, flick or otherwise cause your brush to drop the water. If you intend to load water and soap to the brush and create lather on your face then the idea is to maintain the water in the brush while loading it with soap. Lightly twirl the badger hair gently on the cake soap in a circular motion using only the tips of the bristles, without pressing down on the brush. Your purpose here is to load the tips of the bristles with soap, not to generate lather in the mug. When you see a lather beginning to develop in the mug it’s a good sign that you have plenty of soap loaded onto the brush. Don't mash your brush at any time into face, mug or bowl. It's the flexible action or the hairs gently whipping water and air into soap that creates great lather.
• You will find that the better quality the shaving lather and the more thorough the lathering technique, the fewer other products such as pre-shave conditioners, after shave balms, moisturizers, toners, etc. need be used. Your outcome is determined by the time and effort spent on preparation, so don’t short-change yourself on shave quality by skimping on the preparation. The best tools won’t necessarily provide the best shave, only a greater potential for a quality outcome.
• At this point your face should still be wet and your brush should be warm and loaded with water and soap. Move the brush to your face and begin a slow deliberate circular motion allowing only the bristle tips to contact the face. Continue the circular motion over the entire area to be shaved. Time spent building lather on your face is time well spent – two minutes is generally about right. Doing so will allow the bristle tips to work the lather deeply into the skin pores and hair follicles providing superior lubrication and protection from the blade, and allowing the moisturizing properties of the soap to work on your skin. It is not necessary to build your lather into mountains that resemble meringue or whipped cream. Remember that any lather not in contact with your beard or skin is useless. What you want is a uniform blanket of lather thick enough that you can't see through it. After sufficient lather is generated, you may use the brush in a paintbrush fashion to even out the depth and insure complete coverage. Once finished, don’t rinse your brush – you’ll may it again later. Rest it in the mug to await its next use.
• If a second lathering is needed, it needs not be as thorough as the first. At this point there should be no beard remaining, only stubble. The purpose of the second lathering is primarily to provide lubrication for the second south to north pass of the razor. After completing the second pass, wet the fingertips of the off hand and feel around for any area that may have been missed. A quick dab of lather, and a southwest to northeast pass of the razor on the missed spot should be all that is needed.
• If you're going to make lather inside the mug or bowl, rather than on your face or palm, then by all means transfer water to the soap and get busy, but you MUST REMEMBER to clean up afterwards and get rid of excess water and lather so that the cake soap won't deteriorate.
• Generally, shallow lather bowls are for containing cake soaps that you will use the method of picking up soap onto the brush and applying directly to the face. Deeper lather bowls or mugs are better suited to making lather right in the mug or bowl, or to vary with the pick up method.

~Happy Shaving!~