Canned Shaving Cream

Nobody seems to discuss canned shaving cream.  
Yet there must be a niche for such a discussion in the Nook.  
So I'll start one!  

Is there a canned shaving cream that's superior to the others?   
I've used Barbasol and Gillette Foamy back before I discovered my electric Norelco (probably in the late '80s).
When I came back to wet shaving after my Norelco died, I started using soap and a brush.

But isn't there SOME virtue in canned goo in the world of modern wet shaving?
And is there one that's better than the others?

(Donning my asbestos underwear and reaching for fire extinguisher, as I'm sure I'm about to be flamed...)
- Bax


I just surfed Amazon for kicks.  Proraso makes shaving cream in a can!  Green label and white label.  Huh!  Who knew?!?!

I seem to remember that it came in other flavors, too.

I was a gel guy for decades.  And I was ok with it.  Used the gel for the first couple of weeks of using a DE razor.  Better results than with the cart razor I had used for decades.  Then got my first brush and puck.  BIG difference.  If one is really pressed for time, caned foam is super quick.  But how often does one really need to do a 1 minute, 1 pass shave?

We only discuss these matters with very close friends, and, even then, in a hushed voice.

Yes, there are times when a brush and soap or cream just aren't convenient.  And, when those times occur, in private it is acceptable to use a can of shaving cream.  I recommend this one.

Once in a while I use a canned shave cream with a old antique Hot Top from the mid 70s. It works very well.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Your Mileage May Vary, as in all things wetshaving, but there is no room for canned goo in my shave den, my luggage, or my GoBag. If I'm heading somewhere where I can't scrounge up enough water for lathering, there either wont be any shaving or I'll bring some brushless cream (a tube of Rise is my poison of choice).

I did try canned goo on and off for, oh, almost twenty years. Always turned back to the cheap BodyShop brush and BodyShop shaving cream though - simply because all the goo I tried ended up drying out my skin. If your experience is different, I say go for it  The only judge of what gives you a good shave is, well, you

(07-20-2021, 05:35 PM)David Wrote: We only discuss these matters with very close friends, and, even then, in a hushed voice.

Yes, there are times when a brush and soap or cream just aren't convenient.  And, when those times occur, in private it is acceptable to use a can of shaving cream.  I recommend this one.

+1
gave this to my father in law as a gift - he loved it

I ran across this gizmo online:

Now if they could mix this with an antique Hot-Top heater...
...then there STILL would be very little interest in the Nook!
    ;-)
- Bax

(07-21-2021, 09:59 AM)Bax Wrote: I ran across this gizmo online:

Now if they could mix this with an antique Hot-Top heater...
...then there STILL would be very little interest in the Nook!
    ;-)
- Bax

Yes, they need to add heat and vibration to that.

(07-21-2021, 09:59 AM)Bax Wrote: I ran across this gizmo online:

Now if they could mix this with an antique Hot-Top heater...
...then there STILL would be very little interest in the Nook!
    ;-)
- Bax

Well, I guess that answer the question I asked at the end of a blog post some years ago

...and it only took from 1954 to 2021 to make it happen!
Hey, if this canned goo came out in 1948 and has been around longer than my vintage Gillette Super-Speed, how come canned goo isn't considered "vintage shaving" too?
- Bax

P.S.  I shaved with TOBS, a Semogue brush, and Cella aftershave today, so I'm not an ADVOCATE of canned goo... but I AM intellectually curious!
    ;-)

Vintage, sure... but to my mind it isn't wetshaving unless you use a brush and water

YMMV, as always

(07-21-2021, 10:08 AM)TheLegalRazor Wrote: Yes, they need to add heat and vibration to that.

And a young Ann-Margret to help with using it.

If I am going to eat an eclair, I don't want it filled with mock cream.

Well.  This is interesting.

So - canned stuff can't be totally useless, since they were selling it with DE and SE razors, right?   I think it was about the perception of convenience and not needing a brush. 

I've seen some folks post that they use Edge Gel with straights - notably the exception, rather than the rule, but I have seen it. 

Once you have 'everything' you need to learn to make your own lather though - a decent but inexpensive boar, and an equally inexpensive tube of Speick or Proraso (for example), shaving becomes more enjoyable, IMO of course.  I think the last can of foam I bought was in the 90s. 

I've also seen Rise being mentioned more than once as a favorite among those who swear by the can. 
Proraso does indeed make a canned foam, as does Speick - different strokes I suppose.  Other makers like T&H or DRH have no canned foam on their sites at all. 

Really, once you get started, there's no reason other than curiosity to go back - you can use most creams without a brush if that's what you prefer. 

Just watch for the rust circles the cans leave behind.

I’ve never been able to achieve an acceptable level of hydration and slickness from canned goo. Even my worst performing soaps enable a better shave. I’m not a hater - these products just don’t work for me.

Have never encountered a canned soap rising to the level of worst puck or creme for facial shaving.

However, being an aerobic athlete, especially so living in the hot & humid South, regularly body shave. Nothing tried to date beats canned chick foam for body shaving, NOTHING. Makes no sense but there you have it.

I use Proraso Blue canned shaving foam once a week, when I'm too tired to bring out all my shaving gear and short of time - it works pretty well for me.

When I turned to classic wetshaving circa 2009 I kept a can of good old Barbasol in the vanity for some years.  At some point I pulled it out & tried it - yeah it was better than dry shaving but not by a whole lot., so it got tossed.  There's always time to use a brush & maybe cream is a hair faster than soap, if pressed for time I might do less than the normal 5 passes .. I haven't ever considered backsliding

I use canned cream occasionally when I need a super fast shave, or just feel like taking a one-day break from my usual brush and soap routine.  I'll also take canned cream when on a trip and carrying my luggage on the plane.  I've had TSA confiscate my tub of hard shaving soap in the past. 

I have gone through exactly 3 cans of cream in the past 12 years.  Two of those were a Noxema and a Barbasol.  The third one I bought in Greece when we were there on vacation in November 2019.  It's an Italian brand, quite nice for canned cream, and has the best scent of any canned cream I've tried.  I just finished the can, so it lasted 20 months.