A new-ish company named Van der Hagen produces an inexpensive glycerin shave soap for use with double edge (DE) razors and straight razors. The soap is surprisingly well regarded by the shaving community, and sells at your local Walmart for just $1.50.

For $1.50, I had to give it a shot.

I initially had a lot of problems getting the soap to lather well.  I tried mixing it in my mixing bowl but could never seem to get the water/soap proportions right.  I figured I was probably doing something wrong, since I am new to wet shaving and don’t have a lot of experience mixing my own soap by hand.

image I did a little Googling around and found a Youtube video review of the Van der Hagen soap.  Apparently I was not the only one having this problem – an experienced shaver had produced a video where he shared his secret for using the Van Der Hagen soap – he recommended using your shaving brush to produce lather directly on your face instead of in a shaving bowl.

I gave it a try, and was pleased with the results.

I can’t seem to find a link to the video I’m talking about, but here are the steps the Youtuber shared:

First, wet the soap, and wet your brush.  Swirl the brush around on the soap for a bit to get some soap on there, and transfer the soap to one of your cheeks.  Do the same thing with the other cheek.  Finally, repeat the process and transfer a bit of soap to your neck as well.  With these three soap areas in place, being the process of swirling the soap & making lather directly on your face. 

It worked great for me.  I can’t really compare this soap to others since I don’t have a lot of experience with different types of soap.  The community consensus seems to be that this soap rates about a “B,” and is a great soap for everyday shaving.

For $1.50 per puck, I’d recommend giving it a try.