The Very Best Budget Soaps / Creams Where Money is The Object!

Cella brick and Proraso creams (I don´t really like their soaps).

I'd have to go with Stirling, Dr. Jon's (2oz. tins), B&M Latha, and Mystic Water. All are $11 or under, and do a great job for me.

At $4 an ounce I wouldn't call dr jons a budget soap. Most my soaps fall under $3 an ounce.
Arko, caties bubbles, razorock, soap commander, B&m latha, cella, and stirling

Hard soaps I'd raise the per ounce because they last longer then croaps.
Haslinger,de vergulde hand, and tabac.

I only have one cream and I hear creams go faster so perhaps they be budget at $2 an ounce.

I have a very tight budget, so I do lot of research before buying. It's very easy to get a great performing soap for under $3 an ounce when it comes to croaps.

NeoXerxes I believe this is the thread you were referring to

jsanchez Thanks much for the link! That kind of examination is very helpful for generating rough estimates, but I don't think it is scientific or universally applicable due to variations in technique and the like. Some folks will not get nearly as many shaves from Stirling - others might get even more.

The Cella brick and 12 packs of Arko are hard to beat in cost/ounce. Even if you're on a very tight budget and are limited in the amount of money you can spend at one time on soap, an Arko 12 pack is still fairly accessible and will last a good long while. If you have the ability to spend about $40 at one time on soap, then buying Haslinger in bulk from TVB shaving lets you get the Haslinger pucks for about $4USD per puck ($2 per ounce). This isn't as good a deal as Arko, but is a step up in shaving experience for a fairly good price.

When I think of value for the dollar, the first soap that comes to my mind is Mitchell's Wool Fat.

Your post is very interesting Freddy! I brought up the differences between considering "budget" and "value" in terms of price per shave or initial cost earlier in the thread, and it's great to see that you are conscious of which logic you embrace, since I'm sure it helps you make considered purchasing decisions. For me, I tend to identify with the "price per shave" sort of reasoning. While I do consider initial cost, in many cases this aspect can be misleading in terms of value.

For instance, Tabula Rasa is a wonderful cream. At around $30 it's quite pricey, but not nearly as expensive as creams like XPEC or Santa Maria Novella (which are in the $60-80 range). However, on closer inspection, one finds that Tabula Rasa only offers 90g per bowl (though the bowls look very large), and that the consistency is very airy and not at all dense. In terms of price per shave, though the initial cost is less than 50% the price of those other products, Tabula Rasa is on par with or even more expensive than XPEC and Santa Maria Novella.

There is no right or wrong way to consider the "budget" and "value" propositions, and each way to think about it has its advantages and disadvantages. It is important for us to be conscious of the ways we think about those concepts though, since they have a real impact on the actual purchasing power of our cash.

Peter, I guess another way to look at it is that you are considering this in a clinical way (and I mean that in a good way) and I am looking at it from an emotional point of view.  I think for the analysis we are looking for here, both have some validity.

Oh I agree completely Freddy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your way of looking at it lol, and I don't consider my way any better. I'm emphasizing the differences simply for analytical purposes, to demonstrate divergent ways of conceptualizing value .

EDIT: I should add that I've actually used your way of reasoning for a couple of purchases, rather unconsciously. The one that was hardest for me to buy was Santa Maria Novella, largely because of the high price tag (despite its decent price per use value relative to some other products that I have). I'm not thinking of the price anymore and am simply enjoying the product .

I'll just throw my 2 cents in. As a newbie and someone that is financially challenged, ie poor, I have to base my buying decisions on the initial cost. While cost per shave may make a particular soap a budget soap, unfortunately you cannot purchase the soap and pay per shave, you have to pay for the entire life of the soap at the initial purchase. That initial price is what hits me. I can afford to pay a cheap price for a soap, even if it doesn't last very long. The initial price is within my budget whereas a longer lasting but more expensive soap is out of my reach.
Did that make any sense or am I rambling?
To boil it down, the initial price is what determines a budget soap to me. Regardless of how long the soap lasts.

I'll just throw my 2 cents in. As a newbie and someone that is financially challenged, ie poor, I have to base my buying decisions on the initial cost. While cost per shave may make a particular soap a budget soap, unfortunately you cannot purchase the soap and pay per shave, you have to pay for the entire life of the soap at the initial purchase. That initial price is what hits me. I can afford to pay a cheap price for a soap, even if it doesn't last very long. The initial price is within my budget whereas a longer lasting but more expensive soap is out of my reach.
Did that make any sense or am I rambling?
To boil it down, the initial price is what determines a budget soap to me. Regardless of how long the soap lasts.

That is a superb point!