What soap did you use? There’s thousands of brands and types. Many are far better then any of the gels. I never could shave with modern Shave gels or creams. There’s a bunch of small business soap makers. I have 40-50 soaps and creams. Some are great, some good, come just ok, and some suck. Same with brushes and razors.
The soap I used was a round disk and it's been so long that I can't recall what kind it was, I'm sorry. I have since joined the Dollar Shave Club which sends me 4 razor blades (5-blade cartidges) every two weeks for about $6. The razors are great, and the price is right.
For $11.25 I get 2 years of blades it’s been wonderful. I spent a lot on soaps and brushes, I ran out of stuff to buy so I wondered into silver. An dhere I am. But I have enough supplies minus blades to have for 7-10 years(soaps) the brushes last forever. Looking back it probably a lot. Like I have brushes and soaps worth 5 oz of silver. At the time I bought them probably 6-7 oz. I enjoy them, silver does make it hard for me to spend in more Shave stuff though. As now anything around $20 is seen as 1 oz silver. There’s even a wet Shave club. I tried it but sample boxes wasn’t for me. Razor was bad for me too, I’d hate to think it’s peoples first introduction to it. I use ultra soft synthetic brushes, I have sensitive skin. Probably why cartridge razors never worked for me. I’m just glad there’s options available for us all to Shave how we need. Much like I’m glad there’s so many silver options. And now I’m looking at a 1/10th gold for $140ish. Pretty close to spot I think, but I could get a lot more silver instead. Decisions decisions.