I soaked/bloomed my soaps when I first began "traditional" shaving. Now I usually don't bother. It's just an extra step for me and offers no advantage, I get fine lathers starting my pucks dry. I bowl lather and mostly use an Arko stick smashed into a bowl. I do soak my brush bristles however.
That's exactly what I'm talking about. How does 'flower blooming when water was added' relate to 'soap getting softer.' My mind is incapable of making any connection there. The thin scum of soap that forms on top of the puddle of water on the puck at least bears some passing resemblance to an algal bloom, even if it is a stretch. 'Soaking' is my preferred word, but I've become resigned to the fact that 'bloomed' has entered the average forum wet shaver's consciousness, and will forever remain as part of the wet shaving lingo.
I've only recently heard 'bloom' referring to water, say in the last year or so. But since I started this hobby I've heard bloom refer to how a new brush expands and opens up when damp or after a couple of uses. It blooms somewhat like a flower I suppose. So I think the term derives from soaking (blooming) a brush in a mug of water on top of the soap. The byproduct water is now know as bloom water. I don't like it much either but along with acronyms have come to accept it. On a side note I've noticed that Saponificio Varesino recommends this for their new Tundra soap as such: cover the soap with boiling water for 5 minutes, school, save the "enhanced" water (a part of the film forming ingredients are contained within it) to use it to moisten your face, before lathering, load the brush for about thirty seconds, face lather.
"Bloom" is a legitimate term. Yeast is also "Bloomed" before adding to flour, so there is indeed a correlation to shaving soaps: something dry taking on moisture. The term has nothing to do with flowers. And yes, the top layer of a very hard soap will soften slightly, loosen itself (if you will) from the puck and release easier to the bristles. I don't "bloom" my soaps that are already higher in water content. i.e. croaps/creams. But as I stated before, triple-milled soaps, I bloom.
Yep. Brushes bloom, pictures showing 'dry/new' and 'post bloom.' Another reason I found the expression being applied to soaps weird. So...what's the next target? Is your brush mild or aggressive? Post your thoughts here.
I don't put any water on the soap itself, just wet the brush and start swirling on the puck. No need because water from the brush will get on the puck and help the lather start being made.
Same here. My take is that a shaving soap should just work, and I shouldn't need to jump through hoops to get it to do so. IMHO, "blooming" falls into the jumping through hoops category.
Im a bloomer. Is that the proper term? Perhaps an improper image....i like to soak the puck and brush at the same time. I empty the soap water in my hands and apply to my face. I find by soaking then dumping out the water the moisture content is pretty money. If theres still to much water left in the mug i lather with the mug upside down....then hop on one leg (ok not that last part but typing my routine started to sound that ridiculous in my own mind....never the less ive been getting great lathers while soaking the puck
I was one of them. I had no idea what the term meant as applied to soaps, even though I had been wetshaving for seven years. Newbies, for whom forums like this are an important resource, will almost certainly not understand what the term means. Are floral-scented soaps the only ones that bloom, or do other soaps? I think that is a sign that online traditional wetshaving as a whole is starting to get way too wrapped up in the details. Saponificio Varesino describes that soap as "certainly the most technical of the soaps produced to date". That seems like a load of bs to me, and synonymous with "the formulation isn't up to snuff yet, so we will use paying customers as guinea pigs". While there is nothing wrong with soaking a soap or adding shaving cream to create a superlather, those things should not be a requirement. To be fair, they do list the soap as "Beta 4.1". Beta soap? As in the soap has bugs? Do I have to worry about it crashing and blue lathering on me? As a utilitarian shaver, I eschew intricate rituals, jumping through hoops and elaborate, lengthy, jargon-infused shaving routines. Good grief, I just want a great shave each morning and to get on with my day. There is no way I am going to try coaxing often expensive shaving products into working. Let the county landfill do that. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.
I believe the term originated from the release of fragrance, much in the same way a flower releases its fragrance when it "blooms".
I have a number of triple milled soaps and I have not bloomed any of them. I seem to have no problem getting a great lather with just a wet brush and a few flicks of the wrist and my brush is loaded. Having said that, however, the only puck I would bloom is a Williams puck...only because I believe that is the only way to get a good thick lather from this soap.
My observation is that 'blooming' the soaps also increases the potency of the soaps' scent in the den. . . much like what happens when flowers soak, er, bloom.
I soak 2 soaps to date. Williams Mug and MWF. Williams works pretty wwell soaked the way @PLANofMAN soaks his MWF and I decided after the first time or 2 I tried MWF that it would benefit from it too. It did. If my Proraso gets left open, starts to dry and cracks I'll add a tablespoon of water to it to rehydrate it but since it has that water in the package new I think of it as rehydrating rather than soaking. My fiancee is very bad for leaving her brush soapy, the soap open and the razor in the shower. We're still working on that.
Exactly. Check this article: http://www.whyiwetshave.com/different-methods-to-lather-shaving-soap/. "Soaking" with a bit of warm water does release the scent (the "bloom") of the soap. I do soak/bloom my soaps (hard and soft). I enjoy using the warm "bloom water" on my face before applying the lather. To each their own - if it brings you pleasure than do it.
