Maybe the diverging opinions of Edwin Jagger soap are due to the types of brushes being used (badger vs. boar or horse, stiff vs. floppy, etc)? It might be the case that certain brush types work better than others with this soap.
I can only speak for my own practices.. I have lathered the EJ with everything I have. Cheap or expensive, boar or badger. The leather seems to be brush agnostic. But that's just my experience.
I just wanted to bring this back to the top because I have used my EJ soap several times now, and the more I use it the better it seems to work... doesn't have much of a scent, which could be good for some, but using the "Marco technique" as described above has been the key for me. Thanks again, 5Savages, for posting!
I like the EJ scents and had no trouble getting some lather, but it was too thin. I probably added too much water. I tried the glycerin based soap by Ginger's Garden (from the January Newbie contest) and got a great lather, easily. Most soaps I've tried need some warm water in the bowl to start, especially MWF.
Yeah, the EJ seems to be a little bit picky, and I have found that I either start out with a lather that is somewhat wetter and thinner on my first pass than I'd ideally like, or else I have to dip the brush tips and re-hydrate the lather in the bowl before my 2nd and sometimes even the 3rd pass. Fortunately, I don't have the skin irritation problems some others have, so I am able to shave just fine with a bit of a thinner lather on that first WTG pass as long as I shaved the day before. Either way though, I am liking this soap and this thread saved it from the garbage can.
I just bought a puck of the Herban Cowboy soap from Whole Paycheck (Whole Foods). My take is that it makes a great super slick lather very quickly. Using just the right amount of water is critical to whipping up a great lather from this soap. Too much or too little and the lather is awful. When applied to my face, the thick, creamy lather disappeared very quickly, leaving a clear film that dried almost instantly. Major suck there, as you noted, although they seem to have part of the formula right. The shave is reasonably good if done before the lather dries, however, and I like the Dusk scent. I won't throw the Herban Cowboy out and probably won't use it as a bath soap, but I won't be buying it again. Herban Cowboy website does not list the shaving soap as one of their products, so maybe it has been discontinued. A shame really, as it could have been a stellar soap with a little formula tweaking.
I tried the Herban Cowboy today and was surprised at how awful it is. Like you say, thin and dries extremely quickly. Impossible to get a a real lather. I ended up lathering Tabac for perfect lather to shave.
