I received a new puck of Mitchells thanks to the December Newbie give-away and @Boojum1. I'm looking forward to trying it in the coming days! It has been quite high on my list of soaps to try. My questions concerns the mug or vessel to put it in. This is a refill puck and I don't have the Mitchells dish. Can I put it in a mug or regular bowl that I would use for any other soap, or does it need something special? I'm going to read up and watch a couple of videos about lathering MWF as well. I know it can be tricky. Any tips on lathering would be appreciated as well!
Well - it's not science, it's just a soap No special container needed - I grated and pressed mine into the original dish to give it a tighter fit (the puck is much smaller than the dish), but any other tin or mug will work. I lather with a pretty wet brush, swirl the brush on the soap for about 15 or 20 seconds until I get what someone called "proto-lather" - a lot of fluffy foam that I transform into a slick protective yoghurty mass by face lathering for a minute or two. Bowl lathering will also work of course, maybe it's even easier. And that's it for me. Works every time.
I use an old soap container that I took the soap out and put in a shave stick. * I've only seen the bottom of a tin/jar, haven't used one up yet.
Agree with grating it and pressing it into another vessel. Leave yourself some room at the top to bloom the puck with warm water before loading. I load MWF like there's no tomorrow. Use your finger to remove the excess soap from the puck and apply it to your face. Go easy on adding more water as you work the lather until you have a really thick, gooey base. Then start adding your water drop by drop until you get the consistency you want.
I held off on trying MWF because of all the videos I watched saying how difficult it was to lather. So after a year and a half I finally gave in a bought a refill puck, I have hard water, I'm a lazy latherer, I don't lather my soaps standing on one leg facing east using a $156 Silvertip brush with a green handle. Lather MWF like you would any other soap and you will be successful. It's a fantastic soap. Don't believe all the nonsense.
That's good to know! I subscribe to the philosophy of "load it like you hate it" (@Primotenore) when lathering up a soap. I'll lather MWF as normal and watch the water ratio carefully. I am truly excited to try it.
I remember a mantic59 video about it that I saw a while back. I guess I'll thought from that and some other comments I've read that it was a finicky and difficult soap to later. I'm glad to hear your experiences that it indeed is not.
I'm so disappointed that I listened to all of those videos, I really missed out on a fantastic soap early on in my wet shaving journey. I even ordered one of those strips from my water company to see how hard my water was, I already knew I had hard water. Don't buy into the hype. Try it. I bloom my MWF, I even will use a synthetic brush that's taboo in some of those videos.
Not at all! You can use a ordinary soap container. I'd recommend hydrating the soap overnight before the initial use. You're getting good advice here.
We have very hard water where I live. I'll probably use my cheap badger brush with the MWF but my synthetic Satin Tip has been working pretty well.
My whole problem when learning to use it was not loading enough. It wasn't difficult, I just wasn't loading it long enough. The stuff is a delight. I find the scent a bit feminine, not that scents are male/female. It makes me think that if you hugged Helen Mirren, that is the smell that she would leave on your shirt. A sophisticated and very clean feminine scent.
Any container will work. Coffee mug, anchor hocking bowl, plastic bowl from the dollar store, doesn't really matter. I agree with the comments about grating it into the container though. I think it helps with lathering, both from keeping the puck still, and helping it to load easier.
I use a ramekin that fit the puck pretty well. I used a brush that I soak and squeeze the excess water out of. Swirl for 20-25 seconds and begin face lathering to coat my face. Then I add water dribbling water in to an upturned brush. I do that about 4 times on the first pass lather. On second pass may just dribble water in once. Third pass no need to add extra water. Very nice soap and great post shave face feel.
The puck is smaller than the dish until it's hydrated, then it fills the dish completely. You can even use that as an aid to determine when it's drying out, the puck will separate from the dish wall, and add water.
I held off trying The Veg for years out of fear of violating my olfactory sense due to all the negative opinions... Then I tried it. Sometimes it pays to listen to your fears.
MWF is an excellent soap. Any container will work fine. I keep mine in a Pyrex dish with a lid. For me it is the easiest of soaps to build a lather. You can bloom the puck if you want, but it is not necessary. As someone said above, just lather it like you would any soap.
