Today I finally had my first experience with the fat, thanks to a very generous gift from @Kilgore Trout . There are so many mixed reviews, I was somewhat apprehensive. What I have been missing out on. I loaded my synthetic for about 20-30 seconds and went to the scuttle. Lathered up and the first thing I noticed was the scent! Light and lovely. Some reviewers said no scent. Stuffy noses fer sure. Now the first pass wasn’t as slick as I like for a straight, but I kinda expected that, from reviewers said it was thirsty. Added some more water to the scuttle and perfection! Lathered up for pass #3, and squeezed the lather from my brush, and was rewarded with a face full of some of the thickest, slickest lather one could ask for! What a great soap and a thoughtful gift.
Awesome gift! I also got my first puck of The Fat in the newbie giveaway from @Boojum1. I've enjoyed it ever since and am on my second puck.
As much as I love Stirling soaps and have enough to shave daily for at least four years, I have half a dozen pucks of The Fat as a hedge against uncertain times. I will always have MWF in my house.
Used the Fat this morning with my new-to-me (thanks @Primotenore ) Muhle R41 razor head mounted to my bulldog handle and got a great, close shave.
I think the secret to getting the best out of MWF was revealed years back by the very good blogger Bruce Everiss. He said MWF likes its own micro climate . He suggested keeping the MWF in a AIR TIGHT container. This keeps the puck nice and moist and a breeze to face lather with. I have the nice MWF bowl to admire but I keep the puck in a shaving cream tub whose lid locks down tight . When I use MWF I open the container and its a soft , moist soap ready to go .
I find that advice to also work well for Williams and other “difficult” soaps. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I agree with @Primotenore that that's too bad. It's one of my favorite soaps. I feel that the lack of lathering stigma is a myth. The lather can look foamy on your brush but when worked on your face on in a bowl it turns into beautiful stuff.
These conflicting results are strange. I find it lathers very easily. I find the properties very similar to Tabac.
I was going to PM you, but perhaps there are others that have interest as well. Disclaimer: This works for me. You might already be successful lathering MWF, in which case. Shave on! The first thing I do with a new puck of MWF is get out my cheese grater and grate it on the fine side (as opposed to the coarse). Press the grated soap firmly (I use a 58mm espresso tamper) into your receptacle of choice (I happen to own the ceramic MWF jar). I do this because grating the soap seems to allow more moisture to infiltrate the puck. Before lathering and whilst showering, I "bloom" (I always catch flak from a few infamous TSD members here ) the soap with warm water (cover the soap completely). Let it get soft. AND soak your brush. (While any brush works with MWF, you might have your best success with a synthetic) When I am ready to shave, I pour off the water into my Aesop bowl (clearly any bowl will work). I squeeze as much water out of my brush as I can and work the reserved water into my hydrated, but dried brush. I wring out most of this bloom water and go to the puck. IMO, you cannot overload a brush. Load it like there is no tomorrow. Seriously. Your brush should be inundated with thick, gooey goodness. To the face. The soap will be sticky. It lacks water at this point. After you have worked it into your skin, you can start hydrating the lather. Drop by drop, always working it into the lather before adding more. Eventually, you will achieve the consistency of yoghurt. Hope this helps. Let us know.
I got a couple of pucks today. put one in the ceramic jar and covered with water along with the remnants of the second puck. I'll see how long it takes to suck up all the water and fill the jar.
I would have pushed chunks of the ruminant around the edges of the new puck to wedge it in place. I’m curious to see how long it takes to dissolve and how much water it drinks.
That would have prevented water from surrounding the puck. When I soaked my new puck it expanded to fill the ceramic dish. I didn't measure how much it took, I just added water to fill the jar until it stopped absorbing any more.
