The Arm patch test doesn't work for me. The only place that is sensitive to shaving products is my face--I tried it many times. And sorry about the bum soap, Truckman. Hope it works out for you eventually, or you can trade it for something good in the future.
I'm thinking the arm patch isn't doing it for me, either. No problem so far. Please, don't feel bad about the bum soap - not your fault! I was ecstatic when I saw it in the box!
Im drunk and want to take pictures lathering da Fat! Beginning to end lathering of MWF.....it lather quite well in fact
Hi there Truckman, Well, as you saw, I tried the MWF stuff this morning, and had no problems getting a great lather from the puck. I'd actually mixed up a practice batch last night, since new products can take me a few attempts to get right. First time tho..............thick and rich tiny bubble wonderfulness all over the place. I brushed some on my face to see how it felt and looked, and I was optimistic about today's shave. It worked out well for me, as it turns out. I'm not gonna check to see what soaps or creams you use regularly, but here's my take on soaps like MWF, DR Harris, and Institue Karite, all different animals than cold pour or glycerin based soaps. For example, I think Mitchells needs to be loaded up using a fairly damp brush. Not so much that a bunch of bubbles start to form within a few seconds, but wet enough so the resistance while loading the brush doesn't become 'sticky'. You want to end up with a brush with plenty of soap in it for 3-4 passes, and you also want a medium thick, almost like barely whipped whipping cream kinda liquid in the bowl with the soap. Takes me 20-25 seconds of serious swirling. Oh, I'll use a dryer brush with a glycerin soap, since they usually lather up so much quicker. Oh, I also use a 2 cup Anchor Hocking glass container for all my hard soaps. It gives me plenty of room to swirl around without making a mess, and I can easily use my brush to gather that liquid cream remaining. Having the puck centered in the bowl gives a natural kinda 'moat' that makes it easy to do. I consider myself a face latherer, although it took me a while to get there. I have to say though, that my routine needs a bowl and water to be effective for me. The idea of going from a puck right to my face is something that doesn't appeal to me. No, I prefer to have a good start on the process, and then take another minute or so to finish up on my face. Just makes more sense to me, although I did bowl lather for most of a year when first starting this 'hobby'. Anyway, I'm gonna include a pic that 1969 so nicely included above. You see how much soap that brush has in it? That's a lot.......even more than I use, which is fine. The point is, there's ANOTHER step that I didn't see included. That bowl in the pic has a purpose in my routine. I run 1-2 tablespoons hot water over that soap puck and swirl it around the 'moat'. I wanna get that hot soapy liquid into the bowl, and that's when things get interesting. It takes a little while whisking and pumping the brush (maybe a minute or so), but then things come together. The main thing is having enough soap to make the lather efficient enough........adding water is much easier than trying to add more soap. Truthfully, this lather thing is the toughest part of all the shaving tools to master. It's not an exact thing, and sometimes the lather is just a little better than other times. After a while though, it does get easier. So, That's just one more way to do things...........heh. I did find the soap to lather as well as the others mentioned earlier, but it does take a little work. The results though, should be a lather that even looks slick. Yeah, they'll be those very tiny blobs of what might be tallow floating on the lather. It's actually kinda pretty.....very tiny flecks of light yellow in a soft white merengue . Hehe, sorry to pull you farther down that particular rabbit hole, Martin Oh, I should mention the scent was nothing like I'd ever imagined. Just basically a clean, soapy scent that doesn't bother me. No, I don't love it, but my tastes are changing about that anyway. Now, sometimes the scent isn't quite as important to me, as compared to how the soap or cream performs. I wouldn't use this soap in my small regular rotation, but it'll be a nice change up for sure.
Thanks Martin. When I load my brush, it looks nothing like that. I'm working on some pics to post, but envision the soapy sudsy car wash type soap when you fill the bucket and the wind catches a little of the fluff and carries it away....
Sopping wet soap, sopping wet brush (not squeezed nor shaken). This was after 10 swirls loading the brush: View attachment 6875 Transferred to bowl, notice super sudsy, foamy...stuff View attachment 6876 Way to fluffy... View attachment 6877 Second attempt, with a drier brush, end result wound up the same... View attachment 6878
That "dry" brush pic looks like what I have before I've worked the MWF long enough. How long did you swirl, pump, and flick that soap? I take a good 2 minutes to get good lather from MWF (it's worth every second). Not saying that's the problem, just an idea based on my limited experience.
I agree with Erik. It takes some decent work to lather WMF in a bowl. Its easier on the face. The first looks way to wet and the second looks almost too dry? When you load the brush on the soap make sure you shaked it about 3 times, but not hard, just little flicks. When you load the brush on the soap, push it down harder so that you create a nice breech in the center of the brush that stays open when you pick the brush up. Than put it on your face and go to town. Probably 30 seconds or so and you should have better results. Drip a little bit of water on the brush and than continue lathering. It should be thick heavy cool whip like lather.
I don't know if it will necessarily improve your situation, but I agree on the face lathering. I lather my creams in a bowl, but I only do face lathering with my soaps. It seems to better regulate the amount of water - excess just runs off. You can always add a little more, if necessary, but you can't remove water if you have added too much. Start pretty dry, load the brush A LOT, then go to town on your face. Once the lather forms, keep going for a while, then decide if it feels too dry - generally, if it feels like the brush is suctioning to my face, and the lather doesn't spread very evenly around, I dribble a little bit more water into the center of the brush and continue lathering. With face lathering, I find the second and third passes have better lather than the first - I attribute it to rinsing my face in between, and then rubbing the brush over it again, adding a little bit more hydration to the lather.
Less water (shake that thang till it feels dry) and MORE Soap (load it til its pasty on the brush) Build your lather and add a few drops of water to the breech until you get the right consistency. 'nuff said. Youll thank me later
I'm done. I've tried it every which way. I've come to the decision that it shouldn't be this difficult, I don't care how "glad I'll be." After two failed attempts again this morning, I cleaned out my brush thoroughly, grabbed my Tabac, and bam! Wonderful lather. I can do the same with my IK. Both are second nature to me now. The MWF seems to only want to produce frothy, sudsy, foamy junk for me. MWF = The Devil
FWIW, I am not a big fan of MWF either it was/is the only soap to ever give me a problem making lather in a bowl and I too have tried everything from different brushes to different amounts of soap, water etc, I will say I can get a nice rather slick and comfortable shave out of it if I face lather but still no real thick peaks of lather no matter what. It does leave my face feeling very smooth afterwards but for the money for me there are much better soaps and creams out there. The one thing I haven't tried is bottled water as I know I have very hard water where I am at now but I have been able to get any other soap or cream to work.
My last comment was (mostly) in jest. I get not everyone get good performance from MWF. It is a strange beast as for the majority is lathers wonderfully given just a little extra time to work the lather. Of course I haven't tried IK yet, which it seems I'll need to do at some point.
I'm giving it a rest for a while and trying some of these creams that I got in the mail last week. I might try it again down the road, maybe I'll figure it out...
Less h20. Its not your friend! Start real thick and add a little bit of water to make it fluffy. Face lather.
Exactly how I do it. It's a bit more fussy than other soaps but a bit of patience and experimentation is well worth it. Great stuff. Pete
