I'm not new to wet shaving, so I'm not looking for the usual general advice on how to build a lather, but would appreciate your thoughts on the finer points of lathering Czech & Speake triple milled soaps. I have many hard soaps but only a couple of them that I can't seem to work right (Czech & Speake and Truefitt & Hill). All I seem to get is foamy stuff that dissipates quickly on my face. Thanks.
I had a similar problem with Woods of Windsor. If I hadn't like the smell, I would have tossed it. I always keep a pump bottle of unscented Kiss My Face shave cream on hand, and that's what I had to use with the Woods of Windsor. Add a squirt or two and I had a vast improvement with the lather without affecting the scent that I really liked.
I never could get T&H to lather either with my hard water. I don't seem to have a problem with C&S. Have you tried letting some water sit on the puck for awhile beforehand?
I don't know if this helps, but when I have a soap that's triple milled or more, I'll use a really wet boar brush.
I assume you got the new version of the C&S soap? The old stuff was made by Valobra and made a really nice lather very easily. Unfortunately Valobra went out of business a couple years ago and C&S has someone else making their soap now. I haven't tried the new one myself but am hearing others saying exactly what you're saying about it. You can try continuing to use it and as the puck absorbs some water it may load easier, making slightly better lather but I'm not sure. If you really want to stick with the old British names, DR Harris seems to make the best hard soaps still available from those brands but honestly none of them can compare to the artisan soaps being made now.
Life is too short to use crappy lathering soap. When I had soap like this, I would let the wife have it. She doesnt care, because in a pinch, she will use whatever bar soap is handy.
I agree, to a point, which is why I won't use Williams. But if I really like the smell of a soap, as I said, a squirt of unscented KMF only takes half a second, and I get to keep the puck!
And I've never smelled the vintage. I can only speak of the modern. I do keep my eyes open for the old Williams every time I go into an antique mall. I'd like to try it. Maybe some day...
Yes on soaking the puck. Sounds like there is a new formula that perhaps doesn't work as well as the old.
Yeah I think I got the new one. DR Harris is excellent. I'll keep working at it, but I completely agree with you that there are vastly better soaps made by artisans.
So here's my complete experience. I got a puck from vendor 1 (the puck that started this post) that lathers horribly - foamy and disappeared quickly on the face. Vendor 2 sent an email that it had the last of the old stuff made in Italy so I bit. Well, it got here today and it is exactly the same as the puck I got from vendor 1. I guess I'm one of the suckers that's born every minute. Very disappointing. I'll be spending my dollars elsewhere from now on, and cannot recommend the new C&S formula, assuming that is what I got. So many excellent products out there to waste time messing with the crappy stuff.