Farewell to Mitchell's Wool Fat (MWF reformulation)

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by PLANofMAN, May 24, 2023.

  1. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    Goodbye dear soap. We loved you.

    I regret to inform you that the MWF we knew and loved has been discontinued.

    It has now been reformulated with a Palm base.
    Screenshot_2023-05-24-19-50-41-76_0311c9f6806a66343c45622522faa000.jpg Screenshot_2023-05-24-19-50-56-81_0311c9f6806a66343c45622522faa000.jpg
    I ordered 3 pucks off Amazon, and hope they send out old stock.

    The announcement came from Paul at Connought Shaving, and they have fully switched over to the new formula.

    Mitchell's Wool Fat of course, kept the old box label with "original 1893 formula," though I suspect the only remaining ingredient from that "original" formula in the new soap is lanolin. Even the late, lamented tallow formula had ingredients in it that were first created in the 1920's.

    This marks the end of an era.
     
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  2. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    New ingredient list:
    Sodium Palmate
    Potassium Palmate
    Aqua (water)
    Potassium Stearate
    Potassium Palm Kernelate
    Sodium Cocoate
    Glycerin
    Sodium Stearate
    Sodium Palm Kernelate
    Palm Kernel Acid
    Parfum (fragrance)
    Sodium Chloride
    Lanolin
    Titanium Dioxide
    Tetrasodium Etidronate
    Pentasodium Pentetate
    Sodium Gluconate
    Tetrasodium EDTA
    Limonene

    Old ingredient list:
    Sodium Tallowate
    Potassium Stearate
    Sodium Cocoate
    Sodium Stearate
    Aqua (water)
    Potassium Cocoate
    Glycerin
    Parfum (fragrance)
    Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone
    Hexyl Cinnamal
    Limonene
    Linalool
    Hydroxycitronellal
    Lanolin
    Titanium Dioxide
    Sodium Chloride
    Sodium Gluconate
    Sodium Silicate
    Tetrasodium EDTA
    Magnesium Sulphate
    Tetrasodium Etidronate.

    I find palm based soaps to have a very drying effect on my skin, so I expect the new formula to be the exact opposite of everything I loved about MWF.

    Early initial reports on the new formula are not encouraging. The "spicy" background note that was in the scent is now gone. The protective slickness that MWF was renowned for is now gone. On the upside, it apparently does lather easier, for whatever that's worth.

    Edit: To play devil's advocate, tallow has been increasingly hard for manufacturers to aquire. Ever tightening European regulations designed to protect consumers from diseases require that tallow used in cosmetics (under which rules shave soaps fall) be certified as not ever having been in contact with brain or nerve tissue. They may have been forced to either reformulate or stop manufacturing shave soap entirely. For myself, I would have rather seen them go with a coconut oil base instead of palm oil, just from both an ethical and soap performance viewpoint.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2023
  3. Frijolero

    Frijolero Well-Known Member

    Wow. So they've decided to be just another soap. Thanks for the heads up, Ryan. Just ordered a few from mensroombarbershop.com myself. Their listing still shows the old ingredients. Fingers crossed.
     
  4. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    I ordered through Amazon, though the supplier is in fact, mens room barber shop. Paid about $3 more per puck that way, but returns are super easy though Amazon, if the pucks end up being the new formula.

    I suspect that sales of the ceramic bowl are about to take a nosedive off a cliff, as people finish up their tallow MWF soaps and start ditching their bowls on eBay. I wish I had 30 pucks of the old stuff. It wouldn't have been all that expensive from Connought Shaving. 20/20 hindsight is a right bastard sometimes.
     
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  5. Keithmax

    Keithmax Breeds Pet Rocks

    :shocked003: another classic bites the dust.
     
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  6. John Beeman

    John Beeman Little chicken in hot water

    sacrilege
     
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  7. lightcs1776

    lightcs1776 Well-Known Member

    Sad. I am using my one and only puck of MWF and love the soap. It is not worth buying another one at this point. It seems companies change things just for the sake of change rather than to improve their product.
     
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  8. Enrico

    Enrico Popcorn

    I've never used due to the Tetrasodium EDTA. Bad stuff ...... also very unnecessary.
     
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  9. Hembree

    Hembree Not as pretty smelling

    I hate to hear this. I just ordered a puck....hopefully it will be the old formula.
     
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  10. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    If it is the old, you'll be grandfathering it.
     
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  11. Enrico

    Enrico Popcorn

    Funny this makes at least the third formulation and re-formulation of MWF.
     
  12. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    From @pjgh:

    "I've had a detailed look at the ingredient lists of the soaps that I own and found that the new MWF looks very close to T&H Sandalwood (latest offering) which I enjoy very much indeed and that soap came as quite a surprise, given poor reputation from some years ago!

    This bodes well ...

    MWF
    Sodium Palmate, Potassium Palmate, Aqua, Potassium Stearate, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Palm Kernel Acid, Parfum, Sodium Chloride, Lanolin, Titanium Dioxide, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Pentesodium Pentetate, Sodium Gluconate, Tetrasodium EDTA & Limonene

    T&H Sandalwood
    Sodium palmate, Potassium palmate, Aqua, Potassium stearate, Potassium palm kernelate, Sodium cocoate, Glycerin, Sodium stearate, Sodium palm kernelate, Parfum, Palm kernel acid, Titanium dioxide, Sodium chloride, Tetrasodium etidronate, Potassium pentetate, Sodium gluconate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Citronellol, Coumarin

    Not to put myself in direct opposition to @PLANofMAN for sake of an argument, quite the contrary; for me, I tend to prefer soaps that leave me with a taut feeling. What I like about MWF is an almost unique behaviour whereby I get that but without dryness, something I ascribe to the lanolin, and I say that because I get similar from LEA stick and the Wilkinson Sword stick. In some respects I'm rather hoping for that extra dryness.

    I particularly like vintage soap, especially Boots and Culmak, and what I don't know is the ingredient set because they're from a time when ingredient listing was not mandatory. I have an ingredient list for an older Culmak (not current formulation) that I picked up from a forum and it bears a lot of similarity with Edwin Jagger & Muhle ... and this new MWF formulation.

    Again, this bodes well ... I hope.

    On the flip, MWF has just become "yet another much of a muchness (crap shoot?) British hard soap of the same formulation as everyone else" ... but with lanolin? Of course it won't be the MWF that we know, but it will still be MWF. Personally, I'm really looking forward to trying it out.

    ... or, it might just be another Trumpers-style fail and forever be known as the King that lost his crown."
     
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  13. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    The reviews are turning more optimistic on 2nd use, so perhaps there is hope for the new formula.

    On the other hand, there's not much to separate MWF from the rest of the herd anymore. It's now just another soap, and nothing special.
     
  14. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    You have to wonder if they got it wrong twice. Why not leave as is???
     
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  15. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    I just got off the phone with them. Their inventory in store is new formula. Their stock at Amazon is a big ???.
     
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  16. SterFry

    SterFry Well-Known Member

    No doubt they'll continue to claim it's still the original 18-something formulation, nonetheless...
     
  17. Enrico

    Enrico Popcorn

    I figure it as at least the third formulation and re-formulation due to .....

    1) Original formulation 1893

    2) Unknown date they added EDTA to it due to EDTA was first discovered in 1935 by Ferdinand Munz.

    3) Current Formulation 2023

    :signs002:
     
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  18. Frijolero

    Frijolero Well-Known Member

    Oh. In that case, I guess it will be going back. It's already shipped, so I'll see when it get here.
     
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  19. BamaT

    BamaT Well-Known Member

    Really hate to hear this. This past Christmas my wife gave me my first puck of MWF, with the bowl in anticipation of future orders of the soap. It’s still unopened, as I’m finishing up a couple of other soaps.
     
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  20. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    You can see the boxes it comes in in my first post, so ...yep.

    I suspect if pressed, they will claim that it refers to the scent, not the soap.
     
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