So I picked up this new soap in a shop the other day--I was so excited to find one in a shop that I didn't even think about it--and it turns out it's not the best latherer. I'm not surprised, but I'd like to get it to work if possible. The scent is pretty good, and the skincare isn't bad at all, but when I lather it up I get a foamy, fizzy mess. I've tried a wet brush, and a dry brush, and an in-between brush. With a dry brush, I get something akin to good lather that promptly fizzles away when it hits my face. Here are the ingredients:Soap Base (Olive Oil, Palm Oil, and Coconut oil), Bentonite clay, Fragrance, Almond Oil, Castor Oil, Shea Butter and Tocophero Does anyone know any techniques on how to get a good lather out of a soap like this, WITHOUT superlathering? I'd just as soon use a cream by itself, if that's the only way to lather a soap.
wow- that's a lot of oils. Try it like a shave stick? If that doesn't work, my only advice would be to use it like a pre-shave lather. I bought a "shaving soap" off of E-bay that is full of oil and lathers poorly, also. Started trying it as a pre-shave face wash and was pretty surprised how well it worked after I applied lather over it. (quick rinse leaving some suds still on)
I had a SS called Cade. It was made with Laurel and very heavy in the olive oil. I didnt lather worth a damn. I mean not at all. However it did provide a very slick barrier and very moisturizing. I couldnt stand it it and sold it off. There is a very thorough review of it across the street. Quite interesting to see the different feedback. I believe some folks and companies that arent accustomed to making shave soaps seem to jump on the bandwagon without doing the proper research. Good luck with it though Jim!
Agreed. The book I recently bought on how to make soap has pages and pages of recipes, with only one listed as a shaving soap (and that recipe is for a liquid soap). But, luckily, you can always use those crap soaps in the shower and feel better about not wasting your money.
Thanks for the feedback, guys. I've tried olive oil based soaps before and had similar problems. My wife really likes the scent on this one, and I paid decent money for it, so I'd like to get it to work... "Narcissist". It's sold by a Japanese company called "Tree of Life", but it's apparently imported from the states and rebranded...
I'll have to look for it, JimR, thanks for the info. I've often tried to find a good shaving cream or soap in Japan, but alas, no joy as of yet.
If you're at Yokosuka, you should be able to get stuff in Tokyo pretty easily. If you don't mind paying for it, AOS, T&H and Penhaligon's are available in some department stores but they charge about double what it costs in the States. I got a puck of AOS Sandalwood at Iwataya...but paid for it in blood. They also had Santa Maria Novella colognes and aftershaves, and T&H creams, soap etc. On the net, without importing, you're pretty much limited to Durance L'Ome, AOS, and E-Shave. The only one not overpriced is L'Ome...but I've not tried it yet.
Durance is a good soap my friend,youre gonna like it.Its hard to lather a based olive oil soap.I find that I have to add a little bit of cream to make a good lather from it.On the other hand its skin properties are really high as well and its slickness.
I have an Italian brand of olive oil soap that is also hard to lather. What I've learned is that I have to work like crazy with it. It's a hard soap, so it requires some scrubbing with the brush to load it up. Once I'm done face lathering it, I don't dare dilly-dally around because the lather partially reduces but doesn't disappear completely. It is real slick, though. If I could pop it out of the tin that it's in, then I would use it as a shower soap.
I give up. I used a much drier brush than usual, and this time the lather disappeared into a thick, sticky mess. Meh. It smells good, but it's no shave soap as far as I'm concerned. If anyone wants to try it, PM me and I'll trade it for some pocket lint or something. Otherwise, it's shower soap.
It will probably make an excellent shower soap. You can mix a little shave cream in your brush to give it a boost.