Lathering TSD Soaps

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by swarden43, Mar 3, 2012.

  1. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    HEY! What the...??? I thought this was about TSD soap! What's with all the brushes?!?!
    P1010213 (Medium).JPG
    Back row, L to R: Vulfix 404 Grosvenor badger/boar mix, Vulfix 406 Burlington, 24mm silvertip set in red mallee burl, Omega 10098, Omega 49, Semogue 2000, The Dridecker
    Front, L to R: Kriss Kross with original boar knot, Ever Ready 200T with original boar knot, C&E Pure Badger, Mohawk 3-338 with original boar knot, Ever Ready 250PB Pure Badger original knot

    These are my tools. I've learned how to use them. They all work great for all my soaps and creams, bowl lathering or face lathering.

    So, now on to the reason for this post...

    Seems some folks have some trouble getting a good lather up with TSD soaps. As many know, I'm a big fan of JoAnna's soap. Not only do they smell great and perform excellent, they are not hard to lather. Here's how I do it. Be fore-warned, if you are a minimalist and like to use as little product as you can get away with, and you hate having ANY left over lather, you won't like this :signs136:

    1 - Contrary to what is taught, that is, shake out your brush until it's almost dry, I start with a fairly damp brush. It's not dripping, mind you, but it only gets about 3 or 4 gentle shakes to keep it from dripping.

    2 - Then I go to the soap. I've found that a larger surface area of soap works best. Almost all my soaps are in a small glass bowl I pick up at the Dollar Store at 2 or 3 for a buck. TSD soaps are melted down into those. Others are in the smaller diameter vintage Old Spice Mugs. They work, but as I said, a larger surface area seems to work better.

    3 - I begin to swirl, twist and pump the brush. This is where some folks cringe a bit - I don't abuse my brushes with heavy handed mashing down into the soap, but I don't baby it either. It's a tool. I use it and make it work for me. I will admit that badger seems to be a bit easier, but I do get very good results with my boars.

    4 - Step three continues for several minutes. I know, I know. All the videos show 27 seconds or 14 swirls on the soap and you'll have enough. I'm just tellin' ya what works for me. I keep it up until the lather starts to get really thick.

    5 - Holding the soap upside down over my lather bowl, I continue step three as most of the lather falls down into the lather bowl. Then I take the brush, set it in the lather bowl, and wipe out all the remaining lather with my finger. I wipe this left over lather on the edge of the lather bowl so as not to go to waste and proceed to step 6.

    6 - My bowl will have a little bit of water in it because it has been soaking in the sink of hot water to absorb some heat. That results in a bit warmer lather. I swirl and spin the brush around in the bowl until I get the consistency I want - nice thick and rich. MM-MM-MM!

    As I mentioned, many say start with a drier brush and add water as you need it. I start with a wetter brush and keep adding product until I get what I need.

    I never fail to get enough thick lather for at least 5 passes. Many would see this as waste, but I see it as how I enjoy my shaves. I take the extra, spread it out all over my face, then let it soak in while I clean up. Some folks do this with MWF to help with the moisturizing. Don't know if it works with glycerine soaps but figure can't hurt, might help.

    Hope this helps.
     
  2. DLP

    DLP Well-Known Member

    Thanks, I'll give this a try next time I pickup my TSD soap. I'm one of those that have been having problems. I really got discouraged when I had no problem getting a good lather from MWF after having read all of the problems reported with lathering MWF.
     
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  3. fishcrow

    fishcrow Birdman of TSD

    Steve, I agree with you wholeheartedly. The shaving brush is a tool should be used as such, as any tool you use you do not abuse it but you make it work for the job at hand. I enjoy making lather and enjoy taking a few extra minutes to make really great lather. I have no problems with left over lather either and do not consider it a waste either.

    Great article and great advice.:signs107:
     
  4. SharpSpine

    SharpSpine Well-Known Member

    Steve definitely knows his way around some TSD soaps. When I got my first TSD soaps & got poor lathers I PM'd Steve & he told me the same stuff that he just laid out here. Guess what? It works! Thanks Steve for your help previously & posting this so others can find it.
     
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  5. thevez2

    thevez2 uses Gillette's new Tarantula Razor - 8 blades!!

    When I first got TSD soap I loaded for 1 minute. I got tons of lather and had a lot left over. After that I loaded for 30 seconds and had a perfect amount of lather for 4 passes. I'm in the dry-side brush camp. I squeeze the majority of the water out of my brush prior to loading, but I also soak the soap good before lathering.
     
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  6. macaronus

    macaronus Sir Nice-a-Lot

    Great article!
    Up to now I was in the dry camp as well, but I'll surely try your way as well, Steve! I might just be converted :D
    It is a comprehensive and complete write-up. Thanx!
    :happy096:
     
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  7. MoAllen

    MoAllen King of Unscented

    Here is what works for me with TSD soap.

    I melted the soap and poured it into a twist-up shave stick container. Before washing my face, I wet the end of the stick with warm water to soft it up a little. I rub the stick over my whiskers generously, then give my wet brush (I especially like my Omega imitation badger brush for this) two shakes, leaving it quite wet, and I brush vigorously over my face for about a minutes. The lather is initially thin an bubbly, but it quickly thickens up to the consistency of stiff whipped cream. My brush has a big load of lather, enough for 4 or more passes.

    Once I felt bad about wasting lather (there is always lather left over), but I realized that the shave stick is a thrifty way to use soap. Besides, the face lathering a pleasant experience!
     
  8. Etoyoc

    Etoyoc Backwards

    I also start with wet brush and work it on the soap until it gets where I want it. Maybe it wastes but it works for me on a lot of soaps.
     
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  9. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    Thanks all!
     
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  10. battle.munky

    battle.munky Has the menthol.munky on his back!

    I don't notice any difference in latherability from TSD soaps to any other soaps. I face lather 99% of the time so I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not.
     
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  11. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    For the most part, neither do I. It just might be because I lather all my soaps the same way.
     
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  12. fishcrow

    fishcrow Birdman of TSD

    I tried Steve's lathering method today on a unknown brand shave soap. I had the best lather I have ever had. This tutorial has forever changed how I will make lather. I do believe any soap that has deemed unlatherable can be lathered with this method. The only thing I did not do was the melting.

    Steve, thank you for this great post.
     
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  13. Billr

    Billr Mix Master Mighty White!

    Thanks for a great post Steve - I found out I do the same thing as you - I take my finger and wipe out ever last bit of lather from my soap bowl and make sure that it gets into my lather bowl. Sometimes this makes a mess on my hands but I take what is left and wipe it all over my face.

    I love a good lather and the TSD soaps just do it for me!
     
  14. CyanideMetal

    CyanideMetal Wild and crazy guy

    I face lather, but I do the same thing with my soft soaps.
     
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  15. Mechguy

    Mechguy Well-Known Member

    Thanks for posting that, I played around with your method this morning and I think I'm going to stick with it all week.
    Thanks for sharing.
     
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  16. byrd

    byrd Well-Known Member

    Great post. I don't really have any trouble with TSD soaps, but used this method on another that does give me some problems and it worked great.
     
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  17. macaronus

    macaronus Sir Nice-a-Lot

    Yep, you've got me converted to wet lathering!
    Thanx!
     
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  18. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

  19. Latherman87

    Latherman87 Well-Known Member

    I have ALWAYS been a WET LATHERER as its was called earlier in the thread lol......sometimes it tends to frustrate me paticularly with my Arko stick......when I need more lather for my final pass I squeeze remaining lather from the brush but its super runny ....I do not know how to avoid this because I have learned that I need to use more water than normal with my Arko to get the lather I desire....first few passes are amazingly thick lather...the last is thin but still a great shave...how can I avoid the runny lather at the end but still keep my current water usage for my Arko? Any ideas?
    And JoAnna knows ima huge fan of her "Christmas" scent soap......at first test of my TSD soap samples I was not impressed...HOWEVER.....I for some reason was not using my brush like I did with every other soap of mine....I guess perhaps the samples are so small it was hard for me to get used to...iv never used such a small soap so it was hard to wrap my head around. But I found holding the sample in my hand and loading the brush that way helped tremendously...so size WAS the factor for me pertaining to the lather quality...not her soap in general. After I learned how to work the samples...the soap delivers for me every time! Great lather.....amazing scent and a good shave! Christmas rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its the most wonderful time of the year for me all year long lol.....still love it JoAnna!!
     
  20. Sodapopjones

    Sodapopjones Well-Known Member

    Brett my man, have you tried rubbing the Arko stick on your face after pass 2? I normally have to re apply my shave sticks after a couple passes because I never have enough stubble to scrape off a decent amount of shave stick lol.
     
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