Funny you should say this. My sample of Rt66 Lavender Woods was about 1-2gr and the lather I got quickly had too much water and made a thin but slick lather today. I too wished I had some more soap to thicken it. I feel this soapis very soft and as such those with a tub easily and unknowingly load more than they think and get a good lather. The downside is the tub doesn't last as long. If you need 2-3gr to get a thick lather, the 142gr tub will only last for 47 - 71 shaves. At $18.49, that might be a bit expensive. For the wife, I whipped up 0.5gr or less of MdC and had more lather and it was thicker that Rt66. Of course you pay $70 for 200gr but get 400 or more shaves out of it. To get the same out of Rt66, you would need almost 6 tubs and that would cost a lot. Of course, you do get a bigger selection of scents. The same math works for B&M, Stirling and all the other thirstiest soaps that require less soap to make a big lather. They work out cheaper. I too am a little disappointed. I too liked their scents.
You math comparing MdC to artisan soaps is spot on. In my experience there is not a huge difference in the number of shaves between Route 66, Stirling or B&M. I've finished tubs of all three. They are fairly soft soaps in my experience and last between 40-60 shaves if using an average density brush and much less with a very dense brush. The brush might be the biggest single factor in the amount of shaves from an artisan soap. Artisan soaps in general are not cured as long as soaps like MdC so we are in essence purchasing more water by weight. From my usage thus far I anticipate getting at least 300 shaves from a jar of MdC making it more cost effective than any artisan soap I've tried.
Last night, I set my new Maggards 24mm 2-band badger knot in Jason's " seconds" Cypress handle. It's a beautifully crafted handle but didn't quite meet his stringent requirements for dimensions of a 30DC LE brush. Tonight, after the glue had cured (I used Weldbond white glue for a semi-permanent fix), I took the brush out for a test lather. The knot was initially very dense and prickly but bloomed out some after being soaked and more after bowl lathering a soap. I used Omega Eucalyptus cream to help kill the new brush badger smell. The brush shed no hairs and demonstrated a lot of backbone but no scritch once wet. I obviously haven't had a chance to run it through its paces much yet, but so far, I would say it compares very favorably with my 24mm Envy White knot in the Alluminati brush. I think Maggards is selling an excellent quality knot here and I am very pleased I bought one for Jason's brush. Here it is flanked by my 30DC LE Cashmere Maple and my Alluminati Envy White badger brush:
I was also saying that the brush could have some impact too. Is it possible for a brush to hold water or lather better and make one believe more soap or water is needed? When I made the lather today, I made it a point to squeeze out the water from the brush and keep very little water to do the initial dissolving of the soap. Unfortunately I had to add more because it seemed it didn't want to dissolve. I did find that when I was lathering up to get the moisturizer benefits, it did seem to dry down and thicken a bit. I wonder if RT 66 just likes a bigger brush than I have and could need more whipping than I am use to or that my smaller brushes offer. The only thing that goes against this is that I used the Tuxedo loaded 30DC LE brush and that is a great brush which should have had no problems. I do believe that it was user error and no fault of the soap. I have gotten beautiful lather. It just seems to take more soap than I am use to to get there. I was watching a guy do a review on Rt66 and he had this bowl 4-5" in diameter and had raised circles in its base. He pressed enough soap to fill those ridges. This too is what brings me to say this soap needs a lot of product to make a good lather. Donald Youngner on YouTube did the review This is how much he loaded to get a good lather. It looks like a lot to me.
That's a lot of soap! At that rate @Bama Samurai would finish a stick of Arko in a week instead of half a year!
July 1 - tribulations with Rt66 Merkur 34C Astra SP(day 1) 30DC LE brush DIY PSO Rt66 Lavender Woods Alum/Thayers/AOS PSB Posted most of my shave already. Lather was slick but thin and only after 4 passes did it start to thicken when I used what was left for post shave moisturizer. I am not a Lavender fan but this was good. Only wished I didn't over water it and thin it out. Alum was silent. Even though I ruined the lather, the quality of the results make this a great way to start July. Since I used every last drop of Rt66, the wife got a pea sized amount of MdC and she loved it, even the herbal scent. Might have another soap the wife wants me to get.
I don't think it is a brush issue at all, I never have loaded soap into a bowl to lather. Even when I bowl lather I load the brush and go to a bowl. When loading a brush off the puck, a bigger denser brush loads more product. It has too in order to release the lather. My point is that my experience does not support your theory of one American artisan soap lasting significantly longer than others. Since I restarted wet shaving and using a soap and brush in September 2014 I have finished 19 full tubs of artisan soaps and creams. My avg # of shaves adjusted for tub size across the brands have been roughly the same with Barrister & Mann soaps lasting me within 3 shaves of my avg with Route 66 and Mystic Water. In fact B&M Latha holds my record for the least number of shaves from a tub of soap. It could be that I hated the scent and loaded it accordingly. Part of what you might be noticing is that some soaps have a more narrow sweet spot of the amount of water needed and tolerated. In the beginning soap performance had more bearing on the quality of my shaves. Slicker soaps worked better with certain razors, etc. Now the soaps really do not impact the quality of my shave as much. I choose based more on scent than other soap qualities. I think this is due to my technique being solid. Technique trumps tools. Like you I prefer the artisan soaps for their variety of scents as well as their post shave properties. Accordingly, I will always have some around. One nice thing about this hobby is the variety of artisan products. There is something that should appeal to everyone in terms of price, performance or scent.
Clint, I couldn't agree more. I actually like the Rt66 and just feel I wasted the soap with how I used them. As for scents, I found probably all of the Rt66 soaps in the pass around box excellent. I am glad I did get at least one sample dialed in. Guess I just need more practice. As for longevity, I often use a demitasse spoon as an aid to grabbing a proper amount of soap. With Stirling, I can use 1/2 to 2/3 of a spoon and get 6 passes+ of lather. This is about 0.5 - 0.75gr of soap. B&M I find similar. Now with Stirling cheaper and needing less soap and having 5.8 oz in a tub, it will be able to last longer for me. Of course YMMV. For me, I can use 1/2 to 1/3 as much as RT66 and actually get more lather. I guess I just have more practice with Stirling and can dial in the water better I guess. I think it also has a wider water range making it easier for me to hit the sweet spot if I had to guess. So does this post break my catch phrase? Ok, just whip it , use and love it! Who cares how long it lasts and how much it costs. You only live once!
The key for the four pass shave is to remember it's about beard reduction, don't be overly aggressive, mind your technique and your technique and you rewarded with an epic shaves. Congratulations again on the addition to your clan.
Hubba Hubba!!! Awesome!! Post all the youngen pics you want. Makes the day brighter!! About time... On it!!! Chunky....C H U N K Y.... Awesome pic!!
No worries at all. I was just pointing out my usage experience was different than yours. I enjoy reading and following your soap reports. It's interesting to see your take on things. Keep up the good work. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If it's the same as what I've referred to as "making shaving faces". Opening or closing your mouth, tipping your head back to stretch the skin, & shifting jaw side to side. I'm only fifty six and don't have much loose skin. Left handed with a fair amount of ambidextrous skills, I tried using my other hand to stretch but I get better results doing contortions.
It only takes a tiny bit and a tablespoon or so of water. My tub has 90 shaves on it, and it's still about 60% full. I use a synthetic brush and face lather from a loaded brush. I started out as a bowl user, but found better lather without it. Especially for Straights.
July letting the Focus find me. Godrej Lime Fresh Cream sample JR#130 Maggard's synthetic knot Suribachi bowl '59 Gillette Fat Boy, Wilkinson Sword Alum, Pinaud Lime Sec AS Randy @BaylorGator set me up with samples of lime scented soaps and creams. Top of the stack being this product from India. The ingredients list includes lots of chemical names, but the lather is good. I scooped the entire smear and pressed it to the textured bottom of my bowl. With no shortage of product & adding moisten brush stepped it up to usable, dense, & slick lather. The scent is less sweet lime fruit candy, more peel or zest. Haven't held the Fatty for a month, Feels Good Man. Dropped in a fresh German blade and cranked it up to number nine. WTG, ATG, XTG & back, adding in that 4th pass for cleanup yielded the remembered smoothness. Alum sparkled brightly reminding me about using pressure. A month of shavette and Schick retrained my grip and Cap Awareness. Splash of Pinaud gave a sweet lime candy burn. I'll go back for another dose before my head hits the pillow. Good Shaves Y'all!
July 2017 - Time to straighten up! July 1 Razor - Kai Captain J Type (pain stick) Blade - (1) Soap - Stirling Bay Rum Brush - Jayaruh #46 Post - Alum July is off to a running start on a sale weekend at work, although since I'm in the middle of a 12 day run it really doesn't matter. Time to have some fun and pull out the straights, starting with the Kai Captain. Might as well start the month with the pain stick. My intention was to use the Captain Original blades but I discovered all I have are the mild blades. That's ok. They work fine. I'll just order some more of the originals when I have the chance. I do have one of the Captain Sharpblades, which is essentially Kai's version of the Feather Super Pro. I'm sure I'll give it a try at some point this month. Stirling for a slick lather with my favorite synthetic knot, the Maggard in the JR46. Great slick lather that has the added benefit of easily taking more water as it dries a bit due to my slow pass while getting the pain stick back under control. No real problems, just took my time and made sure everything was in the proper place with the proper angle and the proper pressure, which is little to none. Two nice passes with some touch up in various directions. I even dared a bit of a slide on the neck at the end. Very shallow angle of slide and no pressure beyond what it took to hold the razor. I'm happy to report no blood was involved at all. Great start to the month! As I mentioned earlier I plan to spend a lot of time with my straights and want to pull off a successful head shave with my Rabbit TSR. Oh - four days until CINCO de JULIO!!!!!
First shave of July, may Canada Day shave. I needed to take a quick shower so I can head to bed (will be there shortly), so I just did it there. 2 passes, really good shave, and the LORD doesn't show any signs of degrading after 5 uses now. Only downside was that I managed to catch the corner of my mouth. Not even worth a styptic pencil. Three or four more shaves and I may finally run out of VDH!
When you open the bottle, it will smell like a cat peed on it. When you splash it on your face, it will have a light floral scent, followed by angry tom cat musk, and will require a shower or two to remove.
