Holy crap!

Not so much riling people up as hitting a well known trigger of some of our members. I was watching with a grin on my face to see how @swarden43 and @Bama Samurai responded. They didn’t disappoint. From a strickly entertainment perspective, please continue to bloom your soaps, and tell us all about it.

I find it beneficial to “souse” my hard soaps while I shower. I then use the souse water to wash my face, and enjoy the scent while I build a lather.

Carry on.

Does that mean Scots Pine isn't in the same ballpark with OM?

That reminds me to get going with my Colgate Barbershop cake.

Perry, I hope your son is doing better this evening. Give him a hug from me.

Thank you, everyone. I really appreciate the messages. It does help and bless you for it. And it was very helpful to see and visit with others who grieve for him and his family.

I see I have some catching up to do on this thread.... Sousing vs. Blooming? Have things been getting out of control while I was away?

Dan

Not at all.
What is this "blooming" you speak of? There is no such thing that I am aware of.

The performance is similar. Scots Pine is a mutton tallow and Ozark Mountain is a beef tallow, so their performance is a little different, but both our outstanding soaps. I just prefer the Ozark Mountain scent more, that's all.

Thanks, Charlie! I haven't been home since 6:30 this morning but my wife has said he was doing okay all day today. I may have to give him that hug tomorrow because he'll be asleep by the time I get home.

Apparently whether or not you “get your bloomers in a wad” depends on whether you are a souser or a non-souser. Or something like that. Carry on...

I'll be watching for the term to show up in SOTD. Social Engineering at it's best! Hari Seldon would/will be proud.

Don't kid me. I saw your post claiming no dictionary defines "To Bloom" in anyway as "To Soak." I say it's a metaphor.... "To cause to flourish."

I like to "flourish" my soaps, and occasionally I'll use the flourish water as a pre-shave.

I agree. I was initially encouraged to bloom soaps when I started out. I rotate soaps fairly randomly and soon learned that it didn’t seem to make any difference when grabbing a dry soap. I now just get a brush wet with cold water and lather up. I adjust the lather with the dampness of the brush when face lathering and by adding water when bowl lathering. I haven’t bloomed a soap in over a year and get great shaves with most soaps.

Well said

I can't remember the last time I used a bowl for building lather. It's always damp brush to load, then water gradually into the knot as I face lather.

I beg to differ.

That always works great for me too, but I enjoy bowl lathering as well. There is something about building a nice bowl of lather that I find satisfying.

I never decided to stop, just haven't done it. It's worth repeating for new guys, method is a means to an ideal ratio. It's not the determining factor in lather.

I agree. A couple of focuses on lathering helped me learn that.