So I tried Mitchell's Wool Fat soap for the first time today. What an interesting experience. First, let me state for the record, I absolutely LOVE the scent. Love it! Now, I had difficulty loading the brush. I sprinkled a few drops of water on it and it sat during my shower. When I got out of the shower, the water didn't seem to have done much of anything. I swirled the brush around loosely for my "pre-lather" that I put on while preparing everything else for my shave. Rinsed the brush out, squeezed dry and shook out a few times. I face lather, and have found that a very dry brush seems to work best for me with my other soaps (Tabac, IK, Pre de Provence sample, Ogallala BRL&P sample). I had a very, very difficult time loading the brush. I wet it a little, and it started loading a little easier. As I was lathering one side of my face, I noticed it dissipating from the other side. It was also very, very thick (to be expected at this stage) so I added just the smallest amount of water by dipping the tips in and letting it drip out. The lather thinned out so quickly that it started dripping. After a minute or so, it started thickening up to a point I thought was OK. As I started shaving, the lather began dissipating from my face again. By the time I finished my first cheek (right), I had to relather for the other side. Then relather for my neck. Same problem for Pass 2. I stopped after two passes. When I tried to rinse, the lather just didn't want to rinse off and actually sudsed up on my face (is sudsed a word? not according to FF). After a much longer rinse time, I was finally able to feel like it had all come off. Then I had the hardest time getting it out of my brush, and I'm still not sure it's all out. I'm almost afraid I might have ruined my brush. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to paint a clear picture. Any ideas?
Never had anything like it with MWF. Try lathering in a bowl to get a better feel for how MWF reacts to water. I tend to work the lather longer, with less water when using MWF compared to other soaps. Let's hear what others have to say ... ?
I'll agree, It's a lot easier to control the amount of water and soap if you make the lather in a bowl. After you know how it works for you; you can go back to the face (or not) It's worth the effort
Wow Houston, we have a problem. First of all.....it is a rather tougher soap to bowl lather.....therefore I do face lather as well. I have my puck in an old DR Harris container which is very tight. I soak the puck in water....the hell with drops. I fill the damn thing up. Then after shower I pour out. Then go to town with the brush and get it loaded quite nice a creamy. Then hit my face with no problems at all. The rinsing issue I have no idea? It usually rinses quite easily. In fact very easy. I do dip my tips in water to "reload" and still get good lather on the face. Very odd though. Maybe let the puck soak in submerged water for a while. Dont freak if the pucks crack either. That is MWF for you. Keep at though. I will be honest and say that MWF is not my fav soap and I personally think the soap smells less than stunning. But Burnwood.
That's interesting, I have much better luck with it in the bowl. I use my Commodore X3 and get great results. I don't care much about the scent; for me it's all about the performance and skincare. Of course...
I can bowl lather with it but its just one of those that I do face lather with. I honestly dont use it much as I should and really prefer Tabac over it. I have got to re visit it soon. Its one of those soaps also that I refuse to superlather with b/c it is such a good soap.
MWF never worked real well for me. I can get a good lather out of it, but not by gently swirling the brush on the soap. I have to pick the puck up in my hand and really work the brush to get it loaded the way I like. While the shave performance is ok, something in the soap does not agree with my skin. It feels rather hot on my face. Although I don't care for the shave soap, the other MWF products are all great and I keep them around. Especially the hand lotion.
Yes, that seems to be the case. I'm going to keep trying. I don't know why you guys don't like the scent, I really like it. Thanks for the tips, I'll give some of them a try and see what happens. I've just never had, nor heard of, lather disappearing off of my face. Weird.
Shake your brush out less. About 3 shakes to the tips are dryer but its loaded deep in the knot. When you press the brush down on the puck water should pour out from the center of the knot. Just start swirling the hell out of it for 10 seconds or so till you have a good amount of lather going. Than just go to the face. Half way through slightly dip the tips, dont shake out, and keep lathering. Sounds like you didnt use enough soap or water.
I think I'm allergic to it. As I was trying to get it to work today, by the end my face was starting to tingle, and once I rinsed it off it's very red and prickly. I'm thinking the rapid dissipation may have been my face's defense mechanism trying to get it off my face. Boo sensitive skin. No matter how hard I tried, from super thick pure soap (I actually rubbed the puck on my face at one point) to rich creamy lather, and light fluffy airy lather, it just wouldn't stay on for more than 30 seconds. The thicker it was the longer it took to dissipate, but at times I was just finishing the second side when the first side was already gone. That made for difficult shaving. I hope this doesn't trigger sensitivities to my other soaps now
MWF is just what it says, fat. It shouldnt cause allergic reactions. And your bodies defense mechanisms dont excrete anything quickly enough to dissapate the lather within a few seconds. Still sounds like you didnt use enough soap on the brush. The stuff lathers like a dream. Just send it over my way and I'll make sure its genuine MWF and lathers as well as it should.
I agree with Jaykay on the lather quality, but the reaction does sound like a sensitivity/allergy. This would most likely be to the lannolin. A couple of my in-laws can't use anything with lannolin and I know a small fraction of people have this problem. I'm sure you won't have any problems selling the soap to one of the Wool Fat Fans here. If I didn't have some on the way it might have been me.
lanolin is in alot of other creams also...including musgo and lavanda....Godrej. So that might be your sensitivity. No huge loss sir as it isnt the best of the best. Alot of hype has build it to where its at. Honestly if you your face isnt dry there is no reason to use it? One question.....did you get a sample or the whole puck? The whole puck will sell on the b/s/t in no time at all.
MWF is a step above Williams in terms of actual performance for me. The best part about it is the moisturizing aspect. I have found it to be best used in conjunction other products in a superlather.
Thanks for the help everyone. It is a full puck Shawn. I'm going to give it a rest for a week or so, then try it again. In all honesty, I really should have not shaved today to give myself a break from the two previous rough days. I understand what you all are saying about not enough soap, but I honestly don't think I could have loaded the brush any more. I swirled it, I mashed it, I squished it, I squeezed it... I think I had more soap in the brush than I've ever had before. As I said above, too, I even put the puck directly to my face like a large shave stick, and it just caked on. It wasn't even lather, just thick gooey soap paste. We'll see next week. Thanks again y'all.
Hmmm, sounds like you might have gotten a defective puck there. Luckily, I have recently opened "Dr. Mike's Shaving Supplies Evaluation and Offloading Center." You can send it my way, and I will put it through my rigorous 20-point inspection, then send you a somewhat professional looking evaluation of the results of my diagnostic tests. Our skilled technicians are also certified to evaluate D. R. Harris, L'Occitane, GFT, T&H, Speick, and QED soaps for problems.
