My usual routine is to put my brush in some hot water right before I get in the shower and let it soak until I get out and I'm ready for biz. I'm wondering if you guys also soak your shaving soap for a mintue, or if you just soak your brush and then go for it. Also, how long would you estimate a puck of soap would last assuming daily use? Thanks!
I don't soak my puck, but I will soak my boar brushes in hot water while I'm in the shower. For my badger brushes, I'll soak them along with my bowl (that I soak just to get hot and keep the lather warm). I fill the sink with hot water right after I get out of the shower and they'll soak only as long as it takes me to dry off. How long will a puck last? Twice as long if you don't soak it. Seriously, glycerin soaps will last about of month, triple milled soaps much longer. I've heard as long as three months.
Nope. What I do when I'm using a soap is to float the mug in the hot water I just filled the sink with while I shower. My brush will be soaking in my "brush soaking glass" right along side it in hot water as well. Then I'll lather it up and let the mug float around in the water while I shave, keeping the lather warm. Your sink may or may not allow you to do this depending on its depth and your mug, etc. Just adjust as necessary. Soaking my puck completely though? Nope, never.
I used to soak my soap in very hot water while it sat in the shaving mug and let my brush soak in a bowl. I thought that the soaking would make the soap easier to lather. I have stopped this. Now I drizzle a few drops of hot water on the soap surface and use a hot water soaked damp brush to lather . I'm a face latherer with soap. What disturbed me was all the soap I seemed to be pouring off as I emptied the hot water from the soap soak.The loss of soap didn't bother me, its cheap stuff. What concerned me was whether or not in the process of soaking the puck in very hot water then emptying the hot soapy water was I leaching out properties of the soap that would make the soap less effective for future use. I don't know the answer to that though. So far so good, I seem to be able to do without soaking the soap and to be able to get just as much lather production.
The only time I put any water on a puck is when I'm using MWF after not using it for several days. MWF absorbs far more water than any other soap I've used and will dry out. So, when it's really dried out, I'll add just enough cold water to wet the top of the puck before I shower. As far how long pucks last, anywhere from 4 weeks to a year. Small, soft glycerin pucks like Van Der Hagen when lathered aggressively only last a month. Larger pucks of milled soaps (including MWF) can last a year if used lightly. All that assumes you're only using one soap and not rotating. Now that I shave my head, I find I go through soaps in about 2/3rds the time I had before do to using more lather, just another twist. Hanzo - you're only loosing important stuff with soaps containing fats/oil that are more soluble in hot water. It's most notable in soaps with lanolin. So definitely DO NOT do that to MWF, several people have ruined pucks of MWF that way.
I am assuming that soaking the puck is supposed to allow for a better lather. Shouldn't it be possible to get a good lather without soaking the puck?
Depends on the soap really. I normally just rub some water on the puck with my fingers and then go shower.
I do not "soak" my puck but I do soak my brush in hot water in my foaming bowl while I shower. Before I get in the shower I dribble a small amount of water on top if my puck. On tip I just came up with. I heard that it is best to apply foam to a wet face but I always forget to not dry my faced with my towel after the shower. SO when I get ready to shave I take my badger brush out of the bowl give it a little shake over the sink and then I run the wet brush over my beard area before I start making foam with it. Works well for me.
I drizzle some hot water over the puck and that is it. I rotate so many products that I could not say how long any last for I am never completed using a full product in over 18 months of using them.
Same here...I drizzle a little hot water on top of the puck and then soak my brush in a cup of hot water while I shave.
I place about a tablespoon of hot water on top of my puck while my brush is soaking. If I bowl lather, I'll pour that water into my bowl to get things started.
Nope. I don't soak my puck, either. I tried rinsing hot water into the soap mug as the sink fills up, much like what Mantic did in one of his vids, but really couldn't see any difference. Just having the brush soaked up, then shaking off the excess, then stirring it around on the puck seems to do just fine. I do however seem to get a better lather by using an empty bowl after getting soap on it, as compared to lathering in the soap mug itself.
Yes. That is how the puck is designed to be used. I just make sure that I'm starting with a wet brush so that there is sufficient water to dissolve the soap.