How to get Edwin Jagger soaps to lather?

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by 5Savages, Jan 13, 2012.

  1. 5Savages

    5Savages Well-Known Member

    My wife gave some EJ soap to me for Christmas, but I've been enjoying the Tabac my brother-in-law gave me so much I haven't give the EJ much face time. Last night i decided to give it a go once again (I've used it twice) and I had a heck of a time.

    I like to face lather and have getting great lather with Tabac. Last night, in attempting to use the EJ, I went about it in the same way. I put a few drops of warm water on the soap while the brush was soaking. After a couple minutes, and after some prep, I squeezed brush, gave it a good shake or two, poured the water off the soap, and attempted to load the brush.

    Around, and around, and around it went, but such very little product on the brush. After a couple of minutes of trying I rinsed my face once again and tried to face lather. I kept going over and over my face, dipping the bristles every so often. I went at it so long my arm was getting tired and yet the lather on my face was pathetic. I washed it all off an decided to start again, this time with a much more aggressive attack on the soap, but the result was only marginally improved.

    I went ahead and tried to use it but the glide and cushion were barely present. After the first pass my face, I gave up and with with my new stick of La Toja for the second and third passes. The relative speed at which that lather blossomed on my face, in comparison to the EJ, almost knocked the brush out of my hand! I finished with no nicks or weepers, but it felt like that first pass took the outer layer off one of my cheeks.

    I'm not one to give up quickly, particularly when this was a gift. I'll give this several more practice runs, tweaking this and that to see if I can figure this out. I'd like to here from those here that use it, how do YOU go about getting a good lather from this?
     
    coche1 likes this.
  2. Neolithium

    Neolithium I am Canadian, eh

    I find for EJ the soaps are thirstier than the creams. Give the brush a light squeeze instead of shaking and add more water than you'd expect but in small bursts. I find the soaps too picky for my liking for this reason.
     
  3. Sodapopjones

    Sodapopjones Well-Known Member

    The best way to get them to lather is toss them in the toilet and flush! :happy102:

    I had the Aloe, and while the scent was nice its lather was pretty horrible in my findings, the cream isn't that great either imo.
     
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  4. battle.munky

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

    Ended up using my EJ soap as bath soap......it ain't the worst, but I remember how bad it sucked. It is in my bottom 3.


    My bottom 3:
    suck-->any EJ soap (I've tried two and got the same results from both, the problem is endemic)
    suck -1-->Burt's Bees Bay Rum SS (smell was great, performance was simply not there, I mean it didn't even show up. Lather it, apply it, look down to pick up your razor and the lather is dry.)
    suck-2-->Herban Cowboy (wouldn't lather and the wet slag dried like the BBBR did and it didn't smell good either. The worst I've tried.)
     
    newb likes this.
  5. newb

    newb Resident Newb

    I too had a bad experience with EJ Sea Buckhorn. The lather wasn't that good and it smelled worse. Only 2 soaps have I ever thrown away and EJ was one of them. Now your Tabac and La Toja are darn fine soaps IMHO.
     
  6. PhilNH5

    PhilNH5 Member

    This amazes me. EJ sandalwood is my favorite soap. It lathers easy. Smells okay and forms a rich creamy lather.

    I shave before I shower. I use the brush to apply water to my face. I then swirl the brush on the soap to load the brush. I build my lather in a seperate bowl. I re-load the brush with soap as needed. I never fail to get a dense creamy foam. I always get great shaves from it. I have hard water
    but have no trouble building foam.

    For comparison my rotation includes: all three scents of C&E soap, VDH scented and unscented, C&E Nomad cream and Truefitt and Hill. The EJ is the best of the bunch.

    Phil
     
  7. 5Savages

    5Savages Well-Known Member

    Phil, can you give me more detail on your lather building? How much water do you have in your brush when you load? How long do you load?
     
    coche1 likes this.
  8. coche1

    coche1 Actively Wishing Member

    This thread makes me feel a little bit better about struggling to get a good lather out of my EJ soap! My wife gave it to me as a Christmas present and compared to AOS cream I've been using (I'm a noob, these are the only 2 I've tried so far) it has been much more difficult to get a lather with the EJ soap. I was attributing this to soap vs cream, but it sounds like that may not be entirely the case... I did get a decent lather (not great, but ok-ish) a few minutes ago on a practice run. I had the brush pretty dry (much drier than I'm used to for cream), loaded it for a good 45 seconds-minute, and then continually added water a couple drops at a time while working up a lather in a seperate bowl.

    By the time my arm started getting tired and I was ready to call it a go (this was just a practice run, remember- my razor never left the stand) I noticed that the lather was finally starting to build. I applied it to my face, and I was surprised that it actually gave a shaveable lather, although it was borderline. A couple of things worth noting that give me reason for hope for tomorrow morning's shave: 1. If I were going for an actual shave I would've added a little more water and worked on the lather a bit longer. I really think I was quite close to the lather just exploding into the creamy frothyness that I wanted, but it was still a bit dry. & 2. I didn't wet my face at all before starting or before applying the lather, so it sucked even more moisture out of the brush/cream as soon I started swirling on my cheek.
     
  9. oscar11

    oscar11 Well-Known Member

    I use EJ occasionally. It sounds like not enough soap on the brush. Experiment a little more, next time do the same thing with your brush but leave a little water on the puck. If you literally used a couple of drops of water on a damp brush you might not of had enough moisture to pick up soap with your brush. Watch the top of your puck if it looks dry while loading add a little water. Good luck and be patient.
     
  10. Shayne Redfearn

    Shayne Redfearn Active Member

    i dont understand how so many have such a problem with it...its very easy to get to lather...prior to shaving...let some hot water sit on top of the puck....this creates somewhat of a sludge on top of the puck...make sure to swirl the brush good and heavy on the puck and pick up that sludge....you should have a big mug full of rich creamy lather in a matter of minutes...hope this helps
     
  11. swarden43

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

    Careful there. He's going to have a different size brush, maybe different material, different water hardness/softness, and his definition of "shake out a little" may be vastly different from yours. And can anyone really measure how much water is in a brush at any given time?
    By all means, take the advice and try it, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work for you. I hope it does. But bottom line is that you're going to have to take what you have and experiment for yourself.
     
  12. 5Savages

    5Savages Well-Known Member

    Thanks for all the input. After shaving with my Tabac this morning, I experimented again with the EJ. This time I used a stiffer brush to help pick up more product (a Shea Moisture cheapy brush from Target), and while it soaked, filled up the depression on the top of the soap with warm water. 2 or 3 minutes of soaking, then some strong shakes of the brush (but not squeezing), tip the water out of the soap, then started loading. About 30 swirls combined with a bit of swirling, smashing and twisting. Then, instead of my face, I used a cereal bowl so I could better control the water and watch the progress. With a good amount of water, added a little at a time, I was able to get enough lather for 3 passes.

    Next time I'll squeeze and shake the brush. Today there seemed to be too much water on the brush and it started lathering rather than picking up. I imagine going slower would help that as well. I'll also resign myself to bowl lathering with it, at least initially, so I can better control the water amount.

    The keys, I think, are soaking the soap to soften it up before loading the brush and getting enough water in the lather.
     
    coche1 likes this.
  13. coche1

    coche1 Actively Wishing Member

    I got a nice, close shave using my EJ soap this morning although I did have a bit of irritation. What I found seemed to work for me was to put a bit of water on top of the puck of soap and let the brush soak for a few minutes. Then I shook out the brush pretty hard 2-3 times to get almost all of the water out of it and dumped the water off the top of the soap. I loaded the brush for a while, until it stopped picking up soap and started to foam up on the puck. Then I went to a warm bowl and tried to build a lather, adding water bit by bit. I never got it to really build a lather in the bowl but I got worried that I was going to get it too wet (which happened to me yesterday), so I went to my face to see how the lather applied. I didn't get the good full-bodied lather I'm used to getting with creams (this is the 1st soap I've tried), but it seemed decent enough so I gave it a shave. After the 1st pass WTG I went back to the puck of soap and tried to pick up a little more soap, then to the bowl, then to my face again. I got a decent lather this time, and then went straight to my face for the 3rd pass, and it got progressively better with each pass.

    I'm not sure what this means for future use of the soap, but I now have a new tube of cream so I'm going to go back to cream until I sort out which blade I want to use (I suspect my blade may be part of the reason for my irritation as I'm new and still on my first blade type).
     
  14. Sodapopjones

    Sodapopjones Well-Known Member

    Eh I would much rather just use something else, haha.
     
  15. PhilNH5

    PhilNH5 Member

    5Savages,
    I don't do anything special.
    I pour hot water into my lather bowl. I then use my brush (refurbished pewter handle with TGN silvertip badger knot) to apply water to my face. after my face is good and wet I dip the brush into the hot water. I load the brush with the EJ. The soap has been dry up until this point. I empty the water from the lather bowl and build my foam in there. I add more soap or water as needed.

    Your last post seems to have taken the same approach. I used to face lather but prefer to bowl lather. I use a ceramic bowl. As stated I fill it with hot water. I empty it to build my foam. I then leave the bowl of foam in the sink of hot water. This gives me hot lather for the duration of my shave. A joy and a pleasure.

    Prior to EJ I had used AoS, truefitt and hill, Casewell Massey and assorted others. When I first used the EJ I went "Ahhh, this is it, MY soap" It is still my favorite and always in my rotation.

    Phil
     
  16. coche1

    coche1 Actively Wishing Member

    Might a boar brush pick up the soap and/or build a lather differently than badger? I have 3 brushes right now (an EJ pure badger that came with the chrome stand my wife got me for Christmas, and 2 AoS badger hair brushes that came in 'starter kits'). I'm going to be placing an order on Amazon soon anyway- might it be worth it to order a boar brush while I have free shipping and see if that works, or is it better to just stick with the 'higher quality' badger hair? Perhaps this question would be better asked in the brushes section?
     
  17. MikekiM

    MikekiM Well-Known Member

    Sad to say I have demoted EJ Sea Buckthorn to break-in duties. Love the scent but that as fas as our relationship goes.
     
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  18. 5Savages

    5Savages Well-Known Member

    I'm having MUCH better luck with this EJ soap now. I decided to take drastic measures and mill it. I had been using it in my apothecary mug and it seemed like a lot of the good stuff fell between the soap and the mug. I milled it and pressed it back. I also started using the Marco technique. He posted it for use with soft italian soaps but other indicated it worked with the hard soaps so I gave it a go. I found my Vulfix super badger brush holds too much water to follow his technique exactly so I now give the brush a half squeeze.

    This EJ will now be back in regular rotation, but when it's gone, I probably won't buy another.
     
    coche1 likes this.
  19. coche1

    coche1 Actively Wishing Member

    5Savages, thanks for posting the link to the "Marco technique"! I didn't mill my soap, but I used the Marco technique last night on a "practice lather", and it absolutely worked for me! I kept the brush much wetter than I normally would with warm water (not hot!) and I allowed the entire puck to be submerged in water for a few minutes, loaded nice and slowly, and whipped up the lather in a mug. It most definitely worked and my EJ Soap has gone from being put back in its box as soon as I get another puck of soap to a part of the rotation! Thanks again, I hate wasting stuff!
     
  20. MikekiM

    MikekiM Well-Known Member

    My puck of EJ Sea Buckthorn left the house this week.. packed up in the TSD Grab Bag Box on it's way to the next lucky person.

    I absolutely love the scent but the lather.. just isn't there.

    Best of luck to my puck of EJ!!
     

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