I'm rather fond of shave sticks too, and DR Harris is one of the best. It is my top choice together with the Sir Irisch Moos stick. Wonderful stuff and I just love the Marlborough scent
I assume the term "blooming" made its way into the shaving world from the cooking term. Soaking things like yeast and gelatin in water is called "blooming". I dunno, I guess you could say "marinate" but that usually involves some kind of acid.
One does 'bloom' yeast—soaking it in water to activate in order to expedite making it useful. One scores bread dough and allows the loaf to 'bloom' before baking—expand to its fullest prior to heat. So, soaking a puck in water does both soften and often expand the puck to larger 'swollen' size to fill a container. Arguably, this method could be referred to as 'blooming' a puck, such as illustrated in Planofman's thread on MWF Hydration. and no, wearing bloomers is not a necessary requirement for the process.
I will going forward refer to soaking my soap in some water as "floraisoning my soap. I tell you, a few years from now you'll hear all the cool kids using it. Well, I'm off to shower and may be floraisoning my soap for a bit.
Just curious, has it always been known as "blooming "? If not, what did you call it and when did you first hear it called "blooming"?
I used to bloom more frequently before, but have found that a well soaked (ie hardly emptied of water) brush gets me the same result. To the extent that I do bloom, it's MWF. I may also just throw a few drops on top, swirl the tin a little and let it sit while I shower.
It will actually shorten the lifespan. It makes the soap softer which makes it easier to pick up more soap, thus creating more lather.
If your soap is anything other than completely dry when you first apply the brush to it, congratulations, you've bloomed it, hydrated it, moistened it, etc.
I like to put water on the soap and load with a dry brush. It doesn't seem wasteful to me, as I don't need to soak the brush - I mostly use a HIS synthetic, but this method works great with my Simpsons Colonel, too.
Oh ok, so that's what it is. I just put water into the brush and then swirl it on the soap. To my way of thinking, if a soap has to be soaked in order to get it to work well, either a different soap or a different brush is in order. Ditto with corking blades and other such things. I am of the no fuss, no muss, it should just work shaving school.
