Farewell to Mitchell's Wool Fat (MWF reformulation)

Old (2012) left/top and new (2023) right/bottom.

When did they change the dish?

The old one appears to be better made, off center stamp notwithstanding. I like the new one's slightly more rustic styling a bit better though, and have already retired my old one (with the new puck from the new one) to my stash of vacuum sealed pucks.

 

Wat?

Mitchell's Wool Fat will sell their shave soap to anyone. Currently, Kent buys (or bought) their soap and it's branded as Kent Luxury Shaving Soap with no MWF markings on it at all. It's an open secret that MWF and Kent is the same soap.

In the past, MWF also sold it to Bluebeard's Revenge as well, though they have long since dropped it from their line of products and have switched entirely to shave creams. That soap was marked with Bluebeard's Revenge markings.

MWF doesn't put other people's brand on their own MWF lines of products. The difference between the soaps was only the sticker used to seal the paper wrapping. The soap itself is unmarked.

 

In this case, it is almost certainly new EU/UK regulations taking effect in March 2023 regarding the use of Tetrasodium EDTA in cosmetics.

Why the removal of this one product necessitated a full reformulation of the soap base to a palm oil base, is less clear.

 

Unlike the Fat? Love it or hate it, the Fat was still regarded as a top tier soap.

The new reformulation isn't bad, and DE users will barely notice a difference between the two formulas. Those who use open bladed razors will notice much more of a difference.

It's hard to say what will become of the Fat's legacy. When La Toja switched from tallow to vegan, to vegan, they lost a few customers. But for those who found the mineral content irritating to the face, the reduced mineral content in the latest reformulation makes La Toja more attractive to people like me. (And La Toja has always had a reputation for changing up the formula on a regular basis.)

The newer formula Fat lathers much easier and is synthetic brush friendly. These 'improvements' will certainly gain it some new fans, even as it loses long-time fans like me.

 

The new formula isn't finicky. That being said, once I started hydrating the tallow MWF, I didn't find it finicky either, provided it was used every week or two. I also live in the Pacific Northwest so it doesn't dry out rapidly here.

 

It's crying out to be used more often.

 

The E.U. and the U.K. were in lockstep, though. So when the E.U. regulatory body bans a type of ingredient, so does the U.K., otherwise products that use that ingredient potentially won't be able to be sold in the E.U., or made in the E.U.

In this particular instance, it's fairly clear that it may have been a combination of restrictions on tetrasodium EDTA with the additional burden of the requirement to use food grade tallow in cosmetic products.

Add to that, more stringent regulations on what is, and is not, food grade tallow. The majority of the tallow that soapmakers would use is now being turned into biofuel, not lipstick.