Thread: Using Col. Conk Soap

I like Col. Conk alright. Nothing special. Truthfully, I usually go for the cheap and available VDH, but have some others I use to change things up, etc.

I have incredibly hard water. Even with a water softener my water is harder here than I've ever experienced in any other place I've lived. I use a horse hair brush most days, but have gotten lather with a boar brush and Col. Conk. It takes more work with the boar than the horse, but still doesn't take forever.

1) If I'm using a puck for the first time in a while I'll put a little water on it the day before and let it soak. If I just used it yesterday then I won't worry about this step.
2)I put a little water on the puck while I soak my brush, shower, and strop my blade.
3) I use an Old Spice mug to make lather and soak my brush, so I pour out the water and shake the brush twice to get out excess water. **The first shake goes back into the mug, the second into the sink. This gives me warm water to lather with, but leaves the brush dry enough to properly load it.
4) I "Load" the brush by swirling it quickly over the puck about 3x/second, for about 12-15 seconds. If it foams then I didn't shake enough water out of the brush.
5) I swirl the brush in my mug to make lather by using a circular motion that is high at one end and low at the opposite end, thereby swirling AND pumping each rotation. Using the same speed as I did to load the brush, generating a lather takes about 30sec, but can take as much as one minute.
6) If the lather is thick and sticky looking and fails to build in volume, then I add water...about a half teaspoon at a time, or just enough to coat the bottom of the Old Spice mug.
7) If the lather is frothy like the foam on a coke or rootbeer, then there's too much water for the amount of soap. I'll try and pump it more, but if by 30sec it isn't taking shape, I need to re-load my brush.
8)I aim for a lather that's the consistency of room temperature Cool Whip; it should slide easily down the side of the mug, but leave soft peaks, and have a slightly glossy sheen. Generally speaking if I load my brush as described above, then I only need to add water once, if at all, to get this consistency.

I hope this was step-by-step enough to help you out. Boar brushes require more work to get lather than Horse, and more still than Badger. Hard water makes for harder work to get lather. Inexperience and having no real way to experience what proper lather is like makes finding your way a little difficult. For me, this was the hardest part to figure out about straight shaving, but I did. You will too.

Peace,
Jim