Help with MB Soap

I have been having the typical newbie lathering problems. I use Tabac and this soap seems like it is easy to work with. Sometimes I get it right but more often than not I usually miss the peak and the lather is too dry.

I build lather in a latte mug, I follow the suggested method in the wiki for building a lather with a soap, except when I load the brush it looks drier than the loaded-brush picture in the wiki. I have watched and read videos and threads about this but it seems difficult still.

Now my big question, is with the Mama Bear's soap. I have a Mama Bear's soap and it seems like a different animal compared to Tabac. To me the MB soap is hard to get right. I either get a lather that disappears and evaporates like air. Or if I build the lather in my mug and add more water successively, I can get a hydrated lather that has the egg white peaks, but after a while it dries up.

Is this normal? I do take a long time to shave 30+ minutes because I am learning, and I usually have to rebuild a lather mid-shave. Plus I have the typical REALLY HARD water in my area.


Any help will be appreciated. TXS

Mama Bear's lather is some of the best out there. You can have so much lather that it covers your entire brush and need no more soap for a full shave.

Normally, I soap my brush, shake it out a little, swish it over the soap until the lather starts to build, add a touch of water and the lather keeps building. Usually no more than a minute or so on the soap itself. Then a touch more water and work the lather in the palm of my hand or right on the face. Lather is always full and lasting for me.

This is not a soap that you should have any trouble with.

Lynn

I think It looks like I need to start generating lather on the soap itself. I did not try this. By the time I am done with loading the brush there is no lather on the brush. I will spending more time on the soap and start building lather before I move to the mug... Thanks.

Hi fatpanda,

I can not help you with the soap question, i know one thing that a good shave takes some time.

Peer

Lack of water always seems to get newbies on lathering. Like it was said before, just dip the tips of the brush into the water when you need more. This is an excellent way to regulate incremental additions of H20.

If soap is disappearing off your face, new need to a add a little more H20 to the lathering process.

Good Luck!

Pabster

Hey fatpanda,

What works for me is making a practice lather w/ a new soap/cream I build the lather till failure. That is I add about a teaspoon of water every 30 sec or so till I have a perfect lather then I keep going till I have runny soapy water this lets me know about how much water I need.

Alot of times you think you have the perfect lather and adding water will ruin it, but you'd be suprised how a little more water and some more elbow grease will make the lather explode in your bowl.

Try making your lather then brush it on your forearm then strop your razor when your done if the lather is drying up you know you need to add more water before you begin :)

Good luck let us know how it goes!

I just finished practicing my lathering technique with my MB soap. I got a big bowl that was mint green so I could really see my lather. I have been using a white mug. Then I started building a lather and OMG!!! I have been doing this all wrong. I did a test run where I started adding water and whipping vigorously in the bowl. When the lather would not get larger I ran my brush under a tiny bit of hot water and began whipping. I got to a point where the lather just covered the entire bowl!

This was the lather that I have been reading about... It was so GREAT I had to shave at 11:30 pm! When I was done i got absolutely ZERO sting from my alum bar. Even my "trouble" spots were immune to the alum sting! Makes A HUGE difference!

thanks... :)

congrats! That's great to hear. The biggest mistake when attempting to build a good lather is not loading enough soap on the brush as you learned. Spend a little time at that stage and you'll have great results!

Congrats!

Nothing beats a nice lather...maybe warm lather:)

Now you can start experimenting to expand your horizons. Try adding a shot of glycerin (can be found at walmart pharmacy section) to boost your volume. Also try combining cream and soaps to make uber lather!

My favorite right now is tabac soap and O.C. bigelow cream, cushion of tabac cooling menthol of bigelow mmmmmmmmmm nice!