Thread: The old way - or so I was told…..

Someone was telling me that in the good old days shaving soap was kept in the bottom of a mug (Scuttles were for people with money) and water was added to the mug and the soap and the brush soaked together for a few minutes before emptying the water from the mug. The brush would be lightly shaken to remove the excess water and then you would load the brush on the wet soap before face lathering. At the end of the shave the soap was squeezed out back into the mug (never throw away good soap was the comment) and then the brush was rinsed out before being sat on its end to dry.

Anybody seen or tried this method. Would it work with modern soaps or would they disintegrate in the soaking water?

Other than substituting a bowl for the mug and not squeezing the leftovers back into the bowl, that's exactly what I do.

I would imagine that when you tip the water out most of the old suds would go with it. I have a small bowl with a lid that has a shave stick grated into the bottom, at the end of my shave I wring out the lather from my brush back into the bowl. Next shave I add shave cream, glycerol and a bit of moisturiser. I soak my brush in a seperate mug (i used to add water to the bowl and use a dry brush), mix up a lather and shave, at the end of the shave wring out the lather into the bowl.... You get the idea.
I used to do this every shave, but now I have a bit of a variety I don't do it every day, but it is still a favourite of mine, and I go back to it often.
The soap is always sort of mushy, but is otherwise fine, and I get some of my best lather from it.

I soak my soap in water before mixing up lather. It softens the puck a bit and loads soap a lot more easily that way. So except for the face lathering what you described is what I have been doing from the start.

Kevinred, what you describe is pretty much how my dad does it, and what I grew up doing. I don't think he really submerged the puck so much as wet it, and I don't think he tipped it out: just let it dry out as it was after the shave.

that pretty much what I do but then again my wife says I was born old

I don't squeeze the leftover lather back into the mug, but yes, that is usually how I do it for a couple of soaps that seem to work better this way, namely Edwin Jagger and Institue Karité; I've tried other methods but that's the only one that seem to work for these two soaps (YMMV). OTOH, with DRH or Cella, loading the brush on the puck and then face lathering usually gives me great results, but I still put some hot water on top of the soap while I shower to soften it.

IMHO, the lathering method that one uses should be adapted in regards to the soap itself, the brush used, water hardness and temperature, time of the day, moon cycle, etc., and of course personal preferences (e.g. bowl/mug/scuttle vs face lathering, hot vs cold water). So basically, whatever gives you the best results.

Cheers.

yea, that's the basic way to do it. Most probably used some kind of bowl. Scuttles weren't for the rich. They were cheap in the old days.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

yea, that's the basic way to do it. Most probably used some kind of bowl. Scuttles weren't for the rich. They were cheap in the old days.

So I guess you used a scuttle or bowl depending on the soap or user preference much like today. The old fashioned scuttles with the puck on top and water below don't seem very popular today.