Thread: Colgate and Hones

I was reading the Barber's Manual and in the honing section it stated that barbers use lather on the hones instead of soaking them.

So I tried this with some Colgate that I have laying around the house.

Worked great. Polished an edge and put one on very fast.

I put lather on both an Arkansas and an Chinese 12k.

Anyone else tried this?

I think it depends on a hone. A norton needs to be soaked, barber hone not so much.

I use Palmolive shaving lather on my translucent Ouachitas, which are normally considered oilstones. And I use Kano Kroil on my Thuringens, which are normally considered to be waterstones. But I'm prone to contrariness.

Yep. I've tried it on most of my stones & I like it on the12k most.

It tends to make the most difference in hones that do not take up water but instead cause the water to bead up on the surface. When you take the honing stroke on such a hone, the water is just pushed right off the hone and much of the surface is not wet. The lather allows the moisture to be evenly distributed over the surface of the hone. Just a tiny amount of any soap is adequate to disburse the water.