You must have soft water! LOL ;)
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This is not for. Nothing that MWF is my favorite soap, to my opinion it’s a must for any wet shaver around.
How is the smell? My wife is sensitive to strong smells and strongly dislikes most of my shave creams/soaps. I've been looking for an unscented soap or cream that gives good results and I think that, if the smell is faint and fades away quickly, I could use it.
I would describe the smell as inoffensive, mild and kind of old fashioned.
It is not a perfumey smell. I lost my sense of smell with that zicam thing a few years ago. It has come back some but still not completely so I am not a great judge of scent. Even so I can smell strong scents. I just don't differentiate between them very well. Honestly Mitchell's doesn't smell like really anything to me.
Yeah, as others have said, MWF is kind of a light, powdery scent. In fact, as a fan of scented soaps, sometimes I'll put a drop or two each of, say patchouli and sweet orange EO's to jazz it up a bit before I lather up. I just got a new puck that will last me years with my large rotation of soaps-one of the all-time classics for sure, and a definite must try for any straight shaver. And an added bonus is the nice skin conditioning from the lanolin.
One pro tip for MWF I did with my last puck was to grate it with a cheese grater and smush it up into sort of a puck in my lather mug-leave a depression in the center. That and a spoonful or so of hot water on top before you get in the shower can make it easier to lather for those who have hard water. A stiff brush and maybe 45 seconds of vigorous scrubbing yields gobs of pillowy lather for me.
Milant, I buy a gallon of distilled water. I have an Old Spice cup into which I put a third of a cup of the distilled. I put that into the microwave on high for i minute then I put my brush of the day in the cup of hot distilled water while I strop. By doing that I sidestep any hard water problems.
What Tom said. Hard water isn’t holding you back. Just use bottled water. I lathered that stuff in New Mexico, it doesn’t get harder, even MDC needed the bottled water
Good soap, but I am not a fan of the smell.
If you have not used it in a while, fill the tub in warm water and let soak over night, it will rehydrate the soap and produce nice lather. Regular daily use will keep it hydrated without the need for soaking.
What I've been using lately is plain old hardware store lye soap. Attachment 316743
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Yes, for shaving. The main ingredient is lard which is basically the same as tallow. It just comes from a pig instead of a cow. Look at the ingredient list.
Don't knock it till you try it
MWF also makes the perfect base soap for super lathering with creams. You can use it with any cream and not have to worry about conflicting scents.
I have tried Ivory soap and several local artisan soap makers versions of shaving soap and so far all have been good for snit. Generally bath and hand soaps do not make great shaving soaps. Shaving soaps are made differently for a different purpose, shaving. I have not seen any lye soaps for sale locally but if I do I just might give it a go.
Bob
Yeah I'm not a soap expert but if I understand it correctly shaving soaps have much more fat. People don't like that much fat in a hand or body soap because it feel like you can't wash it all off. My brother made some lye soap when we were kids from instructions from the Foxfire Book or one of the Foxfire Books, I don't remember which one.
So did granny..
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I guess this wasn't very visible in the other pictures.Attachment 316767
Had to run out to get a gallon of milk, so I swung into Ace hardware and grabbed a bar. I'll let y'all know my thoughts on it in a few days.
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Yeah, Ace is right down the street from me.
I love MWF. I can't decide whether to shave with it or smoke it. My puck broke into pieces so it's like playing keep away in the cup. I haven't ordered another yet and just picked up the lye soap because I've been pondering it for a while. I know I have read high fat content is what you want in shave soap and l also know a good lye soap is very high. So far I think this is pretty good. I'm interested to hear what you think Mike.
Edit: I think I am satisfied enough with it that I would keep using it just because it doesn't haven't any fragrance added. I'm one of those guys who doesn't want to go around smelling like a french bordollo
That's true I could. Good idea Bob.