Thread: Major update on Mitchell's Wool Fat soap!

Originally Posted by Ellsworth

if you order a puck of MWF do yourself a favor and order a bar of the bath soap..

why's what?

Tried it for the first time today. Awesome shave and love the smell.

It is one of the best soaps I have tried by far.

Originally Posted by Obie

Hello, Jim:

Williams and VDH are good soaps — for the money. They stand like sentries at the gate opening into the exciting wet shaving world. Many of us started with those two soaps, mostly because U.S. pharmacies offer little else, even today. What's more, with some exceptions, there is no such a thing as a shave shop in the U.S.

Many gentlemen shavers have continued using Williams and VDH. Some even swear by them. That's all right, too. Some of us have found what we think are far superior soaps and moved on. I have. At the same time I will not criticize anyone who uses Williams or VDH. No one's tastes are better than another person's. To each his own.

Those thoughts somehow reflect one's view on what a luxurious lather is compared to a modest one. I have never had any problem getting a big and luxurious lather with Mitchell's Wool Fat. I will say, however, that the amount of lather I get from, say, Martin de Candre, Provence Sante or L'Occitane turns out to be huge. There, too, "huge" is in the eye of the beholder.

Mitchell's Wool Fat gives me a delightful shave. Cushion and glide are ideal. Also, I tend to keep my lather a touch more moist with Mitchell's Wool Fat than I do with other soaps. I don't know why, but it does wonders for me. Of course, I love the soft and clean fragrance. Mitchell's Wool Fat is a superb soap, I believe, and that it should be tried at least once by every wet shaver.

My bowl of Mitchell's wool Fat is never empty.

Regards,

Obie

I started out with Williams because it's available at most drug stores in Maryland, USA. But I had some drying issues with it though. Nowadays I alternate between VDH and SRD's Essential Oil shaving soap. My lather making has gotten better and I am diligent about my pre-shave prep that I no longer use a pre-shave oil. I'm three months in this hobby and of course I am no expert, but I know what is starting to work for me.

Good luck and many great shaves to you.

Patrick

Originally Posted by zappbrannigan

why's what?

It's AWESOME soap.

MWF gives me great glide and cushion. The puck costs only $ 13 and seems to last me about 3 - 4 months of daily shaves.

I believe that I get fewer nicks and weepers while using MWF compared to other soaps which is the clincher for me. Why shave slower while getting a less close shave when using another soap?

Tabac is almost as good and slightly easier to lather.

Although there are many other shaving soaps on the market most of which I have not tried, What more can one ask from a shaving soap than I am getting from MWF?

I could buy a puck of Williams for $ 0.99 at my local grocery store, but is it worth getting lower shave performance to save about $ 0.12 a day?

I do wonder about trying a $ 50 or more puck of soap, but what more can it possibly do? I would hate to buy it and find that I have spent $ 50 or more on soap that does not perform better than MWF.

I recommend MWF to noobys so that they will at least start with a good performing shaving soap. They can then go on to explore the performance of other soaps from that basis, if they wish.

Mwf is great. Just got one for $15 shipped. Took two days for delivery and the shave and lather is top notch.

It's a must try soap for sure.

I was a Tabac devotee until I got MWF dialed in. Now my Tabac is drying out...

Originally Posted by Wayne1963

I was a Tabac devotee until I got MWF dialed in. Now my Tabac is drying out...

Same. What I cannot understand is why anyone says this stuff is hard to build and keep good lather. Just the opposite in my experience and I'm no lathermeister.

This may be sacrilegious post here, but my MWF puck is in the fridge with the rest of the soaps I rarely use. It is replaced by Martin de Candre and Tabac on my bathroom top. Don't get me wrong, I think it smells better than either of the two I mentioned and indeed it can give me a very clean shave, but with extra hard west Texas water I just can't get it to produce decent lather. To say that what I get is modest lather is like saying that Ray Charles had minor vision issues. And I tried it all: cold water, loading the brush upside down, face lathering, palm lathering, hard brush, soft brush, nothing seems to work. At first I thought that I just lack expertise in lathering soaps, but with all other soaps I make enough lather to shave Santa Claus three times over and have enough left to start on Rudolph. So, unfortunately, me and my MWF are waiting for a move to a place with softer water.

Well, to add oil to the fire of the discussion, I have to say that, it took me few days just to go thru the whole MWF shaving soap comments, and as a curious person, along with reading on other shaving soaps. I so decided to go for it, and 2 others. So I ended up ordering 1 MWF shaving soap, 1 Scottish Fine Soap, and 6 sticks of La Toja (weight concern for the package), delivered to my new location in South America.
I ran out of TGQ soaps, most of them lost to unscrupulous customs officials. I new of La Toja long 35 years ago, as regular soap, and discover later on during a trip to Spain, their can of shaving cream ............ I loved it.
To make the story short, today is the fifth time I am using MWF and I just understood the meaning of glide and smooth. We do have hard water here, but with patience and intuition I finely got to the point where I do understand what members are talking about when they say it's "hard" or "harder" to lather, but .... oh boy .... the results. And I think the next time will be even better.
I got it from connaughtshaving for $23, in the wooden bowl, delivered.
I have been using a safety razor until now, as I am a little bit afraid of those cut throat beautiful razors, especially of the Iwasaki I have in reserve, but now I have a lot more confidence to go forward with it. I just ordered some camellia oil, a plane with nagura, the appropriate nagura stone (thanks to this forum info and Alex @ the Japan Stones) for the Nakayama wet stone that I also have in reserve.
MWF left me without a rash, no cuts/nicks, soft and smooth, even 15h later. Really a pleasant surprise, but I did not get this on my first try with it, it has to be noted. My whiskers are not that hard, my skin sensitive, I don't shave every day, as I do not have to go the office (this helps), nevertheless I really like the result today.
Today I used, with the MWF, my Merkur silver badger brush, hard water, and a Wilkinson blade, 3 passes, left the 4th coat on my face for a few minutes before rinse. Brave Soldier "Code Blue" after shave, next time will be l'Occitane "Cade" after shave balm.
I'm thinking about asking the local shoe maker to cover the Iwasaki handle with some brown leather, the only thing missing on my list is the strop ............. I'm all ears about comments on the selection.