C&E Nomad question

Hi all,

I'm new at the forum as I get more and more interested in the world of straight razor shaving and I simply love it !!

But, as all beginners, you stumble against a problem :banghead:

I've bought a C&E Nomad soap in a nice wooden box but the lather just sucks and it is most probably my lacking of good technique ...

Essentially I do what is recommended in every book or topic about lathering; hot water, make the brush really wet and drip of afterwards, and then load it.
Now the moment I go to my bowl and start to make the lather, it gets nice and thick like a cushion BUT when I move to the face it kinda like dissapears :cry:
Then I reload again with soap and start face lathering with a little more success but still not good enough compared to my cheaper Omega soap.

Anybody with suggestions?

greetz, Maichel

It's probably something in the water to soap ratio. Each is a bit different, and some are more forgiving than others. But I have some of their Nomad and I like it. Keep playing, and don't get frustrated.

C&E nomad doesn't work well for me either, I get the same results as you. I don't know your location but I'm in South West UK and our water is fairly hard, I get a great lather from many others such as Palmolive, Boots own brand, Tabac and pretty much every cream I've tried so I don't think its my lathering technique but several soaps (C&E, Erasmic and some artisan ones) just don't give me a stable later no matter how much I play about with the ratios.

I went to my local Shave shop in Antwerp and explained my problem. I also took my razor to them to check whether it was really sharp for shaving and indeed, it was.
My stropping and shaving technique is good but the problem is the lather ...
They gave me a couple samples from Muhle, the art of shaving and C&E, all of them are shaving cream which should be easier to create lather with.

Now to come back to the water hardy thing, I'm living in Antwerp, Belgium and my tap water is about 7.8 PH so still in the acceptable range I think.

I think you may be using too much water. Try starting off with most of the water shaken from your brush. once you get it somewhat loaded, add a big dribble of water to the mix and continue. You may need to add water a couple of times.

Barring this, one good way to eliminate the possibility of some mineral in the water causing a problem is to get a gallon of distilled (NOT "spring" or "drinking" or "baby" water) from the super market and try using that water. I've used C&E Sienna and have had no problems at all with stable lather, but I have soft water, AND I always start out on the drier side with my lathers and add a bit of water.

Are you using a boar or badger brush? I've used both with C&E, but like with most soaps, the boar will pick up more soap faster, than the badger.

I use Nomad soap routinely and I get thick lather in 30 sec.
I think your problem is the water ratio as the member above says.
Try to start loading your brush with quite no water. Wet bristles, but yet almost dry brush. When the brush is loaded add some drops and continue this way until you get your lather.
Use hot water.
One more thing is to try a boar brush which is superior to badger, especially with soaps.

I too have very hard well water, makes the wicket quite sticky as far as lathering up in concerned!!
I have bought "Distilled" water at grocery market and it does help a lot. Also, there was a link in the SRP WIKI with a link for the "Badger & Blade" method for making a great lather from shaving soap, it works for me, and yes it does in there suggest a well soaked brush but all the exccess water shaken out of it. Have fun, this is a great learning curve we all go through, come to think about it after a couple of years, I'm STILL riding the curve.

Have great day and a BBS or course,

tinkersd or SRP

If water is questionable consider a jug of de-mineralized water
for a iron. It is less expensive than distilled water and you
only need a shot glass or two for latherin...

If that is hard to find melt some ice cubes. Melted ice
can have a lower mineral content and even chlorine gets
reduced. Or save the boiled water for tomorrows shave.

Should you find you have a puck of shave soap that
lathers badly there is no rule that you cannot take half
an hour and try ten different ways of lathering it. At worst
you will use up soap that does not work for you.

Well the brush I use is a silvertip badger. I've already found out that wel holding the hair at the bottom makes it easier to load.
Will try to use less water when loading, this might be the problem because when I load the brush the soap got very watery and with a lot of bubbles, it was like I was lathering it in the bowl.

keeping you guys informed about my progress.

and thanks for the feedback !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mikali

this might be the problem because when I load the brush the soap got very watery and with a lot of bubbles, it was like I was lathering it in the bowl.

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This must be the problem indeed.

Put the brush in a container of distilled water. After 5-10 minutes, squeeze the brush a couple of times, then flick out most of the rest of the water a couple (or three) times. Stick the brush on the soap and swirl and plunge for a minute.Transfer to bowl. It should be sticky - tacky. Maybe add a smidgen (half a snurdle) of cream and/or 3 drops glycerin. Now, add 3-4 drops distilled water. Swirl, plunge, beat. Continue adding 3-4 drops distilled water and swirling/plunging/beating until, when you lift the brush, the "peak" curls and collapses on itself. Lift the brush. It should have a shiny lather on it. Apply to face in a painting motion.

For me, this works every time, with any soap.

Well the swirling in the soap is something I normally only do for about 10-counts. Maybe it is not loaded with enough soap ...
Will try everything out anyway, the distilled water and heavier soap loading of the brush.

#1 on that advice, you need to really load that brush up before you hit the mug, 10 swirls just doesn't do it.

I use C&E sandalwood and its always lathered fine although the brush i was using was two soft so the lather was always rather airy. I switched my brush and ive gotten great lather ever since.

Here is one mans trick:

Soak the brush in a mug of warm water.
Splash a teaspoon or two of water on the puck of soap.
Splash some cool to warm water on your face.
Let the brush, soap and face "soak" for a full minute.
Splash some cool to warm water on your face.
Shake out the brush so it no longer drips perhaps a bit more.
Swirl the brush on the puck so it picks up lots of soap. If you
start to get big bubbles before the brush is well loaded invert the soap
and brush (only works well after the puck has glued itself into the soap dish).
Inverted the watery stuff seems to work down inside the brush which is good.

Now move the loaded brush to a place to build the
lather. You can do that on your face, palm, mug or in a bowl.
Keep adding warm water in teaspoon or two additions. It will
often take four or five times as much water as you might
expect. My current favorite lathering bowl is a pint plastic
kitchen storage container about the same size as the
VDH lathering bowl.

This is one of a dozen ways to get a good lather.

YEEEES!!!! I just had a great shave :) the lather was close to perfect.
What i did was load the brush upside down, for almost a minute. Then I face lathered instead of in my bowl an the result was a nice creamy, sticky, yet moistured lather. I can indeed say it gives is a total different (read: better) shaving. Next step is to learn how to shave xtg ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mikali

YEEEES!!!! I just had a great shave :) the lather was close to perfect.
What i did was load the brush upside down, for almost a minute. Then I face lathered instead of in my bowl an the result was a nice creamy, sticky, yet moistured lather. I can indeed say it gives is a total different (read: better) shaving. Next step is to learn how to shave xtg ;)

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Glad you got it figured out. I had the same problem when first learning to lather. Turned out it was TOO thin of soap (8-10 count loading, I now have settled at 15) and TOO much water. Adding as needed I've discovered the proper amount of water needed for several of my pucks and can leave that in the mug to lather with. A tip that helped me was to keep the puck moist. A moist puck softens and loads the brush better. I get better lather from a puck after the third continual day than for the first three days. (and I don't uber-lather with mixed products, or upside down load, or do a lather dance...not speaking against them, just speaking to simplicity)

Peace,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mikali

YEEEES!!!! I just had a great shave :)
....snip....
Next step is to learn how to shave xtg ;)

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Some folk never need XTG.
My most comfortable shave stroke is about 45 degrees
left and right of WTG. Coming at my whiskers from the
side is all I need to finish up a shave.

Not that you should not try it but you may find
that you do not need it for a fine shave.

Have fun...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mikali

YEEEES!!!! I just had a great shave :) the lather was close to perfect.
What i did was load the brush upside down, for almost a minute. Then I face lathered instead of in my bowl an the result was a nice creamy, sticky, yet moistured lather. I can indeed say it gives is a total different (read: better) shaving. Next step is to learn how to shave xtg ;)

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i found that other soaps respond similarly, i.e, L'Occitane Cade really only works for me when I face lathered, otherwise it dried out very quickly. I believe it has definitely to do with the ratio of soap/water & volume... the bowl seems to allow for billows of lather which face lathering doesn't so much. I don't think you need to load upside down though..