Thread: Trouble making good lather

It may just be the soap. Unfortunately, the first soap I got was a new puck of GFT Eucris. It lathers like weak shampoo, like it's missing something like glycerol. I thought I couldn't lather, that it must be a hell of a lot more complicated than I imagined. I had others later it at a meet I went to and confirmed it was a bad batch or bad new formulation. My advise, get Castle Forbes or Esbjerg or something else in that league so you know what right looks and feels like and have a reference for how a soap or cream should lather. That's what I'd do if I had to do it over again.

Every now and then I will run across something that just will not perform and usually it is the soap. One trick is to give one pump of Kiss My Face unscented to the mix and the lather will magically appear.

If you like the scent and want to use soap, give that a try. My wife keeps the KMF around and it is easy to find and cheap enough.

Will N.

Also try DR Harris' soaps. They lather quite nicely. I find the scents to be much better as well but that is a personal preference. I tried Edwin Jagger and did not like the lather coming off of that one bit. Castle and Forbes is great as previously suggested and you can read the endless praises for Martin de Candre all over the boards. I have more or less given up on T&H for a variety of reasons. Until DR Harris decides to screw things up, I'll be sticking with them for my day to day soap.

Get a tub of Cella....10-12 bucks....your lather worries will be over. Soak brush...shake all the water out of brush....load brush 35-40 swirls....lather face 20 seconds....add ten drops of water to brush...lather face again for 20 seconds...10 more drops of water onto brush...lather face 20 more seconds......DONE...you should have plenty of suds now !!!

+1 on Cella and DR Harris. Both lather very well. I've never tried T&H but I do have a puck of Trumpers Sandalwood that gives me fits. I can manage to get something that looks and feels pretty good after much work; however, it lasts about 30 seconds before it starts deflating. Heard this was due to a reformulation of their soaps and this doesn't happen with their creams. Does anyone know why certain soap makers changed their recipe?

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

Also try DR Harris' soaps. They lather quite nicely. I find the scents to be much better as well but that is a personal preference. I tried Edwin Jagger and did not like the lather coming off of that one bit. Castle and Forbes is great as previously suggested and you can read the endless praises for Martin de Candre all over the boards. I have more or less given up on T&H for a variety of reasons. Until DR Harris decides to screw things up, I'll be sticking with them for my day to day soap.

Do you have the marlborough? Just curious as to how sandlewoody it smells

Just to add to the profusion of soaps to try, give The Body Shop's Maca Root cream, Arko or Tabac a go if you want easy lathering.

Bob

I should have probably mentioned this in the original response. I've gotten numerous samples and plenty of soaps over the last six months or so. Cella (brick), proraso red (although like a croap), Tabac, MWF, D.R. Harris Windsor, D.R. Harris Marlborough (which by the way kwlfca, smells sweet with a hint of ashtray in the background, not in a bad way, but not my favorite), D.R. Harris Arlington, Green Mountain Soap, Crabtree and Evelyn Sandlewood, and numerous creams (you seemed to be asking about soaps). All of these lathered well to very well. After my GFT gave me fits (it's now very expensive hand soap), I researched it's problems on the internet and have since avoided GFT soaps (their creams are great through!) and several others that seem to have made the same manufacturing error.

I have a self-made boar brush and several difference badger brushes and although a brush with more backbone and/or stiffer bristles will be easier to load with soap, it isn't necessary to get another brush to make a soap work. You can wet the soap or hold the brush differently while loading or grate the soap. Hope this helps.

The OP is getting a lot of other soap choices. I've had no trouble building lather with T&H Sandalwood (BTW Marlborough has a nice fresh smell)
Sounds like you need to really load your brush well, make sure it's damp. Load it until you see lather building and spilling out the sides of the bowl. You'll have plenty of lather. Don't be afraid to pump and swirl the brush. I find fanning out the brush helps. My brushes are fine btw. Add water (a few drops at a time if you need to) Unless you have super hard water, it should work. It's a good quality soap. I use it.

Uberlather is an option if all else fails. I like to try to get the soap to perform on it's own first. Scuttles are great. As mentioned you fill the bottom with hot/warm water to keep your lather nice and warm. I use one about 90% of the time. Hot lather goes hand in hand with a str8 razor shave imo. YMMV.

Anyway, The uberlather. Build some soap in a scuttle, add 5 drops of glycerin, and a shot of "kiss my face" shave cream. You can use any shave cream you like, even combine scents. Kiss my face is easy because it comes in a pump bottle and has no fragrance.

Also, Check out Mantic59on youtube: How To Build And Apply Traditional Shaving Lather - YouTube