Thread: Did Mitchell's Wool Fat change its formula?

Originally Posted by Trimmy72

Out of the box thinking here..........Did you change shave brushes by chance? Just a thought, I just bought a finest badger knot and for whatever reason it doesn't seem to produce the lather that my other finest badger does. After I load it and lather, I will have to go back to the soap. Something about it kills lather.

Didn't change brushes, but I did start using pre-shave oil about a month before I got that first puck of MWF that was drying out. Could the oil be building up on the brush and interfering with the lather?

Just my 2 cents, but, shave oil usually does build-up on brushes, and can negatively affect the lather. I don't use oil, but the guys that do will recommend cleaning your brush often when using a pre-shave oil. If you have a brush that hasn't been used with the pre-shave, try building the MWF lather with that. I use MWF all the time, and I get my replacements from West Coast. Good Luck!

Originally Posted by Nick31

Just my 2 cents, but, shave oil usually does build-up on brushes, and can negatively affect the lather. I don't use oil, but the guys that do will recommend cleaning your brush often when using a pre-shave oil. If you have a brush that hasn't been used with the pre-shave, try building the MWF lather with that. I use MWF all the time, and I get my replacements from West Coast. Good Luck!

I don't have any other brushes currently (gave my few others away to friends), but I've been wanting a new one for a while because the metal band around the knot on my Omega keeps falling off. Ordered a new Omega #49 last night, I'll try it out when it gets in and update this thread.

Try washing it with Dawn dish soap. Works on birds should turn up your brush.

Wash your brush as Johnus said, I've used Borax and shampoo too. I use pre-shave oil also, but by the time I lather up it's absorbed into the skin. My mix is made up of Jojoba, grape seed, and coconut oil. If yours has Olive oil that could cause problems, I believe it to be a lather killer.

I had a puck a while back that didn't seem to perform nearly as well as the one before it. Turns out it had just dried out a good bit more between leaving the factory and reaching me. After a week or two of every-other-day use - and the regular wetting that came with it - it softened up a bit, brightened up a bit (as in whiter vs. ivory colored), and from then on performed like a champ just as every other puck I've ever used.

So you may want to give a bit of time to 'break in' - a few uses - before declaring it a bad puck...

Edit: woah, missed the part about the pre-shave oil. Can't speak for pre-shave oil with bowl lathering - but can definitely tell you the pre-shave oil require a good bit more loading to maintain the same quality of lather when face lathering. The oil tends to make the soap want to break down and do its job of emulsifying and breaking down oils...

I washed the brush like others suggested. I'll shave with it tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. I think I'm going to skip the oil from now on. It never really made a difference in the quality of the shave for me, it just seemed to help a little with moisturizing my skin. But I have plenty of other products that do that job just fine. After all, with a proper puck of MWF you don't need much else to moisturize/protect your skin. That's why it's the best!

I f you don't want to use pre shave oil let me suggest a small amount of Cremo or Kiss My Face applied to a wet face as a pre shave lotion. It add a great deal of smoothness to the shave.

Gentlemen,
I have not noticed any change in Mitchell's Wool Fat. By Jose, it is one of the thirstiest soaps I have encountered. I stopped using, however, because I got tired of it. The soap is quite good, but a thirsty one.

Well, I washed my brush but there was no difference in lather today. My new one should be here in a couple days, so I'll have something to compare to then.