"Taylor of Old Bond Street" for Dummies!

I'm looking for pointers on quickly whipping up a good lather with Taylors hard Sandlewood soap. It so for takes me maybe 5 minutes to get it right. I don't mind the time, but there 'must' be something that I am doing wrong to take so long.

I pre-soak the top of the cake with enough water to form a thin layer on top, for maybe 15 minutes. I then pour a small portion of that pre-soak water into my 5" bowl, load the brush for maybe 30 seconds and then get with the whipping. It seems really tough to load enough soap onto the brush (Silver Tip Badger) in one loading. I load, whip, load whip, sprinkle some water, load whip, etc. Any advice to speed this up would be greatly appreciated...:banghead:

Try a boar brush. The stiffer bristle will wick up more soap from a hard puck. You can also try soaking the brush while soaking the soap and that should aid in loading as well.

These are the methods I use with Williams and that is a notoriously difficult soap to lather

Might need to try the boars hair. I do soak my brush, as well as my bowl in hot water right up till I start whipping lather.

I don't think you will get better lather but you may get to the lather you want much quicker. YMMV

Couple things that may help... or not. Try hot water to soak the puck. Use a little more water to soak the puck. lad the brush for a longer period of time.

Every soap has its own personality. As far as a boar bristle brush, I really like it for face lathering but don't have as much luck using it to whip up a lather in a bowl.

Let us know how it goes!

Like Matt said,,,,,,,,

or,

I soak the brush in warm water, put a small amount of warm water on the puck ( my pucks are in bowls that allow lathering in that same bowl as the puck) , pull the warm brush out of the soak cup , light squeeze, then lather it on top of the puck, great thick lather in a minute.

Like the others have said only part of your process I see as an issue would be the super soft silvertip badger on a hard soap. I use TOBS in all varieties with no issue when using a stiffer brush. Not always boar though. I tend to stick with the pure/ best badger grades most of the time. Soft but still has backbone for soaps. A good boar brush would work it into a lather faster for sure, but may have to change your water increments depending on the brush.

I had an issue with that puck also .. I found I was to liberal (there's a first ..lol) with how much water I was actually using ...
but yes all the others have gave good tips !

I'm going to try shaving an ultra thin slice of soap from the top of the cake, put it in my bowl along with a drizzle of hot water and see what happens after the soap shaving softens... ?

Give it a shot. This part of wet shaving can really vary for a lot of people. This is also one of the reason I like my creams. :)

If you bowl lather, I would switch to a cream.

I have cream, also, but. I actually enjoy bowling the lather and whipping things up. Cutting a sliver of hard soap out of the puck did not work. The sliver of soap just swirled around in the mixing bowl, along with the brush, doing absolutely nothing, however. The disrupted surface contour of the cut puck worked great. My brush loaded up very quickly and I whipped up a super thick lather in no time at all! Great fun, satisfying and a good pass time. I once viewed shaving as a chore. Since switching to straight razors I now have only one regret, that being the fact that my whiskers don't grow fast enough!

The trick I tried for MWF might help.
Run the puck through one of those crank type graters or a box grater on the fine side.
Pack it back in the bowl in layers - pressing each layer down as hard as you can.
The first two times you lather you will pick up some bits of soap, this stops soon.

Soak the puck, reserve the soak liquid. Soak the brush (Boar fan myself) shake out the water. Load gently but for a good bit. You can dial back later but try 15 second swirls and change rotation of the load swirl every. 15 seconds - loading for 45sec.
Face later and use the soak water you reserved to keep adding water.

Smooth Shaving...

I use MWF soap about 6 days a week. It is my obvious favorite. I am; however, a face latherer.

This brings us to my one day a week which may prove helpful to your endeavor.

On this day I will also use a homemade/handmade soap made by a guy name Mike in Michigan.

Google "Mike's Shaving Soaps".

They are very soft and come in bars or tins. The third option, which looks like a deodorant stick, are no longer made but are still on his website.

I encourage everyone to try this soap.

Good - Soft and pliable. Good ingredients. He also sells inexpensive samples. They are about the size of hotel soaps.

Bad - His inventory sells out fast and it is difficult to find multiple scents to your liking that are in stock.

I personally don't care for strong scents which is one out of several reasons I like MWF soap. Oddly though, my favorite soap from Mike's is coconut.

I hope all who read this post checks out his site. He makes good soap.

Take care,
Jason

Disclaimer - I am in no way affiliated nor benefit from this website. Just a friendly recommendation.