Thread: Provence Sante: an Old Friend

I had the pleasure of using Provence Sante for the first time while being "mentored" by pinklather, and between the fantastic honing he did on my razor and the soap, it was a memorable shave. Obie's old friend is now my new friend.

So the Provence Sante was in the mail box when I get home from a long trip.
First stop is the grater...why? because I can't help myself. If it is hard enough to go through the grater it goes through the grater..
This started with gssixgun's suggestion to grate the MWF, please don't be judgmental.

Packed in layers in to a 1cup/236ml re-sealable container and moves to the front of the line.

Soaked 1800 squeezed out, a few drops of water on the soap and my does this load up quickly.
Face lather and build up (easy) and then the "test" - 30 second face massage.
A bad lather will be gone at the end of this test, a great one will be "there" - it's like real Ivory, you will know it when you feel it. Impressed with how well this did.
Another wet cloth soak (30sec) re-lather (from the original build) and a great three pass shave, 3 because I was enjoying it after using a cart for 12 days...

The net?
Great value, easy to work with and excellent results - IMHO this would be a great first "hard soap" for someone who started out using creams (Proraso Green in a tube, hand is held up, my first wet shave creme)

Great suggestion...

Smooth Shaving...

Is the primary reason for grading up the hard soaps to make them fit into a container? Hadn't thought of that before.

Originally Posted by MJC

So the Provence Sante was in the mail box when I get home from a long trip.
First stop is the grater...why? because I can't help myself. If it is hard enough to go through the grater it goes through the grater..
This started with gssixgun's suggestion to grate the MWF, please don't be judgmental.

Packed in layers in to a 1cup/236ml re-sealable container and moves to the front of the line.

Soaked 1800 squeezed out, a few drops of water on the soap and my does this load up quickly.
Face lather and build up (easy) and then the "test" - 30 second face massage.
A bad lather will be gone at the end of this test, a great one will be "there" - it's like real Ivory, you will know it when you feel it. Impressed with how well this did.
Another wet cloth soak (30sec) re-lather (from the original build) and a great three pass shave, 3 because I was enjoying it after using a cart for 12 days...

The net?
Great value, easy to work with and excellent results - IMHO this would be a great first "hard soap" for someone who started out using creams (Proraso Green in a tube, hand is held up, my first wet shave creme)

Great suggestion...

Smooth Shaving...

Chris,

I know some gentlemen grate their soap, and that is fine — to each his own. I, however, don't see the need for that. A good soap stands on its own as it was made. If I need to fit a particular soap in a bowl or a mug, I use a knife to shave it on the edges and be done with it.

Originally Posted by Warpiper

Is the primary reason for grading up the hard soaps to make them fit into a container? Hadn't thought of that before.

Grating and packing does allow you to get a fit to a container - this is helpful when the SWMBO "suggests" that you use a particular soap dish with cover for your puck of Tabac...

The benefit for me has been that it makes the harder soaps (MWF) much easier to load.
The result is something close to MdC in texture/firmness.

A few drops of water on top of the soap when you start soaking your brush and when you get ready to load the results (although not as easy as MdC) are quick & consistent.

Depending on the grind size and how well you pack you may have small bits of soap on the brush the first 1-2 times you use it - for me this stops by shave #3.

The soap will also load much quicker than from a hard puck - another thing you get the hang of in a few shaves.

And I suspect that this will lead to a few less shaves per puck...a trade I make willingly for the great results.

For reference I face lather. If I have standing water on the soap I pour this of in to a mug, and use the soapy water for the build up.

If I can press the soap in to the container with thumb pressure alone (Cella from the 1kg block) then I don't grate. Tabac in puck form was firm enough that I needed to coarse grate it to get it into the larger dish I was working with (think Mozzetta for your pizza) harder the soap, the finer the grind/shavings.

This is all very YMMV but I've had great results.
This AM the SWMBO gave me a puck of AOS Sandlewood with a wooded bowl.
It is bound for the grater in a few minutes...

Smooth shaving...

Thanks Obie and MJC, I appreciate the feedback. I have a few hard pucks that did not come with bowls and they are to big for some of the mugs I have or fit very loosely in the LOTH's tea cups which they are in now. When I load them, they spin around in the cup. I'll have to grate up one or two and press them in my Pyrex bowls and see how it works.