Today's MWF experience

For some reason I decided to drag out my puck of MWF for today's shave and paired it with a shave brush that is not really a favourite of mine. The brush being a Muhle Retro with a badger knot that has a huge bloom and is on the floppy side for my liking. It is also a bit of a lather hog. MWF has been a bit of a hit and miss performer for me.

Proceeded to load the brush like I hated both it and the MWF, long and hard. Face lathered and was reward with enough rich slick lather for my 4 pass shave. I'll be using that combination for a few days just to see if today's experience was a fluke.

When MWF works for me I really like the lather, how it leaves my face feeling and it's scent of good old fashioned clean soap. I may even have to order another puck of MWF when this one is gone.

Bob

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Originally Posted by BobH

When MWF works for me I really like the lather, how it leaves my face feeling and it's scent of good old fashioned clean soap. I may even have to order another puck of MWF when this one is gone.

Bob

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While I like my MWF and use it regularly, I find that Haslinger Schaftsmilch performs and feels every day like WMF on a good day, but is less temperamental and far less affected by the hardness of water than MWF.

Together with the small size and optional metal tin that Haslinger sells it in, it makes a pefect MWF stand-in for travel - and at home.



B.

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Originally Posted by beluga

While I like my MWF and use it regularly, I find that Haslinger Schaftsmilch performs and feels every day like WMF on a good day, but is less temperamental and far less affected by the hardness of water than MWF.

Together with the small size and optional metal tin that Haslinger sells it in, it makes a pefect MWF stand-in for travel - and at home.



B.

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Yes that has been my experience with Haslinger Schaftsmilch also. Unfortunately it appears that Haslinger may have changed their shave soaps to a veggie base from tallow. I sent them an email but they will not be back in the office till 8th January. I hope to get an answer from them then. I get worried anytime a company changes the formula of a soap especially if it worked well as a tallow based soap. Just too much room for screw ups.

Bob

MWF has been my favorite soap since the first time I used it. It is the soap I compare all others to including MDC which, for me, falls a smidge below MWF on performance and misses the boat altogether on price. I have a water softener so MWF easily explodes in a thick rich lather. Bob, you told me about Haslinger so I looked into it but couldn’t justify paying more (in the states) for it when I like MWF so much.
I didn’t know water hardness affected the lather so much until I stayed at a hotel with hard water and couldn’t get a good lather to save my life.

You have to try Glide, by Cold River Soap Works
It’s a shave soap and cream, this tops MWF, MDC and all the rest
For me at the present for now, I’ve tried everything else but
This Glide leaves more moisture on my face after the shave is finished

There are so many soaps out there that I rarely purchase a soap more than once, but I may buy a puck of MWF again some day. It got used up and yes it can be a wee bit temperamental and if it is not used regularly can dry out a lot. The good news is it fluffs back up fairly quickly.

My first shave soap was MWF, and I still love its signature scent and post-shave feel. Early on, I found MWF difficult to lather (probably owing to our hard water), so the puck remains fairly thick.

Gentlemen,

Mitchell's Wool Fat should be part of every shave den. It has been mine — for years — and it will continue to be into the next century.

For some, the soap is a challenge to lather. It never has been for me. I bloom the soap with warm water and then load my brush heavily. The lather from Mitchell's Wool Fat is on the thin side, at least in my experience. Regardless, cushion and glide are just fine. Also fine are the after the shave properties of this soap.

Whether face or bowl lathering, Mitchell's requires some work, but the results are worth the trouble.

I love the Fat. Conventional wisdom dictates that you use a stiff brush with it, yet you used a floppy one and got great results!

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Originally Posted by Wayne1963

I love the Fat. Conventional wisdom dictates that you use a stiff brush with it, yet you used a floppy one and got great results!

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I am not much on conventional wisdom when selecting a brush to use with any soap/cream/croap. I have found my badger, boar and synthetics work on all if I do my part. When I have difficulty lathering it is usually my fault for the most part.

Bob

I don't use MWF anymore but it's just a good solid quality soap that's bit temperamental.

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Originally Posted by BobH

Unfortunately it appears that Haslinger may have changed their shave soaps to a veggie base from tallow. I sent them an email but they will not be back in the office till 8th January. I hope to get an answer from them then.

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Currently I have a puck of the reformulated Haslinger Schafsmilch shaving soap in my rotation and I have not noticed any significant change.

But more importantly, I have a trip to Vienna coming up on January 10th and - you may have guessed it - I plan to to drop by Haslinger to stock up on supplies and find out in person what drove the recent change.

I shall report back without delay and that will hopefully put an end to all that speculation and conjecture.




B

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Originally Posted by beluga

Currently I have a puck of the reformulated Haslinger Schafsmilch shaving soap in my rotation and I have not noticed any significant change.

But more importantly, I have a trip to Vienna coming up on January 10th and - you may have guessed it - I plan to to drop by Haslinger to stock up on supplies and find out in person what drove the recent change.

I shall report back without delay and that will hopefully put an end to all that speculation and conjecture.




B

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I'd say that if you have the new veg based Haslinger shave soap and have not noticed any significant change in performance then there is no speculation and conjecture left. The soap is now veg based and performs as good as the tallow based soap it replaced. Thank you for that info.

I think the main concern was that the change may bugger up the performance which it appears not to have done. That being the case, why they did it is not important to me now. There must be an advantage business wise to being able to make a certified claim that no animals were harmed in the making of your products.

Bob

There are certain soaps that once you dial them in you truly realize what an amazing soap
they are and they blow most artisan soaps out of the water. MWF, Williams, LEA, GMS, Osma, etc. Most of them tend to be very hard soaps. I think beginners like easy to lather soaps.
Shavers are truly missing something when it comes to the closeness of the shave and post shave feel when they ignore these classics. It’s just a learning curve and well worth the effort YMMV

The smell of MWF can not be ignored. To me it is comforting, refreshing and incomparable to any other shaving soap. That said, for the life of me I can not get a good lather no matter how dedicated my effort. I do not experience such vapid results with other products. I can only attribut my failure to the calcium content of the Florida water that I am compelled to use. But the smell of MWF is great.:banghead:

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Originally Posted by BanjoTom

The smell of MWF can not be ignored. To me it is comforting, refreshing and incomparable to any other shaving soap. That said, for the life of me I can not get a good lather no matter how dedicated my effort. I do not experience such vapid results with other products. I can only attribut my failure to the calcium content of the Florida water that I am compelled to use. But the smell of MWF is great.:banghead:

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Have you tried using distilled water for lathering?

Bob

MWF has been a 'go to' soap for many years, for me. I find it to be a pleasant mild scent. It lathers easily for me, with excellent protection and a finish which leaves my skin feeling quite good.

As Obie stated earlier, a shave den without MWF isn't complete.

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Originally Posted by mwnc252

You have to try Glide, by Cold River Soap Works
It’s a shave soap and cream, this tops MWF, MDC and all the rest
For me at the present for now, I’ve tried everything else but
This Glide leaves more moisture on my face after the shave is finished

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There are so many excellent soaps out there now and this glide is on my list. Just got soap Commander last week and am still waiting on my order of oleo. I found a deal on Tabac (puck with the dish for under $15) on eBay that I couldn’t pass up on. So I have plenty to keep me busy for the next couple months at least. There will always be MWF though.

MWF isn't my "go-to" soap, by any means, but it will always be a staple in my shave den. I have a water softener so I haven't had the lather issues that many complain about and The Fat tends to be the baseline against which I judge all other soaps. This isn't to say that MWF is the best soap I've used but it may be the best balance of attributes that immediately comes to my mind.

I do find that the brush I choose tends to effect the lather I generate and while MWF my be one of the more extreme examples, it certainly isn't singular in this regard. My synthetic brushes seem to generate a thinner lather than my badger but I'd be hard pressed to provide any type of proof of this belief.

I used Erasmic shave soap this morning after having used MWF for a number of days. Have to say I like the Ersamic shave soap better than MWF on all counts with the possible exception of post shave feel. The MWF may have a slight advantage there but not by much. If you are shaking your head over that statement you are not alone, so am I. I guess the world is full of surprises if you look past the cost factor and reputation. By that I mean set aside the more costly something is the better it automatically is and reputations may not be all they are cracked up to be. Like everything else it boils down to individual preferences in the end I suppose.

No issues with hard water in our city either.

Bob

I've always viewed MWF as a high end version of Van der Hagen or Williams. Maybe what Williams or Old Spice was 60 or more years ago. Plus it's not a cheap soap either.

There are just so many better soaps out there.