Thread: What additives do you add to your scuttle/lathering bowl?

I add a couple of drops of olive oil to my scuttle before building my lather. I think it helps soften the whiskers, like a pre-shave oil. What do others use.
Al

I use a little glycerin and aloe vera gel. Our water is hard and it helps with great lather

Water.

Darn I never though of that one Jerry. Will defiantly give it a try tomorrow.

I've always felt if you had to add something to the soap (besides water-har har) it was time to look for a new soap.

If hard water is an issue just buy some distilled or RO water at wallyworld. A gallon will last a long time.

Four of my soaps are tier one.
As I get older things are changing and I can't do anything about except add a little olive oil.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Water.

You see, Jerry-This is why you're a Mentor. No wonder my lather is so crappy!

All kidding aside, sometimes I'll add a few drops of menthol or maybe vetiver EO to an unscented soap just for giggles. And because I get bored easily, sometimes I just like to experiment: just this morning I made an uber-lather from the remnants of the MDC Agrumes and Klar Seifen soap samples sent to me by Tom and Jerry (of cartoon fame lol!) along with a few drops of menthol to liven things up. The result was uber-slick cold lemony heaven, just as I expected.

I don't add anything.

Pete <:-}

(Good one Jerry!)

I have had to add a little Cremo or Kiss My Face to some soaps to develop a super-lather if the soap won't lather by itself. However, if I can't figure out how to lather it without the additives, it does not stay in my den.

Most soaps do contain oleic acid (the primary fatty acid in olive oil), but if you add too much, it can kill the lather. I make up a preshave oil once using olive oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower seed oil, but I could never get a great lather using my hard water, so I stopped using it.

I really good soap or cream will stand alone and produce a very good shave as long as your technique is good.

With that being said there is no such thing as the perfect soap or cream if there was we would all be using it.

So yes if I am trying s soap or cream I try by itself, how does it perform. If it meets my expectations then I will add it to my "rotation". Right now my rotation is castle Forbes and Stirling soap so yes my expectations are high.

As i said above there is no such thing as perfect so i will experiment with adding some thing to it to make it better, why not its fun.

Right now what do i add, some maco root cream to my Stirling works great we used to call it super lather, maybe I'll try mixing Stirling with castle Forbes next.