Thread: Old Fashioned Soap?

Mitchell's Wool Fat. On the carton it says "ORIGINAL 1893 FORMULA". It's good stuff.

Lye and lard soap has been around since at least 600 BC. The Babylonians made soaps well before that (since circa 2800 BC) Arguably a kind of fat and some kind of alkaline salt gas been around for at least 5000- 6000 years. People have been shaving for about that long also as far as we know. One only has to shave without some sort of emulcifying preparation once to know that soap of some sort has been used for probably nearly as long. My guess is some kind of fat and an ash derivative.

When I was much younger, my neighbourhood Italian barber used to square off the back neck line with a straight razor. I recall he made a thin lather by sprinkling some kind of soap powder into a mug and then added a spritz of very hot water before working the lather with his brush. It had that typical barber shop aroma, but seemed very watery and thin with almost no glide. I never had him shave me as I got older, so I don’t know if he used the same lather for face shaving. I hope not.

Despite any claims I doubt you would find any soap that is both an old brand and the same exact formula. Even old names are just that having been defunct and bought and again used. Of course many ingredients are simply not used anymore for a variety of reasons.

I would be skeptical of any claims. I'll bet Mitchell's has no relation to the original maker. You would have to compare the formula to determine how true it is to the original.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Despite any claims I doubt you would find any soap that is both an old brand and the same exact formula. Even old names are just that having been defunct and bought and again used. Of course many ingredients are simply not used anymore for a variety of reasons.

I would be skeptical of any claims. I'll bet Mitchell's has no relation to the original maker. You would have to compare the formula to determine how true it is to the original.

That not withstanding, Mitchell's Wool Fat is some good stuff.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Despite any claims I doubt you would find any soap that is both an old brand and the same exact formula. Even old names are just that having been defunct and bought and again used. Of course many ingredients are simply not used anymore for a variety of reasons.

I would be skeptical of any claims. I'll bet Mitchell's has no relation to the original maker. You would have to compare the formula to determine how true it is to the original.

In other words no current soap would meet the OP's requirement. Seems reasonable but why not make life simple and pretend MWF fits the bill.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

In other words no current soap would meet the OP's requirement. Seems reasonable but why not make life simple and pretend MWF fits the bill.

Bob

Perception is 90% of reality

I suspect most modern soaps are far better than soaps from around 100 years ago.

Originally Posted by BobH

In other words no current soap would meet the OP's requirement. Seems reasonable but why not make life simple and pretend MWF fits the bill.

Bob

MWF is looking like a good candidate here.

Honestly it's more about getting a similar experience than anything else. Even if it's not the same formula, but is created in a similar way. Or perhaps even created in such a way as to imitate older soaps E.g: less of "modern industrial processes" and "modern scents"...iirc 18th and 19th cent. scents used to be much more subtle than they are now. It's interesting to note though, that basically no soap recipe has survived more than 100-150 years?

At the Wisconsin meet two years ago a couple of people took the lye soap challenge as a lark. Both reported much better shaves than they expected though neither were going to make the switch.