Thread: Question about using 'Tabac' soap

Hey all,

I'm used to using 'Wilkinson' soap, in the blue plastic box thing. And when using it, I put a small amount of very hot water on top of the soap/bowl, while soaking my brush. Then when I shook out my brush I poor out the small amount of water that was in the bowl and then just 'swirl' to get good lather. I treat that soap with very little love as I never particularily liked it in the first place, but was the only thing I could find.

Now I finaly found some Tabac soap, and I'm wondering if I should treat it in another way? I noticed some pictures where people have the tabac (in that white bowl that comes with it, if you buy that one) soap, they first 'swirl' in the pot where the soap is. And then create the lather in a totally separate bowl (I normaly do it straight on my face, pleasant massage :-))


My question is this: Is there any different routine for use with this kind of Tabac soap? The wilkinson soap is more creamy then soap in my opinion so it might be a different story.

Is it still necessary to poor a small amount of hot water on top of the soap to 'loosen it up' before going in for that swirl?

Do I need a separate pot to make the lather, or can I just swirl in the normal one where the soap is, and then 'lather up' straight on my face?

Sorry for these questions, but you're my only source of knowledge :-)

One thing with the Tabac in that bowl. There are ridges towards the bottom of the bowl on the inside. The cake is actually wedged into the ridges and "suspended" off the bottom of the bowl. I think if you poured water on top of the cake it would work it's way down the sides and end up under the cake. I think the idea is that if you load a wet brush on top or even work up a bit of lather on top the extra water will go to the bottom of the bowl and let the cake dry out.

Then again, it may well be that the containers purpose is to be a lather bowl and the soap cake just comes packaged in it. I took the cake out, shredded it and pressed it into another bowl. I use the Tabac bowl as my separate lather bowl. Maybe the bumps at the bottom are to aid in generating lather.

Nothing wrong with making lather on top of the cake. I think you don't want to leave it sitting in a pool of water though. It will sort of melt like any soap. I'll lather a bit on top of a soap cake sometimes. I just rinse it off and pour off the excess water before I put it away.

I lather all of my soaps on my face. This works best for me.

I'm also liberal with pouring water right on top of the Tabac in its white bowl. I've never had a problem with water damaging the soap in any way. The hard soaps melt less quickly than the glycerin soaps.

I think you'll do fine with your current technique using the Tabac. You may have to tweak how much water you work into the lather though.

Jordan

Just a quick review of the routine/soap.

It worked just fine, however the soap produces incredible amounts of lather! I'll be doing some lathering in my hand and then continue on the face I think, or perhaps I took too much soap on my brush... Anyhow, massive amounts of lather were whipped straight on the face, and it was a nice change from the Wilkinson soap


The soap is very nice, and the smell seems totaly different from what everyone here describes. For one, it doesn't have a strong smell at all to me :-D It seems to smell like ...soap!

Originally Posted by Jantjeuh

The soap is very nice, and the smell seems totaly different from what everyone here describes. For one, it doesn't have a strong smell at all to me :-D It seems to smell like ...soap!

I have the same soap. I was also surprised at some of the comments but I vaguely remember something about Tabac coming out with a new/revised soap? I figured maybe the Original is different?

I do the same hot water on the soap with all soap that I have including the wonderful Tabac. When I get out of the shower I swirl the brush and then lather in a separate bowl. I used to face lather and it was okay for a DE but I find I get much better results in a bowl. YMMV . Here are videos that helped me get a great lather.