Thread: My limited experience with soaps/creams

I'm having a confusing time of it - hope for some helpful feedback.

I've now sampled a few different lathers - with widely differing results. For starters - I'm using a Kent BK4 for my brush - so if brush selection makes a difference please indicate as such.

I started with a bar of Col. Conk's Bay Rum. Not terribly exciting. Unless somebody raves about it using a different technique, I'll probably never try it again.

Then I tried some of Kent's soap. This lathers very nicely, gives a slightly better feel for me than Col Conk - but seemed to leave quite a bit of residue both on my shaver and in my sink. I'll leave it in the nice wooden bowl - probably for a looooong time....

Then I tried a sampler pack of Colleen's soaps & creams. The soaps had incredible scents - I'm going to buy more products just for my closets. Lathering with the soaps was hit-or-miss, untill I followed Glenn's instructions. It really makes a difference when you can soak the soap in hot water for a while, and dissolve a quantity in the water before lathering up - especially with my soft badger brush. Unfortunately, while I've had one or two excellent shaving experiences with these soaps, I'm not consistent yet - but the scents make me want to keep trying.

The creams were disappointing. They had a thick, paste-like texture. They lathered quite poorly, and I did not enjoy the shave. In particular, if someone has some insight on these creams, please share.

Based on the Youtube videos from Mantic59, I tried the Kiss My Face cream (which I found at Vitacost.com). This is actually about the cheapest one I've used - and thus far is the 2nd best shave I've had thus far. Lathers immediately, voluminously, and lubricates quite well.

Feeling somewhat confident in my DE technique, I then ordered a sampler from TGR. Lathering with this stuff was nearly a religious experience. This stuff is NOT cheap - but WOW what a feeling! The only thing missing - I still love the scents from Colleen's soaps. If TGR added her scents...price wouldn't matter.

Anyway - I just wanted to share what I've gone through thus far, and I'd really like to hear if someone has had better experience with Colleen's creams.

I have only used Salter's creams in a tub. I find them to be very good. As far as soap I like Coleen's, QED, the Kent you mentioned which is Mitchell's Wool Fat I think. Also Trumpers, Harris, and Tabac.

The BK4 is a very soft brush. It took me some time to get used to it and learn how to get the best out of it for me. I usually use a stiffer bristle such as a Rooney size 1 style 1. Very efficient in creating lather.

There are many out there and it is a matter of trial and error. Usually if you find you don't care for a product you can get your money out of it by selling it in the classifieds. If you don't like it someone else may .

Originally Posted by Thumper

Then I tried a sampler pack of Colleen's soaps & creams. The soaps had incredible scents - I'm going to buy more products just for my closets. Lathering with the soaps was hit-or-miss, untill I followed Glenn's instructions. It really makes a difference when you can soak the soap in hot water for a while, and dissolve a quantity in the water before lathering up - especially with my soft badger brush. Unfortunately, while I've had one or two excellent shaving experiences with these soaps, I'm not consistent yet - but the scents make me want to keep trying.

And so it begins. TGQ soaps are incredible. They have turned me from creams they're that good. Get the Leatherneck.

I have found that the creams will congeal with time. You can soak a portion in hot water for easier lathering. Just as you soak the soaps. I don't soak the soap since our water is very soft here and it lathers readily.

X

Don't soak soap. Seriously--don't do it. It will very quickly destroy your soap, and then you're SOL. To help with lathering, you can put a teaspoon or so of water on the top of your puck while you're showeinr or whatever, but anything more than that and you're asking for trouble, especially with glycerin soaps.

You don't describe your technique, so that might be the problem. It's all a matter of water volume. You need to make sure that, with soaps, your brush isn't TOO wet when you start. Load your brush well, and then start to lather. As the lather builds, you will get a feeling for when you need to add a touch of water. Try feeling it with your fingers; if it's smooth and slick, it's fine.

With the Kent/MWF, you said it left a residue. That tells me you're not using enough water, or your water is very hard. That can effect your lathering a lot.

One thing, your BK4 is a very soft brush, or so I've heard, and may be somewhat difficult to get loaded with soaps. Creams should not be a problem, though, so I'm not sure what the issue there is; even a hardened cream should lather just like a soap.

One piece of advice--stick to ONE product until you can use it. They all are a little different, and if you hop around too much you'll only end up confusing yourself. Stick to one product until you can lather it consistently, then try to change it up.

Good luck!

+1 on what JimR said, just a splash of water on the puck while you are showering. Also, you mention Mantic's videos. If you follow his technique of lathering in a bowl and adding a bit of water as you go this may be more effective. It works well for me. I usually load the brush on the puck of soap and go to the bowl in which I have added an almond sized dollop of cream.

Originally Posted by JimR

Don't soak soap. Seriously--don't do it. It will very quickly destroy your soap, and then you're SOL. To help with lathering, you can put a teaspoon or so of water on the top of your puck while you're showeinr or whatever, but anything more than that and you're asking for trouble, especially with glycerin soaps.

I guess it depends on the definition of "soak". What I typically do is load my brush with water, then let it drain when held or gently tilted. Then I shake the brush out over the soap - it's usually enough to cover the soap about 1/8" deep. Then I shake the brush out, pour the soapy water into my lather bowl, swirl the dry brush on the softened soap, and return to the lather bowl to mix up.

This last time, I scored the surface of the soap first with a blunt knife, then after I added the water, I set the soap dish into a tub of hot water. I think I got better results this way.

Originally Posted by JimR

One thing, your BK4 is a very soft brush, or so I've heard, and may be somewhat difficult to get loaded with soaps. Creams should not be a problem, though, so I'm not sure what the issue there is; even a hardened cream should lather just like a soap.

The other creams I've tried have been fine - for some reason those two samples from TGQ just seemed poor. It could be my water, it could be I need to use more cream - or perhaps these two sample just happened to be "off". I AM curious if anyone here who enjoys TGQ products prefers the creams to the soaps - which would give me a reason to try them again.

Have you read these articles from wiki

Illustrated Guide to Making Basic Soap Lather - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Illustrated quide to making basic cream lather in three different ways - Straight Razor Place Wiki


I have Kent BK 4 too and althouht softness it is a very good brush to create a suberb lather.

Here is another wiki article where you can see differencies of brushes. To sum up boar's and pure badger's don't hold so much lather than e.g BK4.

Brushes - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Originally Posted by JimR

One piece of advice--stick to ONE product until you can use it. They all are a little different, and if you hop around too much you'll only end up confusing yourself. Stick to one product until you can lather it consistently, then try to change it up.

Good luck!

+1 on this technique. That is exactly what I do when I try a new soap. I'll use it for a week or two straight to make sure that I can get the best consistent results from one product.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

+1 on this technique. That is exactly what I do when I try a new soap. I'll use it for a week or two straight to make sure that I can get the best consistent results from one product.

If you guys all would use the soap lathering technique given by Kaptain_Zero in the pasted post below, it woudn't matter how hard your water is, how soft your brush is, and you wont have to worry about ruining your soap.

I had been putting about a tablespoon of hot water on my soap pucks (as I think alot of guys do), and while the results weren't bad, the Kaptain's method is far better:

Originally Posted by kaptain_zero

As you can tell, everyone has their own way of making lather from soap and everyone has their own choice of soap and choice of brush. Having been where you are now and not knowing the soap that you are using, but having a good hunch about what's going wrong, I'm am going to say you have too little water in the brush.

Try this the next time you go to make lather... I am going to possibly cause you to make more lather than you will know what to do with, but at least you will have made sufficient amounts of thick lather to get you through your 3+ pass shave and that should make for a nice change from what you have gotten so far.

1. Soak your brush for several minutes in quite warm tap water. I stand my brush in a mug and gently press the bristles against the inside of the mug a few times to release all the trapped air in the bristles. Do not put any water on your soap, it won't be needed.

2. After the brush has soaked in the water for a few minutes (mine will sit for maybe 5 minutes or more but 3 minutes should be sufficient) lift it out of the water and let it drain by itself until it stops running... it's ok if there is a drip or two coming from the brush. Now, *gently* flick the brush ONCE to remove some excess water... there may still be too much but it won't matter this time around as we're looking for MORE than enough lather.

3. Swirl the brush on top of your soap and pump the brush up and down to release the water from within the knot and to allow the brush to soak up some soap with that water as brush comes back up. Keep swirling/pumping until it's starting to look like decent lather, it needn't be ready to use, just that it's no longer runny and there aren't any large bubbles... By the way, no need to swirl like a madman, nor should you be particularly gentle, just swirl at something like 2 beats a second or so. Now that the soap/water is holding together on your brush can now begin to build the lather in a bowl or on your face. If water starts dribbling down your face, you didn't pump the brush enough while on the soap and thus there is just water deeper in the knot instead of a soap/water mix... that's ok, just go back on the soap and do a few more swirls while pumping.

You should be rewarded with ample amounts of lather if you do it this way. I have found that many times we try to rely on the brush abrading the soap and try to pick up enough soap that way instead of using enough water to dissolve the soap and pumping the brush to mix the soap and water together inside the brush.

Too little water in the brush to start means not enough soap dissolved, Adding water to the mug when you're trying to build the lather will just further dilute the already too little soap and you'll end up with a thin lather that just seems to evaporate in seconds on your skin.

Now, if you ended up with enough lather to shave ten men, I apologize and humbly suggest you perhaps flick the brush a little bit more next time. It's easier to shoot for the middle when you know what the boundaries are.

My two cents worth, and I find the instructions above will build lather from any type of of shaving soap with no soaking of the soap required.


Regards

Christian

This technique even works well on my Gold-Dachs Especial, which isn't one of the best soaps to get a really good lather from.

Originally Posted by Thumper

Then I tried a sampler pack of Colleen's soaps & creams. The soaps had incredible scents - I'm going to buy more products just for my closets. Lathering with the soaps was hit-or-miss, untill I followed Glenn's instructions. It really makes a difference when you can soak the soap in hot water for a while, and dissolve a quantity in the water before lathering up - especially with my soft badger brush. Unfortunately, while I've had one or two excellent shaving experiences with these soaps, I'm not consistent yet - but the scents make me want to keep trying.

The creams were disappointing. They had a thick, paste-like texture. They lathered quite poorly, and I did not enjoy the shave. In particular, if someone has some insight on these creams, please share.

Her soaps are the best I have ever used, period! The scents are superior to anyones'. And the lather provides the best performance I have experienced. That being said, I just got a tub of her cream. I have used it only once, so I do not have the corrections proportions down yet. I have read in other postings that you need to use more cream than with other brands when trying to develop the correct lather.