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Do you guys find that Tabac soap like alot of water or a little water...
Do you usually start lathering with a fairly wet brush or a fairly dry brush...
Still trying to figure out if I dont have enough water or too much...
It seems like a fine line where you think your lather is good but its too dry...or then you think its good but actually its too wet...
just any thoughts on how much water tabac likes compaired to say DR Harris or TOBS Cream...thanks for the help
I start out dry and add water. I think tabac i pretty forgiving on how much water you can add to it.
I have not noticed a special preference of Tabac for water. However, the first time I used it, since I was using a soap that did not lather too well, I superloaded my brush. Basically, what happened was that when the lather seemed to be ok, there was still more soap in the brush and after awhile, it would dry out. This was fairly easy to identify when the lather dried out in my face. What I did was to add a few drops of water to the brush and did a bit of face lathering. I must say that after that I liked it as much as I do like lathering in a bowl. You only need to give it a few swirls to load the brush, especially if you have added a a bit of hot water to soften the soap before; otherwise, it is fairly wasteful. Since then, I have not had any problems. The bottom line is that it is always easier to add water than to remove it.
Have you checked these videos yet? If not, I think you would find them useful:
YouTube - How To Build And Apply Traditional Shaving Lather
YouTube - Introduction to Traditional Wetshaving, Part 2: Lathering
Al raz.
That could be what i am doing...over loading because i am swirling alot...thats maybe why i seem to be adding so much water...i will try with a little less loading and see...Quote:
Originally Posted by Alraz
I do like tabac though even when i dont seem to have the perfect lather i still get a nice shave.
Especially with Tabac, I noticed that a 3 second swirl takes plenty, having softened to soap with a hint of water on top. I do the Mantic-trick of holding the soap upside down and it works nicely for lathering up.
I can wholeheartedly recommend lathering up a bowl or 2, 3 when you have a new soap. Just find out how you get to good loading and initial lather buildup in the mug, and then see how adding water makes the soap behave. Sometimes it helps just adding a bit more water in making a superlather, but a little experimentation helps there.
I've found that Tabac is definitely hydrophilic. It's almost difficult to use too much water.
I'm a face-latherer so my method may differ from others. After the hot water has sat on my soap for a few minutes and my brush has soaked, I empty all the water from the Tabac. I then take out my brush, let it drain, then give it a few downward shakes to get rid of a little more water. Then, I load her up. I'm a product hog, but I'll swirl for thirty seconds or so. Splash my face with water, and lather up.
If the lather ever dries out, just open up the breech of the brush (I never dip the tips in water) and add a small splash of water in there to recharge it.
I also face lather. I just cake some soap onto the brush after the soap sat with some water on it while I showered. My boar brush also soaks in hot water while I am in the shower. Then I shake the brush and squeeze it a bit, then dump the water off the soap, cake the brush and lather my face.