Thread: Cella Crema or Mitchell's Wool Fat

Sorry the pea size idea didn't work out for you...I tried it again and I got great results with the pea size breaking into lather after a few whirls with my brush...maybe it is the brush !?

Regardless of how, at least you got it to work...I am glad you like it too. it is a great soap/creme. How do you like the scent?

Looking forward to your post.

Originally Posted by Fbones24

Okay, I just took the Cella for a dry run without shaving with it to figure out how to lather it. I didn't want to go in blind...ha.

I tried lathering it like a cream, putting a pea size amount in my scuttle and did not have good results. I found it difficult to get the actual soap to turn into lather because it stayed hard. So, I was basically mushing around this little pea sized soap.

I then tried it just like I would any soap. I loaded the brush by going around in circles on top of the Cella puck. I then transferred to my scuttle and began to build the lather and it was amazing. I kept adding more and more water with little degradation in the consistency of the lather. The consistency is creamy...much more so than MWF.

I am really looking forward to using this tomorrow morning.

Originally Posted by altshaver

How does Cella compare to Castle Forbes? Is it the same consistency? Is the performance comparable between the two? Thanks!

Castle Forbes is not like Cella. Very different IMHO. Cella gives me an old school barbershop feeling and has an old fashioned tallowy almond scent. It is like putty or clay that hardens slightly over time.

CF on the other hand is not tallow based and ranges quite a bit in consistency with more of a waxy feeling to it as a texture, although some I have had has been more less viscous and more liquid. I get the feeling that Cella is more natural based and has less ingredients being more of an 'ancient' shaving product.

CF probably produces better lather, but I prefer Cella and I honestly do not know why. I'd say it just leaves my skin feeling nicer than CF does.

Put it this way; I have bought more Cella, but did not again purchase CF. This is MHO though and many will differ I am sure.

IMHO absolutely nothing beats Cella based on price alone, and many do not come even close perfomance wise.

Yeah, the loading the brush way just worked way better for me. I was using my shavemac....maybe if I used my semogue it would have disintegrated, but just too much work it seemed like.

The fragrance is pleasant, but nothing special. It is very light though, so nothing to bother me.

I am really looking forward to using this for a shave. It seems so thick and creamy compared to other soaps.

Fbones24,

The way to success with the 'pea' of Cella is:

Shake your brush very vigorously, and smear the 'pea' of Cella on the brush end (cup your hand around the bristles for support).

Make sure the shave bowl contains only a film of water.

Vigorously swirl the brush around the bowl, adding a few drops of water.

The Cella will start forming into a thick paste, which will aid the further dispersion of the soap. Keep addding drops of water, until all the Cella is converted into paste. Proceed then as normal.

It takes far less time to do than it does to describe

This technique also works very well for P160 Morbido & Castle Forbes.

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

I got my MWF yesterday and took it for a special test drive (posted it in SOTD today).

My first impressions:

1. I like the smell of MWF better than Cella...but I won't discount Cella because of it (I fix that problem by mixing a micro drop of Lavender (or other EO)

2. MWF feels a bit more moisturizing to me than Cella


But, this is after a one time use of MWF...I need to break my lather making ability with this soap before final judgment...but perhaps it's better for me to refrain from casting such opinions by analyzing the soap and just start enjoying them. Hmmmm...there's an idea .

Both soaps come very close to me in performance. What I plan to do (after several time using these soaps alone) is to use them in combination together +/- glycerin or in combo with other cremes +/- glycerin

Thanks for the inputs guys as this has been a very enlightening journey for me

I definitely agree that MWF is more moisturizing than the Cella, and that is a major, major plus for me and my sensitive skin. Performance wise, I think that the MWF still holds a slight edge to me....and I mean a very slight edge. Where the Cella shines, in my opinion, is the ease of lathering. I have been giving the brush about 20 swirls on the Cella "puck" and than moving over into my scuttle and then BAM. Within one minute I have more creamy lather than I can ever use. I also notice that as I swirl the brush on my face, the Cella creates even more lather on my face compared to other soaps.

I have only used the Cella twice, so I will continue to evaluate. This could easily be a tie for second place as Tabac is still my favorite soap. I think the MWF will still come out slightly ahead.

I still find it funny that we are breaking down shave soaps like this. Talking about shave soap is fun.

I have had both of these soaps for almost a year,and found out that i cannot make a good lather in a scuttle with the MWF,but it works well when you face lather. I agree the MWF smells better than Cella. The Cella on the other hand is a non stop suds making machine,with lots of thickness and cushion. The more you work the Cella the stiffer it gets(thats what she said!) It can be used in a scuttle or face lather,so Cella gets the nod here,but i will still use MWF.

Fbones24, I'm glad you figured out how to use the Cella. As a soft soap, it just plain does not work like a cream, but it works great if you use it just like a regular puck of soap. Because of this, it's unfortunate that its container is so small.

I leaned towards MWF on this one but Cella is awesome stuff too, love them both.

I used to go through one soap at a time. Because my soaps last 5 to 7 years, the variety of soaps to which I have been introduced to thanks to SRP has made it impossible to wait so many years to try a new soap. Soaps like Cella and MWF were major factors in causing me to rotate to a different soap every week.