Hard Soap

Dear Shaving Gurus,

I've been using my fancy hugo boss shaving cream for a while with my straight razor. It didnt feel wet enough though and if I added some more water the cream just vanished, so I went to douglas and bought a soap that was in the shaving area next to all the brushes. The question I wanted to ask is how to get good lather out of this hard soap. Should I lather up by rotating on my face with the brush or use a cup with some water? I tried to just rub the brush over the soap a few times and then on my face but I could hardly get any lather out of it. Also it dried out very fast.

Any help appreciated.

Oscar

Which shaving soap was it? You should be able to rub your wet brush arouind on the soap for 20 laps or so and get enough soap to lather on your face. From your description it sounds like you weren't using enough water. Rub the soap on your face then tip the tip of the brush in the sink to moisten the tip and then use it to lather up.

Here is my technique (and there are many out there). I fill a ceramic bowl with hot water and let it rest with the brush in it while I strop my razor. After that I dump out all the water except about 2 table spoons or so that I leave in the bottom. I then shake out all the water (do not squeeze) out of the brush and do several laps with the brush in the soap. I then go back to the bowl and build the lather in the bowl. You will have to experiment with how much water you leave in the bowl and how many laps in the soap since it will vary with how hard or soft your water is.

What MP said. You will probably have to work the brush on your face for longer than you might think (that was the case for me). A good minute or two. Then, when you have the soap/water mix right it explodes into thick creamy lather. Enjoy.

Jordan

Using cream all the time makes you lazy. Its almost seems too easy. There are many variable to getting good lather out of hard soap. The most important is the quality of the soap. A crumy soap will give crumy results no matter what you do. If you have a quality soap what I do is leave the brush dripping wet and then work the soap in the mug for a minute or two and then a little more water on the brush and then work the brush on my face for another minute or two.

As has been said the proceedure will vary depending on your water hardness, your brush and the soap. Experiment!

I find lathering soaps I need a little more and preferably very hot water to get the lather going than I'm used to with the creams.

X

For my soaps in mugs, sometimes I'll fill the mug (with soap cake in it) with hot water and let my brush soak in that for a few mins. The hot water soaks into the soap a little and makes the surface much softer. After that, dump out the water, get your brush ready and whip up a lather. Be careful though, if I soak the soap for to long and use a stiffer bristled brush, like a boars hair, the resulting lather can endup on the frothy side instead of being nice and creamy.

yeah at the very start i brought 2 tubes of trumpers Cream and 1 soap i got poor results from the soap but maybe i shall try it again tonight :)

Interesting. I've only ever tried Trumper's creams. My favourite is Rose, but out of curiosity a while ago I went and got that in hard soap with a nice wooden bowl. Not even openned it yet, just waiting to use up the huge amount of cream - that stuff lasts ages.

What's the difference(s)? Is one designed for a different skin type than the other? Is there a different in scent intensity?

Soaps and creams lather and shave differently. Just depends on which you prefer. Some people use both, some strongly prefer one over the other.

I found soaps harder to lather than creams until I got better at building lather.

When I used a DE/injector, I tended to prefer creams, however with straights, I seem to prefer soaps.

Soaps are a little more fickle to water/soap ratio, but once you figure out how to lather one soap, you can adapt pretty quickly. Glycerine-based soaps are softer and tend to lather more easily (QED, Honeybee, TGQ, Mama Bear), tallow/animal fat soaps also lather quite easily (Tabac, Kent), the tripple-milled soaps (I think Trumper's falls into this category) are the hardest and take the most effort to lather for me - this is simply due to the fact that it takes a little longer to transfer enough soap to the brush.

Regardless of the type of soap, they are worth experimenting with - I really like my Institute Karite soap with shea butter and I'm told other French soaps with shea butter (pre de provence, l'occitaine, etc.) are even better. The shea butter soaps combine the closeness of a soap with some nice moisturizing properties/cushion that are generally associated with creams.

My other exception to the norm is JM Fraser cream, which produces a very slick, glossy lather and gives me as good a shave as any of my soaps. (Unfortunately its only available in Canada!).

Having said all of this, you can get good shaves from creams or soaps and its really a matter of understanding the different properties of various products, learning how to build a good lather, experimenting and then finding what you like best. The nice thing about experimenting with soaps and creams is that its MUCH cheaper than experimenting with razors or brushes! One last thing is that you sould periodically revisit products that you have but don't use too often - I've found that some of the soaps that I found just so-so with my DE seem to work better with the straight and vice versa.

Long post, but hope this is useful.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rum

... Not even openned it yet, just waiting to use up the huge amount of cream - that stuff lasts ages.

What's the difference(s)? Is one designed for a different skin type than the other? Is there a different in scent intensity?

---

:roflmao

I gave up trying to use up any of my creams or soaps. I just can't seem to help buying more. I think I have enough to last 20+ years. My SSAD is pathetic.:rolleyes:

Jordan

Jordan, I agree with you, I too have massive SSAD. Every time I tell myself that I'm not buying anymore, I read a thread about how nice another soap is and I end up buying it. My lastest acquisition is Tabac which is a nice soap.
As far as lathering goes, I soak my brush in hot water in a bowl that's slightly less full than where the the brush bristles meet the handle so as to not get the knot wet, then I get into the shower.
After the shower, I pour out the water and give the brush a slight shake. I by swirling the brush around the soap about 30 or 40 laps, then I get my face wet again with warm wather.
I start to lather on my face, but if I don't have enough, I will build up a nice lather in the bowl and go over my face with more lather.
If you're still having problems building a good lather, it could be because you have hard water. Also, IMHO, it seems that pure badger brushes work best, then super badger and lastly natural brustle (boar hair).
Good Luck and don't give up!
-Fred