Thread: 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.