Thread: Col Conk Lather Issue

So I am new to str8 shaving and making lather. On my second shave (3 days from my first str8 shave) I noticed that I could not get the lather right. The lather was dry and sticky. By the time I finished my right sideburn down to the jaw line area, the left side was dry. I tried to add more water, but ended up with a lather that had too much water. I noticed that my str8 kept "grabbing" or not continuous with a smooth stroke. I tried slow strokes with a very low angle (the blade was almost flat on my face). I even cleaned off my face, did a warm wet towel application and reapplied lather three times, all ending in with the same results.

I am using Col Conk Bay Rum shaving soap. I have a Böker King Cutter str8. Preshave routine - hot shower, soaking badger brush, warm towel application and then lather application.

Any ideas to my problem? What am I missing?

Thanks in advance.

How is your water quality? When you say sticky that's what happens with hard water and soap. You get sticky residue.

Of course the Conk isn't exactly the creme de la creme of soaps and when I used it years ago it wasn't a lather champ but you should still be able to get adequate lather for your shave. if your water is hard try some bottled water and see what happens. Otherwise you need to keep working on the water soap ratio and soap load up time.

@thebigspendur - Thanks for getting back with me. I do believe that I have hard water. I was thinking that could be an issue and I agree the Col C might not be the best quality, but should suffice. If another shave or two with bottled/distiller water still yields the same results, I'll look into another soap/creme.

I bowl lather the Conk. Use more water than you think you need, then go strop and let it set. When you finish stropping add more water, it seems to thicken up a bit. It's a thirsty soap in my experience.

When I started using a brush and mug, I used Williams, It's cheap and it works well. Pick up a puck at Walmart or Target, places like that.

I need to try this...I've not gotten good results with the Conk, unless I supplement it with Proraso.

I had the same sticky problem with Conk. My thread is not too far back. It was the hard water for sure. I tend to stick with creams now due to the lousy water I have. The water is so hard it leaves a faint burnt orange stain on my grout!

Originally Posted by LoneWolf

I had the same sticky problem with Conk. My thread is not too far back. It was the hard water for sure. I tend to stick with creams now due to the lousy water I have. The water is so hard it leaves a faint burnt orange stain on my grout!

Sounds like you have an iron problem. Typical hard water residue has no color.

Pour on the water and you'll be fine w Col Crank driest soap.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=80256

Further to the Williams and dry soap comments I found this thread really helped me out. Good luck! Don't give up on it :-)