Thread: castle forbes not breaking down completely when i lather.

everytime i lather up there's a chunk of cream left in the bowl that never broke down. what gives?

It is a rather dense cream, so to me, the best way to use it is to load the brush directly in the tub of cream.

i'll give it a shot. my superbadger brush seems so soft i don't know if it will grab much.

Originally Posted by RonPopeil

i'll give it a shot. my superbadger brush seems so soft i don't know if it will grab much.

Oh, it will pick up plenty in a very short time.
Just a few swirls with a moist brush will be enough!

+1 to what Bjoenar said. AFAIC they call it a cream but I had to treat it as if it were a puck of soap. Let a bit of water sit on it for a few minutes and all. Actually I'm glad that is the way it is. It is great stuff and lasts longer because of that consistency.

Gentlemen, yes, I, too, treat Castle Forbes cream as if it were a soap and load the brush directly in the tub. What's more, Castle Forbes needs lots of water.

Load the brush in the tub, shoulda' thought of that! Didn't even occur to me, probably because I'm not a soap user. What I've been doing is scooping a small amount out and then smearing it thin on the inside of my lather bowl. Lots of water, got that part. I don't even shake my brush after soaking. it looks a bit soupy at the beginning but soon turns to loads of lather. (btw i do the smear thing with all my creams, in my mind it tends to make it easier and quicker to lather and avoids any lumps)

+1 on loading the brush from the tub.
Focus on adding water as you work up the cream on your face/lathering bowl. Too much cream and you may end up with a quick-drying lather on your face.

I don't load the brush from the CF tub, Here's how I do it. It's easy to use too much with Castle Forbes. A little goes a long way. 1/2 an almond in the bottom of your scuttle will work. I use a Demitasse spoon. You don't need much. Probably the tip of the spoon will work. All the high end creams are like that. Xpec, Caraceni, etc..
I let mine sit (smeared) for a minute in the bottom of the scuttle with hot water on top to melt the cream while I'm doing other things. The heat from the scuttle and hot water should completely dissolve it. Give it a try.

P.S. Everyone's definition of "hot" water varies. It'll take you a while to find the "Goldilocks zone" Too hot, no good, too cold, no good.
I use a 4 cup scuttle which I preheat with tap water while I microwave another 4 cups for 3 mins (1100 watt?) Once that's done, I dump out the scuttle into the sink, which I use for shaving, and refill the scuttle. The excess water from the microwave is used to melt creams.

Sounds like a lot, but it's not. While all this is going on, I'm preparing other things.

Originally Posted by zib

I don't load the brush from the CF tub, Here's how I do it. It's easy to use too much with Castle Forbes. A little goes a long way. 1/2 an almond in the bottom of your scuttle will work.

I still think the amount you are using is waaaaaaaaaayyyyyy too big. I can't explain this any other way unless I post this: