Extremely aggravating soap experience

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royalcrown
Posts: 63
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:53 pm
Location: Illinois, US

Extremely aggravating soap experience

Post by royalcrown »

First off, I would just like to add as a head note that the anti-bot method is amazing - click the kittens but not the car.

OK, seriously now...

I've lurked this site for awhile, but never got around to posting until now. After being intrigued by mantic's videos, and understanding the various methods of shaving, I went out and grabbed a bunch of stuff from the surrounding stores, and a tweezerman badger brush off the interner (simply because of free shipping).

So with a bottle of lime Kiss My Face shaving cream, I'm able to make a respectable lather - this goes the same for Tom's of Maine shaving cream. Needless to say shaving cream is no problem. However, when it comes to shaving soap, I completely dropped the ball. Despite how much soap I load onto the tips of the brush, despite how little water I use in the beginning, adding water slowly over time, despite stirring slow to get a thick lather instead of an airy one... I can't get anything good.

The lather is kind of frothy, in contrast to the thick smooth texture of shaving cream. Instead of lather, I kind of get a thin foam - this is with almost no water on the brush or in the bowl. As I add water, the lather just gets worse.

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here - I've even tried using bottled water. Nothing. I'm using mug shaving soap, but I hear that's decent quality soap, and I don't really want to spend lots of money on one of the T brands just to get the same disappointing results. It's probably a problem with me - can anyone help a guy out?

Thanks in advance.
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ScottS
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Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:39 am

Post by ScottS »

William's soap just doesn't produce a fantastic lather for me-- though I used it for ten years or so and got fine shaves anyway. I like working Williams in a mug, and I just have at it until I get something I can shave with.

Try Surrey, which is now Van der Hagen, I think. You can often find this in Walgreens, I believe, for about two and a half bucks. It's a glycerin based soap that will lather better than Williams. This should let you know if you want to move up a notch.
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spencergray
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Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:08 pm

Post by spencergray »

I know what you mean about Williams mug soap being a bit too airy. I've found that this happens to me at the beginning of the lather. I don't add any more water when I see this happening, I just add a bit of elbow grease. Then, after a few seconds of really scrubbing it with the brush, the foam gets thicker, then I add water to get the right consistency.

Spencer
notthesharpest
Assistant Dean SMFU
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Post by notthesharpest »

Try getting more soap on your brush at the beginning. Some guys put a little hot water on top of Williams soap and let it sit for a minute, then pour it off. Softens the soap, making it easier to scrape off a usable amount.
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Random
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:54 pm

Post by Random »

I second notthesharpest's suggestion. Wasn't doing that great with a puck o' Williams, then I found a thread that said to let some warm water sit on it for a minute. Presto change-o, I got a nice lather.

After I did that I loved soap and just got some Tabac. It's amazing stuff.
- Barret
Leisureguy

Post by Leisureguy »

I highly recommend that you try the shaving soaps from Mama Bear and/or Honeybee Sue. They're made with shea butter---very good for your skin---and they lather up handsomely.

And it would also be worthwhile to try a shaving stick from Mama Bear or from QED.

FWIW, I also had problems initially in getting a good lather from soap, so I stopped using creams altogether and focused on soaps. Now I actually prefer soaps to creams. But I've never tried Williams, I must admit.
royalcrown
Posts: 63
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:53 pm
Location: Illinois, US

Post by royalcrown »

Well, as it turns out, I had a bar of this Van Der Hagen stuff sitting around under my sink. I originally bought it on a clearance sale at Walgreens for 4 bucks. It was a set that included a boar brush, bowl, and soap. I didn't have a brush at the time, so I just bought it for the brush and bowl and never thought about the soap. Looking in the cabinet in my bathroom, I found the bar, and it indeed was Van der Hagen. The lather was far better than the Mug, so the Williams is taking its place under the sink (a shame, since for some reason I really liked the scent of Mug... even though I don't know what it is >_>).

BTW, I tried the Williams trick with pouring water - it still can't beat the Can Der Hagen's lather. It could be the lanolin, which it says it has on the box; it could just be me. I dunno.

I tried a superlather with the Van Der Hagen and Kiss My Face, and it was an well-above-average shave, even with Mach 3 as a razor (I'm using it till I run out of the cartridges since I paid for them -grumble- ). With the Williams, it actually made the superlather worse somehow. I dunno. I guess that will remain a mystery forever.
notthesharpest
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Post by notthesharpest »

Oh well. Some guys say Williams is pretty good - others say not really. No loss - you can use it in the shower.
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ScottS
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Post by ScottS »

royalcrown wrote:The lather was far better than the Mug, so the Williams is taking its place under the sink (a shame, since for some reason I really liked the scent of Mug... even though I don't know what it is).
I think the VDH is about the easiest lathering soap that you can buy inexpensively in a drugstore. If you like the soap thing, you might want to swing buy a Crabtree and Evelyn someday and try their soaps. They're much more expensive, but have an OK reputation (I haven't tried their soaps).

Unless you have some high-end department stores around you, that might be it so far as stuff you can buy locally. If you want to expand a little, I'd highly recommend picking up some Tabac soap at qedusa.com
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