What's the deal with hard soap?

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Pilto4prophet
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Location: Howell, MI

What's the deal with hard soap?

Post by Pilto4prophet »

Well, I bought a cake of Col. Cronk soap. I have a nice badger brush. I have a nice round bowl shaped mug.
What is the technique of making a good lather with the cake soap?
I have managed to shave twice without bleeding to death, but my lather doesn't seem as good as it could be.
marsos52
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Post by marsos52 »

hi...there is so secert and there is no trick...but it may require a bit of practice...

everybody here a smf seems to have there own twist for making lather that makes them happy

reading between the lines ,,,shows basically we are doing it very much the same way..

the brush, and the water quality (hard to soft) and the type of soap will make some differences..

i have used col conk soap and it is one of the harder soaps to lather
but still you should find you can get nice lather from it

so the basics are as follows..........

soap your brush so its nice and wet..for me a few seconds does it..others soak the brush for the length of there shower...its your call

especially with harder soaps like the col's ,,you may wet the puck so it softens a bit... if i do this i just use a few drops,, many times i dont even bother.. others may even submerge the puck for a bit..

now shake the brush out so all excess water leaves the brush.. for me 3 quick flicks does it.. time to load your brush.. i paint across the top of the puck or around it. again i go slowly not to get a lot of air in the soap and brush ... because i want to get as much soap in the brush as possbile

you can see the soap on the brush by now,, and the i may swirl the brush a bit to get soap inside the brush as well.. be gentle to your brush

now you should be ready to move to your face or mug to begin making the lather. painting with the brush and/or swirling should quickly give you a rich creamy lather that covers you beard and is not running and loose
this should give a nice surface for the razor to glide smooth and cut close with good cushion of protection

hope this help you,, i said earlier it takes a little practice
but well worth the effort

marc
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gil3591
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Post by gil3591 »

what marc said. but also, look up the shaving videos by mantic on you tube. have fun
Gil
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Pilto4prophet
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Post by Pilto4prophet »

Thanks for the detailed post Marc. That's what I needed. Problem with finding the video that covers hard soap, I don't have the time to watch all of them right now, so far, videos that mentioned lather were using cream.
C. Smith
notthesharpest
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Post by notthesharpest »

The only difference in using hard soap is that to get some soap you have to rub the tips of your damp brush on the surface of the soap, enough times to get the right amount.

After that's done, you treat it exactly the same.
marsos52
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Post by marsos52 »

no problem that is what we are here for...

marc
ferroburak
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Post by ferroburak »

It's old way :)
brothers
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Post by brothers »

One way to use a hard soap is to splash water on the face and hold the soap in your hand, under running tap water for a moment, then just rub the soap all over the beard area, until you can see the soap on all areas of the beard. Then take your moistened brush that you've shaken most of the water out of, and build the lather directly on the beard. You will add water to the growing lather by dipping the brush into water, or letting some tap water flow onto it. Just a little bit at a time though. I did it this way this morning with my brand new puck of Harris Almond soap, using a Kent BK4 badger brush, and the lather was beyond my expectations. There was plenty of thick rich lather for 3 passes.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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Pilto4prophet
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Post by Pilto4prophet »

brothers wrote:One way to use a hard soap is to splash water on the face and hold the soap in your hand, under running tap water for a moment, then just rub the soap all over the beard area, until you can see the soap on all areas of the beard. Then take your moistened brush that you've shaken most of the water out of, and build the lather directly on the beard. You will add water to the growing lather by dipping the brush into water, or letting some tap water flow onto it. Just a little bit at a time though. I did it this way this morning with my brand new puck of Harris Almond soap, using a Kent BK4 badger brush, and the lather was beyond my expectations. There was plenty of thick rich lather for 3 passes.
Now thats a cool idea. Gonna try it next shave. Thanks!!!
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Racso_MS
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Post by Racso_MS »

Pilto4prophet wrote:Thanks for the detailed post Marc. That's what I needed. Problem with finding the video that covers hard soap, I don't have the time to watch all of them right now, so far, videos that mentioned lather were using cream.
C. Smith

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JarmoP
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Post by JarmoP »

You would be wanting to build some soap on your brush. That works when you have shaken well your brush before you go loading it with soap.

To test if not too much water you should smash it on soap a few times, though I think col conk soaps are quite small in diameter. It is if you just load the soap and it has some excess water on the breach, it may be too much.

Wellcome to the forum.
Jarmo
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Laney1566
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Post by Laney1566 »

I am fond of Col Conk Amber.
I use the Apothecary Mug.
I run the tap water to it's hottest and fill the mug with the soap in it. Then I place the brush in it is well and let it soak for a minute or two and fill up the sink with hot water. I grab a shaving towel and plunge it in the sink full of hot water and squeeze out the excess. I then place the very hot towel on my face and let it soften everything up. I grab the Brush and mug and drain off the excess water and give the brush a single shake. I then work up a good lather and begin applying it to my face. This will require dipping it in the sink of warm water a time or two but you can easily control the lather. 2 or 3 passes will not require going back to the mug. Just work the brush on your face keeping it wet enough to keep it from getting sticky.

IMO
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m3m0ryleak
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Post by m3m0ryleak »

Welcome aboard Laney, mind the gap at the gangway.
Are you on municipal water supply or well ?. In any event, the
water out of your tap might be "hard" which will only add to your difficulties
creating lather especially with a tough candidate like Colonel Conk soap (Kell's is another). Stop at grocery/pharmacy and get a gallon of distilled water for the princely sum of $1 or less. Cheapest addition to your shaving kit ever. Soak you brush in that water for a few minutes or so. Oh yes, heat the water for say 30 seconds in a microwave so that it's warm not HOT. Hot as in HOT water can destroy lather as well. Stop back often,
there are many learned gentlemen here more than willing to offer suggestions.
Tony

"They say that dreams are growing wild just this side of Burma Shave" - Tom Waits
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druphus
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Post by druphus »

I don't mean to be the least bit "snotty" here, but, Colonel Conk is not "hard soap". Its glycerine, which is actually quite soft.

The only variables with any soap are the amount of water used and how long you work the soap. If your lather is too thin, you need to work the soap more, and when you cannot work it anymore you need to add a little more water to whip-up the lather you want. With real "hard soap" and my hard water, I regularly need to take a full 60 seconds working on the soap in order to get enough to form a decent lather.
Regards,
Andy
brothers
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Post by brothers »

The hard water we have here on tap, just doesn't work well enough to get the best out of the hard soaps, so I just use distilled water I buy by the gallon at the grocery store.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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