Page 1 of 1

Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 2:32 pm
by John Parker
Any one have any comments on how well (or not) MWF does in hard water? The Fine Vetiver I bought is doing well, as are several others. But I got to thinking about trying MWF again. And that often spells buying something!

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 5:33 pm
by brothers
John, you may choose to buy another MWF puck, or maybe trade for one. My experience with MWF in the beginning was that I could not force it to lather no matter how hard I tried. I was a failure at it. I gave it to my son and swore I'd never waste any more time trying. After a while I asked him to give it back. I just lathered it like any other soap, disregarding all of the lore and legends about secret methods. Just pretend it's not the magic MWF, but just another no-name soap just like all the rest. It worked. I thought my water was hard, maybe it was. That doesn't matter! I can lather anything that anybody else can lather. It's a semi-conscious instinctive learning process.

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 3:41 am
by mlb549
Very well said and appropriate, Gary. Soap is soap and water is water, the only difference is the lather maker.

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 10:18 am
by pausted
+1

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 11:46 am
by Bill_K
John, have a look at mantic59's video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGLi_m9n_s

The tip that helped me out the most was lathering upside-down. I have very hard (12.6 gpg) water, but I'm still able to get a really good lather with MWF. I did find, though, that if I use my Texan Moss scuttle with really hot water then the lather breaks down quickly.

One variation from the video is that because I bought the refill puck instead of the soap and container, I used a cheese grater to break up the MWF so that I could press it into a mug. Perhaps the extra surface area of the looser soap made a difference, I don't know. I should have tried it without grating but it's a little late now.

Don't give up too quickly! Good luck.

Bill

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2018 7:37 pm
by Brutus
Mitchell’s Wool Fat does not like hard water.

I can get it to work if the water is not overly hard but it does take more effort, and I never had to make it work in some regions of the US that have exceptionally hard water.

Haslinger Ewe’s Milk shaving soap has many of the properties that people like about Mitchell’s and is far less emperamental as far as hard water is concerned.


B.

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 11:28 am
by Bill_K
Has anyone tried Pereira? mantic59 opines that it's like MWF only better[1] but I can't find any comments on it in a quick search of the SMF archives.

[1] https://sharpologist.com/2018/06/pereir ... pires.html

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 6:30 pm
by brothers
Bill_K wrote: Mon Oct 29, 2018 11:28 am Has anyone tried Pereira? mantic59 opines that it's like MWF only better[1] but I can't find any comments on it in a quick search of the SMF archives.

[1] https://sharpologist.com/2018/06/pereir ... pires.html
SMF member/vendor - suffolksupplies - Paul has it in stock at the moment. He operates Connaught Shaving in UK. One of the oldest and quite reliable vendors. You can check his most recent posts here in the Shopping forum.

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 6:42 am
by Gene
I dealt with Paul several times a few years ago - he is an excellent vendor.

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 4:39 pm
by CMur12
My experiences buying from Paul at Suffolk Supplies/Connaught Shaving was always very positive.

- Murray

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 10:49 pm
by nav
Nope, no issues lathering MWF in hard water.

However, I should state that I switched over to using RO water for all my soaps. I just find it keeps everything consistent and my lather is just how I like it without any fuss. I use bottled water when away from home.

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 5:37 pm
by jww
Throwing in my 2 cents here -- seeing as I am the resident Wool fat evangelist ......

Hard water or soft, you can get good lather from MWF. However, you have to be patient and cautious about the water-to-soap mixture. Hard water can quickly degrade the quality of lather when you add it. The upside-down lathering technique is something I have advocated since I started using this soap -- and it sounds nuts, but it really does work. Having said that, I use that method for all my soaps. For some reason the gravity seems to drive the soap into the knot to produce far superior lather.

Shave on gents!!!! Up with the Woolfat

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 10:15 pm
by brothers
jww wrote: Thu Jan 24, 2019 5:37 pm Throwing in my 2 cents here -- seeing as I am the resident Wool fat evangelist ......

Hard water or soft, you can get good lather from MWF. However, you have to be patient and cautious about the water-to-soap mixture. Hard water can quickly degrade the quality of lather when you add it. The upside-down lathering technique is something I have advocated since I started using this soap -- and it sounds nuts, but it really does work. Having said that, I use that method for all my soaps. For some reason the gravity seems to drive the soap into the knot to produce far superior lather.

Shave on gents!!!! Up with the Woolfat
The upside down lathering makes a whole lot of sense!

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 8:32 am
by SirCur
Hi John,

I have extremely hard water (well water) - which affects the performance of every soap (and deposits rust on brushes etc ...)

In my experience, MWF is not affected by the hard water any more than other soaps. With Mitchell's, just don't add too much water and you should be fine ...

... cur

Re: Mitchell's Wool Fat and Hard Water

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 12:51 pm
by jbcohen
Just bought a puck of Mitchell's wool fat, hmm.