SMF

While the QED soaps get me the closest shaves of all my creams and soaps, I've been unable to get a consistently good lather from my QED soaps. I have to make up lather several times during my shave - and I'm guessing I'm not putting enough soap on the brush. It is usually too thin and nothing close to what Joel shows he achieves - I want to get this type of lather!!!

What I currently do is soak my brush (Vulfix 2236) in hot water, pull it out and wait until water stops running then give it one flick. I swirl 15-20 times and try to make a lather in my bowl. It looks fairly decent sitting there but goes on very thin and starts to dry up.

If I do 40+ swirls then I start to get something decent, but again not as thick as Joel's pics show - do others here do 40+ swirls and is that closer to what is required with a glycerine soap?

Any tips/suggestions greatly appreciated - as always!

I would suggest you should consider maybe melt and pour the qed into a mug. That will provide the easiest way to learn how to use it in my opinion.

Ravi-

Interesting. I have a boar hair (very long and stiff bristles) brush and I get crazy lather from the QED soaps using only 6-8 swirls. It must be the brush.

I have found that I achieve the best results by building the lather directly on my face. It takes me about 20 seconds, but I am able to build a very thick, rich, lubricious lather. I re-wet the brush with a little hot water for subsequent passes. There's always plenty of soap in the brush.

Try building the lather directly on your face next time, maybe you will have better success.

Good luck!

Ravi,

For me there was a learning curve with this product as well. Here are the three items that helped me:

(1) Use a soaking wet, hot brush. If you flick out too much water, it makes it difficult to melt the hard soap and you don't pick up enough on the brush.

(2) Use some force when swirling your brush. I tend to have a light hand since I use primarily creams, but I find that on the QED soap if I press down hard while swirling it helps a lot. I think with a stiffer brush, as mentioned above, it isn't an issue, but with a soft brush (mine is a SR212 super badger) it is important.

(3) Build lather in a bowl. There seem to be vocal proponents on face versus bowl lathering, but I could never lather worth a damn on my face, but with a bowl I get copious lather.

The QED lather seems much lighter and airier than what I get with a cream, and the shave is quite different. Good luck on your quest.

-Scotto

When I use a cream I lather in a bowl...But with the qed soaps I get a lather around the same consistency as any cream i've used when I lather on my face...I pour hot water into the soap container & let it sit for a minute while my brush is soaking....Flick the brush of access water and empty the bowl so just a little water is present....Then I got to work swirling the brush until a lther starts to build & then I take it to the face...I find that constant swirls at a good pace start to build a very creamy lather in a couple seconds...I then dip the tip of my brush into hot water and go over the face for a couple more seconds...Then shave...This works best for me with QED soap....

Ravi, Welcome. I find the great thing about the QED soaps (and even the sticks which are a lot of fun to use and produce, in my mind, as much lather as the soaps) is just that-the lather. At times I have noticed that a Taylor Avocado for example produces a thicker lather against a slightly lighter one from the QED but the shave with the soap is just as good. More importantly, at least to me, is finding one hell of a product that is colorless and chock full of Essential Oils. I really think the purity of this product stands out.

Max

northadams wrote:Ravi, Welcome. I find the great thing about the QED soaps (and even the sticks which are a lot of fun to use and produce, in my mind, as much lather as the soaps) is just that-the lather.
Max

I really can't get over the amount of lather I get from the shave stick. A few quick swipes across my face with the shave stick and then some swirling motions with the brush and my face is filled with smooth, thick and slick lather. I wrote to Charles to let him know what a great product he has.

Barry

Barry, My thoughts exactly. I have been on the road & have not checked in but after catching up I noticed something about Tabac-Joel throw them in with the brushes!!

Max

Ravi, Well, it's difficult to say, but it could be that part of the difference is due to a difference in your water, from what Joel is using. I liked Scotto's suggestions, about pressing harder, and about using a bowl. Using a bowl can be useful with any hard shave soap, but, the difference for me was greater with the QED soap, then with most others. I'll be frank though, even though I was able to get a decent lather out of the QED soap, it did not match the lather I get with good creams, in terms of richness and lubrication. As far as I'm concerned, that's just the way glycerine shave soaps are, although the QED specimen was the best of it's type that I've tried. Give the bowl technique a try. Regards, Gordon

For those who haven't checked it out - Joel's pictorial documents the experience.

I tried a number of the suggestions this am, and got very postive results by twisting harder and then lathering on my face vs a bowl. It was kind of sloppy with foam flying off the brush but worked much much better than any of my previous attempts.

I am still determined to get a similar lather using my bowl - it's my challenge now! Hopefully the use of a denser [Shavemac] brush will prove to be the secret.

Thank you all for your generous input - much appreciated.

I actually get better shaves using the shave stick as opposed to the tubs I own.

Pretty odd, but I'm not complaining. Still giving my limes tub a go every other day (god how I love that smell!) just to get it better.

I use a vulfix 2236 and I have had great success with the QED soaps. I generally hold the QED soap at an angle over my shave bowl and then swirl the brush on the soap. Any excess water then goes into the bowl. I then proceed as usual to build the lather which doesn't take much effort. I get tons of rich lather, very much similar to Joel's pics. BTW, I have fairly hard water>

Mike

I generally hold the QED soap at an angle over my shave bowl and then swirl the brush on the soap. Any excess water then goes into the bowl. I then proceed as usual to build the lather which doesn't take much effort. I get tons of rich lather, very much similar to Joel's pics. BTW, I have fairly hard water>

I have tried this previously but without much success - maybe I didn't have enough soap?

I personally think you will do fine, just use more water. I got better results when I stopped flicking as much water out of the brush. The QED soaps like a LOT of WATER. I get loads of lather when I slop the brush onto the soap like a wet mop. And I usually lather on my face, although it works in a bowl as well.
John P.

Gentlemen:
My question is once you have lathered your face for the first pass, what do you do with the brush from that instant on till your second lathering? There is still cream on the brush presumably; what next as it gets cold and dry during your first pass?
Thanks,
Mahesh

Mahesh, I put the brush back in the bowl I used to soak the brush and build the lather. It holds the heat well enough (and the soaking water iwas very nearly boiling) to keep the brush warm for at least a second pass. I can use a few drops of hot water on the brush for the third pass.

Hi all,

Has anyone tried to melt the shave sticks into a mug? I will be ordering some items from Charles in a few days....

But after seeing the list of shave sticks...well I may just have to order them all.


Peppermint
Lavender
Bergamot
Lime
New Rose
Tangerine & Spearmint
Bay Rum
Pine & Cedarwood
Grapefruit & Peppermint
Rose Geranium
Wild Orange
Anise & Lavender
Patchouli/Tea Tree/Peppermint
Aloe & Glycerin [Fragrance-Free]
Sandalwood.

Thanks.

Patrick

I melted my Peppermint stick that I got from Charles. It came out of the holder easily. I chose to "dice" it up into cubes, zapped it for about 20 seconds, gave it a stir and then another 15-20 seconds. Just keep an eye on it and it should turn out fine!

Randy