Mitchell’s Wool Fat is certainly one of most popular and well known soaps on the market today. But it’s also one of those soaps that people seem to love or to hate. I love it. This shaving soap is, in my opinion, a fantastic soap. I just finished my first puck and already got a new one yesterday. Now I would like to share my experience with my B&B’s mates regarding this great English gem. And I want to discuss what appears to be one of the biggest issues regarding MWF: how to get a good lather. This subject has already been debated for a long time and surely makes sense, since this isn’t the easiest soap to make lather with. From my modest knowledge, and keeping in mind the advices of more expert fans of this traditional English soap, I have come to the conclusion that, in order to get a wonderful lather, I have to follow a few important points:
1. MWF works much better for me if the surface of the puck is previously softened with some drops of warm water;
2. Using warm (not hot) water during the entire lathering process gives me the best results;
3. To my knowledge Mitchell’s Wool Fat seems to love stiff brushes. The best lather I get is, in fact, using my boar brushes or my badger brushes that have great backbone. I like to use any of my Semogue boars and some of my favourite Simpson badgers. I particularly enjoy making lather with my Chubby 1 Super and with my Duke 3 Best;
4. My shaving brush has to be very heavily loaded. I load it for about one minute, which means making over 100 swirls on the surface of the puck. Then I slowly add a few drops of water to the mix and the lather progressively becomes thick, cushioning and slick;
5. This soap, like my beloved Cella, gives me a much, much better lather when face lathering. I do not know why, but bowl lathering with MWF for me fails miserably.
Following the five points above allows me anytime to obtain an incredibly good lather and a very close, comfortable shave. Mitchell’s Wool Fat is one of my all-time favourite shaving soaps.
1. MWF works much better for me if the surface of the puck is previously softened with some drops of warm water;
2. Using warm (not hot) water during the entire lathering process gives me the best results;
3. To my knowledge Mitchell’s Wool Fat seems to love stiff brushes. The best lather I get is, in fact, using my boar brushes or my badger brushes that have great backbone. I like to use any of my Semogue boars and some of my favourite Simpson badgers. I particularly enjoy making lather with my Chubby 1 Super and with my Duke 3 Best;
4. My shaving brush has to be very heavily loaded. I load it for about one minute, which means making over 100 swirls on the surface of the puck. Then I slowly add a few drops of water to the mix and the lather progressively becomes thick, cushioning and slick;
5. This soap, like my beloved Cella, gives me a much, much better lather when face lathering. I do not know why, but bowl lathering with MWF for me fails miserably.
Following the five points above allows me anytime to obtain an incredibly good lather and a very close, comfortable shave. Mitchell’s Wool Fat is one of my all-time favourite shaving soaps.
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. It is a great product and has a great price with bowl or not. Therefore I notice something too. MWF needs time. When I was using bowl for the lather, I took my shower after the preparation and I was shaving after my 5 minute shower. For that time the lather is become very slick with no airy lather problems and gives a perfect shave. IMHO, face lathering provides same aim but from a different way.
