To scrape or to swirl?

[NewYorkBuck]

Lately Ive tried something a bit different with my soaps, and that is instead of loading by swirling the brush directly on the puck, I now scrape the soap with my cream demitasse spoon, wipe it on the bottom of my scuttle, and then cover it with a splash of water while I shower. Have noticed the following benefits:

- Portion control. Ive noticed with some soaps my brush just doesn't load enough on the first go and need to reload it for subsequent passes. When I scrape, I can always get that almond sized dollop.

- When I finally do whip up the soap, more of the product seems to stay on the business end of the brush. When I swirl, often the leather starts to migrate up to the handle. My guess is this is from splaying too much as I load trying to get more soap.

- I know many suggest "airing out" soaps after you use them. My guess is this allows essential oils to evaporate. When I scrape, Im not adding any moisture to the puck, so I don't need to air out anything.

Thus far, Ive done this with Cella, Stirling, Declaration Grooming, and Wholly Kaw with great success. Haven't tried it with the really hard soaps yet like Pdp or Tabac.

Anyone else scrape?

 

[cryhavoc]

Nope, I face lather so just twirl on the soap and then straight to the face.

 

[Ravenonrock]

Nope, I face lather so just twirl on the soap and then straight to the face.

+1 I load from the puck and lather my face. Works for me.

 

[Raths]

I've started doing this myself. Used a Col. Conk soap and it worked very well. Going to try Williams' Mug Soap next.

 

[ask4Edge]

If hard-milled, I lather right on it.

If a "croap," I remove a portion.

 

[Timeclo]

I've been scraping for several months now and it's been good so far. I only load from the puck with triple-milled or hardened soaps over time. As you said, I don't have to let the soap air out or become messy with lather mixtures, and load a fixed portion each time. It does add to the cleaning time but I don't mind it.

 

[Raths]

I tried scooping the Williams' Mug tonight. Not too bad of a result considering the soap...

 

[South Dakota Guy]

Lately Ive tried something a bit different with my soaps, and that is instead of loading by swirling the brush directly on the puck, I now scrape the soap with my cream demitasse spoon, wipe it on the bottom of my scuttle, and then cover it with a splash of water while I shower. Have noticed the following benefits:

- Portion control. Ive noticed with some soaps my brush just doesn't load enough on the first go and need to reload it for subsequent passes. When I scrape, I can always get that almond sized dollop.

- When I finally do whip up the soap, more of the product seems to stay on the business end of the brush. When I swirl, often the leather starts to migrate up to the handle. My guess is this is from splaying too much as I load trying to get more soap.

- I know many suggest "airing out" soaps after you use them. My guess is this allows essential oils to evaporate. When I scrape, Im not adding any moisture to the puck, so I don't need to air out anything.

Thus far, Ive done this with Cella, Stirling, Declaration Grooming, and Wholly Kaw with great success. Haven't tried it with the really hard soaps yet like Pdp or Tabac.

Anyone else scrape?

I use a shave scuttle as well and I sometimes use your exact method but only with small soap samples that aren't large enough to lather directly from the puck. It works ok but I still prefer to load directly from a full size puck.

 

[samhain666]

Try lathering almond size dollop of Tabac I dare you! If you actually attempt it, please make a video of it

 

[emwolf]

generally with the triple milled soaps I swirl on the puck. I've tried with the scooper and just don't feel I am getting the traction in my scuttle or lather bowl that I do on the puck.

 

[skibik]

I do this with all creams, croaps and hard(even triple milled soaps). Very rarely I put the brush to the soap now. I have 2 soaps go bad even though I let them dry out for at least 24 hours afterwards. I have not had a soap go bad since I adopted this method of scoop, scrape or carve soap and put it in the lather bowl. That way I can put the lid back on the soap right away. Some soaps I do scrape off too much and end with 2+ shaves on some of the hard soaps. If I do have too much I just let the remaining lather dry up with the soap and use it for the next shave.

 

[cyberdog]

I'm a hybrid, for the softer 'croaps', such as Proraso or Stirling, I pull a little out with my finger or a small plastic blade, and rub it into the bowl. For creams, I just spread a little on my face, and face-lather with my brush. The only soaps I load from the puck are the harder/milled soaps, like Tabac or PDP63, and then holding the container upside down, so water doesn't get in under the puck.

 

[cantona7]

If its a soap I am going to give away or sell, I scrape so the actual soap does not get contaminated with a brush that has been on my face.

If its one I'm going to keep, I load off the puck.

 

[BigJ]

Nope, I face lather so just twirl on the soap and then straight to the face.

+1! Works for me!!

 

[ackvil]

My only complaint about scraping is that when I do that some of the soap remains on the side of the bowl.