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Accidently received Tabac Stick

Hi all..!!
I am from Mumbai, India. I am in wet shaving for last 2 years. I am exclusively using shaving creams since not many shaving soaps (except Godrej shaving round) are available in India. My cousin was coming from Germany and he had asked me if I want anything from there. I had asked him to bring Tabac soap in bowl but instead he brought me the Stick version. Now I want to use it but I don't know how to use a shaving stick. I have used the Godrej shaving round for some time so I have some idea about how to make lather with soaps. But how can I bowl lather with a stick ? Any pointers will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Duke
 
This might be a great opportunity to learn how to face lather! Just rub the stick over your face a couple times to get a good amount of soap and use your brush to lather from there.
Otherwise I'd recommend either pushing all the stick out into a bowl and press it to the bottom.
Hopefully this helps at least a little bit!
Good luck and be safe.
 
Can anybody suggest a method about how to put that stick into a bowl ? I am going to try it on face as suggested by abragus but if I don't like it then I am going to put it in a bowl. I am not a fan of face lathering.
 
Use cheese grater!

Ditto.

Rotary cheese grater if you can get one.
Feed the stick into the top, turn the crank, empty the shavings into a bowl.
Add a little water, smoosh it down... grate, smoosh, until you're done.

Doesn't take much water... just a bit the first time you push it down to help it all stick together.
 
Thanks guys. Is it possible to load the brush directly from the stick ?:confused1 Just curious. That way I can keep it in stick form and still be able to bowl lather.
 
Tabac in the stick format tops the bowl (for me anyway).

Wet your face.

Dip the end of the stick in water

Rub it all over your beard.

Dip the end of the stick in water

Rub it all over your beard

Keep repeating until you have a white paste on your face.

Take a damp (soaked but not wet) brush to your face and build the paste into a thinner paste.

Add water to the brush either by dipping the tips in water or drizzling water from your other hand into the center of the brush

Go back to your face and build the thinner paste into a lather

Keep adding water to the brush and lathering until you have lather falling off of your face

You should have enough lather built in the brush to do 4 more applications.

If you think your subsequent lathers are too dry, add water to your face between applications and swirl your brush on your wet face to get the lather wetter.

Once you start using a shave stick you will not look at any other products as you will be getting better more cush lather than you imagined existed.
 
Thanks a lot, Sir. I had no idea that it was so easy to use a shaving stick. I will try it first thing tomorrow morning !:thumbup1:
 
Thanks a lot, Sir. I had no idea that it was so easy to use a shaving stick. I will try it first thing tomorrow morning !:thumbup1:

The only thing you need to know about a shave stick is you MUST put enough soap on your face in the beginning while you have some stubble to pull the soap off of the stick onto your face.

You only get one shot at getting enough soap so if you think you have enough, go over your face again with the stick

I will apply until the stick starts to drag, then dip it and go back.

What I do in winter (when I use a brush scuttle) is I put a very small amount of water into the center of the brush scuttle so that when I put the brush in the scuttle between passes, the water touches the brush tips and is pulled up into the brush. If the lather is as I like it I will empty the water from the scuttle and park the brush in a warm but dry scuttle, then if I need more moisture in a subsequent application I will add water to my face before building another lather. This seems to add just enough water so that the next application is wet enough to build another lather.

In the summer when I cold water shave, I will uses my hand to "drizzle" a small amount of water into the brush to get the lather wetter when building my first lather, after that I will just wet my face if the lather seems that it needs more moisture in it.

Like with anything shaving related, you need to adjust based on what works best for you. The only constant with a shave stick is GET ENOUGH SOAP on your face to start with. If you can do that, the rest is just making the later wet enough for how you like it.
 
Hi Turtle,
Thanks for your fantastic suggestions. Today morning I tried the Tabac stick as you had described and couldn't believe my eyes. I got so much lather on my Muhle Silvertip badger that it was really hard contain it on my brush. Initially, the lather was quite dry as I had removed most of the water from my brush. After dipping the tips 2-3 times in hot water, I got excellent lather. The quantity and quality of lather was excellent and very comfortable lather too..!! I used my trusted Gilletter Super adjustable with 7 o clock super platinum and the shave quality is nothing like I have experienced before. Tabac is really an exceptional soap, no two ways about that..!!
I can use this stick as it is and I don't see any need to put it in a bowl.:001_smile
 
That's the best, most concise stick instruction I've read yet - this brotherhood of shaving never ceases to amaze me....

Thanks turtle.
 
Tabac in the stick format tops the bowl (for me anyway).

Wet your face.

Dip the end of the stick in water

Rub it all over your beard.

Dip the end of the stick in water

Rub it all over your beard

Keep repeating until you have a white paste on your face.

Take a damp (soaked but not wet) brush to your face and build the paste into a thinner paste.

Add water to the brush either by dipping the tips in water or drizzling water from your other hand into the center of the brush

Go back to your face and build the thinner paste into a lather

Keep adding water to the brush and lathering until you have lather falling off of your face

You should have enough lather built in the brush to do 4 more applications.

If you think your subsequent lathers are too dry, add water to your face between applications and swirl your brush on your wet face to get the lather wetter.

Once you start using a shave stick you will not look at any other products as you will be getting better more cush lather than you imagined existed.

+1. Mick is 100% correct. The stick is great. For an excellent tutorial on using a shave stick look here.
 
Another ' upside' to face lathering is that you are really softening up your beard as you are building up the lather. I've had a few pro-barber shaves around the world, and it really surprised me how much time was spent on lathering up my face.

When I consider how I used to use canned goo, which was a real 'slap it on' approach, I'm not surprised at all how much my skin used to react to shaving.
 
When I travel I always take a small selection of shave sticks.

Most of the time I am shaving at a campground or out on the back of my RV "booty box" and I don't have the luxury of a big counter to spread out on like I have at home so the shave sticks are just the ticket for "shaving in the wild"

This is my travel shaving "kit"

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This is the Booty Box I shave off of. It's just short of chest high so not a perfect place to shave but my water bowl and folding mirror fit well on it and I manage to get by and stay clean shaven while traveling. Sorry no pic of me shaving off of it, just the box :sad:

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