As promised in my post on Big Jim's thread (link below) I've further experimented and tested Dove Men+Care (DMC) in various shaving soap blends. Overall results were as follows:
Bottom Line: Dove Men+Care is a versatile low cost superlathering ingredient that can be used in a variety of ways to generate enhanced shaving lather. Mixed with Ivory it's and effective shave & shower option.
- Dove Men+Care is an excellent superlathering ingredient when combined with other shave soaps either per shave or in a home made blend. Just a little, mixed with other soaps, significantly enhances lathering ease and quality.
- A 50/50 mix (by weight) of DMC and Ivory Soap performs well as a shave soap that easily lathers and delivers very good slickness. Excellent option for those on a tight budget or looking for a bar soap option for shower use.
- Loaded my boar brush on DMC for a few seconds before creating 100% Williams Mug Soap lather. Result was faster lather creation and enhanced lather resiliency. Slight reduction in slickness. Since I like Williams by itself and it's now a rare commodity no future plans to molest it.
- Next I sunk a small chunk of DMC into one of my existing Van Der Williams blends (roughly 40% Van Der Haagen (VDH) Deluxe, 40% Williams & 20% Ivory) and was able to create lots of thick creamy lather much more easily than before while still retaining excellent slickness. Synthetic brush use here and on subsequent experiments.
- Third was creation of a from scratch blend of a puck of Williams, one ounce of Ivory, one ounce of Dove Men+Care (roughly 15% of total) and a 2.5 ounce puck of VDH Deluxe (grate and mix the first three, melt the VDH and mix liquid into grated mix). Similar excellent results to the second test above. Note that since the melted VDH coats the grated soaps the full benefits of the blend don't manifest until a second use. Will continue to enjoy using this blend. As Williams is now scarce I may try this with Arko (have a dozen on the way) in the future.
- Created a 100% bar soap blend of half Ivory and DMC out of curiosity. It was surprisingly good. The Ivory provided the missing slickness while the DMC contributed easy to produce rich and long lasting lather that is absent from Ivory alone. The great part of this simple mix is that it has the potential to be easily adjusted for personal preferences. Add more Ivory for slickness or more DMC for thicker lather. This is an excellent option for anyone on a tight budget. Definitely an option should I run through my reserve of Williams and inbound Arko. Note method was to grate and mix both with a small amount of water and then allowed the mixed puck to dry out.
Bottom Line: Dove Men+Care is a versatile low cost superlathering ingredient that can be used in a variety of ways to generate enhanced shaving lather. Mixed with Ivory it's and effective shave & shower option.
Dove Men+Care 3 in 1
I decided to give this a spin. So far I'm not particularly impressed. My speculation is that it is intended for shower shaving. With a lot of effort I could get it to bowl lather. The lather I got using a brush while holding the soap bar was too heavy, didn't provide mush slickness, and...
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