Good on you. All in fun.
fans of CBL
- Thread starter Dave in KY
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This is a PIF I would jump into!
Man, I really want to be a fan of CBL, but I'm struggling here with this Tonsorial soap. Today, I switched to a badger brush, but saw very little difference. Royal pain to build a lather with this soap for me and I can't figure out why based on all the comments above; unless the formula evolved a little from the beta puck formulas.
Anyone buy a tub of the Tonsorial Soaps after they went on sale on 11/1? If so, any issues?
I'm going to try again tomorrow with a boar and more water in the brush. If I still strike out, I may shelve the soap for now.
Dang...not sure what it could be!Man, I really want to be a fan of CBL, but I'm struggling here with this Tonsorial soap. Today, I switched to a badger brush, but saw very little difference. Royal pain to build a lather with this soap for me and I can't figure out why based on all the comments above; unless the formula evolved a little from the beta puck formulas.
Anyone buy a tub of the Tonsorial Soaps after they went on sale on 11/1? If so, any issues?
I'm going to try again tomorrow with a boar and more water in the brush. If I still strike out, I may shelve the soap for now.
Myself, I’ve had no issues. I usually use a RR Big Bruce synth. I put a few drops of water over the top of the puck and let it soften a bit for some minutes. Load with a moderately wet synth about 10-15 seconds, lay down the initial pasty lather on my face, it usually doesn’t look like more than a pasty film on the face, but then work up with more water added over a minute or two as I work it. Usually get well over 4 passes worth.
I'd heard about the new CBL Tonsorial soap, which has been compared to vintage Williams Mug Soap.
I've never tried vintage Williams, though I like the modern stuff just fine.
I got a puck of the CBL, which arrived yesterday, so I was able to give it an initial outing today.
This soap is supposed to lather easily, but nonetheless, I decided to use the Omega Wide Waist Midget in view of its backbone.
It picked up a nice amount of soap quickly and I face-lathered.
Like Williams, CBL Tonsorial is able to absorb plenty of water and builds up a nice thick lather..
My impression of this soap: back to basics.
It doesn't have the butters and what-have-you, and its scent is very understated (I got the "Money" variety).
In fact, my whole experience is that the soap just stays in the background and lets you get on with a clean shave without any fuss.
It's quite reasonably priced too.
I've never tried vintage Williams, though I like the modern stuff just fine.
I got a puck of the CBL, which arrived yesterday, so I was able to give it an initial outing today.
This soap is supposed to lather easily, but nonetheless, I decided to use the Omega Wide Waist Midget in view of its backbone.
It picked up a nice amount of soap quickly and I face-lathered.
Like Williams, CBL Tonsorial is able to absorb plenty of water and builds up a nice thick lather..
My impression of this soap: back to basics.
It doesn't have the butters and what-have-you, and its scent is very understated (I got the "Money" variety).
In fact, my whole experience is that the soap just stays in the background and lets you get on with a clean shave without any fuss.
It's quite reasonably priced too.
I wish I had some more advise for you. I just don't have any issues. I just dip my brush in water and then just load and face lather, adding water until it is the right consistency.
My beta soap that I won in a PIF (thanks, KJ!) arrived today.
I did a test lather with it and immediately afterward test lathered my vintage Williams with the same brush. The CBL soap lathered up nice, made a somewhat voluminous lather but without visible bubbles. Felt slick on the skin. Held nice light peaks, rinsed clean. After I rinsed it off my hands felt neither dry nor moisturized, but neutral.
Then I tried the Williams. It lathered up much more quickly and, at first, much foamier/airier, but over time the lather tightened up some. Ultimately, the lather was not quite as dense as what I got with CBL, but felt a little bit slicker, perhaps. My hands felt better after rinsing with the Williams than with the CBL. The Williams smelled better, too, but that's because I used scented it with some high-end West Indian Lime aftershave.
I usually shave with MW Rosalimone on Sunday mornings, but tomorrow I'll like give the CBL Tonsorial beta soap its first actual shave. I'll let you know how it does.
I did a test lather with it and immediately afterward test lathered my vintage Williams with the same brush. The CBL soap lathered up nice, made a somewhat voluminous lather but without visible bubbles. Felt slick on the skin. Held nice light peaks, rinsed clean. After I rinsed it off my hands felt neither dry nor moisturized, but neutral.
Then I tried the Williams. It lathered up much more quickly and, at first, much foamier/airier, but over time the lather tightened up some. Ultimately, the lather was not quite as dense as what I got with CBL, but felt a little bit slicker, perhaps. My hands felt better after rinsing with the Williams than with the CBL. The Williams smelled better, too, but that's because I used scented it with some high-end West Indian Lime aftershave.
I usually shave with MW Rosalimone on Sunday mornings, but tomorrow I'll like give the CBL Tonsorial beta soap its first actual shave. I'll let you know how it does.
Nice review
I've never used the vintage Williams mug soap. But heard plenty of good comments about it on the forums.
Sounds like it's a solid purchase for you.
I've never used the vintage Williams mug soap. But heard plenty of good comments about it on the forums.
Sounds like it's a solid purchase for you.
Awesome!
I wonder how curing for several decades affects the vintage puck?
fans of CBL
Razor: Rockwell 6c Plate #4 Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (4) Brush: Paladin 26mm Lotus Lime Soap: CBL Premium Save Soap - Ghost Lime Aftershave 1: Thayers Cucumber Aftershave 2: Pinaud Clubman Citrus Musk I didn’t want to do a review with just 1 shave with this new Artisan Shave Soap that...
www.badgerandblade.com
I find it interesting that some have had issues with lathering. Mine lathered easily. I like a lot of water in my soaps, as it tends to aid in the slickness. I do find the soap does excellent with my boar brush and great, but not quite as good, with my badger brush.
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I tried "Money" today. I broke off a tiny piece and put it in my scuttle. Soaked my DS cosmetic 2 band badger. The brush seemed to absorb the lather. So I added more water. It blew up at that point. It produced thick creamy lather. Boy was it slick. The razor flew over my face and head. This stuff is amazing.
I found my lost lather!!
I decided to go back to basics today. I bowl lathered and also bloomed the puck a little as some had suggested above. I used my Badger & Blade 10th Anniversary Boar and soaked it while showering, giving it two shakes as opposed to shooting for a dryer brush.
BAM! Lather galore. My suspicion is that this tonsorial soap (or at least this particular puck) is really thirsty and using the dry method for loading just isn't giving it the water it needs up front.
Now I know, and for all those G.I. Joe fans out there, knowing is half the battle! [emoji12]
Thanks for the help, amigos!
I decided to go back to basics today. I bowl lathered and also bloomed the puck a little as some had suggested above. I used my Badger & Blade 10th Anniversary Boar and soaked it while showering, giving it two shakes as opposed to shooting for a dryer brush.
BAM! Lather galore. My suspicion is that this tonsorial soap (or at least this particular puck) is really thirsty and using the dry method for loading just isn't giving it the water it needs up front.
Now I know, and for all those G.I. Joe fans out there, knowing is half the battle! [emoji12]
Thanks for the help, amigos!
Curses! Foiled again!
Now that is a smooth shave.
It seems that Cobra prefers a clean face:
GI Joe not so much:
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Excellent review!! No muss, no fuss, just ‘stays in the background.’ 
So, I tried the soap in an actual shave yesterday morning (I had test lathered it once before that). I had a day and a half's growth the plow through. I used my Feather SS folding shavette loaded up with a Schick Proline blade.
The puck is fairly hard. I decided to put it into an old Mystic Water container, and the puck diameter is slightly smaller than the container. In the past with other soaps that hasn't been a problem; put the puck in, press firmly on it and spread it out, pack it in until it fits. With this soap, it definitely did not want to be press fit to the container.
So, I tried lathering on top of the puck. Despite its firmness, a lot of protolather began to develop pretty quickly. A lot of it also went down the sides of the puck into the container. Frustrating! Eventually, I picked up the puck and gathered protolather off the sides of it and off the inside of the container, and began to build the lather.
At first it was a bit airy, but gradual addition of more and more water made it tighten up nicely. It went on the face very smoothly and created a nice layer of lather.
Now for the important part......this lather was slick! Very slick. The Schick Proline glided down my cheek like it was ice skating. First pass was smooth and comfy; CCS after one pass. I went ahead and took the brush to my face again and did a second pass, and ended up DFS. The second-pass lather was thinner than most soaps I use, but it was again slick and comfortable.
Post-shave face feel better than I expected, actually. My face felt soft and smooth. Very nice!
Given that this is a hard soap, I expect a puck of it would last quite a few shaves, too, which is a bonus.
Downsides, for me, are very few:
1) I don't like the scent of this puck at all (Jeris tonic). I don't know what Jeris tonic smells like, but I doubt it smells like this (I read it was supposed to have a eucalyptus scent?). Honestly, I can't pick up a scent at all. All I can smell is a somewhat unpleasant tallow odor. This isn't a big deal, because I could purchase one in a scent I like.
2) The puck doesn't fit into any of my available containers, and isn't readily malleable to fit. This isn't a big deal, either. If I bought a puck of this stuff, I would grate it and then mash it into one of my wide-mouth containers.
It did remind me somewhat of my vintage Williams. I may actually do a shave sometime this week in which I lather up vintage Williams for one side of the face and the CBL Tonsorial for the other, and do a direct, same-day/same-shave cheek-to-cheek comparison of the two soaps. I think that might be interesting.
The puck is fairly hard. I decided to put it into an old Mystic Water container, and the puck diameter is slightly smaller than the container. In the past with other soaps that hasn't been a problem; put the puck in, press firmly on it and spread it out, pack it in until it fits. With this soap, it definitely did not want to be press fit to the container.
So, I tried lathering on top of the puck. Despite its firmness, a lot of protolather began to develop pretty quickly. A lot of it also went down the sides of the puck into the container. Frustrating! Eventually, I picked up the puck and gathered protolather off the sides of it and off the inside of the container, and began to build the lather.
At first it was a bit airy, but gradual addition of more and more water made it tighten up nicely. It went on the face very smoothly and created a nice layer of lather.
Now for the important part......this lather was slick! Very slick. The Schick Proline glided down my cheek like it was ice skating. First pass was smooth and comfy; CCS after one pass. I went ahead and took the brush to my face again and did a second pass, and ended up DFS. The second-pass lather was thinner than most soaps I use, but it was again slick and comfortable.
Post-shave face feel better than I expected, actually. My face felt soft and smooth. Very nice!
Given that this is a hard soap, I expect a puck of it would last quite a few shaves, too, which is a bonus.
Downsides, for me, are very few:
1) I don't like the scent of this puck at all (Jeris tonic). I don't know what Jeris tonic smells like, but I doubt it smells like this (I read it was supposed to have a eucalyptus scent?). Honestly, I can't pick up a scent at all. All I can smell is a somewhat unpleasant tallow odor. This isn't a big deal, because I could purchase one in a scent I like.
2) The puck doesn't fit into any of my available containers, and isn't readily malleable to fit. This isn't a big deal, either. If I bought a puck of this stuff, I would grate it and then mash it into one of my wide-mouth containers.
It did remind me somewhat of my vintage Williams. I may actually do a shave sometime this week in which I lather up vintage Williams for one side of the face and the CBL Tonsorial for the other, and do a direct, same-day/same-shave cheek-to-cheek comparison of the two soaps. I think that might be interesting.
Shave number two with this soap was this morning.
Although the puck is firm, I didn't have any trouble at all getting soap loaded and lathered up. It didn't take any longer than any of my softer soaps.
The final lather was very similar to what I had a couple of days ago. It's fluffier and lighter than my artisan croap lathers, but the shave was once again quite good. Slickness is excellent. If you are the kind of shaver that craves "cushion" in a soap lather, this soap wouldn't be your first choice. Since I was shaving with a shavette, slickness is the quality I really need, so for my needs this lather was fantastic.
Second pass lather, similar to my first shave, was less dense than what I'm used to; it didn't block out the color of my skin below it completely. But it was, once again, very slick and provided for a perfect second pass.
Once again the post-shave was actually better than I expected. Nice, soft, smooth skin. No feeling of greasiness, no feeling that it's hard to rinse off at all.
I didn't have time this morning to do a side-by-side comparison with vintage Williams, but I hope to be able to do that shave on Thursday morning.
Overall I have been quite impressed with this soap. Interestingly, the soap that is currently in my den whose lather most closely resembles this soap's lather is actually RazoRock's What the Puck? soap, which is also a hard soap, but is non-tallow. But the lathers of the two soaps are pretty similar: not dense/yogurty, but slick and great for shaving. Post-shave is better with CBL Tonsorial than it is with WTP? but otherwise the lathers have some resemblances.
Although the puck is firm, I didn't have any trouble at all getting soap loaded and lathered up. It didn't take any longer than any of my softer soaps.
The final lather was very similar to what I had a couple of days ago. It's fluffier and lighter than my artisan croap lathers, but the shave was once again quite good. Slickness is excellent. If you are the kind of shaver that craves "cushion" in a soap lather, this soap wouldn't be your first choice. Since I was shaving with a shavette, slickness is the quality I really need, so for my needs this lather was fantastic.
Second pass lather, similar to my first shave, was less dense than what I'm used to; it didn't block out the color of my skin below it completely. But it was, once again, very slick and provided for a perfect second pass.
Once again the post-shave was actually better than I expected. Nice, soft, smooth skin. No feeling of greasiness, no feeling that it's hard to rinse off at all.
I didn't have time this morning to do a side-by-side comparison with vintage Williams, but I hope to be able to do that shave on Thursday morning.
Overall I have been quite impressed with this soap. Interestingly, the soap that is currently in my den whose lather most closely resembles this soap's lather is actually RazoRock's What the Puck? soap, which is also a hard soap, but is non-tallow. But the lathers of the two soaps are pretty similar: not dense/yogurty, but slick and great for shaving. Post-shave is better with CBL Tonsorial than it is with WTP? but otherwise the lathers have some resemblances.
