Same for me. Hard or soft water doesn't make the difference. 3min load or 30 sec load gives the same result for me. Wet or dry.. .the same. I think I got the best result using marco method but even that was still too bubbly for me. Some videos, they whip up a thick lather in like 30 seconds.
First shave with Mitchell’s Wool Fat
- Thread starter TexOkie Shaver
- Start date
Puck gets and stays hydrated that way, which helps it load better.
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Ok I watched a youtube video of a gentlemen using The Fat and he put the entire puck ceramic and all into his sink and DROWNED it. Fully submerged in warm water, and let it sit like so for at least 5 minutes (brush included). From there everything seemed similar to what others have done. Load upside down with a damp brush for a LONG time and face lather.
My next shave I will do these actions instead of what I have been doing (I wasn't drowning the puck or loading upside down). My biggest challenge is the happy medium between too little water and too much water. I think it has to do with the fact that I am overthinking The Fat. Everyone said it needed water so I'm overdoing it... maybe
My next shave I will do these actions instead of what I have been doing (I wasn't drowning the puck or loading upside down). My biggest challenge is the happy medium between too little water and too much water. I think it has to do with the fact that I am overthinking The Fat. Everyone said it needed water so I'm overdoing it... maybe
I find a good soaked and gently squeezed badger or synthetic will get you good lather after loading for roughly a minute, no puck-soaking required. Boars gave me the most grief while badgers worked best. Just my personal experience of course.
Funny, I have heard others say that badgers were harder to load with The Fat since the soap is so hard. In terms of blooming/soaking/drowning the puck (or not) I have read something different from everyone on here
I personally have tried going with just a small amount of bloom water and without any. I think that's not my issue as much as knowing how much water to add after loading.
Funny, I have heard others say that badgers were harder to load with The Fat since the soap is so hard. In terms of blooming/soaking/drowning the puck (or not) I have read something different from everyone on here
I personally have tried going with just a small amount of bloom water and without any. I think that's not my issue as much as knowing how much water to add after loading.
Everyone has their own methods, that's for sure. The only way to figure out how you like it is pure trial and error. I did the whole puck-soaking thing and wasted so much soap and once I got my technique down, I can hit a bone dry puck of whatever and will have lather in a minute, even the Fat. The key thing for me is to start with a brush that is very damp and slightly drippy. Too dry a brush means paste that takes forever to make usable and too wet a brush means a mess and a way longer load to get acceptable lather.
I've yet to find ANY trouble soap that doesn't get devoured into submission by any badger I've ever tried whether it be small, large, sparse, dense, it just doesn't matter for some reason. I ultimately prefer synthetics for keeping soap usage in check though.
good advice thanks @BudgetShaverGuy
I have problems getting good lather from some soaps, or more accurately from some soaps with some brushes. MWF has never been any trouble though, my only problem is it gets overlooked because it doesn't have a fancy scent, at the price it is a bargain. I am sure people must have genuine difficulty getting a lather from it however I just can't imagine how.
I did some experimenting today for the sake of this thread and for my own curiosity using a bowl to spare my face the excessive exfoliating. 
Started by wetting my dry brush just enough so I could get a bit of soap in the bristles to soak in a mug of warm water while I bathed to counteract my hardwater.
Squeezed the most of the water so it wasn't dripping or flicking water about.
Lathered the puck for 10 Mississippi's.
Moved to the bowl for the lathering with only a few drips to get it started and worked the lather for about 3-4 minutes and watching it thicken and change, something you can't do so freely if your face is getting hammered by a rough brush.
I continued to lather to see if there was any change but there wasn't so added a few more dribbles of water over a couple more minutes and decided that was as thick as it was gonna get using this smooth bowl. It simply didn't feel like it needed more water, infact I added those extra dribbles simply to experiement as I would have painted my face way earlier if this whole subject wasn't so fascinating.
I painted on the lather until I looked like the Arko man and had a good first pass, the lather wasn't as creamy or thick as my face lathering results and it wasn't as slick because of this. Second and third pass went smoothly and gave a great shave, tbh the smoothest most irritation free shave ever. Was it the lack of face lathering? or the magic of the fat? I say both, but more so the lack of face lathering.
This is the lather freshly mixed up in the bowl.
Scooped up onto the brush for inspection. Like I said, not the most dense or creamy and with some small bubbles but still good looking.
Now the experimental part was after I shaved. I had so much lather that I used a handful to wash my face and the rest to 'keep adding water' to.. a suggestion really common with this soap and something I feel isn't actually the right answer in these extreme cases ( I think it's a dried out hardened puck not offering any soap). So I added water starting with a few drips, lathered it up, few more, lathered it up, more.. lathered it up to point of trying to objectively drown the lather.
I tested its peaks to see if they could hold their own weight and they finally couldn't, to the point where it was so watered it was gooey and beginning to drool off. This is the weakened lather, I must have added a few tablespoons of water all in all! Notice the deflated peaks that just let gravity pull them back to a gutless wet puddle of goop?
Well.. I know the bowl I used is smooth and I had a strong suspicion that I could have made this lather much superior from the beginning if the bowl had texture to agitate it and really beat the soap and water together. So I hand lathered a handful from the same bowl of loose goop and beat the life INTO it. Yep, 15 seconds of beating and it thickened up. Even after purposely drowning it, beating it against a rough and textured surface with some effort it came back to life and possibly even better than the lather I shaved with. Here it is..
Does this prove mwf needs loads of water? needs loads of lathering time? needs a rough surface to lather onto? needs to be given a royal kicking to get it mate fully with the water?
Yeah, I think it kinda does. It at very least needs a proper amount of soap to begin a lather, a surface that can agitate the lather and cope being worked with some force and a reasonably accurate amount of water to meld the other steps together. But it doesn't need buckets of water because it loses its slickness even if the lather looks alright, too much water will reduce the overal creamy protective and slick qualities of this soap. But It also shouldn't take very long for a decent puck of soap to give you all the soap you need, if this is the case then the puck is at fault, not you.
I hope this helps those of you still struggling. It was fun and I will keep using mwf and will keep on adjusting it to see if I can get it better than it already is.
Started by wetting my dry brush just enough so I could get a bit of soap in the bristles to soak in a mug of warm water while I bathed to counteract my hardwater.
Squeezed the most of the water so it wasn't dripping or flicking water about.
Lathered the puck for 10 Mississippi's.
Moved to the bowl for the lathering with only a few drips to get it started and worked the lather for about 3-4 minutes and watching it thicken and change, something you can't do so freely if your face is getting hammered by a rough brush.
I continued to lather to see if there was any change but there wasn't so added a few more dribbles of water over a couple more minutes and decided that was as thick as it was gonna get using this smooth bowl. It simply didn't feel like it needed more water, infact I added those extra dribbles simply to experiement as I would have painted my face way earlier if this whole subject wasn't so fascinating.
I painted on the lather until I looked like the Arko man and had a good first pass, the lather wasn't as creamy or thick as my face lathering results and it wasn't as slick because of this. Second and third pass went smoothly and gave a great shave, tbh the smoothest most irritation free shave ever. Was it the lack of face lathering? or the magic of the fat? I say both, but more so the lack of face lathering.
This is the lather freshly mixed up in the bowl.
Scooped up onto the brush for inspection. Like I said, not the most dense or creamy and with some small bubbles but still good looking.
Now the experimental part was after I shaved. I had so much lather that I used a handful to wash my face and the rest to 'keep adding water' to.. a suggestion really common with this soap and something I feel isn't actually the right answer in these extreme cases ( I think it's a dried out hardened puck not offering any soap). So I added water starting with a few drips, lathered it up, few more, lathered it up, more.. lathered it up to point of trying to objectively drown the lather.
I tested its peaks to see if they could hold their own weight and they finally couldn't, to the point where it was so watered it was gooey and beginning to drool off. This is the weakened lather, I must have added a few tablespoons of water all in all! Notice the deflated peaks that just let gravity pull them back to a gutless wet puddle of goop?
Well.. I know the bowl I used is smooth and I had a strong suspicion that I could have made this lather much superior from the beginning if the bowl had texture to agitate it and really beat the soap and water together. So I hand lathered a handful from the same bowl of loose goop and beat the life INTO it. Yep, 15 seconds of beating and it thickened up. Even after purposely drowning it, beating it against a rough and textured surface with some effort it came back to life and possibly even better than the lather I shaved with. Here it is..
Does this prove mwf needs loads of water? needs loads of lathering time? needs a rough surface to lather onto? needs to be given a royal kicking to get it mate fully with the water?
Yeah, I think it kinda does. It at very least needs a proper amount of soap to begin a lather, a surface that can agitate the lather and cope being worked with some force and a reasonably accurate amount of water to meld the other steps together. But it doesn't need buckets of water because it loses its slickness even if the lather looks alright, too much water will reduce the overal creamy protective and slick qualities of this soap. But It also shouldn't take very long for a decent puck of soap to give you all the soap you need, if this is the case then the puck is at fault, not you.
I hope this helps those of you still struggling. It was fun and I will keep using mwf and will keep on adjusting it to see if I can get it better than it already is.
I refer to Williams as the Rubiks Cube of soap. I guess WWF is being just as fussy for some. Eventually the key will be found. It is well worth it.
Well, I got my MWF sample from a buddy and I'm pleased to say, it works. I don't know how but the sample works and my puck doesn't. I'll post some pictures later.
The sample seems more malleable than my puck. It look more like rubber than a hard puck.
I'm currently soaking my troubling puck and doing so overnight. I'll see if blooming improves it or if it's just a bad batch.
The sample seems more malleable than my puck. It look more like rubber than a hard puck.
I'm currently soaking my troubling puck and doing so overnight. I'll see if blooming improves it or if it's just a bad batch.
Wow! This mystery is about to be solved...
Here we go. In it for the long ride. Picture heavy again.
So. long story short. Buddy sent me a sample of his MWF. He said he never bloomed or grated it.
I got it today.
Took out a small piece and put it in a bowl with some water. Lathering with WWBW brush
30 seconds in with no water added. Doesn't look promising so far.
1 iteration of water drops. Now this is starting to pick up.
2 iterations of water drops. This is what I like to see. Last pic is after several more water.
Here is some final lather pictures.
MWF definitely can lather well as you see in the pictures. I put some on the tender part of my neck and it didn't irritate it as well.
I went back to my old puck and bloomed it for 2 hours. I scraped off the outer surfaces and lathered it. Same bubbly mess. I dug deep into the puck towards the center and lathered it. Same bubbly mess.
What I learned through this. There is a high possibility that bad batches of MWF are floating around either through bad QC from the source or during transportation i.e. heat, moisture. I clearly had a two different batch of MWF, one working and other not working. I think this could be one of the reason why some people are having so much trouble; their puck could be a bad batch.
Let me know if you think there is some corrections need to be made here. I'm not bad-mouthing MWF but just stating the results and my theory/conclusion based on the lathering sessions. I'm just one guy stating what he found out.
So. long story short. Buddy sent me a sample of his MWF. He said he never bloomed or grated it.
I got it today.
Took out a small piece and put it in a bowl with some water. Lathering with WWBW brush
30 seconds in with no water added. Doesn't look promising so far.
1 iteration of water drops. Now this is starting to pick up.
2 iterations of water drops. This is what I like to see. Last pic is after several more water.
Here is some final lather pictures.
MWF definitely can lather well as you see in the pictures. I put some on the tender part of my neck and it didn't irritate it as well.
I went back to my old puck and bloomed it for 2 hours. I scraped off the outer surfaces and lathered it. Same bubbly mess. I dug deep into the puck towards the center and lathered it. Same bubbly mess.
What I learned through this. There is a high possibility that bad batches of MWF are floating around either through bad QC from the source or during transportation i.e. heat, moisture. I clearly had a two different batch of MWF, one working and other not working. I think this could be one of the reason why some people are having so much trouble; their puck could be a bad batch.
Let me know if you think there is some corrections need to be made here. I'm not bad-mouthing MWF but just stating the results and my theory/conclusion based on the lathering sessions. I'm just one guy stating what he found out.
- Thread starter
- #235
Thank you for posting the photos and the information. I feel somewhat vindicated. I emailed Mitchell’s two weeks ago and linked this thread. I have yet to hear from them, but I know that the COVID lockdown is probably affecting their ability to respond.
I think I'll use mine as a body soap as well. It does leave a nice slick film behind.
If anyone wants to try my bad batch soap, just pay shipping and I'll send it on their way. If not, it's going to be my bath soap.
