GFT Violet Soap Troubleshooting

[FreddyKruegerFace]

Gents,

I have been using gft violet soap purchased through superiorshave since April and have noticed the past few shaves with the product have not been up to standard. I keep the puck in a kingsley wood shave soap bowl and soak and follow all procedures recommended for a good bowl lather (omega silvertip brush).

The past few shaves I have noticed the lather tends to dry out very quickly and does not provide any softening benefit to the whiskers. This results in an angry face....

The soap has always performed exceptionally well until now and I can not seem to wrap my head around the issue or its cause. Whenever I am done with the soap I wipe off all excess lather and moisture from the top and place the lid back on the bowl, then its into the medicine cabinet. Could there be an issue with placing the lid on the soap before it has dried out? Too much moisture left inside which alters the performance of some ingredients?

Thx for the help!

-Fred

 

[FreddyKruegerFace]

just to clarify by "soak" I mean a few drops of hot water, Im not covering the puck in water........Im leaning towards a brush issue, it has been cleaned as recommended each month

 

[djh]

Next time you shave, pick up the soap puck and rub it on your face as you would a shavestick. Once you have a good coating on your beard area, get busy with your brush and make plenty of lather. If this works properly, you know that the soap is not at fault and you can probably then check to see if you are loading your brush sufficiently.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Soap isn't really some volatile cauldron waiting to be ruined by mistreatment.

I shaved with this bowl Three? Days ago and it's sat like that ever since. I see no problem with it. It'd have sat with the lid on if it fit (sticks are too high). I see no problem with that either (other than possibly causing the lid to warp from keeping it wet for too long)

I doubt you've done anything to your soap.

First, have you changed anything in your method? Could your water have changed (if you have a well and softener, check the salt)? Think on any variables.

Moving past that, I have heard that Trumpers soaps are unreliable. Some people say one bowl worked great and the next (same formula) was bad. Again, could just be they're overlooking variables, but there are some weak signs of a pattern with that soap at least. It's possible there are mixing issues with it and your puck managed to get some good soap and some bad. I find this extremely unlikely, but it should be mentioned.

Why do you suspect the brush? Did something happen with it? Only a few boars "break in" sufficiently that it affects their loading ability significantly (semo 2k comes to mind). I haven't heard of a badger doing so.


Only thing I can recommend with the info you've given is to try and get more soap onto the brush before you lather. I'm not familiar with the brush, but I suspect it's a rather soft, moppy brush, and Trumpers is a decently firm soap, so it may be a loading issue. Why it didn't arise before I can't say, but that would be my first suspicion if someone had a "silvertip" I'm unfamiliar with and a hard soap.

 

[FreddyKruegerFace]

DJH - thank you I never thought of that! I will try it!

Slice - It is the omega peachey silvertip brush, one of the cheaper silvertips on the market but has always performed admirably (with hard and soft soaps). I will keep at it, thanks for the advice.

 

[Rivguy]

I have and use GFT Violet soap and it is one of my favorites. I have had no trouble lathering this soap and it sounds like until recently that you have not either. I do not put water on the soap but rather make sure that I have enough water in my brush. This will vary depending on the brush. Make certain that you load enough soap. I usually let the soap dry and then replace the cover. I can't speak to your particular brush because I have no experience with it but I am not certain that washing any brush once a month is necessary but others may have a different view. This is a wonderful soap so I hope that you get the problem solved.

Regards,

Doug

 

[Judge Dredd]

I have the GFT Violet as well. It's the only puck in my rotation at the moment. I think it does prefer a stiffer brush for loading. The better lathers I've had from it have been with my pure badger. I get an OK lather with my Shavemac silvertip, and with my brand new Omega silvertip the lathers are not as dense.

Can I ask, are you shaking your brush out before loading? When you load on the puck, are you generating a sudsy bubbly froth, or a thick creamy residue?

I'm new to Omega brushes, and I'm finding mine holds a lot of water (a lot more than my 'mac), so it may be diluting the lather and giving it a tendency to dry out (in my experience, more water = thin lather = more evaporative = dry residue).