Morning from Africa! I got some Haslinger milch recently and am getting really good shaves. But it seems different to other soaps for lathers. I always bloom hard soap while I shower, then load soap, and face lather, adding a few drops of water repeatedly as I go until I end up with the lather I want. By the final lather, I've added quite a lot of water. So far, same story with Haslinger. However when I come to my second pass after this method, this seems the only loaded soap that even when added to the rinse water on my face, seems a thicker rather than slightly wetter lather for pass 2. Anyone else notice this? Do you build your lather differently or add more water for later passes? It is giving some of the best shaves yet either way, so I'm loving this soap.
Haslinger - how do you lather yours?
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Such a great soap! I notice, especially with Haslinger, the lather gets 'creamier' and thicker while it sits during the first pass. It settles down wonderfully so I do add a drop or three of water during subsequent passes.
Great stuff IMO. Haslinger is VERY thirsty compared to other soaps! Figure out the best ratio and you will get consistently terrific lather! 
Yes you are correct, Add Water for the second pass and add more water for the third pass. It can get too thick if you don't and clog your razor pretty quickly. As you have found out Haslinger is very very thirsty.
By blooming the soap you are probably loading too much product (blasphemy I know). You can add water between passes, but you also might want to try not blooming it a few times and see how that goes for you. Haslinger is a thirsty soap but its also very forgiving. Play with your lathering technique a bit and enjoy.
I don't bloom my schafmilch and I face lather using a wee scot brush. I add water until it feels nice and smooth. Awesome soap. 
Same here. Never thought it necessary to bloom Schafmilch. I simply face lather straight after loading brush and never have any difficulty with the 2nd pass.
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Thanks all. I loaded Half as long and used about the same amount of gradually added water. Another great shave. Will try a bit more loading and bit more water tomorrow. Went back to shave before shower today which worked well last year (living somewhere else) but I think I'll stick to shower first here. Fingers crossed the nuavia makes it through our tough military shipments check and gets delivered by his week. The sudsy soapery has been impounded due to being too much like a cream and therefore contravening work air shipment rules to me so I'll have to pick it up when back home in October!
I load Haslinger with a very wet brush, but it begins to lather almost instantly. I have a hard time understanding why you would need to bloom it. It's one of the easiest soaps to load.
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Thirsty soap, no bloom needed you said.... So I just did a test Palm lather to see how more water affected it. Loaded less than normal then added water. And more water, and more, etc. it was comical and equally amazing to see the lather grow and grow yet remain slick and dense. At two full palmfuls and a full brush of perfect lather I gave up in awe. It was the best lather I've made and I dithered a few minutes before reluctantly washing down the plug hole. Now my hands smell amazing and I can't wait for tomorrow's shave to try it properly.
+1 Almost lathers itself.
I toss a puck into my OS mug and simply build my lather most of the way in the mug.
As others have said, no need to bloom the puck. Mine sits in an Old Spice mug and I just get my wetter-than-normal brush in there for a bit and then onto the face for lathering. I've learned that a pretty wet brush gives me best results, with a splash of water on the face between passes. When I'm done painting it on the face it looks/feels like creamy/slippery, light yogurt.
Just stick with it for awhile and experiment a bit and before you know it you'll be dialed in like a pro.
Just stick with it for awhile and experiment a bit and before you know it you'll be dialed in like a pro.
I had my first Haslinger shave yesterday, found some shavings that I'd received as a sample a while back and never got around to using. I mixed them with a little warm water to try to help everything meld together and then left it uncovered for most of the day, although I still think it set up at a softer consistency than what a normal puck would be at... I loaded with a mostly dry synthetic brush, didn't load too heavily and face lathered adding some water here and there. Ended up with great lather, plenty for my usual 2-pass shave. Looking forward to using this more, for a first shave to go as well as it did I'm fairly certain that this stuff is as good as everyone makes it out to be.
