I finally mastered MWF !

[exocet]

That's an important day for me lol
After all these years, after buying this soap 3 or 4 times and always sold it back because I had a very poor lather with it, I finally got a great shave today !

Everytime I loaded the soap like crazy and worked on my face for like 4/5 minutes but the lather was always dry on my face, very uncomfortable.
I have 10 years experience of wet shaving and never had problems with any other soaps on the planet.

Here is my technique now, and that is maybe yours : I soak the puck in its beautiful jar for a few minutes with hot water. I also soak my brush and I keep it very wet to load the soap. But I leave almost all the water that was in the jar and I load like crazy.
I face lather and instead of getting a bubbly and aery lather, it's good instantly, that is weird but it is like that with MWF and everytime I add some water to my very wet brush, ut's even better. Man this soap loves water !!!

At the end, a perfect shave, crazy slickness, protection, glide, now I understand why this soap is a classic !

 

[rockviper]

Excellent! Afterwards, do you dump out the remaining water or just leave it and let the puck soak it up?

 

[exocet]

you mean at the end of the shave ? or before I load the brush rockviper ?

 

[rockviper]

After shaving.

 

[exocet]

after the shave I dump out the remaining water

 

[CANES]

Keep the puck pretty wet and it'll be perfection every time. I used to use the MWF mug, but with only using the soap once a week or so, I had to always start back at the beginning because it would lose to much moisture. I swapped the puck to an Anchor Hocking bowl with tight fitting rubber lid and it never dries out now. No blooming or anything- lather up, shave and put the lid right back on. This has been my method for a few months now and the puck works great. It's truly one of the best soaps out there.

 

[exocet]

thanks for the advice !

 

[fabled]

Keep the puck pretty wet and it'll be perfection every time. I used to use the MWF mug, but with only using the soap once a week or so, I had to always start back at the beginning because it would lose to much moisture. I swapped the puck to an Anchor Hocking bowl with tight fitting rubber lid and it never dries out now. No blooming or anything- lather up, shave and put the lid right back on. This has been my method for a few months now and the puck works great. It's truly one of the best soaps out there.

Sounds awesome, there are so many sizes, do you have a link to the Anchor Hocking bowl you are using?

 

[CANES]

Sounds awesome, there are so many sizes, do you have a link to the Anchor Hocking bowl you are using?

No I don't have a link but here's a pic. The small bowl at the top is something else. The bigger one has the MWF. I'm guessing it's the medium size.
It's probably 4 or 5 inches at the top.

 

[D4PPZ]

There's no specific technique required for MWF, it's just that it will create an airy lather if the puck is dried out. Blooming it helps, but if it's the first time you're using it in a while, there's little that will make it work as intended. After using it 3 days in a row or so, you can start treating it like a normal soap because the moisture has seeped in enough to not need any additional effort when lathering or loading. If you dont want to use it as your daily driver, it's probably easier to just stick with modern soap formulations without this fuss. I have it grated downing into a standard tub so I just rinse it off when I'm done and screw the top on right away to prevent the moisture from escaping.

 

[Ravenonrock]

Used it this morning, a fine soap that I find user friendly. I don’t give it any special attention or care, I just use it at least once a week. Hit it with a damp brush and boom…excellent lather. I keep it in the MWF ceramic bowl and things seem pretty good. Glad this soap is working out for you!

 

[Frank Shaves]

A couple of years back, I tried and tried tried, and failed and failed and failed, and then failed again, and finally gave up and used the soap in the shower. I have really hard water. A while later, I had a similar problem with another soap, so I tried using the (second) soap with seltzer water and, voila, a perfect lather. I now regret not saving the MWF and would love to try again, this time with both seltzer and distilled water.

Just to be clear, I tried soaking the puck. I tried pointing soap in a specific direction. I tried putting it under a large tree. I tried getting a black cat to walk past it. And nothing worked. I have to believe it's about the water.

 

[Jeffish]

This is great and somethingI needed to see! I have very hard water as well, and while neither MWF nor any of about 20 other soaps pose a problem, I can’t for the life of me get DR Harris Arlington to go. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[Frank Shaves]

This is great and somethingI needed to see! I have very hard water as well, and while neither MWF nor any of about 20 other soaps pose a problem, I can’t for the life of me get DR Harris Arlington to go. Thanks for the ideas!

Funny how different people encounter different problems. I have zero problems using my D.R. Harris Almond - just works and works really well.

 

[timetofly]

Over the years I read many posts how difficult this soap is to lather, therefore, I put off buying it. Bought my first puck this year and only wish that I would have disregarded all the negative posts and bought it sooner.

 

[CCS]

There's no specific technique required for MWF, it's just that it will create an airy lather if the puck is dried out. Blooming it helps, but if it's the first time you're using it in a while, there's little that will make it work as intended. After using it 3 days in a row or so, you can start treating it like a normal soap because the moisture has seeped in enough to not need any additional effort when lathering or loading. If you dont want to use it as your daily driver, it's probably easier to just stick with modern soap formulations without this fuss. I have it grated downing into a standard tub so I just rinse it off when I'm done and screw the top on right away to prevent the moisture from escaping.

Absolutely opposite of my long experience with this soap. It might be two-three weeks between uses. All one needs to do is add enough water to get the soap loaded and off you go like any other shaving soap or cream - water to product ratio. I have read for 15 years or more about this or that negative something or other with MWF and it's all nonsense in my experience. I keep mine in their ceramic dish with its loose fitting lid. It can look like a dried lake bed but add a bit of water during my shower and all is fine 5-10 minutes later. It's soft enough to press those cracks together even when it's quite dry.

 

[BigJ]

Congratulations!

MWF is great (that is once you figure out how to lather it)!!

 

[CCS]

Used it again today. I lathered it by loading my Proraso Pro brush with soap from the puck, added water as needed to my shaving bowl whipped it up and Bob's your uncle. I'd guess people who still have a problem with this soap don't load enough of it. Soap, water, brush. It's not rocket surgery...

 

[rockviper]

... It's not rocket surgery...

That's what they said about Artemis!

 

[KW Driver]

A couple of years back, I tried and tried tried, and failed and failed and failed, and then failed again, and finally gave up and used the soap in the shower. I have really hard water. A while later, I had a similar problem with another soap, so I tried using the (second) soap with seltzer water and, voila, a perfect lather. I now regret not saving the MWF and would love to try again, this time with both seltzer and distilled water.

Just to be clear, I tried soaking the puck. I tried pointing soap in a specific direction. I tried putting it under a large tree. I tried getting a black cat to walk past it. And nothing worked. I have to believe it's about the water.

My well went hard and after a year I gave up on distilled/bottled water and just learned to lather my soaps with it.

MWF, and other hard tallows. Keep the fat hydrated, keep a lid on it, and it works like any other of my soaps.

To the OP, if you don’t use it for awhile and notice any shrinkage or cracking, give it some water around the edges and on top, let it swell back up to hydrated, and you’ll be fine. Don’t let it get goopy and soft, and you’re sorted