Is Lightfoot's Pine Soap Redeemable?

[Broccoli Man]

Against my better judgment (not to mention the advice of most of the reviews I read) I purchased a cake of Lightfoot's shaving soap a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, I'm a hopeless sucker for anything pine-scented. I expected that it might require a little more elbow grease than most to produce decent lather, but so far I'm at a loss to wring out anything more than a thin, watery film that begins dissipating almost as soon as it touches the skin. It seems a lot of the negative reviews were being too kind, if anything. I tried grating it into a bowl along with half a cake of QCS Vostok, but the results haven't been much different. It's almost as if whatever ingredient in the Lightfoot's that prevents a decent lather from forming is acting upon the other soap as well.

Has anyone had a similar experience with soaps that simply refuse to lather? Is there a way to salvage some use from them, or are some just beyond help?

 

[Mirrorsaw]

You could turn it into a shower soap. That is what I have done with my soaps I didn't like/couldn't get lather from... Work great for the shower to.

 

[Broccoli Man]

Yeah, I was thinking that would be my last resort. Actually, I'm not entirely convinced that this stuff is any different from the regular Lightfoot's body soap (which I quite like). Seems like the same stuff, just cut into a different shape. Maybe I should swap it with the bar of Ivory in my shower and try shaving with that instead.
Still, I'd really like to make it work somehow, especially now that I've put half my Vostok into making this freakish frankensoap.

 

[man00ver]

Welcome to the forums. You might try buying some Kiss My Face unscented shaving cream, squirt a little in a bowl, then load your wet brush with the soap and mix it together. We call this "superlathering" products, and it can be the method of last resort with a failing soap. At least the pine soap should provide a lot of slickness and is probably skin-friendly, so it may be worth trying to find a cream to partner it with. If not, at least you'll get good lather with the KMF.

 

[Broccoli Man]

Thanks! It's nice to be here (at least in more than just a lurking capacity). I like the cream idea. The pine soap has a bit of slickness, just no cushion whatsoever, so it might be a good combination. As far as unscented creams, I'm living in Germany at the moment, so I don't know whether I could get my hands on any Kiss My Face. Speick and Palmolive are the two I see most often in the shops around here. I understand that Speick has a pretty strong fragrance, which would probably obliterate the subtle pine scent. Is Palmolive a bit more subdued? I think Proraso is fairly easy to come by over here as well.

 

[FL shaver]

Couldn't get this soap to work for me. I still have it and a stick of Erasmic that doesn't work, either. I have a couple of small tubes of AOS unscented cream that might help salvage it, as the scent is nice.

 

[fcdiscus]

I was one of those negative reviews on Amazon- forget exactly what I said but something like it might make a decent body soap- but it sucked for shaving. I have gotten fairly decent results superlathering it with some cheap Derby menthol I purchased- but I will stick to my original opinion on this as a very very poor shaving soap! Frank

 

[Toddy]

Use it as a bath soap. Pointless using a good soap to mix with it to produce a mediocre soap.

Never seen Lightsfoots Pine on offer here so never had chance to try it out - doesn't look like anyone imports it into the UK. Doesn't sound like we're missing anything.

 

[Broccoli Man]

I'm surprised to hear that, since it's actually an English soap, but I guess distribution is sometimes funny that way. As you said, you're definitely not missing out. And I agree that it's probably not worth mixing other soaps with it. I'm still kicking myself for wasting all that QCS apparently for nothing, but live and learn I suppose. I'll try the superlather approach and if that doesn't do the trick, into the shower it goes. I get the impression it would feel more at home there anyway.

 

[Toddy]

No it's not an English soap, it's from "NEW England", a completely different place! If you look on the net you will find it is made in Rhode Island.

 

[Marley2120]

I soak this soap in warm water with my brush for a few minutes. Then shake out most of the water from the brush and load as much soap as I can. Doing this I get some good lathers. Also I like pair this with prorasso preshave cream green tub.
I have never heard before that this is made in New England.
Bestgroomingtools.com advertises it as "imported from Chester, England"

 

[Broccoli Man]

I stand corrected. I was only going by the description provided on the Shoebox website, where I bought it in the first place: http://www.shoeboxshaveshop.com/lipupiargesh.html
Even the packaging identifies it as British in this picture: http://themotley.com/index.php/cleansers/bar-soap-body-washes/lightfoots-pine-soap.html
It seems unlikely that there would be two companies called "Lightfoot" making pine-scented soap, so maybe the mill in Rhode Island just licensed the name from the original manufacturer in Chester. Very strange...

 

[FL shaver]

Hmmm. I thought it was a British product as well. And yet I find this...
http://www.findusmade.com/Mall/Bath_Body.htm
Their site at least says the hand soap is made in RI...

 

[Mandina]

I'll try the above suggestion about loading LF, but I swear that I've tried the gamut of approaches--from drier brush with heavy load to very wet brush (Marco's method) with heavy load--but to no avail. Actually, even with a thin, fast-evaporating lather and continual re-lathering, LF provides a pretty slick shave for me, but even Williams (which I've learned to lather without problem) is much more enjoyable to use. I have come up with a solution, however, so that the purchase was not a waste: LF works just fine for my head shaving, for which I do quick one-pass + touch-up shaves.

 

[Absolute Mustard]

No it's not an English soap, it's from "NEW England", a completely different place! If you look on the net you will find it is made in Rhode Island.

So, the better England then

 

[cryhavoc]

No but it does add a nice scent to my sock drawer

 

[Toddy]

In all the years I have been shaving and frequenting Gentlemens shops all over the UK I have NEVER come across Lightfoots (and believe me I've seen a lot of obscure makes) so I would suggest that it has always been made in Rhode Island, and that someone writing the descriptions has made a mistake.

 

[Toddy]

The only pine stuff I can remember is the disinfectant used at my old school and the Syrup of White Pine given to me as a kid when I had a cough.

 

[djh]

You could turn it into a shower soap. That is what I have done with my soaps I didn't like/couldn't get lather from... Work great for the shower too.

This is the way to go.

 

[Absolute Mustard]

This is the way to go.

Yup, VDH is a very good shower soap