Is Mitchell's Wool Fat the best ever shaving soap?

[ChriWilson]

You might be onto something here.

I have hitherto been a big fan of MFW and have never had any issues with lathering. I recently 3017'd a puck and it performed flawlessly (as has all previous pucks). However, this new puck I'm working with is beginning to really test my patience...

The lather is airy, thin and simply refuses to develop into the glorious lather it should. It's still slick as hell but it just dissipates. Alas, no matter what I try, it flat out refuses to play ball.

I have exactly the same problem. never had an issue with the first puck, which lasted 1 1/2 years. this new puck is unusable no matter what I do, and I have done everything. I am using it as a pre shave soap. I won't buy it again.

I've been reading this more frequently lately. My current puck is probably beyond 1/2 life, but hopefully the spares I've accumulated are older stock - I'm too lazy to dig them out and look for any batch numbers (if any).

I order mine from Connaught Shaving which has the lowest price (even with shipping) and stellar customer service.

This is where I picked up my MWF ceramic kit; packed superbly it was...

I just tried it again today with a brush on the dry side and a 2 min load but I only managed one decent pass. it feels like if you add any water the lather gets destroyed when you put the brush down because the water gets sucked up into the base of the knot and not released onto the face and it overwhelms the lather left in the knot. The trouble is getting the soap into the back of the knot when it has a serious glue bump that prevents the splay at that point. This hasn't been an issue why synthetic.

Bottom line is still that if your synthetics work best with MWF, just keep using them. If you do want to try again with your Zenith boar, based on my experience, you definitely need a well soaked brush to start followed by 45 seconds or more of loading time. Not sure how you store your MWF but if it's in the MWF ceramic container that much loading may be a challenge due to insufficient vertical space. I place mine in a 4" high plastic container for loading/proto lather development (photo below).

Yeah, it has to be a water issue or something. The bleached Zenith is just too difficult to get a good lather with consistently. I've tried less water and more water in the knot before loading and I'm barely able to get two good passes with a 2 min load. I'll keep at it for a little longer to try a few more things out, but the bleached Zenith is too soft to properly pick up enough soap without being overwhelmed by the lingering water in the knot. Still no issue with other knot types tho.

I prefer to use my boar or synthetics for MWF
I don't think I've come across this yet, so I will post my recipe for an almost perfect lather:

Use a shaken, yet semi-damp brush and load heavily into a lathering bowl.
Start to build the lather in the bowl to where it's almost usable but still a bit wet.
Squeeze out the brush into the bowl and load the residual from off the wet puck.
Take this loading and build directly on the wet face; dipping into the bowl-lather to add moisture and desired structure.

This will easily create 6-8 passes on a 26mm boar or T3 synthetic - zero frustration

 

[Doc Dan]

I always use the residual on the puck as a pre-shave just before I start face lathering. There are so many tried and trued methods of using The Fat.

 

[Jonn]

Tail of 2 pucks. First puck lasted over 1 1/2 years of rotation use. Except for cracking and splitting, it worked fine. I liked it, but not close to being the best.( I have used about 20 or so soaps) The second puck, using the same technique, was unusable. Thin airy lather which dissipated multiple times during the shave. Whatever it was, it was not like the first puck. I used the same technique, then altered it with more soap, less waster, more water, dry brush, wet brush, badger, boar, synthetic, soaked the puck, etc. What I got was a dozen or so bad shaves. That is all the information I need to not buy it again. (It does make a great pre-shave soap.).

 

[Strumbringer]

It's up there, among the best I've tried. Will be happy to purchase again. Mine lasted about 3.5 months.

 

[Lane101]

I bowl lather, measure my soap out with a hundredth-gram scale, and measure my water out with a syringe. I've tried all kinds of soap:water ratios with MWF, ranging from extremely low-water (1:7 soap:water) to extremely high-water (1:35). I've tried maximizing/minimizing airation, soaking the soap before use, adding water very slowly (starting with a dry brush and adding 1ml water at a time), and none of it has resulted in as slick a lather as I would like; it always winds up too airy for my liking.

I'm currently working to dial in Haslinger, and right away I noticed how much easier it is to get a great, dense, less airy lather from it. I haven't perfected it since I've only used it twice now, but so far it seems a lot more promising.

Great scientific method. How much total MWF soap do you use? Only time I've had the problem you describe with my soaps is when too little was loaded in the first place.

I've found that on gram of it built to a proto-lather on the puck in a 4" deep container and then finished off via face lathering works well. Either a damp boar (soaked a couple minutes prior to use) or synthetic (more loading time) works well. I use larger 26mm knot brushes.

P.S. Suggest you start with 2 grams of MWF with a damp brush and add water slowly until desired lather is achieved. Likely far more than you need but this will close to guarantee that you have sufficient soap. Can then dial back amount of soap on future shaves.

 

[Keyvan]

One thing about boar brushes is that they go through a break-in stage where they are soft, but consume lather. This is especially true with Semogues. If you are using a lather consuming boar brush with a soap like MWF or Mystic Waters, it will cause problems. My Semogue Owner's Club consumed lather during the first 4 or 5 months of use.

 

[CoreyWoodmancy]

For me purely from a performance standpoint yes it isn’t eclipsed by any , perhaps equaled. From an economical standpoint it’s hard to beat. From an overall experience I enjoy other soaps more at times due to scent preferences at that time, right now I’m really into almond scented soaps and Mitchell’s just smells like Mitchell’s.

 

[Doc Dan]

I never use my boar brushes any longer. I only use synthetics and they work fantastically with MWF. I load like crazy, even splaying the brush just a bit for half of the time. I load for around 45 seconds to a minute.

 

[ChriWilson]

I never use my boar brushes any longer. I only use synthetics and they work fantastically with MWF. I load like crazy, even splaying the brush just a bit for half of the time. I load for around 45 seconds to a minute.

MWF is one of my few soaps where I use a synthetic exclusively. That being said - I can’t fathom loading for that long, even with a small knot Simpson M6, much less with a T3.

Boar or Badger - Yes absolutely necessary

 

[Golden Green]

I used MWF for a couple months trying to dial it in and eventually gave up. My method was weighing out 0.6g, soaking it for about a minute, putting it in the bowl and slowly adding water 1mL at a time while lathering with a dry brush. I came to the conclusion that MWF produces an airier lather than the other I've tried soaps (Stirling, Tabac, and Haslinger). No matter how slow I added water or how much soap I used, I never seemed to find a sweet spot that produced as dense and slick lather as I would have liked. I have soft water, so I don't think that was the issue. I've tried face lathering MWF again since switching to Haslinger the past few weeks, and while I can get an okay shave from it it takes a LONG time to dial in the water levels to adequate levels, and even then it seems to underperform for me.

It seems like my experience with MWF isn't uncommon, yet there are still quite a few people here that really like MWF and have found success with it. If you're one of those people, what does your lather look like and how do you achieve it? For now I can't see myself ever switching back, I get better lathers much faster with other soaps.

 

[AJMiami]

I used to have issues with the soap and grated and made a shave stick ftom it, I used an old shave stick container to pack the soap. I soaked the tip in water prior to shaving.
With my latest puck I just load as any other soap. But I found that not all my brushes work well.

 

[pierrelortie44]

MWF is dependable and smells nice.

 

[DG109]

I posted earlier in this thread twice. First time I couldn’t get on with the soap bowl lathering. Then I moved to face lathering and loved it. It became my go-to. I purchased the ceramic bowl and a new puck thinking it would be my mainstay soap.

Since then I’ve relocated my family and have moved to an area with very hard water. MWF just doesn’t perform here despite weeks of experimenting. No matter what I do the lather melts away as my shave goes on.

 

[ChriWilson]

I posted earlier in this thread twice. First time I couldn’t get on with the soap bowl lathering. Then I moved to face lathering and loved it. It became my go-to. I purchased the ceramic bowl and a new puck thinking it would be my mainstay soap.

Since then I’ve relocated my family and have moved to an area with very hard water. MWF just doesn’t perform here despite weeks of experimenting. No matter what I do the lather melts away as my shave goes on.

Sacrilege? Maybe…
But, pick up a sample of PAA Scentsless and use a bit to boost the lathering. Their samples Gina long way. This will amp the performance while maintaining the lanolin and clean scent that people love about MWF.

At the very least if you plan to stick with this soap, maybe keep 1L of distilled water under the sink solely for MWF ?

—
Cheers

 

[Rosseforp]

Is Mitchell's Wool Fat shaving soap possibly the best all around shaving soap ever? Sure, there are some soaps that do one thing better, but Mitchell's seems to excel in every category. It has very good slickness, very good residual slickness, builds an amazing creamy lather, feels good on the face, leaves the face feeling fantastic after the shave and it is washed off, and smells very nice. It isn't perfumed and the scent is light and uncomplicated. Some might not like it because it doesn't smell strongly, but to me, that is a plus. I have a soap that is very slightly slicker, but it fails in the other areas in comparison. I don't know what more anyone could ask of a soap.

No.

Have some Great Arko Shaves

~doug~

 

[DG109]

No.

Have some Great Arko Shaves

~doug~

Don’t want to hijack the thread, but I’ve divided my soaps into ones that work with the water and ones that don’t. Arko sure does.

 

[Lane101]

I used MWF for a couple months trying to dial it in and eventually gave up. My method was weighing out 0.6g, soaking it for about a minute, putting it in the bowl and slowly adding water 1mL at a time while lathering with a dry brush. I came to the conclusion that MWF produces an airier lather than the other I've tried soaps (Stirling, Tabac, and Haslinger). No matter how slow I added water or how much soap I used, I never seemed to find a sweet spot that produced as dense and slick lather as I would have liked. I have soft water, so I don't think that was the issue. I've tried face lathering MWF again since switching to Haslinger the past few weeks, and while I can get an okay shave from it it takes a LONG time to dial in the water levels to adequate levels, and even then it seems to underperform for me.

It seems like my experience with MWF isn't uncommon, yet there are still quite a few people here that really like MWF and have found success with it. If you're one of those people, what does your lather look like and how do you achieve it? For now I can't see myself ever switching back, I get better lathers much faster with other soaps.

I hope you are enjoying your wet shaving journey since you joined B&B earlier this year. Looks like you are rapidly learning a lot and hopefully enjoying yourself in the process.

Couple of thoughts on MWF:
1) 0.6 grams may not be enough soap - I use around a full gram to get my desired lather. Per my post above this is dialed down from what was initially 2 grams per shave with MWF. As recommended above, if you still have the MWF, try lathering with 2 grams and then dial down from there. Also, no need to start with a dry brush, start with a damp brush with all excess water shaken out and still add small amounts of water as needed. Process will go faster. If you are using a boar brush soak it for a couple of minutes in warm water prior to use or it will pull the moisture out of your soap (will appear to "eat the soap").

2) Saw your March 5th post where you were happy with MWF's (link below) lather and your April 27th post where you discussed significantly evolving your lathering approach. How have you changed your lathering approach over the past month? Sounds like the new approach, while working well for most of your soaps, doesn't work for MWF. Most of us have found that we need to adjust our lathering techniques for different soaps. Could be you need to go back to your original approach for MWF and use your latest technique for your other soaps.

Soap similar in performance to MWF but with fewer ingredients?

I'm very much liking MWF, super slick when lathered correctly and the post shave feel is much nicer than Stirling for me. I'm young and don't want to take any chances with my skin, though, so I'm looking for an equally slick shave soap with fewer harsh chemicals/perfumes to replace it with. I've...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Doc Dan]

I always soak my MWF pucks overnight and let them swell to fill the container. I pour off any excess water not absorbed and use it for a preshave. I have fairly hard water, rusty a bit, too. I never ever have trouble getting a good, rich lather. I shave my brush out 3 times and then gently squeeze out any excess remaining. I load like a mad man for 45 seconds to a minute. I used to lather in a bowl, and now I lather on my face. If the lather does not develop properly, either my brush was too wet or I didn't load enough soap. In either case, load more soap. I have zero issues. I love this soap.

 

[Thalasos]

Is Mitchell's Wool Fat shaving soap possibly the best all around shaving soap ever? Sure, there are some soaps that do one thing better, but Mitchell's seems to excel in every category. It has very good slickness, very good residual slickness, builds an amazing creamy lather, feels good on the face, leaves the face feeling fantastic after the shave and it is washed off, and smells very nice. It isn't perfumed and the scent is light and uncomplicated. Some might not like it because it doesn't smell strongly, but to me, that is a plus. I have a soap that is very slightly slicker, but it fails in the other areas in comparison. I don't know what more anyone could ask of a soap.

Maybe that old granny den scent and its proneness to start cracking after just a few uses and a week or two out of rotation make it not that great. I used to like it. There's still three bar at home. I liked a lot the already discontinued Fine triple milled (same base as Tabac, both tallowated) and nowadays I'm lean to Cyril R Salter and DR Harris. Both from UK and sharing ingredients.

 

[Golden Green]

I hope you are enjoying your wet shaving journey since you joined B&B earlier this year. Looks like you are rapidly learning a lot and hopefully enjoying yourself in the process.

Couple of thoughts on MWF:
1) 0.6 grams may not be enough soap - I use around a full gram to get my desired lather. Per my post above this is dialed down from what was initially 2 grams per shave with MWF. As recommended above, if you still have the MWF, try lathering with 2 grams and then dial down from there. Also, no need to start with a dry brush, start with a damp brush with all excess water shaken out and still add small amounts of water as needed. Process will go faster. If you are using a boar brush soak it for a couple of minutes in warm water prior to use or it will pull the moisture out of your soap (will appear to "eat the soap").

2) Saw your March 5th post where you were happy with MWF's (link below) lather and your April 27th post where you discussed significantly evolving your lathering approach. How have you changed your lathering approach over the past month? Sounds like the new approach, while working well for most of your soaps, doesn't work for MWF. Most of us have found that we need to adjust our lathering techniques for different soaps. Could be you need to go back to your original approach for MWF and use your latest technique for your other soaps.

Soap similar in performance to MWF but with fewer ingredients?

I'm very much liking MWF, super slick when lathered correctly and the post shave feel is much nicer than Stirling for me. I'm young and don't want to take any chances with my skin, though, so I'm looking for an equally slick shave soap with fewer harsh chemicals/perfumes to replace it with. I've...

www.badgerandblade.com

1. From my understanding, water to soap ratio is the only thing that matters when it comes to how a soap performs. If that's the case, would you suggest much less water than I'm currently using? I have to say that I've tried using MWF with a minimal amount of water, as that's when it seemed to perform best for me, it paled in comparison to the slickness I got when overhydrating Haslinger. I may try this again though, I still have some MWF left.

2. I thought MWF was performing "good" for me before I knew what a truly "good" lather was! With Haslinger, I can add much more water before the lather falls apart, resulting in much slicker shaves.