What's new

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

I’ve got very soft water but try as I might it just gets foamy. This is despite over a dozen practice lathers.
 
Just a thought for all who seem to have trouble making a usable lather;

Have you considered boosting with a bit of another soap? I know it essentially creates a FrankenSoap but maybe a trace bit of Speick or PAA Scentsless perhaps
 
I’ve got very soft water but try as I might it just gets foamy. This is despite over a dozen practice lathers.
Maybe you are not loading enough and maybe your brush is too wet. One of those. Also, if your soap is prepped properly, it will be easier.
 
I basically learned to lather on MWF and Arko. I started with VDH and Proraso, both of which were excellent and moved on to MWF and Arko.

From a lather quality perspective, it is kind of hard to outdo these soaps. You have to invest time into learning MWF, but if you don’t have extremely hard water and you attack the puck with a boar brush, the lather you get from MWF is slicker than Arko, moisturizes your face, and communicates the meaning of post shave feel.

I have tried SV. It may be better than MWF if you like the scents and it may be easier to lather, but for DE shaving I couldn’t say that it produces better lather quality.

I recently tried Stirling Executive Man which has an inspired scent. It is much more difficult to establish the correct soap to water ratio for this soap. On my second attempt, I got it to work. I have also seen some videos about Barrister Mann and the difficulties with establishing the correct soap to water ratio for BM. I am not criticizing these great products in any way. My only point is that best ever does not mean without any issues.

MWF may not be the best ever, but it has a much longer history than any of these other soaps, and it certainly has a claim to being the best ever. Also consider that there is zero marketing behind MWF. There has to be some reason that it won over its many fans.
 

Chandu

I Waxed The Badger.
I’m doing a culling of the herd soap wise wherein I am giving a soap a single attempt with a known good setup. At this point good lather or bad lather does not even enter into the picture. It is all about if the soap allows a nice shave and doesn’t irritate my face. No alum, balm aftershave or anything else. Shave, rinse and pay attention to what the face feels like. So far my best soap is a difficult latherer at best. It provides an excellent shave and an even better post shave feel. MWF is due for my trial soon.


I mention this because a great lather or poor lather only matters if the soap can first deliver a good shave. IMO of course. MWF gets slagged as a poor latherer for some. I am just saying lather is but one factor.
 
I get good lather, but even when I didn't know how to use MWF, I still got a good shave. This soap still puts a layer of slick between my face and the razor, no matter what. Nowadays, I get a consistently good, creamy lather. I generally use a straight razor, but sometimes I will change it up with a double edged safety razor. No matter what, I get a great shave.

I was trying to find a soap that wasn't too expensive that still performed. Some of these soaps are just ridiculously priced, at least in my opinion. Sure, they perform well, but surely there was something cheaper. I do like La Toja cream and stick, either one. However, I wanted something even better. I found MWF on this forum and tried it. I was immediately a fan. I don't even look at other soaps, any longer. I still have some A&E, B&M, Speick, GFT, MDC, etc. I even have a stick of Arko that I only bought because it was 23 cents. I don't bother to use them. It's The Fat for me!
 
After seeing this thread for the past few weeks and not responding, I’ve decided no today.

It’s decent when it works, but it’s just too much of a pain in the proverbial to get right.

I’m well into my middle age so I’ll skip the high maintenance option and go with the more reliable options on offer.
I feel compelled to reevaluate for being too harsh.

Face lathered, MWF is excellent.


Decent Fat bowl lathers evade me, despite a failure on my behalf to admit defeat and cease practising them!
 
I feel compelled to reevaluate for being too harsh.

Face lathered, MWF is excellent.


Decent Fat bowl lathers evade me, despite a failure on my behalf to admit defeat and cease practising them!
Don't give up. It will click eventually. I wonder if you can take a video of your process start to finish? When The Fat is used regularly and properly prepped, it should give a glorious slick lather. This is not a soap for the impatient, nor does it take an inordinate amount of time. I load a lot, then move to my bowl to mature the lather a bit, but I build it to its fullness on my face for the first pass. I use synthetic brushes with Muhle, Shavemac, G5A, and even Yaqi knots. I prefer 25 to 30mm knots, but I can get a great lather with a 22mm in my collection. It is easier with larger knots, though.
 

Chandu

I Waxed The Badger.
Don't give up. It will click eventually. I wonder if you can take a video of your process start to finish? When The Fat is used regularly and properly prepped, it should give a glorious slick lather. This is not a soap for the impatient, nor does it take an inordinate amount of time. I load a lot, then move to my bowl to mature the lather a bit, but I build it to its fullness on my face for the first pass. I use synthetic brushes with Muhle, Shavemac, G5A, and even Yaqi knots. I prefer 25 to 30mm knots, but I can get a great lather with a 22mm in my collection. It is easier with larger knots, though.
MWF will eventually deliver anyone (I think) a decent lather. It's a mild scent and very likeable. The shave itself is EXCELLENT. Nice, slick, cushioned all of that. For me the problem I think is related to the lanolin, and some irritation it gives, but if the soap agrees with your skin, it is an excellent soap to be sure.
 
Don't give up. It will click eventually. I wonder if you can take a video of your process start to finish? When The Fat is used regularly and properly prepped, it should give a glorious slick lather. This is not a soap for the impatient, nor does it take an inordinate amount of time. I load a lot, then move to my bowl to mature the lather a bit, but I build it to its fullness on my face for the first pass. I use synthetic brushes with Muhle, Shavemac, G5A, and even Yaqi knots. I prefer 25 to 30mm knots, but I can get a great lather with a 22mm in my collection. It is easier with larger knots, though.
I do quite enjoy face lathering it and am using it at least every other day this way. I’ve got a Yaqi sagrada familia on the way to hopefully complement the routine.

I’ll post a video over the next few days. Thank you for your suggestion.
 
I have no trouble lathering MWF with synthetic, but I've been having a lot of trouble with bleached boars like Semogue and Zenith. It feels like bleached boar isn't capable of picking up the necessary soap so it gets overwhelmed by the remaining water in the back of the knot. I've tried blooming and not blooming, squeezing out the knot before loading and keeping water in it, it seems like you barely get any lather even after a 2 min load.
 
I would say, it is what you think it is and what it is for you. I admit that WMF makes great lather that is plenty slick and protective. For me though is not even in the conversation when discussing "the best soap" (quotes because no soap is the best, it is up to the user - what is best for you).
I find it hard to load and hard to lather. Don't get me wrong I can get BEAUTIFUL lather out of it, it just requires a lot of work that I am not willing to put in. I dislike that it works best used daily, since I keep a modest rotation of soaps and shave 2-3 times a week
But the worst thing about this soap,(again for me, YMMW) is the post shave feel. It does condition the skin, no question about it. On the other hand it left a sticky residue on my face that I just could not wash off. Touching my face after a shave felt kinda gross, so yeah I used this soap once had a slick shave, but don't plan on using it again. Since I live in s***hole in Europe I also payed good money on postage to get it.
 
Top Bottom