La Toja - One month’s use

[Wal59]

Folks

I have been away from home for a month on or in planes, trains and automobiles.

As a bloke who likes his daily shave, I had to prune my shaving paraphernalia because of weight restrictions. I did a lot of research before leaving, practising with various combinations of soap and brush. I fixed upon La Toja shaving stick as my soap for the road ahead, accompanied by an Edwin Jagger Synthetic brush.

I normally bowl lather with TOBS creams or Stuga or Cooper and French soaps. Face lathering was, and remains, alien to me.

The lather I produced during the trip was passable but by no means as luxurious as I would normally expect from my go to lot. Fair enough. Sacrifices need to be made when on the road.

But, here is the point of my post. Attached is a photo of my shaving stick after I returned, compared to a new stick. Both are the old formula still available in Australia. Is this a normal reduction in soap size? It would seem that a stick would last about 3-4 months normally at that rate.

The collective wisdom of the B&B would be appreciated.

Cheers
Wal

 

[Ted A]

I am not an expert. My normal technique is bowl lathering, but I do use sticks.

A possibility is that you were getting more soap on your face than you needed. That could then have contributed to the poor lather quality in that it would look like you had created a good lather, but there would still be more soap on your face that hadn’t lathered as well as you would like.

Just a thought

 

[Doc Dan]

La Toja is one of my favorite soaps and it lathers as good as anything And shaves better than most. Too much soap perhaps and not enough water? Try rubbing the soap on the endsos the brush hairs instead of the face. It doesn’t take as much as you think.. then bowl or palm lather if face lathering doesn’t work for you. That way you can see the lather quality and add soap or water as needed.

 

[Goblin]

I normally bowl lather with TOBS creams or Stuga or Cooper and French soaps. Face lathering was, and remains, alien to me.

The lather I produced during the trip was passable but by no means as luxurious as I would normally expect from my go to lot. Fair enough. Sacrifices need to be made when on the road.

My thoughts on La Toja formulations:

Old tallow formula: Good stuff! One of the great value EU tallow soaps the like of which we will never see again.

Initial veggie reformulation (early/mid 2010s): Not good - mine ended up as bath soap. Current TOBS ain't great either but still probably better than this.

Current formulation: I can't get it anywhere but people say it's better than the previous version and some folks really enthuse about it. Hopefully I will find some when next I get to Spain.

So if your lathers weren't great with the last-but-one formulation then that doesn't surprise me. Generally, it makes sense when using a stick to get those whiskers good and caked up. Your use might seem a bit heavy, but that shouldn't have been detrimental to the lather and if anything would help - I think the mistake most people make with sticks is too little soap rather than too much. Shave on, and use as much stick as you please (as long as it's enough)!

 

[Mr Konrad Dundee]

My thoughts on La Toja formulations:

Old tallow formula: Good stuff! One of the great value EU tallow soaps the like of which we will never see again.

Initial veggie reformulation (early/mid 2010s): Not good - mine ended up as bath soap. Current TOBS ain't great either but still probably better than this.

Current formulation: I can't get it anywhere but people say it's better than the previous version and some folks really enthuse about it. Hopefully I will find some when next I get to Spain.

So if your lathers weren't great with the last-but-one formulation then that doesn't surprise me. Generally, it makes sense when using a stick to get those whiskers good and caked up. Your use might seem a bit heavy, but that shouldn't have been detrimental to the lather and if anything would help - I think the mistake most people make with sticks is too little soap rather than too much. Shave on, and use as much stick as you please (as long as it's enough)!

When I heard the news about La Toja...I purchased over 20 tubes of cream and one 20 stick,fantastic soap

 

[timetofly]

Not a expert by any means, even as to why one gets IN a car, but gets ON a plane or train.

La Toja is one of my favorite soaps. I find that it doesn't take very much soap to get a very rich lather, with enough lather for up to three passes. I, like you, use a synthetic [RR 400 Plissoft] when using this soap. It could be the PH of the water that greatly affected the lather.

 

[CJB3]

I think user error might be the root cause here. La Toja is an excellent soap that produces a full, rich, and slick lather when used correctly.

I do agree with others that you might need more water and less soap.

 

[Doc Dan]

Sadly, the top notch La Toja shaving creams are being discontinued by the new (ish) owner.

 

[Wal59]

La Toja is one of my favorite soaps and it lathers as good as anything And shaves better than most. Too much soap perhaps and not enough water? Try rubbing the soap on the endsos the brush hairs instead of the face. It doesn’t take as much as you think.. then bowl or palm lather if face lathering doesn’t work for you. That way you can see the lather quality and add soap or water as needed.

Hadn’t thought of the soap direct to the brush. Thanks. I’ll give it a go.

 

[Wal59]

Not a expert by any means, even as to why one gets IN a car, but gets ON a plane or train.

La Toja is one of my favorite soaps. I find that it doesn't take very much soap to get a very rich lather, with enough lather for up to three passes. I, like you, use a synthetic [RR 400 Plissoft] when using this soap. It could be the PH of the water that greatly affected the lather.

The vagaries of the English language never cease to amaze me. We get on a tram but in a taxi. Through, though, cough, lough and enough are all pronounced differently. Strange indeed.

 

[Wal59]

I think user error might be the root cause here. La Toja is an excellent soap that produces a full, rich, and slick lather when used correctly.

I do agree with others that you might need more water and less soap.

I readily concede the possibility of user error. I’ll keep trying though.

 

[BigJ]

I think user error might be the root cause here. La Toja is an excellent soap that produces a full, rich, and slick lather when used correctly.

I do agree with others that you might need more water and less soap.

+3! La Toja (now on the current formulation I believe) is my ‘travel soap.’

I get great lathers with most any water. The key is to get the proper soap to water ratio IMO.

 

[musicman1951]

La Toja has been my travel soap for the past couple of years. I'm sorry to report that I haven't really been keeping records, but I believe I'm in the third month of my current stick and it still has a ways to go, so I have no complaints about longevity.

I don't find that it requires a ton of soap to make good lather. I generally soak the tip of the stick in water briefly and run it across my jawline and on my chin. That's more than enough lather for my requirements. But experimenting is best. You will quickly find out if more soap makes the lather better or worse.

 

[Marco]

Oh, how much I miss the superb Manantiales puck...

 

[Doc Dan]

If I could only have La Toja and no others I could be happy enough.

 

[Mr Konrad Dundee]

Sadly, the top notch La Toja shaving creams are being discontinued by the new (ish) owner.

I had a big restock before they disappeared

 

[Cannon Cocker]

Folks

I have been away from home for a month on or in planes, trains and automobiles.

As a bloke who likes his daily shave, I had to prune my shaving paraphernalia because of weight restrictions. I did a lot of research before leaving, practising with various combinations of soap and brush. I fixed upon La Toja shaving stick as my soap for the road ahead, accompanied by an Edwin Jagger Synthetic brush.

I normally bowl lather with TOBS creams or Stuga or Cooper and French soaps. Face lathering was, and remains, alien to me.

The lather I produced during the trip was passable but by no means as luxurious as I would normally expect from my go to lot. Fair enough. Sacrifices need to be made when on the road.

But, here is the point of my post. Attached is a photo of my shaving stick after I returned, compared to a new stick. Both are the old formula still available in Australia. Is this a normal reduction in soap size? It would seem that a stick would last about 3-4 months normally at that rate.

The collective wisdom of the B&B would be appreciated.

Cheers
Wal

If you can get 3-4 months out of a 50 gram stick of soap shaving every day, I think that is more than reasonable usage.

 

[NorthernSoul]

Normal use I'd say is about 0.50-0.75 grams per shave, averaging out to roughly two or three months for a daily shaver using a 50 gram stick. You may need a bit more soap in your daily lather.

The usual shaving soap pucks are 2-3 times as much soap as a stick of La Toja.

 

[Wal59]

If you can get 3-4 months out of a 50 gram stick of soap shaving every day, I think that is more than reasonable usage.

Cheers Cannon. I’m new to the stick world.

 

[Wal59]

Normal use I'd say is about 0.50-0.75 grams per shave, averaging out to roughly two or three months for a daily shaver using a 50 gram stick. You may need a bit more soap in your daily lather.

The usual shaving soap pucks are 2-3 times as much soap as a stick of La Toja.

Thanks Northern. I’ll give it a go.