Lathering Mitchell's Wool Fat
- Thread starter jkrugles
- Start date
I'm writing up a formal review on my first shave with MWF, should be posted soon, but anyway...start with a dryer brush than normal, and load double your normal time. Let all the real foamy lather fall away into the sink and add water slowly. Are you face, palm, or bowl lathering?
I find that it lathers better if you start with a fairly dry brush and face lather.
I tried a couple times with MWF with a voluminous but airy lather.
I plan to try again but soaking the puck. It's a finicky soap.
I plan to try again but soaking the puck. It's a finicky soap.
haven't yet had the pleasure of using it but from what i've gleaned apparently it can help if you, among other things: use a boar brush, hold the dish upside down when you load, and use room temp water. mantic59 has a shave tutor video on mwf. good luck!
here is what i do...
1) soak the puck in room temp water (30 seconds to 1 minute while i finish my prep)
2) apply puck directly to face (just like a shave stick)
3) shake access water from brush and lather away adding small amount water as needed
1) soak the puck in room temp water (30 seconds to 1 minute while i finish my prep)
2) apply puck directly to face (just like a shave stick)
3) shake access water from brush and lather away adding small amount water as needed
Look at Mantics video. I got my first puck last month and everything else now pales in comparison. I've used it every day since. Wonderful soap! I delayed in my MWF purchase for a long time due to the reviews about the difficulty of creating lather, but I was quite surprised to find mounds of thickness the first time I tried it. The face feels great after each shave.
I soak my MWF in warm water with my brush while I have my shower, shake the brush lightly, load and lather away, adding a little more water as needed. Never fails to produce plenty of lather.
Da Fat is indeed a challenging soap. The mineral content (hardness) of your water will dictate the difficulty of producing a good lather. A drier brush is best with a minimum of 60 seconds load time. To soften up the soap, some users put a few drops of water on top of the puck. I used to do this, but don't need to anymore.
Once you start whipping up the lather is when MWF gets thirsty. I tend to add water three to four times when lathering. I typically bowl lather. I prefer using a boar brush as mention by my esteemed colleagues above because I feel that it produces a thicker, richer lather. I will be doing a side by side comparison with my Semogue 830 and my Simpson's Commodore X3 this weekend and posting the results on The Order of the Fat.
I have also used the Marco Method to great success with da Fat. When at a loss for lathering a soap, Marco's Method never fails. Ever.
Once you start whipping up the lather is when MWF gets thirsty. I tend to add water three to four times when lathering. I typically bowl lather. I prefer using a boar brush as mention by my esteemed colleagues above because I feel that it produces a thicker, richer lather. I will be doing a side by side comparison with my Semogue 830 and my Simpson's Commodore X3 this weekend and posting the results on The Order of the Fat.
I have also used the Marco Method to great success with da Fat. When at a loss for lathering a soap, Marco's Method never fails. Ever.
I guess I'm lucky. I have relatively soft water and creating a luxurious lather with MWF is fairly easy. I face lather using a Vie-Long horsehair brush and this method gives me abundant lather for four passes with a lot left over (more about that later). The brush is well broken in at this point so I forego a soak and simply make sure the brush is very wet with hot water from the tap. I then squeeze most of the water out of the brush. I keep the puck in a plastic, airtight container and I use MWF for every other shave. At the end of each shave with MWF I squeeze the remaining lather in the brush back onto the puck and reseal the container. This left-over lather breaks down before the next shave and keeps the puck soft for easy loading. I load the brush with 60 revolutions over the puck and start to build the lather on a wet face with circular motions. I finish with painting strokes to even out the lather. I almost always have enough moisture in the brush (I think it would hold a half-liter if I didn't squeeze it out) to build a good lather for the first pass. I do not rinse between passes 1 and 2 or between 2 and 3 and usually have to dip the tip of the brush in the sink for each side of my face when lathering. I rinse in cold water for the last pass and with that moisture on my face I don't normally need to pick up more from the sink. That's the method I use and it produces plenty of thick, cushioning, slick lather.
My only real trick is to avoid hot water, which seems to cause problems for MWF and some other products. Basically I just face-lather it, using the same process as with any of my other soaps. Apply soap directly to wet stubble as a shave stick, then face-lather with a damp brush, adding water a little at a time. MWF makes a great shave stick.
When I have to use hard water I simply load more soap. So far this has always worked.
When I have to use hard water I simply load more soap. So far this has always worked.
Hard water is the most likely culprit.
Do you have very hard water? To confirm if hard water is causing your MWF troubles - try lathering with distilled water. If that fixes the issue - you'll have a decision point - do you like MWF enough to keep using distilled water for your shaves? Or would you rather go with something else that lathers well with your water? To get to that point though - you'll have to do the distilled water experiment.
I have soft water and MWF explodes with lather instantly without any special soaking/loading etc.
- Thread starter
- #16
if u havent seen it already this thread may help:
http://www.badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=126516
http://www.badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=126516
I think I'm using Marco's method. I can't remember anymore. I soak the puck (in the ceramic bowl) and my brush (in a mug) while I prep with towels, which is typically between 2 - 3 minutes depending on how much of a hurry I am in (which is usually not much.) Empty the ceramic bowl into the shaving bowl. Then I take the soaking brush out of the mug, let gravity take what water it wants (no shaking), then load up the brush on the puck (as upside down as I can get it) for at least 90 seconds. The proto lather falls into the bowl. While face lathering, I tip dip into the bowl of water/protolather at least 3 times.
I have hard water, but this method has never failed to give me some of the best lather I can create.
I have hard water, but this method has never failed to give me some of the best lather I can create.
Biggest change I can recommend if you aren't currently using one is to try a boar brush. I had difficulty using badger, but my SOC lathers it no problem. Load heavy and mix for quite a while if you're bowl lathering.
