Mama Bears Lathering.help.anyone?

[Cagliostro]

I've had a puck of Mama Bears Coconut in the really nice hand turned wooden bowel, had it for over a year and mostly been sitting. Reason being is I cannot get a shave worthy lather out of it to save my life, I can spend a lot of time on it and get some poofy lather from it but I think it is turning out dry and well unsure what I am doing wrong exactly...have watched their video on the how too and well I dunno still. I been wet shaving for 3 years abouts and haven't had much trouble lathering any thing soaps included, I absolutely LOVE the scent of this soap and want to figure out what I am doing wrong so I can use this great stuff. Well...Williams excluded, that soap has long been ousted from my rotation lol.

As for how I try to lather it...I go about it like any of my other soaps and creams except I put a couple table spoons of hot water on the top and let it sit while I shower and letting my brush soak as well, I cold shave and rarely use hot but I have with this since I am unsure if cold would phase it at all. After a shower I get out and start the process, takes forever to get any action out of it and even then it seems when I THINK I got a lather that is good to go...theirs no protection and it seems to be just foam that looks good but works like a great smelling Williams. I now have a Semogue I think it is an 830 boar as well, my old brush that I still use is a Tweezerman badger which I think is ineffective on the Mama Bears. I have hard water judging by the amount of calcification on the shower head and other things, so possibly bottled water for the Mama Bears? I'll practice practice as well, but any advice is more than welcome I am just frustrated that I love this soaps scent and that I hear it is sooo good, and yet I cannot touch it to make it work for me.

 

[rockviper]

I generally cold water shave as well. Here's what I did with Sue's Lemon Rose. Just generate more protolather than you think is enough and you should be fine. (i.e. the standard "use more product" thing).
If you check my wiki page, you'll see I just a few Mama Bears soaps

 

[Cagliostro]

Thanks rockviper I think that will be very helpful. I did a lathering earlier after this post and it went OK...will read your post front to back and apply what I glean from it, I really love the scent of this soap...smells just like a beach bunny ROFL...beach bunny on the face...what a way to start a day! I'll likely post my results

 

[rockviper]

Toronto (I live in the 'burbs) has a water hardness of 121, so it is right on the Moderate/Hard borderline.

 

[CharlieFoxtrot]

I find Mama Bear's to be deceivingly dense. I mill the puck on a cheese grater and press the shavings back into the container. Loads of slick lather after that.

 

[sdekuyper]

I think it's mostly about whether the water is hard or soft.

 

[Mr5x5]

An easy way to check the water question is to pick up a gallon of distilled water for $1 and use that. MB is my favorite artisan and I haven't had issues with her soaps using my VDH boar brush.

 

[christhach]

To the OP: I'd be curious to know what your reference benchmark lather product is? I.e., what are you comparing your mama bears lather to? Do you normally use Proraso, Taylor of Old Bond Street, Tabac? If you are accustomed to lathering with those kinds of soaps/creams, you may just be in for a profound dissappointment when it comes to melt and pour soaps in general, be it mama bears or any other. You definitely can produce fairly dense mounds of slick, serviceable lather from glycerin-based melt and pour soaps, but the lather is in no way as thick or protective as that produced from other types of soaps and creams. It's just a fact of shaving life.

 

[inspiringK]

I had no problem lathering Mama Bear soaps with the soft water I have at home, but I took a puck travelling last year and the hard water made the soap near impossible to use. It may just have been a technique issue, but I won't try this soap around hard water again.

 

[Cagliostro]

I've been using QCS cropes and creams, TOBS, T&H creams, Proraso and some others like Speik. I figured there would be a difference in the lather between all these to a soap like mama bears, as to be expected really. I suppose it wouldn't be like the whipped cream I gt from these other soaps and creams but what I am getting out of my bowel of mama bears is quite a world away, knowing that I am very likely goofing it up...water product mix and so on. If it IS that my expectations are THAT high then...well I would be on the look for a soap or cream that matches Mama Bears Toasted Coconut...I don't want to lose that great scent lol. I'll try distilled water and some other things just to see though, I wanna be %110 sure it is the soap thats not cutting it for me as I really like the scent so hopefully it is just me and I get it fired up. It is after all the only really hard soap I own so far, so yeah.

 

[Mr5x5]

To the OP: I'd be curious to know what your reference benchmark lather product is? I.e., what are you comparing your mama bears lather to? Do you normally use Proraso, Taylor of Old Bond Street, Tabac? If you are accustomed to lathering with those kinds of soaps/creams, you may just be in for a profound dissappointment when it comes to melt and pour soaps in general, be it mama bears or any other. You definitely can produce fairly dense mounds of slick, serviceable lather from glycerin-based melt and pour soaps, but the lather is in no way as thick or protective as that produced from other types of soaps and creams. It's just a fact of shaving life.

This isn't my experience. I can produce a lather as thick and protective as Arko that many hold in high regard, but I can lather new Williams as well. YMWV.

 

[twitch182]

I've used Mama Bear's soaps with hard water for a while with no real problems. The trick for me was to use a boar brush on the dry side and build up a protolather on the puck, then move to face and add water as needed. I don't use the soaps anymore for shaving, as they tend to burn my face due to some sensitivity I have, but the lather was always good.