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Mitchells Wool Fat Shaving Soap is no longer Tallow based

Nooooooooooooo!

It seems like pretty much all the great "everyman" soaps and creams that were around when I started wet-shaving have died off or reformulated in the past few years.

You used to be able to buy great shaving soap for 50p in the supermarket. Nowadays, to get the same performance as these old tallow soaps, you increasingly have to look at something made by an "artisan" for £25.

Thankfully, this time I was prepared. I have enough tallow MWF laid down to last me about 20 years at the rate I go through it.
 
Nooooooooooooo!

It seems like pretty much all the great "everyman" soaps and creams that were around when I started wet-shaving have died off or reformulated in the past few years.

You used to be able to buy great shaving soap for 50p in the supermarket. Nowadays, to get the same performance as these old tallow soaps, you increasingly have to look at something made by an "artisan" for £25.

Thankfully, this time I was prepared. I have enough tallow MWF laid down to last me about 20 years at the rate I go through it.
How long does a puck last you? Tabac lasted at least a year with several shaves a week. I just want what works for me and not be bothered lol. I might get a few more pucks .
 
Unless you can convince the general population to stop eating meat, I don't understand the logic of eliminating animal products from things like shaving soap. In many parts of the world meat consumption is limited by economic considerations. The fast-food dollar menu essentially eliminates that constraint here in the United States. IMO animal welfare activities should be focused on improving the welfare of animals, not making activists feel better about themselves.

It's also possible that the formulation changes are driven by economics and processing animal tallow is somehow more expensive. Here in the US, certain artisans charge significant markups for tallow based versions of their soaps.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the Turkish made Arko soap.
 
This new stuff is good, I’m doing a 180 turn. How good? I’m not willing to say it’s on par or better with the previous formulation, but I would be content with shaving with it exclusively if didn’t have access to other stuff.
Summary, I got BBS with 2 passes + cleanup, and going against the grain on the second pass. Shave was irritation free, without a hint of blood. Rinse was easy without leaving residue. Post shave feel was good, I could have skipped the after shave.
My method was to load the brush damp, with all water removed. Swirled the puck for 20 seconds and ended up with too much soap.
Initial lather on my face, and then 2nd pass lather (2nd picture) which was hydrated properly and was very protective.
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View attachment 1660003
I’m a fan
I am glad that you got a good shave out of it, but based on your photos the lather seems a little foamy.
 
It would be hard to sell a Wool Fat soap without lanolin, no?
Yep. That was my first thought and why I looked at the ingredients and saw that Lanolin is still there. If they had dropped Lanolin I would have posted, instead, that they ought to change the name to "Mitchell's Palm Fat"


I don’t mean to brag, but I knew that lanolin is not vegan without the need to resort to Google.

But have you considered that some people might try to avoid products for the production of which animals are harmed? Like horse hair shaving brushes for example?
The point of my comment was that some people have been speculating that the reason they removed the tallow was so they could sell it to vegans - and I'm saying that it still isn't vegan so perhaps there is another reason they dropped the tallow. Vegans won't use any animal product whether or not the animal is harmed.
 
I am glad that you got a good shave out of it, but based on your photos the lather seems a little foamy.
I agree that the lather was not perfect, as I loaded too much and didn’t have the time to fully hydrate.
The 2nd and 3rd pass lather was a bit better and more hydrated, and in line with what I’m usually able to get with the old formula.
Also. I’m not the most skilled wet shaver out there
 
I agree that the lather was not perfect, as I loaded too much and didn’t have the time to fully hydrate.
The 2nd and 3rd pass lather was a bit better and more hydrated, and in line with what I’m usually able to get with the old formula.
Also. I’m not the most skilled wet shaver out there
You should have seen the mounds of dense, rich lather that I was able to get from the old formula :)! I am somewhat joking, but I did include the new version along with my order of tallow based CRS and DRH soaps. The French soaps MdC, PdP and LPL are vegan and I would put their performance on the level of MWF. Your experience with the new MWF is reason for optimism.
 
You should have seen the mounds of dense, rich lather that I was able to get from the old formula :)! I am somewhat joking, but I did include the new version along with my order of tallow based CRS and DRH soaps. The French soaps MdC, PdP and LPL are vegan and I would put their performance on the level of MWF. Your experience with the new MWF is reason for optimism.
👍I look forward to reading your impressions on the new formula.
 
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I just received a puck from Amazon and it’s the old stuff. So I’m assuming folks should be able to stock up with the tallow base, if they desire.
I’m done stocking up, I now have 4 new and 4 old which represents about 10-15 years for me based on my preferences and my other soap supplies on hand
 
I don't get it.
So manifacturer of a good soap, sopa that is used, loved, and bought year after year after year, with good reviews, decides to change formula...
Tabac, MFW...
Why?

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Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
I don't get it.
So manifacturer of a good soap, sopa that is used, loved, and bought year after year after year, with good reviews, decides to change formula...
Tabac, MFW...
Why?

For Tabac and Speick anyway, because the factory that made the base shut down. They had to find another base.

Probably the same for Mitchells, a\reportedly 6 employees so they aren’t making their own soap base I’m pretty sure.
 
I just ordered 4 pucks. Hope they are the tallow formula. I'll add them to my shavocolypse stockpile (tallow Tabac, Wilkinson and Palmolive sticks, US Palmolive lather in the white and red plastic tube, Derby tubs). Gonna have to get some more Arko just to be sure.
 

Mike M

...but this one IS cracked.
As I understand things beef and mutton tallow prices have been increasing steadily since 2012-13 peaking at the end of 2022 and have since fallen back a little. The reformulation will have taken time and was probably started a while ago. I understand Stirling has pulled a number of tallow products due to the price of tallow. An additional pressure has been the requirement for extra tallow particularly for bio-fuels, this has helped to drive prices up considerably in this time frame.
I know this explanation is not going to provoke the same reactions as "The vegans are plotting to put geotags on all tallow products so they can round up and imprison everyone who uses tallow", but in all fairness it's just a soap and it's not like it will disappear...yet.

I am 3017ing a puck of tallow MWF at the moment and this won't stop me. Soaps come and go. If someone had told my Dad they were stopping production of Palmolive Classic cream back in the day he would have found something else to use, not stocked up 50 years worth of product just in case he missed it
 
As I understand things beef and mutton tallow prices have been increasing steadily since 2012-13 peaking at the end of 2022 and have since fallen back a little. The reformulation will have taken time and was probably started a while ago. I understand Stirling has pulled a number of tallow products due to the price of tallow. An additional pressure has been the requirement for extra tallow particularly for bio-fuels, this has helped to drive prices up considerably in this time frame.
I know this explanation is not going to provoke the same reactions as "The vegans are plotting to put geotags on all tallow products so they can round up and imprison everyone who uses tallow", but in all fairness it's just a soap and it's not like it will disappear...yet.

I am 3017ing a puck of tallow MWF at the moment and this won't stop me. Soaps come and go. If someone had told my Dad they were stopping production of Palmolive Classic cream back in the day he would have found something else to use, not stocked up 50 years worth of product just in case he missed it
The misunderstanding arises from the fact that manufacturers are trying to portray the changes as being a result of ethical considerations. If they were honest and cited raw materials costs as the motivating factor, no one would be blaming the vegans.
 
I just ordered 4 pucks. Hope they are the tallow formula. I'll add them to my shavocolypse stockpile (tallow Tabac, Wilkinson and Palmolive sticks, US Palmolive lather in the white and red plastic tube, Derby tubs). Gonna have to get some more Arko just to be sure.
I did the same thing. They were advertised as the tallow formula. We will see.
 
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