Mitchell's Wool Fat - What Happened?

[CoreyWoodmancy]

I always grate my entire puck and press into a jar with a lid , I’ll spoon some water on the puck a handful of times letting it soak in for a few days leading up to my first shave with the new puck. After this it’s super easy to lather.

 

[Jonn]

Hi Jonn, Sorry to hear about your experience with MWF as it's so different from mine (post to a recent MWF shave below). What technique are you currently using for MWF? Saw in an earlier post (link below) of yours that you were using the scoop method and same technique on all your soaps and creams. Is that still the case? Many of us have found that more aggressive lathering techniques are needed for hard soaps versus softer soaps and creams.

Also, not sure why you need to wet the entire MWF puck if you are just shaving a bit off of it for placement in a bowl. Any sense as to how much you scoop off? I've found that that pulling around a gram of soap off the puck delivers an ideal shave. I load/build proto lather directly on the puck for a good 30 - 60 seconds depending on the type of brush used. Finish the build via face lathering. If you are pulling too little soap off that could be the cause of your poor lather. Also I'm referring to a gram of dry soap, if you've soaked the puck in advance a gram's worth of shavings may only have a portion of the required soap. Try using more soap.

Note that I load directly from a dry puck with a damp brush. No need to soak the puck in advance and this approach eliminates any major cracking. A boar works really well with MWF though I now often use a synthetic as my problem was that my technique was pulling too much soap (roughly 2 grams) off of the puck - much more than needed.

Jonn's Post on Scoop Method:

the scoop method

I have been using DE Razors since July 2021, and have experimented with numerous razors and soaps. My well water is about as hard as water could be and still be a liquid. I have used, and continue to use MWF, Tabac, Stirling, Mike's, TOB soap and cream, DR Harris, Maison Lambert, Speck, La Toja...

www.badgerandblade.com

Recent MWF Shave of Mine:

What did you use today? +Rate the shave 1-10 (10 best)

Preshave: Glycerine Facewash with warm water splashes Razor : Feather Artist Club SR Folding Blade : Feather Super Professional (D14) Brush : Custom Shavemac 2-Band Silvertip Badger Soap : MdC Rose Aftershave : Alum Block + Cold water splashes + D R Harris Arlington AS Lotion Rating : 9.54/10...

www.badgerandblade.com

stopped using the scoop method many months ago. have had great results loading from the puck with all soaps. then I got a replacement MWF puck. nothing works, but it makes a great pre-shave

 

[Jonn]

I apologize in advance for the longish rant that follows; please feel free to skip it.

A while ago I posted that my new puck of MWF was normal again. Well it was for the first shave. The second shave showed less slickness than I was used to from the fat, and the third was worse. This morning I loaded the heck out of the puck and face lathered as usual. I never managed to get any body to the lather, and it dissipated quickly on my face. I washed it off, washed the brush out, and in minutes had a slick and rich lather with Stirling.

That’s it, I’m done with the fat, and I have to admit I’m really annoyed about it. And before I get any more advice on how to lather, the problem is not me, it is not my water, or brush, or technique; it is the soap. Now I realize Mitchells is probably not the first or last soap maker that has run into production problems. But I know that numerous people have attempted to discuss the problem with Mitchells, and I’ve yet to hear about anyone getting a response that made sense, if they got a response at all. So that is what annoys me most. They make an iconic product that has been around forever and is highly thought of, but the company seems not to have enough integrity or respect for its customers to own up to a problem and let us know what they intend to do about it. I find it hard to believe that they are not aware of it, and the lack of any response tells me that they don’t care. Well, neither do I any more. I have Tabac, Haslinger, SV, Stirling, and many other soaps available that provide the performance I want without any hassle.

So that’s it for me. No more wasting time, money and further thought on a product that may or may not work. Goodbye to the fat.

yep. First puck was fine, but had exactly the same problem with my second puck. Kept getting the same repetitive advice from the MWF dogmatic zealots. If MWF's quality control sucks that is not my problem. There are too many great soaps out there to ruin shaves with bad pucks of MWF. I will say, it does make a great pre shave. Just rub it on your fact like a shave stick, then lather just a little.

 

[Jonn]

No, I wouldn't agree with that conclusion at all. This is my fourth puck of MWF. The first two I used up were good from the start. No problem lathering, no slimy layer on the top, no soaking before use, etc. At worst, it took them a couple of weeks to lather easily, and they did need to be kept in a covered container. But I rarely even bloomed them before using, and lathered with the dry brush method.

My third puck, bought last april, was a different story entirely. I used every method known to shaving mankind on that puck, and it never ever produced more than a thin layer that dissipated as soon as it hit my face. Dry method, Marco method, absolutely nothing worked. Tried the "soak it until it fits the container" approach. All that produced was a thick gelatinous layer on top of the puck. Still wouldn't produce lather. I even cut down to the middle to see if it was different there. Nope. Trashed it.

Now the fourth and current puck. The first shave was OK. Second was dissipating again. Now that I've got it wetter it seems to be working well, but fingers crossed that will continue. It still feels a bit different from what it used to; can't quite put my finger on it yet, but it feels a bit less slick on the first pass than it used to, even though it is well hydrated.

So, saying that there is no issue with pucks would be to ignore the fact that they are obviously inconsistent, in my experience and that of a significant number of others here on the board. All the other soaps I use are consistent; every time a get a new one I know exactly what to expect, and I get what I expect. Not so with MWF. So I'm glad this puck is working for now, but when this one is done I'm not sure I'll want to roll the dice on buying a replacement.

same problem. There are too many good soaps to waste time with his crap.

 

[Jonn]

I disagree I live in the U.K. and I’ve had spoiled pucks of the fat in the last year.

Neither is it a loading issue. I’ve had plenty of success with previous pucks.

Something has occurred this year and the company haven’t been terribly helpful it seems

Judging by the number of posts Mitchell’s quality control and customer service are lacking at the moment

bingo. Same issue. done.

 

[Jonn]

I'm sad to report that in the 7 shaves since my last post where I talked about finally getting a quality lather, my puck has regressed back to giving me terrible foamy lathers that won't thicken up. I've been watering it like a plant but for some reason it's back to being terrible again. The puck has swollen to fill the crock and I've been leaving the top a little wet. I loaded with a relatively dry brush and a thin layer of water on the puck. The one time my lather was good, there was very little foam and the load was pasty in the brush. The 7 times after that, each load was foamy. I actually gave up the last two times, wiped my face and rinsed out my brush, and pulled out a tub of Stirling. Any suggestions on how I can get back to that one glorious lather from over a week ago?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

use a different soap.

 

[AJMiami]

My heart sinked when I saw the title. I thought immediately “reformulation”.

 

[brucered]

My heart sinked when I saw the title. I thought immediately “reformulation”.

No. Just user error as far as I can tell.

 

[VerbaVolant]

"R" and "D" words should be forbidden here, in this forum.

 

[Golden Green]

I used MWF for a couple months trying to dial it in and eventually gave up. My method was weighing out 0.6g, soaking it for about a minute, putting it in the bowl and slowly adding water 1mL at a time while lathering with a dry brush. I came to the conclusion that MWF produces an airier lather than the other I've tried soaps (Stirling, Tabac, and Haslinger). No matter how slow I added water or how much soap I used, I never seemed to find a sweet spot that produced as dense and slick lather as I would have liked. I have soft water, so I don't think that was the issue. I've tried face lathering MWF again since switching to Haslinger the past few weeks, and while I can get an okay shave from it it takes a LONG time to dial in the water levels to adequate levels, and even then it seems to underperform for me.

It seems like my experience with MWF isn't uncommon, yet there are still quite a few people here that really like MWF and have found success with it. If you're one of those people, what does your lather look like and how do you achieve it? For now I can't see myself ever switching back, I get better lathers much faster with other soaps.