This thread was inspired by the "must-try soaps for beginners" thread.
What soap have you found most rewarding once you stuck with it long enough to figure out how to get fantastic lather out of it? It would be great if you'd also list any technical tips you found helpful in taming the saponinic beast.
Mine is the French soap Institut Karite. Highly regarded for it's rich lather and exceptional skin care qualities - one of those "moisturizing" soaps that supposedly leaves your skin feeling better than before you shaved - I almost tossed this one twice. When I first opened it, I was hit between the eyes with Great Aunt EDT - the floral scent was sickly sweet and way too feminine for my nose. I couldn't believe all the rave reviews for this soap. I almost tossed it right then and there but since it got such phenomenal feedback on the boards - and also because it wasn't cheap - I figured I had to give it a fair shake. Well, after a couple of weeks of consistently disappointing lathers I flung the puck resentfully under the sink, intending to BST it as part of a soap lot once I had accumulated other rejects.
I eventually forgot about it until about two months later, when I had become bored of my (at that time) modest rotation. I pulled it out to give it another whirl and to see if I was able to get any better results. I immediately noticed that the scent had softened significantly into more of a light, fresh floral scent with a touch of powder mixed in. I still didn't love the scent but it didn't offend my nostrils anymore. However the lather was the same - complete garbage. I went onto B&B in search of some advice for this persistently persnickety puck and came upon a recommendation to sprinkle a few drops of hot water on the puck while showering to help soften up the extremely hard triple milled monster. I tried this and it did indeed help - a bit - I enjoyed my first decent lather from IK. However subsequent attempts were at best uneven and once again I grew frustrated with it and tossed the puck under the sink and forgot about it.
A couple of months later I came upon the tin again during a bathroom clean out and when I opened it up I saw that the top of the puck had become a bit eroded - I think from all the water I had sprinkled on it during my last attempts lathering it. I decided to toss it in the trash right then and there but before I did I was going to load my brush with it for 5 minutes if necessary to try to get one (last) massive lather from it before chucking it forever. I filled the tin with hot water, submerging the puck completely, while I showered.
When I finished my shower and went to load the soap, the top of the puck scraped off like toothpaste and I realized I had probably just done the equivalent of a mega-load with a couple of swirls of my brush. I proceeded to try to face lather the pasty mess and - lo and behold - the brush built the most incredible, thick, shiny, protective lather I had ever experienced. The lather was unbelievably cushiony and rich. If it had one drawback it was that it wasn't the slickest soap I had ever tried - it had ample slickness no doubt - but it's calling card was that it was definitely the most protective, cushioning soap I had ever encountered. It also afforded me the best shave I had ever had and indeed left my face feeling better than before I started - I haven't checked my facts on this recently but I believe it may have the highest Shea butter content of the French soaps. It was the middle of a typically dry, cold, Toronto winter and for the first time ever with a shaving soap, I felt like I hadn't sucked my skin dry shaving. Up to that point I always found my self abandoning my beloved soaps in favor of rich creams during the winter months.
And the best part of all was that I was able to reproduce that lather consistently shave after shave, from that point on.
So what's the secret to Institut Karite? Well, after using up my first puck and buying a second, I can honestly say that I think it's the Mouton Rothschild of shaving soaps. Like the fine French Bordeaux, IK benefits tremendously from some aging. It is so hard to begin with, that it needs time - and some permeating moisture - to fully open up. Aging also takes care of the pungent floral scent and turns it into one of the mildest, inoffensive light florals on the market. I find the scent intoxicating now. I even went through a phase where I kept it on my desk because I enjoyed holding it to my nostrils for a whiff while working (I'm not sure if admitting this publicly is worse than the habit itself) but I'm through this now.
Although I do feel one can get a reasonable lather from it relatively early with the warm water soak technique, I found no matter how often I did this with my second puck, it still didn't offer up the rich billowy lather that my first puck did until it too had "aged" in the tin for several months. When the puck's surface starts to get a bit dimpled - when it loses it's perfect smoothness - you're in for some very fine shaves my friends. I imagine one could accelerate this process by soaking it more often or storing it with a little water in the time but I haven't tried these techniques myself. Though I'm not a quarter through my current puck, I have a third puck in the cellar now.
So what's your Everest of shaving soaps and how did you finally make the summit?
What soap have you found most rewarding once you stuck with it long enough to figure out how to get fantastic lather out of it? It would be great if you'd also list any technical tips you found helpful in taming the saponinic beast.
Mine is the French soap Institut Karite. Highly regarded for it's rich lather and exceptional skin care qualities - one of those "moisturizing" soaps that supposedly leaves your skin feeling better than before you shaved - I almost tossed this one twice. When I first opened it, I was hit between the eyes with Great Aunt EDT - the floral scent was sickly sweet and way too feminine for my nose. I couldn't believe all the rave reviews for this soap. I almost tossed it right then and there but since it got such phenomenal feedback on the boards - and also because it wasn't cheap - I figured I had to give it a fair shake. Well, after a couple of weeks of consistently disappointing lathers I flung the puck resentfully under the sink, intending to BST it as part of a soap lot once I had accumulated other rejects.
I eventually forgot about it until about two months later, when I had become bored of my (at that time) modest rotation. I pulled it out to give it another whirl and to see if I was able to get any better results. I immediately noticed that the scent had softened significantly into more of a light, fresh floral scent with a touch of powder mixed in. I still didn't love the scent but it didn't offend my nostrils anymore. However the lather was the same - complete garbage. I went onto B&B in search of some advice for this persistently persnickety puck and came upon a recommendation to sprinkle a few drops of hot water on the puck while showering to help soften up the extremely hard triple milled monster. I tried this and it did indeed help - a bit - I enjoyed my first decent lather from IK. However subsequent attempts were at best uneven and once again I grew frustrated with it and tossed the puck under the sink and forgot about it.
A couple of months later I came upon the tin again during a bathroom clean out and when I opened it up I saw that the top of the puck had become a bit eroded - I think from all the water I had sprinkled on it during my last attempts lathering it. I decided to toss it in the trash right then and there but before I did I was going to load my brush with it for 5 minutes if necessary to try to get one (last) massive lather from it before chucking it forever. I filled the tin with hot water, submerging the puck completely, while I showered.
When I finished my shower and went to load the soap, the top of the puck scraped off like toothpaste and I realized I had probably just done the equivalent of a mega-load with a couple of swirls of my brush. I proceeded to try to face lather the pasty mess and - lo and behold - the brush built the most incredible, thick, shiny, protective lather I had ever experienced. The lather was unbelievably cushiony and rich. If it had one drawback it was that it wasn't the slickest soap I had ever tried - it had ample slickness no doubt - but it's calling card was that it was definitely the most protective, cushioning soap I had ever encountered. It also afforded me the best shave I had ever had and indeed left my face feeling better than before I started - I haven't checked my facts on this recently but I believe it may have the highest Shea butter content of the French soaps. It was the middle of a typically dry, cold, Toronto winter and for the first time ever with a shaving soap, I felt like I hadn't sucked my skin dry shaving. Up to that point I always found my self abandoning my beloved soaps in favor of rich creams during the winter months.
And the best part of all was that I was able to reproduce that lather consistently shave after shave, from that point on.
So what's the secret to Institut Karite? Well, after using up my first puck and buying a second, I can honestly say that I think it's the Mouton Rothschild of shaving soaps. Like the fine French Bordeaux, IK benefits tremendously from some aging. It is so hard to begin with, that it needs time - and some permeating moisture - to fully open up. Aging also takes care of the pungent floral scent and turns it into one of the mildest, inoffensive light florals on the market. I find the scent intoxicating now. I even went through a phase where I kept it on my desk because I enjoyed holding it to my nostrils for a whiff while working (I'm not sure if admitting this publicly is worse than the habit itself) but I'm through this now.
Although I do feel one can get a reasonable lather from it relatively early with the warm water soak technique, I found no matter how often I did this with my second puck, it still didn't offer up the rich billowy lather that my first puck did until it too had "aged" in the tin for several months. When the puck's surface starts to get a bit dimpled - when it loses it's perfect smoothness - you're in for some very fine shaves my friends. I imagine one could accelerate this process by soaking it more often or storing it with a little water in the time but I haven't tried these techniques myself. Though I'm not a quarter through my current puck, I have a third puck in the cellar now.
So what's your Everest of shaving soaps and how did you finally make the summit?
