MWF and face lathering

[maxman]

I love MWF. Let's get that out of the way right now. It's the best.
Ok, so even though I love it, I can't get a decent lather out of it with my bowl.
It's still slick as can be and performs very well.

So today I decide that I'm going to face lather the MWF. Now I'm no stranger to face lathering, but I do like to use a bowl.

Wouldn't you know it, it just exploded into nice moist, slick lather on my face.
I'm sold. MWF will skip the bowl for me.

 

[Miles]

Yep, that MWF is good stuff. Every time I use it, I reaffirm my belief that I've found my "go-to" soap. Face lathers great with a good range of brushes, too: Kent BK4, Rooney 1/1 (via T&H), Omega 21047, and the Simpsons Wee Scot all work great! The Kent's a little flooby when loading, but once it's ready, watch out! Hello lathervalanche!

The only thing is I had to get the Kent soap, since SWMBO would give me a sad face if she saw a bowl printed with Wool Fat. "Did they kill a little sheep for your soap?"

 

[LarryAndro]

With MWF, bowl or face lathering works quite well. I bowl lather because I can keep the lather warmer by putting it on a heating pad.

 

[timsackbutt]

Yep, that MWF is good stuff. Every time I use it, I reaffirm my belief that I've found my "go-to" soap. Face lathers great with a good range of brushes, too: Kent BK4, Rooney 1/1 (via T&H), Omega 21047, and the Simpsons Wee Scot all work great! The Kent's a little flooby when loading, but once it's ready, watch out! Hello lathervalanche!

The only thing is I had to get the Kent soap, since SWMBO would give me a sad face if she saw a bowl printed with Wool Fat. "Did they kill a little sheep for your soap?"

Tell your wife that shearing usually isn't fatal
at least for the sheep

 

[mbrossar]

Ah, it all sounds so familiar. I too used to bowl lather. I too am a MWF fan. In fact, being a bit of a minimalist, MWF's all I ever use. I actually moved to face lathering when I fell in love with my Chubby 1. Just couldn't get that sucker into the bowl comfortably. Started face lathering and never looked back. It's the only way to go.

 

[C.Morgan]

What i do with the mwf is before i got for my shower is load it up with soap then stick it in my mug filled with hot water,then when im ready i face lather,this works really well for me.Nice thick hot lather and plenty for atleast 3 passes

 

[maxman]

I'm actually starting to think that I can ditch the other creams and bowl and just go with face lathering MWF. What's happening here?!?!?!

 

[Schwert]

MWF really is good. I regret not adding it to my lineup long ago.

I have exclusively face-lathered for decades....I just don't see any good reason to bowl lather ever.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Face-lathering works for me, too, but I get the best MWF performance with a scuttle.

 

[letsdisinfect]

I've worked with a small sample of MWF and my wee scot for a few days now and have had really nice results. I've pretty much moved exclusively toward face lathering in the past month and MWF has been giving me great results.

I just bit the bullet and bought a puck of the kent branded MWF in a wooden bowl from ebay. Thanks guys, this thread pushed me over the edge!

 

[Ru4scuba?]

Face-lathering works for me, too, but I get the best MWF performance with a scuttle.

Exact opposite for me...I get poor lather with a scuttle YMMV

 

[wolfmanxiii]

I love MWF. Let's get that out of the way right now. It's the best.
Ok, so even though I love it, I can't get a decent lather out of it with my bowl.
It's still slick as can be and performs very well.

So today I decide that I'm going to face lather the MWF. Now I'm no stranger to face lathering, but I do like to use a bowl.

Wouldn't you know it, it just exploded into nice moist, slick lather on my face.
I'm sold. MWF will skip the bowl for me.

I had the same exact problem with MWF at first. However about two months ago I really started paying attention to my lathering technique and it changed EVERYTHING. Anymore it is very hard for me to find a soap that I can't get a rich lather out of. Here is what I do and I get GREAT lather with MWF and as an added bonus since I'm bowl/scuttle lathering I get to keep it warm:

I DO NOT soak my soap or my brush before hand at all.
I DO of course soak my scuttle in hot water.
Then when I'm out of the shower and ready to shave I run my brush under hot water for a minute and shake all the excess out so I've got only a slightly damp brush.
From here I take my badger with a three finger pinch on the bristles and load my soap up into the brush thoroughly.
Then I begin lathering in my scuttle while adding just the tiniest bit of water at a time with my hand until it is perfect.
This has resulted in great lather from MWF every time. I haven't tried it with a boar brush yet, but I will be sure to do so ASAP and let you know. Hope this helps!

 

[Rudy Vey]

Exact opposite for me...I get poor lather with a scuttle YMMV

For me, too. Tried it in the scuttle twice and already packed it up for selling it, then I started face lathering more and more and gave it another try: superb result, now its a keeper. I have pretty much totally migrated to face lather, only when I use a cream and a larger Silvertip I use my scuttle, but much less than I used to.

 

[Malacoda]

Yeah, call me crazy but I seem to reach a finished lather with MWF - or most any other soap actually - when I face lather vs. bowl lather. Just a shot in the dark but I attribute it to my course hairs helping to aerating the emulsion quicker.

Anyway, face or bowl, IMHO MWF is awesome stuff both in terms of fresh, clean scent and quality of lather.

 

[fidjit]

Try milling it into a shave stick and then using

 

[PhatMan]

Maxman,

It seems the secret is to make sure that your brush is loaded fully with MWF.

The brush needs to be on the drier side.

MWF is a very hard soap in its puck form, which is why I grate it into another container. This seems to leave the surface a bit more amenable, and also the container doesn't let the MWF dry out.

After you have loaded the brush, work the lather in the bowl very thoroughly. Do not add water while you are doing this.

Add COLD water in small amounts (I mean small - no more than a splash from the finger tips) working each addition fully into the lather.

For me, the lather seems to most stable if I leave it to sit for a few minutes after it is built (I use the time to strop my razor), then re-mix.

It seems a bit of palaver, but it is well worth it

If this seems too much work, just add a pea sized amount of Musgo Real shaving cream to the shave bowl, and make the lather from the MWF loaded brish as usual; the Musgo stabilises the MWF lather a treat, and you will have a super-lather full of lanolin-ily goodness

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

 

[Leon]

So today I decide that I'm going to face lather the MWF. Now I'm no stranger to face lathering, but I do like to use a bowl.

Wouldn't you know it, it just exploded into nice moist, slick lather on my face.
I'm sold. MWF will skip the bowl for me.

If you're into exploring althernatives to bowl lathering MWF, check out my guide on palm lathering.

 

[djh]

I face-lather all of my soaps and leave the bowl for creams......

 

[Confilo]

I use soaps, a bowl and MWF. Actually I shaved with it this morning, lotsa of lather never a problem.

 

[tlanning]

MWF is "GOOD" stuff. That from a guy whos been looking for the perfect soap for decades

As long as I don't use super hot water, (as I like to do) and face lather it can not be beat. I actually like it better than Pen's English fern old tallow formula which I am about to post on ebay, (almost new with bowl, used 4 times). The scent is great but IMHO no better than any other good tallow soap.

MWF is a WINNER