My take on Martin de Candre that was Christmas gift

[Antique Hoosier]

I've only used a sample, but I definitely plan to purchase a jar sometime this year.

A sample from Oakeshott got me hooked. I bought a 90% plus jar on a WTB/BST and then a full jar from a very kind monarch2001 (Michael) sold me his "excess" keeping his jar and selling off one too me. I want the "brain bowl" but I showed it to Melissa and she didn't agree!

 

[Foyle]

A sample from Oakeshott got me hooked. I bought a 90% plus jar on a WTB/BST and then a full jar from a very kind monarch2001 (Michael) sold me his "excess" keeping his jar and selling off one too me. I want the "brain bowl" but I showed it to Melissa and she didn't agree!

The bowl is more expensive than the jar. I think when I re-order I'll get the jar.

 

[TallyShave]

I am always amused at the 3 swirl load claims because if you are using so little soap, then your bowl full of "lather" is pretty much just air...not great for shaving. You can perform a similar trick with many soaps and create a bowl full of crap with minimal loading.

The obsession with loading time for MdC is an interesting phenomenon that you never see with other soaps. I doubt it would occur if it were available for $5 at every Wal Mart in a plastic tub.

People can use as little product as they wish to make lather, it is their face. But I say just use it and enjoy it. You can always buy more.

 

[Foyle]

I am always amused at the 3 swirl load claims because if you are using so little soap, then your bowl full of "lather" is pretty much just air...not great for shaving. You can perform a similar trick with many soaps and create a bowl full of crap with minimal loading.

The obsession with loading time for MdC is an interesting phenomenon that you never see with other soaps. I doubt it would occur if it were available for $5 at every Wal Mart in a plastic tub.

People can use as little product as they wish to make lather, it is their face. But I say just use it and enjoy it. You can always buy more.

I don't think it's an obsession. The first time I shaved with it I did my usual 30 second load, and I had so much proto lather on the soap I couldn't get it all in the brush. That's when I switched to a 15 second load.

 

[brucered]

People can use as little product as they wish to make lather, it is their face. But I say just use it and enjoy it. You can always buy more.

I think that's the biggest mistake people make with a new jar of MdC. I was lucky, I started using it before the 3 sec swirl talk started and was loading for 45sec. needless to day, i was getting gobs and gobs. i slowly dialed it down to 30 sec, now about 15-20sec for my normal shaves.

i want to fully enjoy it and it still lasts forever in rotation. so many start with too little soap based on all the threads and posts and don't get to see it's full potential. if used properly, it can be loaded less then most other soaps and still perform excellently.

here is my normal 15 sec load time for bowl lathering it, but I also face lather it. as you can see at the end of the video when I lather it on my palm, it's nice and shiny holds water (as I like my lather like this) but can be tweaked to be thicker or thinner based on how much water is in your brush.

 

[celestino]

Enjoy the soap!

 

[rxonmymind]

There you hit it on the head brucered. Enjoy it for crying out loud! Why be stingy although I'm not advocating waste either. If your curious on the minimal load requirements of MDC so be it but do enjoy it with mounds of lather.

 

[oldtrout]

3 swipes? I just wave my brush over the unopened jar for a few seconds for a 4-pass shave!

Actually, I have hard water, so I use about 20 seconds of damp brush swirling on the MdC to create a luxurious lather.

 

[Foyle]

This guy gets some pretty respectable lather from just a 4 second load.

 

[kingfisher]

Good soap. If it didn't stink like a med school anatomy lab I would have it in my rotation.

 

[brucered]

anyway you cut it, MdC is a fantastic Christmas Gift.

hope you enjoy it as much as many of us do.

 

[Niles]

A sample from Oakeshott got me hooked. I bought a 90% plus jar on a WTB/BST and then a full jar from a very kind monarch2001 (Michael) sold me his "excess" keeping his jar and selling off one too me. I want the "brain bowl" but I showed it to Melissa and she didn't agree!

Yeah, the brain bowl is tempting.

 

[FL shaver]

Trip to Paris coming in June. Trip to Planet Rasoir in order.

 

[Price]

I just completed MdCember - a month of using nothing but Martin de Candre. Extended use leads to some experimentation. While I normally do load MdC about 20-25 swirls (about half of what I use for most soaps), I did dip my toe back into the "minimal loading" pool a couple times, just to experiment. No special preps or extra mashing, but 5 swirls (I didn't try anything less) with a Wee Scot got me plenty of lather for my standard weekday morning two-pass, with enough left for some cleanup. Was it as luxurious as with normal loading? No. No, it was not. Could I have done a four-pass shave with it? Absolutely not. But it did produce very shaveworthy lather with almost no loading.

Don't want this thread to turn into another heated discussion (it seems we've had a couple of those on this subject), but suffice to say that I love the stuff, and it will always be in my rotation. My jar is over a year old now, and is still quite full (an unwieldy large rotation I'm afraid), so I'd definitely say - IMHO, anyway - it is definitely "worth it". Congrats to the OP on a wonderful pick-up.

 

[lt114]

I want to see 1 swirl MdC lather.
All kidding aside, MdC is a superior soap that just explodes with rich protective lather.

 

[Kramerica]

I actually got a 4 pass BBS shave from simply waving my brush in front of the monitor with this discussion thread displayed!

All joking aside, it's on my shaving bucket list. Maybe later this year (Father's Day, anyone??)

 

[OldSaw]

3 swipes for 5 passes? They must have added extra unicorn horn to the new batches.

...and rainbow farts.

 

[cleancut]

To those that doubt my 3 swirl loading...........I did this as an experiment. While face lathering I REALLY had to WORK to get it built up enough to do 3 - 5 passes. This was not something that I'll do every day. I'd normally swirl about 12 - 15 seconds. I just wanted to see for myself how great this soap lathers. If I hadn't did it myself I probably wouldn't believe it either.

 

[dundak]

...and rainbow farts.

I added some to my MdC and when I unscrewed the lid to the jar the tsunami of lather blew me out of the bathroom

 

[Antique Hoosier]

Both of these will see much duty in 2013...