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Oaken Lab Earth of Mankind first impressions

Why yes, you perceive correctly, but at least you rose to the challenge. Sometimes, though, overly pedantic keyboard commandos, quick to criticize and display their "I know better" attitude, do little more than annoy and make forums tedious.

An example of a comment no one needs, "if you want to eat it, don't let me stop you, but if you want to shave with it, you need a better lather."

You are needlessly belittling both the original post, and the subsequent comment. Needlessly.

Choose your battles. The question of whether this lather is even useable, or not, is not the battle.
 
Why yes, you perceive correctly, but at least you rose to the challenge. Sometimes, though, overly pedantic keyboard commandos, quick to criticize and display their "I know better" attitude, do little more than annoy and make forums tedious.

An example of a comment no one needs, "if you want to eat it, don't let me stop you, but if you want to shave with it, you need a better lather."

You are needlessly belittling both the original post, and the subsequent comment. Needlessly.

Choose your battles. The question of whether this lather is even useable, or not, is not the battle.


The problem is that lots of less experienced shavers look at a head of frothy lather and think that is what a great lather is supposed to look like. If no one challenges the concept of foamy, frothy lathers, shavers will never learn to produce a great lather. Would that lather be usable, probably for most people, but not for me. Is that lather the best that can be produced with that soap, I certainly hope not. Thus, this is definitely a battle worth waging.

I am not trying to be critical of anyone. Everyone starts somewhere and then progresses as their skills develop. Learning to produce a great lather is just as important a skill as learning the proper technique of using a razor.

I am not trying to be critical of the artisan soap since I have not used it personally. I suspect the OP could have spent a little more time developing the lather and ended up with a far better lather and a better shave. I would love to see photos of better lathers produced with that soap.
 
If it worked for him, what exactly is the problem? You do you, he does him, everyone's happy. YMMV, as they say. 🤷‍♂️


It may have worked for him, but I am hoping that he can learn to make even better lathers.

There is a fairy tale of a king who was naked but was perfectly content in that state because his subjects were deathly afraid of pointing out his nakedness.
 
It may have worked for him, but I am hoping that he can learn to make even better lathers.

There is a fairy tale of a king who was naked but was perfectly content in that state because his subjects were deathly afraid of pointing out his nakedness.

I just don't understand the point of hoping that. That's your will, not necessarily his. Was the king happy? Because who cares what his subjects or anyone else thought?

Also, if you were pointing out the bubbles in the picture of the lather in the bowl, yes, there were objectively large air bubbles there; I think anyone would agree with that. If you were remarking on the picture of the lather he had on the brush that was standing up, I'd have to point out that there were bubbles of the same size in the picture of the lather you posted in retort. Bubbles that small have absolutely zero effect on the cushion, glide, post-shave, and any other metric of effectiveness that you could throw at me. His lather on the brush had shine and what certainly looked like soft peaks, both hallmarks of a properly hydrated lather. A lather needs proper hydration to be effective more than it needs the air bubbles to be smaller than X nm. I'm just saying, you're REALLY splitting hairs here if that's the one you were criticizing (sorry, but yes, a vast majority of an average sampling of the human population would interpret that as criticism). I think it's safe to say that most would find the way you phrased your comments to be officious more than actually helpful.
 
I just don't understand the point of hoping that. That's your will, not necessarily his. Was the king happy? Because who cares what his subjects or anyone else thought?

Also, if you were pointing out the bubbles in the picture of the lather in the bowl, yes, there were objectively large air bubbles there; I think anyone would agree with that. If you were remarking on the picture of the lather he had on the brush that was standing up, I'd have to point out that there were bubbles of the same size in the picture of the lather you posted in retort. Bubbles that small have absolutely zero effect on the cushion, glide, post-shave, and any other metric of effectiveness that you could throw at me. His lather on the brush had shine and what certainly looked like soft peaks, both hallmarks of a properly hydrated lather. A lather needs proper hydration to be effective more than it needs the air bubbles to be smaller than X nm. I'm just saying, you're REALLY splitting hairs here if that's the one you were criticizing (sorry, but yes, a vast majority of an average sampling of the human population would interpret that as criticism). I think it's safe to say that most would find the way you phrased your comments to be officious more than actually helpful.

I gather from your above post that you think blissful ignorance is a good thing. However, I may be incorrect in that analysis.

Is is a character flaw to hope that someone will learn how to improve his lathering technique? I only want the best for my fellow shavers. If I can help them move in that direction, I will try to do so.

Proper hydration certainly is a critical part of getting a good lather. If you looked at all the photos I forwarded, you will see that there are a few large bubbles in the initial photos, but by the final photos, nearly all of those large bubbles are absent. A few bubble is not going to significantly affect the quality of a lather, but a lot of large bubbles will.
 
I gather from your above post that you think blissful ignorance is a good thing. However, I may be incorrect in that analysis.

No, that's not correct. But I do think in a general sense that ignoring outside noise if you already follow an effective methodology is totally warranted. I'm working on the assumption that he got a good shave with the lather he made and was happy with it, else I don't think he would've posted a picture of it and expressed his satisfaction. In which case, someone essentially telling him "that's not good enough" is not so constructive. That's my opinion.

A few bubble is not going to significantly affect the quality of a lather, but a lot of large bubbles will.

On that basic tenet at least we can agree. I honestly bear you no ill will here; I just think the tone of how you said what you said could easily cause someone to take offense. And I wouldn't want that for any of my fellow hobbyists; we're all here basically to have fun with this. You seem like a measured fellow, and I'm sure you agree with that as well, so I don't want to beat this discussion into the ground any further. Let's just say we see it from different angles and leave it at that. Seems proper.
 

Ad Astra

The Instigator
Dudes. Like Devo said, whip it!

Anyways. That chocolate mousse lather photo preyed on my mind until I ordered Van Yulay Death by Chocolate!

I tried a VY soap, Gingerbread, at Christmas and it wasn't just the scent that was excellent... looking forward to chocolate lather! But I wanted a linear chocolate scent, unlike OP's soap.


AA
 
Dudes. Like Devo said, whip it!

Anyways. That chocolate mousse lather photo preyed on my mind until I ordered Van Yulay Death by Chocolate!

I tried a VY soap, Gingerbread, at Christmas and it wasn't just the scent that was excellent... looking forward to chocolate lather! But I wanted a linear chocolate scent, unlike OP's soap.


AA

lol......

uh......he said it.

DEVO!!!!!

think the hats they wore would work as a lather bowl?

camo
 

Ad Astra

The Instigator
lol......

uh......he said it.

DEVO!!!!!

think the hats they wore would work as a lather bowl?

camo

Ok, this is hysterical!

Watch at 2:08, the woman actually is whipping a giant bowl of lather!


Forgot what a great song that actually is!


AA
 
Morning shave with Earth of Mankind. The scent is....earthy (well, duh), tallow-based with some glycerine. Shares notes with A&E's Choco Cubano, T+S's Madagascar, and even B&M's Lavanille for comparison - but not as intense, as exotic, or as floral, respectively - and really nothing like any of them. Forward fragrance note is agarwood (think cedar-ish or sandalwood), with an oriental spice blending (Ylang Ylang?), some tobacco/smokey notes, and overall a pleasant combination, not too in-your-face, and not too in-the-background. Not too thirsty, and not hard, or soft like a croap. Lathers well, not too stiff. Cushiony and slick, just about right (but needs attention lathering, so it's not too thin). If you get the idea it's a Goldilocks soap, that's just about right. Excellent scent and performance - I like it. A/S is witch hazel-based, more on the agarwood side for fragrance, alcohol-free, and very soothing and protective - similar face feel to Thayers. Delighted to have found it - and thanks to the OP for pointing out. Will definitely be trying other Oaken Lab offerings.
(White balance is a little off, but it's a light chocolatey brown color when lathered, as noted)
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The kretek aspect of this soap hasn't drawn any comment. I had a friend many years ago who grew up in Indonesia and so became a kretek smoker. He carried the habit to the U.S. with him and it was lifelong. The things killed him before he was 50...but they sure do smell good.
 
The kretek aspect of this soap hasn't drawn any comment. I had a friend many years ago who grew up in Indonesia and so became a kretek smoker. He carried the habit to the U.S. with him and it was lifelong. The things killed him before he was 50...but they sure do smell good.

Does have a faint - very faint to me - hint of cloves, but virtually covered by more of a tobacco-y scent, and blends in with other spice notes. Certainly nothing like we are accustomed to in most bay rum soaps. The fragrance is both exotic and familiar, and again, very pleasant (to my nose), and I would not expect to be very polarizing for spouse or coworkers. YM, as always, MV.
 
Since I detect a high degree of sarcasm in your comment, I decided to post some photos supplied by another B&B member Matt O from his review of Zingari Man Sego. Matt did a wonderful job of lathering the soap. Thanks Matt!

The initial photos still show some small bubbles, but Matt continued to work the lather until those bubbles were eliminated. The final photos show a beautiful lather, ideal for shaving. That is what I consider to be an ideal lather for shaving.

ZM Sego is only one of many soaps that will produce such smooth lathers, free of large bubbles. I have not used Oaken Labs soap, but I suspect if the reviewer had worked the lather a while longer, most of the large bubbles would have been eliminated. When lathering, do not quite before you get the lather to where it needs to be.

While foam might look "good enough to eat", it does not not make a great shaving lather.
Looks good , but if you ask me, less water should be introduced to that lather. In the final photo you can clearly see some larger bubbles.

Do you prefer something like that better?
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