Oh dear, What just happened?

[Merle]

Valobra Cologne puck + my Rudy Vey, 2018 Birthday, 22mm badger brush, & a Captain's ceramic bowl. I finally 'cracked the lock' and made myself a brilliant shave cream from this triple milled soap. I've had three of these classic blue bowled pucks since I started wet shaving and haven't had a nice shave once. Then, out of the blue, I go back and say why not. Same brush pick-up I've been doing since I decided on something that works for me. Same bowl technique... and I'd be darned if the Birthday brush didn't make a huge win out of my morning! Thank you Rudy!

I'd thought this brush was going to be my cream brush because it's just a bit long and floppy, (I have a lot to learn about specifying a perfect brush.) but, dang if it doesn't rub this hard puck just right! What's even better? I now know what you folks have been raving about with Valobra! No bloody wonder! I'm hooked!.

 

[Hooman]

I had a rather similar experience with my first and only puck of Valobra. The first 5 to 7 shaves with it were not that great. Then after some experimentation with water I realized that it is a very thirsty soap and the more water you add incrementally, the slicker it gets. I love my Valobra puck, as the owner / manufacturer had said before it is the most gentle soap on sensitive skin. I hope Proraso, which has just taken over Valobra, maintains the same exceptional quality.

 

[ackvil]

Every soap has a different sweet spot. I have 31 brushes in my rotation. Some time ago I used one soap for a month but changed the brush every day. I was surprised by how some brushes gave different results. I also began to see that for some soaps continued use resulted in a better lather. So, I then went back and started using the same soaps all over. Much to my surprise, the brushes I used earlier the first time around did much better when the soap had been used for over a month.

 

[BigJ]

NICE!!

 

[FloorPizza]

the more water you add incrementally, the slicker it gets.

Most soaps will do this to some degree. But some soaps *really* get slicker with more water. A lot of straight shavers (myself included) water our lathers far past the point of it being photographic to get the absolute best slickness a soap will give.