Problem with Trumper Soap

[ChrisS86]

Lately for some reason I've been having trouble lathering Trumper's Coconut soap. Well, actually, the first pass I do yields very thick protective lather. My problem is that in the second pass, it seems as though there's no soap left in the brush, and the lather is very thin. Even when I try to re-charge the brush on the soap, the lather is...eh.

I've tried everything from cleaning my brush (Rooney 1/1) to loading it on the soap longer. My tap water is soft. I have no problems with my other soaps (tallow or vegetable based), so I'm wondering if I got a bad puck, or if there is something else I should do. Any thoughts? I like the scent of the soap too much to stop using it.

 

[petr]

It will be interesting to know if others think it is the quality of the soap.

My hunch is maybe it is. I was on the verge of buying this very soap.

For similar soaps I simply re warm the center of the brush with a thimble full of water and load a second time on the soap. I use the same Rooney.

 

[Austin]

It sounds like you lack water in the brush. On your second pass, wet the tips and reload the soap. See if this helps.

 

[The National Razor]

I wouldn't think it's the quality of the soap. Trumper Violet consistently gives me a great lather that lasts for 3-4 passes. It's my best soap in my opinion. YMMV and all that, though.

Do you soak your brush whilst in the shower? If not, maybe do that, making sure to squeeze the excess water out before loading.

 

[cfriend]

I wouldn't think it's the quality of the soap. Trumper Violet consistently gives me a great lather that lasts for 3-4 passes.

I too have great results with Violet, though I've never used Coconut.

 

[Phog Allen]

I've posted this before but I am so disappointed in my Trumper Almond shave soap. And yes, it the alleged tallow version that contains "shave soap base and toilet soap base". It is the poorest performer of all the big name soaps I own. I have the same results you do. Poor lather stability and even the first pass is not too great. Maybe a bum cake or maybe my water doesn't like it. Just for giggles I will drag it out tomorrow morning and give it yet another fruitless try. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised.

Regards, Todd

 

[beginish]

If you give your brush a squeeze, does lather come out? Perhaps the brush is just being a hog with the lather. Alternatively, you may just need to add a bit more water.

 

[Hare & Copper]

I have a Rooney 1/1 and Trumpers coconut soap. I find that I can get enough lather for a 3 pass shave if I load the brush long enough - 45 seconds to a minute with a relatively dry brush. I have noticed though that the brush holds onto a lot of lather. I face lather and when re-applying lather to my face for the second and third passes I first use a circular, scrubbing motion (just like when building lather for the first time) to let the lather come out before using a painting motion to finish. You may already be doing this of course as part of your normal technique but it seems to work for me.

 

[Phog Allen]

I used the almond this morning for the first time in months. I really went to work loading the brush. I spent a good minute. Tonnes of suds but no dense loading like Provence Sante or AOS. The loaded lather was pretty airy. I face lather so I started in and lathered for a good 2-3 minutes. And I mean I worked the Savile Row 3824 like a rented mule. Eventually I got the suds to thicken up but it took a LOT of work. Lathering with the brush in a combination of circular and paint brush patterns finally left a serviceable if unimpressive lather on the visage. The initial first pass was okay but the Trumper simply does not have the cushion of AOS or Penhaligon's(tallow fifth) soaps. After about twenty seconds the lather started to destabilise a bit and glimpses of skin appeared in places. This seemed familiar territory to me. I went three full passes to test it and by the third I was squeezing the lather out of the brush and working it by hand to keep it emulsified and stable on the face. All in all an average shave. Trumper soap does not afford me the glide that better soaps do. The almond scent is okay if a bit synthetic smelling. It is certainly not offensive. All in all chaps I have to say that Trumper does not make my top ten list of shave lathers. Not by a long mile. Average is what jumps out at me. And anyone who knows my postings knows that I am a VERY traditional guy with a soft spot for Anglo products. Some of you may remember my mini rant a few years ago when Trumper changed its website to something...contemporary and changed a bunch of their packaging to boot. So bear in mind I am not anti Trumper. I particularly like Trumper fragrances (I am a complete sucker for English style scents. Almost to the exclusion of others.) This Trumper almond shave soap does not make muster for me. A shame because like most chaps I believe everyone should have at least one article from Trumper in the toiletry locker. Just not this particular cake of shave soap.

Regards, Todd

 

[petr]

That was my experience with the Rose soap. Shave quality was just never as good as other soaps - thin and sudsy.

 

[Saltchuck]

Lately for some reason I've been having trouble lathering Trumper's Coconut soap.

I thought it was just me. Trumper's Coconut does a nice job for me, but I have to give it bad marks in the volume of lather category.

 

[BlackBard]

I have a Rooney 1/1 and Trumpers coconut soap. I find that I can get enough lather for a 3 pass shave if I load the brush long enough - 45 seconds to a minute with a relatively dry brush. I have noticed though that the brush holds onto a lot of lather. I face lather and when re-applying lather to my face for the second and third passes I first use a circular, scrubbing motion (just like when building lather for the first time) to let the lather come out before using a painting motion to finish. You may already be doing this of course as part of your normal technique but it seems to work for me.

This is the right way, IMHO. I never get the same lather upon re-lathering. I believe this is because, with face lathering, the whiskers are mostly gone, so there is not the same relatively rough surface to lather against as there was for the first lathering. It's OK. I still never run out of lather if I have loaded the brush sufficiently in the beginning.

 

[Omnichron]

Have you tried milling the soap?

 

[ChrisS86]

Thanks for the replies everyone

I'll give the soap another try tomorrow and experiment with different water ratios. It's just strange that even if I load a pretty dry brush on Trumper coconut for over a minute, the lather in the second pass will still be thin and watery. The lather I can get for the second pass from soaps like Tabac, AOS, QED and others is almost as thick and protective as the lather in the first pass. So if Trumper can't keep up with the rest of the gang, I'll have to part ways with it

 

[Rusty Jackknife]

I have tried and tried to make friends with Trumper soaps - especially Rose.

After weeks of adjusting my lather techniques, I ditched both my Rose and Lime soaps. IMO, the Lime was quite mediocre in terms of performance.

YMMV.

 

[gagarin]

I've had much the same experience with Trumpers soap. I purchased a puck of the highly-regarded Rose, and it's just O.K. Not bad, but sort of thin lather, and I found it to be drying as well. Of the traditional English hard soaps, I found the DR Harris Almond to be spectacular - rich lather, and very nice scent. The Trumpers doesn't come close, in my experience.

Not sure, but it may be related to the fact that the Harris contains tallow, but the Trumpers does not.

Regards,

 

[SRock]

It sounds like you lack water in the brush. On your second pass, wet the tips and reload the soap. See if this helps.

This would be my guess as well.

 

[brothers]

Don't give up on Trumper's soap until you watch this excellent video. It helped me a lot at a time when I was ready to throw my Trumper's Rose away.

 

[Drubbing]

I've tried a fair few soaps and wasn't expecting big things from Trumper's Rose. Now I'd never be without it. It face lathers very easily, as good as Cade or Tabac for me, but with a scent everyone can love.

I can only imagine it's a technique thing. But then again, I find T&H soap useless to lather; I load it forever, but it's only good for one pass. But many others have no such issue with it. Go figure.

Don't give up on Trumper's soap until you watch this excellent video. It helped me a lot at a time when I was ready to throw my Trumper's Rose away.

Such a waste of time and soap. The same result can be achieved, in a fraction of the time with a squeezed/drier brush to lift and agitate the soap off; all he's doing is demonstrating how starting with too much water makes the whole process 10X harder than it needs to be.

 

[Rusty Jackknife]

Such a waste of time and soap. The same result can be achieved, in a fraction of the time with a squeezed/drier brush to lift and agitate the soap off; all he's doing is demonstrating how starting with too much water makes the whole process 10X harder than it needs to be.

I am glad to see I am not the only one that does not get this video.