Reformulated Pen's EF....A solution? PIC Heavy

[bluemantra]

Ok so yeah I purchased Penhaligon's English Fern Reformulated shave soap in-spite of the poor reviews. I thought I could do it better than others. Well, it turns out the reformulation really does produce an absolute useless lather. It dissipates before you can even put a razor to your face. The scent is there, but unfortunately the performance isn't. I have never used a tallow version of either of the Pen's shave soaps. I really really really want one though

I came across a thread with others reporting similar results as me. I saw one post where a gentlemen had milled a puck of AoS unscented together with the Pen's in an effort to produce better results. I was determined to get a usable lather from Pen's EF, I really love the scent. So I bought a refill puck of AoS unscented and gave it a shot. Here's my results:

I milled these two pucks together about 50/50.

I ended up milling some more AoS. I was concerned about losing the scent of EF, which is what I was ultimately after so I kept going back and forth on the ratio.

I combined the soaps in a container from Mamabears.

Here's the leftover parts of the two soaps. I figure I can also lather them this way as well.

And here's the lather it produced.

The lather is much more dense and more the consistency of the other tallow soaps I own, but obviously not the same.

The lather produced was very much improved over the Pen's EF by itself. It is now a usable lather and the awesome scent of English Fern remains. Was this a waste of money? I guess that's kind of relative. On the bright side I only ordered the refill of EF and AoS. I just thought I would share this in the hopes it will help someone. The Aftershave is awesome too and I would almost recommend just buying that instead for the scent. I hope I will one day get a tallow version of English Fern, anyone wanna help?

 

[mdunn]

great idea mate - you even have anough left to make a stick of soap for travel!

 

[superbleu]

+1 to the above, great idea.

 

[azmark]

A waste? No, if you like it do it. It's no different than uberlathering. That's pretty cool though and I wonder if it's a simple as adding tallow.

 

[michiganlover]

So you have taken a product that is junk, and doesn't work, combined it with a product that works wonderfully on it's own, and the result is a product that is not as good as the Art of Shaving on it's own.

Sorry, but I don't really understand the point.

It reminds me of the people who doctor up Modern Williams to make it work (by adding glycerin, Kiss My Face, and so on). Seems like it would be far easier to just admit the product is utter crapola, and move on; move on to enjoy all the wonderful soaps that actually perform properly on their own, without any modifications.

 

[bluemantra]

So you have taken a product that is junk, and doesn't work, combined it with a product that works wonderfully on it's own, and the result is a product that is not as good as the Art of Shaving on it's own.

Sorry, but I don't really understand the point.

It reminds me of the people who doctor up Modern Williams to make it work (by adding glycerin, Kiss My Face, and so on). Seems like it would be far easier to just admit the product is utter crapola, and move on; move on to enjoy all the wonderful soaps that actually perform properly on their own, without any modifications.

I don't know if there really was a point, other than the goal of trying to get a good lather with the EF scent. I had the time and wanted a project. I figured there are others who may want the same. To me the ability to do these types of things keeps the hobby interesting and exciting for me. Everyone has their own wants and desires and different things that they love to do. I had the time and the means to do this and I did. That's about it. I was curious to see if it could be done and in the process help someone else out there who might want to do the same. Some people will throw it away and move on and others won't.

 

[ouch]

It's nice to know that with a bit of ingenuity and elbow grease, you can salvage a $30 puck of soap.

You could probably have mixed it with Valobra, as well.

 

[michiganlover]

It's nice to know that with a bit of ingenuity and elbow grease, you can salvage a $30 puck of soap.

You could probably have mixed it with Valobra, as well.

Also worth contemplating, a $1.50 puck of VDH likely outperforms that $30 puck of soap by miles; considering the Pen's is thought to be basically unusable.

 

[DSB]

I don't know if there really was a point, other than the goal of trying to get a good lather with the EF scent. I had the time and wanted a project. I figured there are others who may want the same. To me the ability to do these types of things keeps the hobby interesting and exciting for me. Everyone has their own wants and desires and different things that they love to do. I had the time and the means to do this and I did. That's about it. I was curious to see if it could be done and in the process help someone else out there who might want to do the same. Some people will throw it away and move on and others won't.

I think it's a great way to try to get the best of both worlds. Now, the ultimate question:

How was the shave?

 

[GreekGuy]

While I acknowledge that it may seem a little senseless to spend $56 and go through all this effort to create a decent lather, I have to give the OP a lot of credit.

He is right, at the end of the day this is very much a hobby for all of us. While this solution is not for everyone, he has done an experiment and posted results on an issue that has come up several times but has never been fully addressed on the forum. I, personally, find this to be helpful and it gives me ideas on how to make my own concoctions based on my wants and needs.

Therefore I applaud the OP for his ingenuity and for his foresight that we would demand pictures, and produced them accordingly. Bravo good sir

 

[sfcablecar]

Therefore I applaud the OP for his ingenuity and for his foresight that we would demand pictures, and produced them accordingly. Bravo good sir

+1

Way to go MacGyver!

 

[bluemantra]

The shave was great! It was irritation free and smooth. I'm sure I'll get better with this soap the more I use it just like others, but from my experience this will continue to be a solid performer.

I'd like to thank those who provided kind comments. I really appreciate the support. I did this to enrich the experience and I know not everyone agrees with what I did and I expected that. I also respect it. It's normal and not everyone has to agree. Again, my hope was that this would help someone be able to pull something from what I did.

 

[michiganlover]

I don't know if there really was a point, other than the goal of trying to get a good lather with the EF scent. I had the time and wanted a project. I figured there are others who may want the same. To me the ability to do these types of things keeps the hobby interesting and exciting for me. Everyone has their own wants and desires and different things that they love to do. I had the time and the means to do this and I did. That's about it. I was curious to see if it could be done and in the process help someone else out there who might want to do the same. Some people will throw it away and move on and others won't.

I commend your efforts, and creativity. I have never smelled the Pen's English Fern, but take it the scent must be awesome.

Part of me, however, thinks we really ought to boycott them, and not buy their disastrous shaving soap; if sales were near zero, maybe they would understand how bad the product is, and repair it. If we continue to buy, we are creating a market for a wretched product.

 

[kingfisher]

I wonder if you could have gotten even better results by buying the AoS unscented soap and the English Fern EDC, then lathering up the AoS and adding a drop or two of the EDC while lathering.........

Nevertheless, you got what you wanted, which was a nice-lathering soap that smells like EF.

 

[ramon]

Your experiment is to expensive .

 

[mretzloff]

considering the Pen's is thought to be basically unusable.

Not true.








It is perfectly usable as a nice urinal cake alternative to Williams

 

[Vlad]

Yes! It's a two-fer!

 

[orchestrion]

Let the haters hate; you found a way to make something work and that's pretty darn cool.

 

[Phog Allen]

I'm telling you lads, if I could snap my fingers and find a soap manufacturer who actually knew how to make or source great shave soaps to order these days, I would have the best smelling fougere and Eau de Portugal soaps known to man. Then I could sit back and collect money from all the rest of the addicted on the shave forums.

Regards, Todd

 

[MaxJ]

I wonder if you could have gotten even better results by buying the AoS unscented soap and the English Fern EDC, then lathering up the AoS and adding a drop or two of the EDC while lathering.........

Nevertheless, you got what you wanted, which was a nice-lathering soap that smells like EF.

+1, that's a great workaround but I'd be really curious to know if that method works as well.