Soap randomly stops lathering?

[Inverted]

I can't figure this one out.

I brought a couple of soaps with me on a few-day work trip, as I typically do. This particular trip I grabbed FLS St. Louis Barbershop and Grooming Dept Ousia II, two soaps I absolutely adore.

A while back I tried lathering St Louis Barbershop and didn't get the lather I usually have from that soap, which was always a phenomenal performer, honestly one of my favorite soaps in my collection. Yesterday I grabbed St Louis for my morning shave, using my Paladin PK47 brush which has always been a lather monster. I usually have to make no effort to generate lather with this soap and brush combo but yesterday I couldn't generate lather or anything even approachable to shave with. It was so bad that I had to grab Ousia II for my shave which lathered without issue.

My question is, did my puck of St. Louis go bad? I can't figure this out as this has never happened to me. Certainly, there is no mold, no issues with scent or anything like that, and the soap is less than a year old. What are your thoughts?

 

[APBinNCA]

Please don't take this wrong, but the last time I remember somebody having this happen, it was their brush. There are a couple threads about cleaning brushes, but I have Ethos cleaning product. I can confirm that you don't have to have visible crud to have inhibited lathering. Or the soap wasn't mixed well.

 

[RayClem]

You mentioned that you packed these soaps for a work trip. One thing that can significantly affect lather development is water hardness. If the water in the location to which you traveled is significantly different than your water at home. Your profile does not indicate where you live, so I do not know how likely this is to be the case. However, for example if you live in the Pacific Northwest where the water tends to be quite soft and you traveled to the Midwest where the water tends to be quite hard, you might easily have problems lathering your soaps.

While cleaning your brushes as @APBinNCA recommended might be a great idea, brushes often change in performance slowly as they build up residue. It is unlikely that you would see an abrupt change in performance over a few day period.

 

[Asland408]

I would only add that on occasion I have had to rehydrate or bloom a soap that I have not used in a while.