Soap stick gunk under blade

[ono]

Hi all,

I am a new member, have been lurking in the forum for a while, I decided to register finally because I have a couple of questions, maybe someone can help, here is one for the soap forum (hope I'm posting in the right place).

I notice that if I use cream soap it's all good, but If I use stick (palmolive) I find after a quick use of the blade it collects a hardened gunk of soap and hair under neath between the blade and the safety bar (EJ D89). I tend to rinse the blade often while I shave, but with the stick it just won't go away from under the blade, I need to stir crazy under hot water after a couple of strokes.
Am I latherning the stick too thick or is this to be expected? I have tried face lather and bowl later both to the same effect.

Thanks for any tips!

 

[Vickers]

I've noticed the same thing.

I reckon it's possible your (and my) lather is too dry, but that hardly explains the soap film left in my sink that is actually filled with water during my shave.

 

[ono]

well, glad to know I'm not the only one. Just to mention, my lathering technique is still poor, I do get a decent (not like the ones in the gallery) lather for a first pass, but hardly for a second.
Mind you, my water is extremely hard.

 

[breadstick]

Your lather is definitely too dry. I had this problem when I first started. The next time you shave and you think you're done making lather the way you usually do, add more water a few drops at a time and you'll eventually wind up where you need to be.

 

[VT_Hokie]

You'd be surprised at how much lather your beard picks up when rubbing the stick onto your face. If youre seeing any kind of white accumulation on your whiskers, you've got a REAL good amount of soap on there.

Instead of being down inside your brush as usual, all that soap is caked onto your face. This means that you need to take the bit of extra time to really work the brush on your face and incorporate some more water into the equation to pick that soap up and get it mixed well and hydrated.

 

[ono]

Thanks for the tips breadstick and Vt_hokie, i'll work in that direction. I would prefer to use stick than cream as it's cheaper so i'll do my best to make it work.

 

[breadstick]

That palmolive stick is worth three times the price you pay for it. If you decide to stop using the stick, you can grate it into a container and just load your brush straight in the bowl.

Along those lines, you can try loading the brush straight on the stick, then working the lather on your face. It works just as well this way.

 

[OzoneAz]

I recently got a Tabac Stick (which I LOVE) and realized the same thing was happening. I was blaming it on the ASTRA blade's wax (even though I never experienced that before). However it makes perfectly great sense that it is due to under lathering. GREAT question and once again great troubleshooting by the vets. Thanks guys!

 

[Rufust445]

I have this problem more with a Wilkinson Sword stick than an Irisch Moos stick. I've found that loading the brush with more water and shaking less helps, though it flings more lather around when first applying brush to face. The soap that's closest to the skin is the last to get mixed in with the lather, if it gets mixed in at all. This concentration of soap against the wet skin has given me some irritation problems with the Wilkinson stick.

The soap closest to the skin that doesn't get mixed in with the lather on the brush is what gets scraped off by the blade. I'm not sure there is an answer to this, other than adding more water to the already loaded brush and letting it fling around more suds while trying to get more water to the soap closest to the skin.

 

[ono]

Good point Rufust445, maybe it's best (for me for now) to avoid face lather so I don't end up with this layer of harder lather next to the skin.

 

[mchad21]

I always judge the quality of my lather by what is left in the blade gap after rinsing. If it's too dry/thick, I definately see 'gunk'. If not, I know it's perfect.