Struggling with Institut Karite Shaving Soap

[Toddster64]

B&B Soap Denizens:

I am a fairly recent convert from DE bowl lathering to face lathering, and have experienced good success with most products, although my lather can be a bit thin (or very slick) but not full with certain soaps. None more so than Institut Karite, a brand with a stellar reputation, but four shaves in, I just keep trying more product...more water...more product...more water...and just not getting much of a lather. Hard water isn't an issue in this region so I believe that factor isn't affecting me, and the fact that I can face lather effectively with other brands seems to indicate that somehow I am missing the secret sauce with this one.

Any tips from face latherers who have mastered this particular brand? Brush is a Semogue OC that's been largely dynamite for lather up until now so I think I'm covered here.

Many thanks to all of you.





Todd

 

[gash]

Are you loading your brush and then transferring the soap to your face? I get the richest, slickest lather with IK (and with other hard soaps) when I rub the puck directly onto my face and then build the lather there. If you haven't tried that, give it a go, and use a lot of product. You may end up with lather all over the bathroom, but I think it would be richer, thicker lather.

 

[mctmatt]

IK seems to explode with lather and I agree with gash as I rub the puck on my face then build the lather with a wet brush. If your lather is to thin cut back on the amount of water.

 

[sarimento1]

All my IK soap puck experience has been fine. I have it in the small pewter bowl and lather up there. That way i can load lots of soap on the brush until its yogurty. Not explosive lather but totally fine. Shea butter adds nice moisturizer to the soap. And after everything I use a dab of their cream. I suggest that you experiment with some distiller water just for testing.

 

[Toddster64]

Gash, Tom, Sarimento - great feedback. I was neither lathering the bowl nor applying puck directly to face...will attempt both approaches and report back. I will also give the distilled water a try just for comparison.

That's one of the enjoyable aspects of wet shaving - discovery! I rarely give up on anything until I feel I've mastered it, and that usually means putting it away for a couple of months or so and returning when I feel technique is improving. In this case, I've rarely used hard shaving soaps so new approaches are expected.



Todd

 

[Toddster64]

Update - tried again today with direct face application (can we come up with a new acronym - DFA?). Much better lathering results. I may have applied TOO much product actually - it took quite a bit of water to balance it out, but this was a tremendous improvement in terms of lather and slickness. I wouldn't say the lather was as intense as some of my creams, but it was more than enough to last three passes with some water driblets liberally applied, and the amount of glide provided by the soap is simply amazing. Can't wait to try a few more rounds.

Thanks again for your generous feedback.



Todd

 

[rand77]

Soak the puck for a few minutes and let it dry out, as to "break it in". I've grated my puck and it loads very easily.

First couple times were tricky with this soap, but now its fine.

 

[Toddster64]

Soak the puck for a few minutes and let it dry out, as to "break it in". I've grated my puck and it loads very easily.

First couple times were tricky with this soap, but now its fine.

Interesting feedback re: "grating" - a la cheese grater?

BTW - noticed your location...I'm a California native, but met my spouse in Ottawa and lived there for a year, enjoying every moment.



Todd

 

[ricardo9505]

I run with a finest 22mm TGN badger at 47mm loft. I strictly face lather. Never used a boar. To me boars look like they have huge thick bristles, but never seen one wet, only when dry- at pasteurs pharmacy. My finest has denserly packed hair, finer than silvertip it seems but soft at the ends.
Over the past 14 months of DE shaving I have learned a lot, and still do. I only get better - especially with selecting soaps. I love artisan soaps now but learned that it takes me at least 10 straight days of shaving with a soap to finally learn the soaps attributes and get the perfect soap/ water ratio to get the best lather and slickness for THAT product.
Keep at it. Do not load more soap, just load enough then add water as you face lather. I like to open the brush a bit in the middle and add a a medicine dropper size amt of water, smooth across face, then go at the lather on my face to aerate.

That Semogue brush is a beauty, just a great starter brush, and one for life. I have heard it talked about for so long.
And enjoy the IK soap. It's a veg based shea butter soap I think. Been meaning to try it but still working on my bucket list.
Best of luck.

 

[ricardo9505]

also be careful. A boar also eats up more soap, i.e. loads quicker, than a typical badger. so load for less time and learn the water/soap ratio to perfect the lather over time. You maybe loading too much soap.

 

[Phormio]

I too have been struggling with the Karite. Im a face latherer and i can barely get a decent lather out of my EJ badger brush with the karite, and its absolutely hopeless with my semogue 1800.

Not one to be a quitter, i tried bowl lathering today. I soaked my 1800 and razor, then, removing excess water, loaded the brush and started making the lather. I had to load the brush several times to get a passable lather.

When it came to the shave, i method shaved - the first felt like there was no lubrication. The following approaches I used my brush as if i was face lathering, then went back to the bowl, loaded up and painted over where i had just lathered and eureka, i finally got the lather, cushion and lubrication i needed for a comfortable shave.

Ordinarily i face lather with MWF and don't have any problems with any brush. But i struggle with the Karite, even when using bottled water or tap water. If there is an easier way to get this soap to work I'm all ears otherwise i might ditch it as today's work was way too much hassle to get a good lather.

 

[sarimento1]

I too have been struggling with the Karite. Im a face latherer and i can barely get a decent lather out of my EJ badger brush with the karite, and its absolutely hopeless with my semogue 1800.

Not one to be a quitter, i tried bowl lathering today. I soaked my 1800 and razor, then, removing excess water, loaded the brush and started making the lather. I had to load the brush several times to get a passable lather.

When it came to the shave, i method shaved - the first felt like there was no lubrication. The following approaches I used my brush as if i was face lathering, then went back to the bowl, loaded up and painted over where i had just lathered and eureka, i finally got the lather, cushion and lubrication i needed for a comfortable shave.

Ordinarily i face lather with MWF and don't have any problems with any brush. But i struggle with the Karite, even when using bottled water or tap water. If there is an easier way to get this soap to work I'm all ears otherwise i might ditch it as today's work was way too much hassle to get a good lather.

If you got it from a retailer, see if they will replace it. Perhaps a bad batch. Worth a shot.

 

[Phormio]

I doubt the retailer will replace it, given the number of variables that go into getting a superior lather.

Today I hit it with the badger and it produced more lather more quickly though I still did not get the cushion or lubrication I wanted from it.

I've heard soaking the soap puck in warm water once as an initial break in could help. Is there any basis for this?

I've also read people grate thier pucks of soap? Does this make it easier to lather?

I'm open to any reasonable suggestions!!!

 

[rand77]

Institut Karite is a wonderful soap, but I consider it on the difficult side to work with. First time I used the soap I dropped it in my mug and started lathering away. I found that a lot of the crucially important "proto lather" started accumulating below the soap as there was quite a bit of space around the puck for it to accumulate. Thus I was not able to properly build a good lather.

What worked for me in the end was to grate the puck and compress the gratings into the bottom of the mug. Always soap the top of the puck before loading and try to use a brush with strong backbone.

 

[Phormio]

Update: tonight i soaked the puck for several minutes then did the combination bowl/face lather with my boar brush that i mentioned above. It still took a bit of work but the reward was a dense creamy lather that could have done 6 passes i'm sure. Now i get why this soap has its fans as, when worked at properly it delivers.