Tabac soap not slick enough, no glide with shavette?

[Kitsunekuma]

Hello guys, I've been shaving with Proraso creams for a while and decided to try with a puck of Tabac soap for about a week now.
My problem is that I can't get it to be slick enough, I use a Bluebeards Revenge shavette for my face and a DE for my head.

I've tried different ways of lathering because at first I really had no clue how to get a rich creamy lather with a hard soap.
Now after a few tries I finally found a way to make a great thick lather with Tabac but it's still not comfortable to shave with it.

I'd say it is okay with a DE but inferior to the Proraso creams.
Where it is really bad is with my shavette as it sort of makes the blade stick to my skin and dig in, almost no glide at all. I tried with pre-shave cream and no pre-shave, it was about the same only with more irritation without pre-shave.

I read around here that you need more watery lather with straights and shavettes but in my first few attemps (when I did not know how to lather very well) when I added more water to the lather, it would mostly go flat or dry out and it was even worse.

I think I am not the only one to encounter this problem and also read in other Tabac threads that it is possible that Tabac soap looses glide when it has too much water so I am not sure adding more is the solution either.

The thing I have noticed is that when I squeeze it between my fingers it seems to glide more after some friction is added so maybe I'm doing something wrong while applying the lather to my face or while dosing the water amount...

I'll try adding some photos to show the consistence of my lather tomorrow.

I'm not sure what to do with the soap now, my last attempt would be to make a good thick lather and try adding more water see if it changes anything but I doubt that it would improve.

And a last resort would be to add a bit of Proraso white cream to it to make an uber lather but it kinda defeats the point of using Tabac as it is I am sure a great soap.

Has anyone encountered this problem or found a workaround to this gliding situation?

 

[Cracker]

Hm, that's odd. Tabac is so much more slick than Proraso ...

It lathers practically itself with every brush and every water, just load it like you're hate it.

I don't know, why it doesn't work for you?! Maybe you got a bad puck, or do you use a preshave or a kind of scrub before lathering?

 

[Kitsunekuma]

Hm, that's odd. Tabac is so much more slick than Proraso ...

It lathers practically itself with every brush and every water, just load it like you're hate it.

I don't know, why it doesn't work for you?! Maybe you got a bad puck, or do you use a preshave or a kind of scrub before lathering?

I shower before I shave, I use hot towel on my face for a minute, then usually I use Proraso white pre-shave but I tried today without preshave and it was the same result.

I lather in a bowl then apply on my face with swirling motions then add another layer of lather that I "paint" on my face.
I've loaded it good today after letting it bloom just enough to load my boar brush to the max. From my experience, no matter the technique I tried, or the consistence of the lather (thick or watery) I get more or less the same result during the shave: no glide and sticky feeling.

Well at least now I know how to make a good dense lather even if it's not working great with Tabac.

Might be the tallow base that is not reacting well with my skin...

 

[Timeclo]

If it's feeling sticky, you might have to add more water and work it in. I like it when I see a yogurt-like consistency; slick, and leaves a thin film behind even after shaving over the spot.

 

[Zen Shaver]

You need to add more water. Tallow soaps are made with saturated fats which hold more water than vegetable soaps (unsaturated fats). Generally speaking, tallow soaps are more slick/lower structure because of this, my preference.
Tabac is an excellent soap, experiment a bit more and you’ll get it.

 

[never-stop-learning]

If it's feeling sticky, you might have to add more water and work it in. I like it when I see a yogurt-like consistency; slick, and leaves a thin film behind even after shaving over the spot.

You need to add more water. Tallow soaps are made with saturated fats which hold more water than vegetable soaps (unsaturated fats). Generally speaking, tallow soaps are more slick/lower structure because of this, my preference.
Tabac is an excellent soap, experiment a bit more and you’ll get it.

^^^ +2 ^^^

Proraso and Tabac have different soap/water ratio requirements. Definitely sounds like you need more water.

 

[old_school]

If one reads enough posts you'll find every soap isn't slick for someone.

Hydrate it until you see a sheen.

 

[VerbaVolant]

This:

...Hydrate it until you see a sheen.

 

[luv2shave]

It's easy to overload Tabac and find the lather choking the brush with insufficient water. Happens to me quite often when I come back to it in rotation.

 

[McBlade]

Tabac was my lucky shavette soap when I was experimenting with a Bluebeard's Revenge.

I face lather with a Tabac stick. First apply soap to face then swish it around with a damp (not wet) brush using painting strokes. I don't try to scrub it up into a lather straight away. I'm just trying to make a creamy paste.

Add a little water to the brush, paint paint paint, add more water, more painting, and repeat until you can't mix in any more water because the soap is starting to fall off your brush & face.

THEN splay the brush and scrub up a thick lather.

PS: I found half-DE blades far too sharp but the Bluebeard's Revenge can also take Feather AC blades Schick Proline are the best I've used so far although I've still to try Kai Captain Mild. Feather Pro Super blades were nice after a few shaves but quite sharp at first.

 

[Kitsunekuma]

You need to add more water. Tallow soaps are made with saturated fats which hold more water than vegetable soaps (unsaturated fats). Generally speaking, tallow soaps are more slick/lower structure because of this, my preference.
Tabac is an excellent soap, experiment a bit more and you’ll get it.

Thanks for your answer, I think I never got the right amount of water with the good consistency, I probably added water without working it in as you said.

 

[Kitsunekuma]

It's easy to overload Tabac and find the lather choking the brush with insufficient water. Happens to me quite often when I come back to it in rotation.

I did feel my brush was super heavy and full of lather during my last try, might have been too dense you are right.

 

[Atlantic59]

...Tallow soaps are made with saturated fats which hold more water than vegetable soaps (unsaturated fats)...

Source	Percent Saturated Fat
Lard	40
Tallow	50
Palm Oil	50
Palm Kernel Oil	80
Coconut Oil	80

 

[Kitsunekuma]

Tabac was my lucky shavette soap when I was experimenting with a Bluebeard's Revenge.

I face lather with a Tabac stick. First apply soap to face then swish it around with a damp (not wet) brush using painting strokes. I don't try to scrub it up into a lather straight away. I'm just trying to make a creamy paste.

Add a little water to the brush, paint paint paint, add more water, more painting, and repeat until you can't mix in any more water because the soap is starting to fall off your brush & face.

THEN splay the brush and scrub up a thick lather.

PS: I found half-DE blades far too sharp but the Bluebeard's Revenge can also take Feather AC blades Schick Proline are the best I've used so far although I've still to try Kai Captain Mild. Feather Pro Super blades were nice after a few shaves but quite sharp at first.

Ok so it is surely not a problem to use Tabac with a shavette then.
By the way I did not know the Bluebeard can take AC blades!!! Never heard about that before! I am planning to get a Kai captain with the Mild blades and a pack of Feather pros, but not so sure now if the Bluebeard can take them too... Do you have any pics of the AC blades in the shavette?

 

[Kitsunekuma]

Thanks for all your answers guys! anyway, I will give Tabac another try with more water, looks like it is my problem here.

 

[Zen Shaver]

Source	Percent Saturated Fat
Lard	40
Tallow	50
Palm Oil	50
Palm Kernel Oil	80
Coconut Oil	80

Ok, don’t quote me on that part lol. I watched a video with the maker of Barrister & Mann awhile back and remembered him saying that, but I may be misremembering. Maybe it was the chain length of the molecule? Idk, I’m not chemist or soap maker.
I have used many different soaps and several pucks of Tabac. I agree with the previous posters, make a dense paste first and then add water until there is a sheen. I usually dip the brush tips to add water. I also do the painting strokes the swirl method.

 

[Kitsunekuma]

Ok, don’t quote me on that part lol. I watched a video with the maker of Barrister & Mann awhile back and remembered him saying that, but I may be misremembering. Maybe it was the chain length of the molecule? Idk, I’m not chemist or soap maker.
I have used many different soaps and several pucks of Tabac. I agree with the previous posters, make a dense paste first and then add water until there is a sheen. I usually dip the brush tips to add water. I also do the painting strokes the swirl method.

There's something different between tallow and vegetal base anyway that's for sure.

And there's definitely room for improvement in my lathering, but reading all the comments about Tabac being an easy soap to lather, I just did not expect it to be that fussy with the amount of water as the texture looked nice rich and foamy to me. I'll give it another try with more water and post pics if it's not working for me.

 

[luv2shave]

I did feel my brush was super heavy and full of lather during my last try, might have been too dense you are right.

In such a situation its best to take such a heavy loaded brush to a lathering bowl add water and go at it. Its futile to face lather duw to the amount of lather its going to produce, enough lather to shave the neighborhood - be prepared !

 

[Kitsunekuma]

In such a situation its best to take such a heavy loaded brush to a lathering bowl add water and go at it. Its futile to face lather duw to the amount of lather its going to produce, enough lather to shave the neighborhood - be prepared !

I lather in a bowl only, I meant that the brush felt heavy and fully loaded with lather once I had lathered in my bowl, not while loading it on the soap. What I mean is that my lather might have been too thick and heavy hence letting most of the soap trapped in the brush.

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

I used to overload Tabac, it gets very sticky and drying this way.

A very little amount of Tabac goes a VERY LONG way. Load/apply lightly, hit it with a fire hydrant amount of water, and enjoy the slip n' slide ride and soft/supple post-shave feel of this gold standard wet-shaving product.