Tabac soap not slick enough, no glide with shavette?

[Kitsunekuma]

I didn't think about mentioning it, but you have to consider that an airy lather dries out the skin. You have to splash some water on the face then regularly. Otherwise you loose the slickness. I mention that, because maybe you need more time for a shavette shave than with a super-speed or a DE89.

Ah! this is interesting, thanks for the info, that's something I did not know much about. I usually just add a splash of water on my face at the begining of the shave and never thought about adding more as I thought it would rince the soap from my skin. I'll try that next time.
About the speed, I take a bit more time with a shavette but I'm not super slow like the first time I used it. I usually pay attention and relather a little if I feel that it is drying out but if it is actually drying the skin underneath it might be the problem.

 

[Kitsunekuma]

More water

You should be able to see your skin through your lather as well as having the lather slowly drip off your razor without moving the razor once there's a good amount of lather on it

Yeah I'll try again a few different textures, I guess I was aiming for a foam like consistance and it's probably not what is needed there specially with a shavette.

 

[SterFry]

Record your lather making process. This would be easy to diagnose if we could see your process?

 

[Timeclo]

I tried tabac once and I face lathered it with the stick. It was one of the thirstiest soaps I used and it was still dry after adding a ton of water. Unfortunately, the strong scent reacted to my skin and I was not a big fan of the scent. Still lathered fine and seemed very slick.

 

[life2short1971]

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?

Try using bottled water for your lather if your water is hard.Either heat the water on your stove or microwave but don’t use it near boiling or you’ll curl the hairs on your brush and change the feel.
You may also maybe using the wrong amount of water in your lather making it too wet or too dry.

 

[Cracker]

Today with a synthetic brush:

And with more water, just for the fun of it:

 

[life2short1971]

Today with a synthetic brush:
View attachment 1189373

And with more water, just for the fun of it:
View attachment 1189374

Its really hard to tell from the pics but I think its too wet and thin.

 

[Kitsunekuma]

thanks you all for your inputs guys, I'll try another shave with Tabac tonight trying some of your recommendations and will let you know if it went well.

 

[Kitsunekuma]

So final update:

I've decided to try face lathering as recommended by a few of you guys and it went much better!

I've changed a few things this time so I can't really tell what gave me a better shave but here is what I did:

-I showered but did not use too much soap on my face as I did not want to dry my skin already with my shower gel.

-I shaved with cold water, I used to avoid cold water with cartridges cause it was a nightmare but it is actually awesome with a shavette!

-I've put a Treet platinum blade on my shavette instead of the Derby Extra

-I didn't use a bowl to lather, I face lathered without pre-shave cream nor hot towel, just soaked my brush in water, squeezed it and loaded it on my dry Tabac puck quickly. (no need for blooming or anything)

Basically I just went with it by feel very quickly, no hassle and it was great!
I did not spend 10 minutes like an autist in my bathroom wondering if my lather had the right feel and shape and shine etc... it was a much thinner and watery lather though, I did not go for a thick creamy consistency.

I might add a bit more water while face lathering next time but anyway it went well, the shavette was finally gliding normally and I think I even went a bit overboard with shaving passes as it felt so good with the cold water.

I think the most important element was using cold water and a better blade but I'll try a few times this method with different water temp to see the results.

So if you guys are following the long story, nothing is wrong with Tabac as expected, face lathering worked well for me and Cold water feels awesome if you never tried it, I highly suggest you to give it a go!

Also I think I am really liking the Treet platinum blades, they feel good in a DE and good on my shavette, not too sharp and pretty consistent.

Thank you all for your help, this forum is awesome!

 

[samhain666]

Tabac is one of easiest soaps out there but it has some tricks to it

1) do not overload, it looses ALL glide (as most soaps)
2) DO NOT for love of God EVER bloom it

If you oversaturate your puck with water then you are done and you can throw it away. I noticed you bloomed your puck. My sugestion is throw this puck away and get yourself a stick. Just wet your face and rub stick on it, one pass over face is enough. That way you will not ruin soap by watering it too much and you will not overload

 

[BigJ]

So final update:

I've decided to try face lathering as recommended by a few of you guys and it went much better!

I've changed a few things this time so I can't really tell what gave me a better shave but here is what I did:

-I showered but did not use too much soap on my face as I did not want to dry my skin already with my shower gel.

-I shaved with cold water, I used to avoid cold water with cartridges cause it was a nightmare but it is actually awesome with a shavette!

-I've put a Treet platinum blade on my shavette instead of the Derby Extra

-I didn't use a bowl to lather, I face lathered without pre-shave cream nor hot towel, just soaked my brush in water, squeezed it and loaded it on my dry Tabac puck quickly. (no need for blooming or anything)

Basically I just went with it by feel very quickly, no hassle and it was great!
I did not spend 10 minutes like an autist in my bathroom wondering if my lather had the right feel and shape and shine etc... it was a much thinner and watery lather though, I did not go for a thick creamy consistency.

I might add a bit more water while face lathering next time but anyway it went well, the shavette was finally gliding normally and I think I even went a bit overboard with shaving passes as it felt so good with the cold water.

I think the most important element was using cold water and a better blade but I'll try a few times this method with different water temp to see the results.

So if you guys are following the long story, nothing is wrong with Tabac as expected, face lathering worked well for me and Cold water feels awesome if you never tried it, I highly suggest you to give it a go!

Also I think I am really liking the Treet platinum blades, they feel good in a DE and good on my shavette, not too sharp and pretty consistent.

Thank you all for your help, this forum is awesome!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

 

[Kitsunekuma]

Tabac is one of easiest soaps out there but it has some tricks to it

1) do not overload, it looses ALL glide (as most soaps)
2) DO NOT for love of God EVER bloom it

If you oversaturate your puck with water then you are done and you can throw it away. I noticed you bloomed your puck. My sugestion is throw this puck away and get yourself a stick. Just wet your face and rub stick on it, one pass over face is enough. That way you will not ruin soap by watering it too much and you will not overload

Thanks for the advices!

I did bloom it a few times but I knew about the risks of "drowning" Tabac and some guys had their soap turn to mush. I have checked that it would dry well between shaves and also I have it sitting very tight pressed in a translucent glass bowl and I can see that the bottom is perfectly dry so the puck is fine.

 

[Kitsunekuma]

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Yes I am a Tabac convert now!

 

[SillyPancake]

@Kitsunekuma Success throu persistance!
This is why face lather is the way, you have so much more control over the lather. I am glad that you found a way to make this soap work.

 

[Zen Shaver]

Thanks for the advices!

I did bloom it a few times but I knew about the risks of "drowning" Tabac and some guys had their soap turn to mush. I have checked that it would dry well between shaves and also I have it sitting very tight pressed in a translucent glass bowl and I can see that the bottom is perfectly dry so the puck is fine.

Blooming is fine, just let it dry in between uses. Definitely do not throw it away lol.

 

[Kitsunekuma]

Blooming is fine, just let it dry in between uses. Definitely do not throw it away lol.

I don't bloom it anymore, there is really no need, and yeah I let it dry between shaves, I won't throw a perfectly fine hard puck of Tabac, I just had another great shave with it, it is a great soap for me now. I think probably more comfortable than Proraso now that I can dial it correctly.

 

[xiletero]

Just use a synthetic brush and your life will be simplified, and you will get better shaves...... . Eat the boar (tenderloins) but use a synthetic brush.

 

[Kitsunekuma]

Just use a synthetic brush and your life will be simplified, and you will get better shaves...... . Eat the boar (tenderloins) but use a synthetic brush.

I had a few recommendations for a synthetic brush but I still need to get more informations about why it would make a difference, also I thought that natural brushes were better?

 

[mars]

Synthetic brushes take much of the guess work out of lathering in my experience.

 

[xiletero]

Half of the lather seems to disappear inside natural hair brushes..... . You have to load a lot more to end up with less than when you use a good synthetic (and there are good ones for -$10)