The Trumper Trek

[Pedigree]

I just ordered 4 different Geo F Trumper hard shaving soaps: Limes, Sandalwood, Eucris and Rose. And I am determined to (one way or another) prove that these SOB's can lather as well as any other soap despite their recent reputation as worthless-performing soaps. I'm going to first try loading a damp (post bloom) puck with an even dryer damp brush and load it even more then MWF till its a paste like consistency that will respond beautifully to tiny dips of water. I'm on a mission to prove these soaps can lather super well and that I didn't waste a lot of $$$. Wish me luck (or sobriety )!

 

[Ravenonrock]

Good luck!

 

[hairless wonder]

As our French friends say, "Bon chance!"

 

[Tomo]

You can always jump onto the DR Harris band wagon if it doesn’t work out. The tallow based hard pucks are top notch.

 

[Pedigree]

If you check out the Soap Acquisition Thread you'll see that just arrived at my doorstep are five new DR Harris soaps: Almond, Lavender, Arlington, Marlborough and Sandalwood.

Soap Acquisition Thread

Arriving from Connaught Shaving in England are these five D.R. Harris shaving soap bowls. Front row: Sandalwood and Arlington. Back row: Lavender, Almond and Marlborough.

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Pedigree]

I also possess MWF and TOBS (sandalwood and jermyn street) soaps, and a puck of Cyril R Salter hard soap.

 

[Pedigree]

If you check out the Soap Acquisition Thread you'll see that just arrived at my doorstep are five new DR Harris soaps: Almond, Lavender, Arlington, Marlborough and Sandalwood.

Soap Acquisition Thread

Arriving from Connaught Shaving in England are these five D.R. Harris shaving soap bowls. Front row: Sandalwood and Arlington. Back row: Lavender, Almond and Marlborough.

www.badgerandblade.com

I also have Windsor.

 

[macintoshBR]

SAD kicking in nicely, my friend @Pedigree !

Good luck in your quest, I will follow it with interest

 

[Nofx_Phan]

SAD kicking in nicely, my friend @Pedigree !

Good luck in your quest, I will follow it with interest

Talk about enabling! haha. I don't think he will get through all that soap in his lifetime but it is fun to experiment! Enjoy.

 

[Pedigree]

SAD kicking in nicely, my friend @Pedigree !

Good luck in your quest, I will follow it with interest

Yes…. Yes it is, lol

 

[BigJ]

Good luck on your quest!

 

[sarimento1]

nice shave yesterday with Eucris, face-lathered by rubbing back of puck onto wet face.
lathered vigorously with barely damp brush; was great.
enjoy all your new stuff!!

 

[pierrelortie44]

Look at the ingredients of the Trumper soaps. No potassium.

Potassium is required to form a lather. Sodium soaps are hand soaps, they clean well and rinse fast, they don’t lather.

You can load the whole puck in your brush, it won’t lather.

Trumper creams have potassium, they lather.

No potassium = no lather. Simple as that, regardless of brand.

 

[Pedigree]

Look at the ingredients of the Trumper soaps. No potassium.

Potassium is required to form a lather. Sodium soaps are hand soaps, they clean well and rinse fast, they don’t lather.

You can load the whole puck in your brush, it won’t lather.

Trumper creams have potassium, they lather.

No potassium = no lather. Simple as that, regardless of brand.

Why would they cut potassium out of their ingredients?

 

[pierrelortie44]

That’s the million dollar question. Many other well-known potassium-free un-latherable shaving soaps exist. Williams was a notorious example. It was sold in every pharmacy and used by millions of men for decades.

Baume.be has a wonderful highly regarded cream. Their soap is a known dud, which confuses consumers (look it up on badger&blade). Last fall the new Baume.be owners emailed me to say they were well aware of the problem and a new reformulated (not complicated, potassium hydroxide instead of sodium) soap would be launched someday.

These products exist and sell, reputable producers and retailers. Maybe some consumers don’t mind shaving with such soaps. Some people shave with the bar of hand soap by the sink.

Find any shaving soap made with sodium instead of potassium (or mainly sodium according to its order in the ingredient list), and you can be certain it will not lather properly.

 

[sarimento1]

Look at the ingredients of the Trumper soaps. No potassium.

Potassium is required to form a lather. Sodium soaps are hand soaps, they clean well and rinse fast, they don’t lather.

You can load the whole puck in your brush, it won’t lather.

Trumper creams have potassium, they lather.

No potassium = no lather. Simple as that, regardless of brand.

eucris does indeed have potassium.
lathers quite fine for me.

 

[BigJ]

Look at the ingredients of the Trumper soaps. No potassium.

Potassium is required to form a lather. Sodium soaps are hand soaps, they clean well and rinse fast, they don’t lather.

You can load the whole puck in your brush, it won’t lather.

Trumper creams have potassium, they lather.

No potassium = no lather. Simple as that, regardless of brand.

‘No potassium = no lather.’ That’s a good rule to go with when soap shopping!!

 

[pierrelortie44]

Someone should start a thread on this specifically.

Almost all workable shaving creams are stearic acid and potassium hydroxide (to maintain the fatty acid in its alkaline, water-soluble, “soap” form, stearate).

Triple-milled shaving soaps usually saponify (“make soap” by hydrolyzing fats) the raw material fats themselves by reacting palm oil and/or tallow with potassium hydroxide. This breaks down lipids into fatty acids (like stearic and myristic acids) and glycerin, plus small quantities of other fatty substances which make such triple-milled shaving soaps very slightly different from creams.

Creams can often add small amounts of a variety of other oils and other stuff (aloe) to differentiate themselves, but this is marketing more than functional.

Hand and cleaning soaps use mainly sodium hydroxide. Shaving creams/soaps should use potassium hydroxide. For some reason, I don’t understand why, maybe someone here can explain (and correct me if I’m wrong God forbid), potassium versus sodium is what makes the difference.

 

[nav]

Look at the ingredients of the Trumper soaps. No potassium.

Potassium is required to form a lather. Sodium soaps are hand soaps, they clean well and rinse fast, they don’t lather.

You can load the whole puck in your brush, it won’t lather.

Trumper creams have potassium, they lather.

No potassium = no lather. Simple as that, regardless of brand.

So true!

I've experienced dud sodium-only shaving soaps like baume.be, trumpers, C&E.

Sodium is indeed a bath soap... It's the main difference between MWF shaving and bath soaps.

On the flip side, the super cheap Godrej shaving soap from India is potassium only and lathers like a champ!!
Only 6 ingredients total and it performs like a top notch shaving soap (without the skin conditioning ingredients).

 

[pierrelortie44]

Proraso, one of the least expensive out there, stearic acid and potassium hydroxide. People can nit-pick wether they like it or not, but it works as well as the most expensive luxury brands. If you use Acqua di Parma daily for a year, Proraso becomes a refreshing change, and never feels like a step down.