Van Der Hagen Lifespan

[Jwolf24601]

I got a puck of VDH Deluxe from Walmart a couple weeks ago. I melted it in the microwave for 30 seconds in a standard size coffee mug.

After 14 uses I can now see the blue of the coffee mug through the soap.

This seems like excessively fast. I have heard people saying they get months out of a puck.

I am getting what I consider to be a nice lather out of it, canned shaving foam consistency.

I fill the mug with hottest tap water I can when I get in the shower, letting it soak about 10-15 minutes. Then I pour it out down the drain before shaving. I load up the brush and then build a lather in a pier1 Mug with a little Anthony Logistics shave cream.

I plan on picking up some more VDH and Williams locally tomorrow night, and ordering some Tabac from fragrancex.com, would like to get my technique refined before I waste those as well.

I read the lathering shaving soap page several times and I have trouble getting my brush to clump up like the pictures. I usually just swirl it around while pumping till it is all covered in soap.

Am I softening the soap too much with the water beforehand?

If I am using too much soap why do I get a nice lather with only about a tablespoon of water?

I have been using AOS Preshave oil, The brush seems normal to me but, could it be interfering with my brush preventing it from clumping the soap?


Jwolf24601

 

[Schwert]

That is way too much presoak water.

Try a half teaspoon or less. VDH I don't bother with any presoak water as it scrubs up on my brush without doing that.

I think you are dumping most of your soap down the drain.

I use 6 ...count em...6 drops of water on TABAC for presoak, the same for PDP. Williams I use about a half teaspoon....enough to form a small pool, but not with the cake submerged.

 

[Jatte]

what i woulod do if i were you is put about a tablespoon of water on the soap , let it soak for about the length of time you soak your brush. then dump the table spoon of water into your mug, because it has soap in it,
then load the brush for 15-20 seconds
maybe less if you find yourself using a tonne of soap,

 

[CarlosAT]

I got a puck of VDH Deluxe from Walmart a couple weeks ago. I melted it in the microwave for 30 seconds in a standard size coffee mug.

I fill the mug with hottest tap water I can when I get in the shower, letting it soak about 10-15 minutes. Then I pour it out down the drain before shaving.

If you're litterally filling up the mug with the soap, then that may be your problem. You just need a little water to soften and heat the soap up before you take the brush to it. You are probably pouring much of the soap out with the water.

Also, I'll leave it to others to comment, but I think 10-15 minutes may be a little too much. It probably only needs a few minutes.

Good luck and happy shaving!

 

[Schwert]

I squeeze out most of the water from my brush when I go to the puck to load it...swirl and scrub up a very dense cream...no bubbles or froth..but soft silky cream.

Then take that to my wet face to build lather (or to a bowl with a small amount of water...added as you build lather).

I think not only are you presoaking too much but have too much water to scrub up the slick cream.

On VDH try no presoak at all...it is soft enough with just a squeezed out brush to build the necessary cream.

 

[Koss]

When i use my VDH deluxe puck... I just let a few drops (maybe 6-8) fall from my fingers and onto the top of the soap as I'm filling my Sink Basin/bowl/brush with hot water. After prepping my beard I dry my brush by shaking it ever so gently to get some of the water out. My badger brush holds and amazing amount of water and can easily push the water:soap ratio overboard to a watery mess.

Charging your brush is the most important. You want it only moist... and then swirl around on the top of the puck. don't press down... don't jab at it. You do not want to bend the bristles of your brush and damage them. It does not take that much soap. If your Brush is not densly packed enough with its hairs... it won't clump up like in the videos and pictures you have seen.

All you want to do is swirl gently over the puck until you start to create a dense dry cream. as long as most of the head of your brush is coated with cream you'll do fine.

It is always easier to add water than take away water as you build your lather. And you do not need loads of lather either. Just enough to cover all your passes.

For sure you are over doing it. Over soaking. Over Wasting.

My VDH deluxe puck lasts for about 3 months if used daily. And that was when I was using a boar brush. I use even less now with my badger.

 

[johnb]

Well it sounds like we've found the problem! I just use a few drops of water on my VDH and it's probably there for like a minute or so. Maybe even less.

 

[michiganlover]

I use no water on the VDH to pre-soak it. Just soak my brush, give it a good shaking, and proceed to load. I get awesome slick creamy lather. There is, therefore, absolutely no reason to pre-soak the VDH for 15 minutes!!

 

[biomesh]

You don't need to presoak the soap. This will make the product last much longer.

 

[Mr. Igg]

Oversoaking sure sounds like the culprit here. For general principles, two other variables in soap life-span generally are the number of shaving passes, and the number of days you shave per week. I need 4 passes + touchups, and I shave roughly 30 days per month (random missed day). My soap pucks tend not to last quite as long as other gents who might need only 2 passes and maybe shave 4-5 days per week. As a specific example, in the recent month-long soap journey, I used roughly one gram of WMF per day; so, a puck of MWF would last me 4 months.

 

[NickCutlip]

I bought my first puck of VDH in Feb. and counted the number of shaves I got out of it.

I presoak with less than a teaspoon of water while showering, rub the brush on the puck for about 45 seconds then lather in a bowl.

I got 40 shaves.

Next new puck I get I will try without the presoak and see what happens.

 

[Obelit]

Gentlemen,

I agree with many of you about our fellow gentleman shaver using too much water to pre-soak the VDH.

I think VDH has a short lifespan. May I suggest a puck of Tabac. This lovely shaving soap lasts an eternity. It seems I started with my current puck in the last century, and will be working on it into the next century.

Well, nothing wrong with too much of a good thing. Also, the Tabac is great soap.

Regards,

Obelit

 

[Jwolf24601]

Well today I tried not soaking the VDH in a full mug of water, only added about a teaspoon which I dumped into my bowl for mixing.

The brush loaded up properly and even clumped like in the lather guide.

It still made enough lather for a three pass shave too.

I picked up the habit of filling the mug with water from using Herban Cowboy Dusk shaving soap, it was the only way to make a lather at all (not that the lather was any good even after that)

I appreciate all of your help in this matter. I ordered a jar of Tabac from fragrancex.com this morning ($13.99 shipped!) and look forward to many more great shaves.

The B&B community is awesome!

 

[kingfisher]

Yeah, like the others said, you were just pouring your shave soap down the drain.

I don't pre-soak VDH at all. My puck looks like it might last 6 months or more.

 

[Davealicious]

I too made the mistake of too much water with my VDH. I didn't have a mug for it yet as I was just starting out wetshaving, and to soften it up one day, I figured I'd just toss it in my lather bowl to soak with my brush! Got out of the shower, and I'd melted away probably half the puck! I really appreciated VDH's low price that day!

 

[masonjarjar]

Williams = mucho pre-soak

 

[michiganlover]

Williams = mucho pre-soak

Williams= mucho sucko.





(sorry, couldn't resist. )

 

[Kratos]

I picked up the habit of filling the mug with water from using Herban Cowboy Dusk shaving soap, it was the only way to make a lather at all (not that the lather was any good even after that)

I appreciate all of your help in this matter. I ordered a jar of Tabac from fragrancex.com this morning ($13.99 shipped!) and look forward to many more great shaves.

The B&B community is awesome!

There was your problem right there! Glad to see you recognized that. Herban Cowboy=garbage. I saw it on clearance for like a dollar. Still moving slowly. You'll like the Tabac. It's good stuff. The scent you may not, but it's not so bad. I never soak any of my soaps, and I have no trouble charging.