What's Wrong? C&E Sienna

[imhere]

Hello all, looking for advice:

I have a puck of C&E Sienna but can't get it to lather. I love the smell. I face lather but either the lather disppears or I just get a very very thin transparent film. I've tried every combination of water, soap and lathering.

I've used AOS, VDH and L'Occitane soaps that give a full almost instant lather. What's wrong with my C&E Sienna? Is it me, or did I get a bad batch?

Anyone have the same problem? I love the scent of this soap and want to use it, but can't get it to lather!

Thanks

 

[Easttexasman]

What brush are you using?I use a SOC boar on mine and it makes a fine lather.

Paul

 

[Go West Young Man]

Can you take pictures?

First though is that you're just not loading the brush enough - are you doing a good 30 seconds of aggressive swirling? Maybe try using the puck as a shave stick to rule out loading problems - dunk it in hot water, rub it all over your face until you have a light coating of soap everywhere, then start face lathering.

 

[Munxcub]

Sounds like a "use more product" scenario. I find that soap to be quite hard, so I soften it with a teaspoon or so of hot water on top for a few minutes. Dump the water off and load away. You can always add a bit more water as you go, but it's hard to add more soap once you've started lathering.

 

[Austin]

I hate to state the obvious but C&E puts a translucent plastic wrapper on the soap. Make sure you have removed it. I had the same problem until I removed the cover.

 

[imhere]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Here's the result:

Well, I've been trying for a couple of weeks to get a decent lather from this soap; nothing seemed to work. So I flipped the puck around and tried loading from the bottom of the puck (which had gotten pretty moist) and suddenly I got tons of thick rich lather. It works great now, but doesnt sit quite right in the bowl this way.

Phil

 

[mrmoonbeam]

Sounds like you need to presoak the puck a bit before loading it.
Whenever I use soaps I put about 1/2 a teaspoon on water on top and let it soak in while I shower.
This softens the soap and lets it load up muche better and easier.
After I hop out I load it onto the bursh and away we go

FYI, C&E Sienna works great for me in all respects.

 

[imhere]

Here's what I did to make the soap work finally:

First, the top of the puck was rock hard and it seemed no amount of soaking made the brush load eaiser. The puck had been unused for a couple of months (it worked fine when I first got it).

So, I grated it with a cheese grater, packed in back into the bowl and now the lather I get is better than any other soap I've used. And it just takes a few swirls to get several passes worth of lather on the brush. I use a Rooney 3/1 and a Shavemac 177 and they both work excellent with the soap.

The advice on here is great.

Phil

 

[djh]

Thanks for coming back Phil. It is always nice to hear a success story. Enjoy your Sienna soap!