Why is soap completely impossible for me? AARHHH!

[swinchen]

Hi All,

I am VERY new to DE shaving w/ badger brush and soap/cream... so I may say something stupid (please correct me if I do).

Last night I tried for three hours to get a lather with a cake of shave soap I picked up at the natural living center (health food store). Every time I created what I would consider a foam, or maybe dense suds and not a lather. There were lots of air pockets, the foam did not last long (broke down quickly), had a dull appearance, and just plain sucked. I followed the instructions in the tutorial on this website... I tried less soap, more soap, 5 drops of water at a time until it was soupy and the foam could not stand on it's own. I was COMPLETELY frustrated.

So today I went to supermarket and saw some "Kiss my Face Shaving Cream" and I thought what the heck. I started experimenting again and on my first try I made a thick, buttery, glossy lather and made me think of marshmallow fluff. Thinking that I must be dreaming I rinsed everything out and grabbed the soap. Three attempts later and I came to the conclusion that I could not build a lather with soap.

Any ideas what I could be doing wrong? Some of my possible ideas are:
#1) Certain soaps just don't work and this is one of them?
#2) My water (town supplied) makes it impossible to build a lather with soap?
#3) Something about my technique make a lather possible with cream, but not soap?
#4) The God of Shaving Soap hates me.

I also got a tub of Omega shaving cream today and I can build a lather with that as well, but not nearly as easily as with "Kiss My Face".

Any ideas? Is there a particular brand of soap I should try that is relatively representative of most shaving soaps? I don't want something fool proof because I seem to have that with the cream... I want something that acts like an "ordinary" soap.

If you have any hints or tips you could make an internet friend for life.

Thanks,
Sam

p.s. "Just use cream and stop whining" is not what I am looking for. I would love to be able to use either.

 

[SiBurning]

Just try with a different soap. Preferably one people around here are familiar with and know lather well.

"A cake of shave soap I picked up at the natural living center" isn't a know quantity. Added to other unknowns such as your water and skill, it's useless to try diagnosing whats wrong.

 

[swinchen]

Just try with a different soap. Preferably one people around here are familiar with and know lather well.

"A cake of shave soap I picked up at the natural living center" isn't a know quantity. Added to other unknowns such as your water and skill, it's useless to try diagnosing whats wrong.

http://www.dfsoaps.com/shaving-soap.shtml

Sorry... I couldn't remember the name until this very second. Dragonfly Men's Goat Milk Shaving Soap.

 

[82R100]

If you have a Walmart nearby, they usually carry Van der Hagen Deluxe shave soap. It's very inexpensive and reasonably easy to lather. What's more, it gives most of us a good shave and leaves our skin feeling good afterward as well.

- Chris

 

[nav]

I had the exact same problem when I started wet shaving. I purchased a big cake of "shaving" soap which would never give me anything more than thin, weak sudsy bubbly lather!

I was about to give up until I picked up a Crabtree & Evelyn shaving soap (which I regard as an average soap by the way), I then had a much better lather and a nice shave. I promptly shifted the original soap to the shower and started trying out more good quality triple milled shaving soaps.

Whatever you do, get one of the big name soaps to begin with so you know how a proper shaving soap performs.

 

[beginish]

I think everyone has nailed it. It's probably the soap. VDH is good. You could also pick up Art of Shaving soap if you have an AoS near you (or some higher end dept store). It is one of the easiest soaps to lather and you'll get a tremendous shave out of it.

 

[tlanning]

Your not alone. Most newbys out using primarily creams and work there way into the soaps. The brand suggested from Walmarts is an excellent suggestion and eventually a soap called Tabac. Hang in there you got the right idea though, pratice makes perfect, (eventually).

 

[JCD]

soap can be tricky, try putting about a tablespoon of very hot water on the puck. Use a stiff brush with the water shaken out. Load up the brush with
a lot of soap. It will take a while and should look like cream in the bristles.
Make your lather, if it gets foamy or bubbly you need more soap. It's a very fine line between water and soap as to whether you get the lather right.

 

[cvac]

Stay away from any soap that isn't given at least a "satisfactory" rating here. A lot of "natural" and "homemade" shave soaps are really not shave soaps at all. Basically someone who has no clue how shave soap is supposed to work took their bath soap recipe and added some clay, then poured it in a round mold, and labeled it as "shave soap".

Keep practicing and stick with proven performers for your shave soap purchases. The Omega you have and VDH should both work just fine once you get your technique down.

Read reviews here:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=40

 

[Jim]

Its the soap-

From the website,

Men's Shaving Soap Product Ingredients:
Saponified oils of olive, coconut, palm and shea butter. Also contains goat's milk, castor oil, bentonite clay and silk fibers. Scented with basil, rosemary, lime and orange essential oils.

Olive oil soap is not satisfactory for a shave soap, use it in the bath instead.

 

[Evbo]

Its the soap-
...
Olive oil soap is not satisfactory for a shave soap, use it in the bath instead.

+1. Jim nailed it 100%. Any olive oil-based alleged shaving soap is impossible to build a decent lather with. It's not you. It's the soap.

 

[swinchen]

Alright... I went super insane on this one.

I spent the last hour looking at every shave soap review and figured out that if I bought Tabac and Cella from Amazon I could get both for $29 w/ free shipping. Both got great reviews and if they don't work for me... I will just stick with creams.


If it does work, Honeybee Spa's and The Gentlemen's Quarter will be getting orders from me very soon.

I didn't get VDH because I could only buy it in sets of 3 or 12. If I don't like the scent I wouldn't want a ton of it laying around.

Lets hope this works! Thanks for the advice. I hated the scent of that dragonfly soap anyways so I just tossed it. It smells like a natural food store only 10 times stronger.

 

[srv524]

One thing I do that I saw on Mantic's youtube tutorial, if I use a soap, is heat up the cup by letting it sit in hot water for a bit, rinse the cup out with hot water just enough the wet the soap and leave a little moisture behind and start mixing it in.
Make sure you're brushing with the tips of the brush, not the whole brush itself (like I did up until I re-watched the tutorial last week lol) when the brush is moist. If you're seeing bubbles, that generally means that the foam is too watery (or so I've read on here). But what do I know, I still use a weishi...

 

[Obsessed]

I think you'll be pleased with Cella and Tabac. Be sure to look over the lathering tutorials, if you haven't already.

 

[swinchen]

I think you'll be pleased with Cella and Tabac. Be sure to look over the lathering tutorials, if you haven't already.

Actually I was sitting at the computer reading the tutorial last night while whipping like mad trying to get that crappy soap to lather. Both arms are actually tired... I serious beat that slop for at least 3 hours. My poor brush probably wishes it went to a different owner.

 

[Evbo]

I serious beat that slop for at least 3 hours.

I was going to say something but decided not to. But oh, it's tempting...

 

[swinchen]

I was going to say something but decided not to. But oh, it's tempting...

That is actually why I replaced "junk" with "slop". Still, I guess it does sound pretty bad.

 

[Obsessed]

I was going to say something but decided not to. But oh, it's tempting...

That is actually why I replaced "junk" with "slop". Still, I guess it does sound pretty bad.

Oh, by the way, welcome to B&B!

 

[swinchen]

Haha thanks Hopefully someday I will be able to give back... right now I am just trying to slice my neck open

 

[Evbo]

right now I am just trying to slice my neck open

One day, lad, all this will be yours.