Thanks for your tip. Did you apply more water before loading as in your brush was dripping water before loading? Or did you start with ojoy a damp brush and then frequently add water to the bowl or brush as you whirled the brush on the soap?
Zingari Man
- Thread starter merovirginian
- Start date
Thanks for your tip. Did you apply more water before loading as in your brush was dripping water before loading? Or did you start with ojoy a damp brush and then frequently add water to the bowl or brush as you whirled the brush on the soap?
I scoop out the soap in a bowl and start loading with more-than-usual water. If I were to load from the tub, I'd go with damp but not wet brush and not overload. A little goes a long way with this stuff.
I also scoop out to a bowl and I suspect my issues are over how I do that also. How much soap do you generally scoop out? I tried an almond sized piece and a damp brush but despite a couple of minutes of whirling did not get significant amounts of lather despite assig droplets of water a couple of times
First soak your brush. I leave mine in a shaving bowl with warm water while I shower. Also before I shower...I bloom the soap. I take a handful, not much really, of hot water and dump it on to the soap. When I get out of the shower, I squeeze out the brush and dump the water out of the lathering bowl. Then I dump the liquid...now soapy bloom water...off the soap and into the empty lathering bowl. Then I run hot water at a trickle while I begin loading the damp brush on the bloomed soap.
After about 15 swirls clockwise and 15 counterclockwise and a few pushes into the soap, I'm ready to start building lather. I start swirling the brush in the lathering bowl with the bloom water until it starts to form a creamy lather. When that starts to happen, I add a little hot water to the bowl from the trickling faucet and then continue with the lather building. In this way, I'm not over watering the lather, but adding it in small amounts at a time, monitoring the lather as I go. With Zingari Man Sego base, I will probably add water five to seven times.
After about 15 swirls clockwise and 15 counterclockwise and a few pushes into the soap, I'm ready to start building lather. I start swirling the brush in the lathering bowl with the bloom water until it starts to form a creamy lather. When that starts to happen, I add a little hot water to the bowl from the trickling faucet and then continue with the lather building. In this way, I'm not over watering the lather, but adding it in small amounts at a time, monitoring the lather as I go. With Zingari Man Sego base, I will probably add water five to seven times.
Last time I used it, I probably scooped out double the almond size. I can slowly reduce it but I usually overload soaps.
I really like the Zingari balms. I just wish they had a menthol version.
It takes me at least 10 minutes to bowl lather this stuff, to the point that my arm and elbow go almost numb. I wish I could find a soap with such superb performance and easier to lather. But for me the efforts pay off with a sublime shave with Zingari.
I like the fact that Heather does not change the formula often, but it would be really nice if she'd come up with a soap base that was easier to lather.
I like the fact that Heather does not change the formula often, but it would be really nice if she'd come up with a soap base that was easier to lather.
????? I have a difficult time believing that any soap (other than perhaps Williams Mug Soap) would take anywhere near 10 minutes to lather. I will load about 1/4 teaspoon soap into my brush, put 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) of hot water into my bowl and then whip up a lather in less than a minute with most soaps. Zingari Man is no exception to that. Some take no more than 30 seconds. ZM might take a few seconds longer.n I have ease of lathering rated as 10/10 which means I can get a nice lather in 30-45 seconds.
I flatly refuse to use any soap that takes more than 60 seconds to lather; I do not have the patience to go longer. I have three of Heather's soaps in my den. If they were as difficult to lather as you indicate, I would have dumped the first one in the trash and never picked up the other two.
Do you have really hard water? If so, you might try lathering with distilled water.
Are you using a lather bowl that is smooth inside? You want a lather bowl with some sort of texture: ridges, swirls, bumps, etc. I use the mortar bowl from a mortar and pestle set. The rough interior designed for grinding makes an ideal surface to generate shear during the lathering process. If your bowl is smooth, it will take a lot longer to lather.
I work it for a solid 3 to 4 minutes...probably a little more than other soaps in my collection. The extra time/work pays off. I think Zingari Man Sego and Barrister and Mann Reserve soaps leave my skin feeling good after the shave is done and everything is wiped off...more so than any other soaps/creams. Used The Wanderer this morning because of this thread to see. Really like the scent of The Wanderer.
Thank you @RayClem for bowl-lathering tips. My Simpson Duke 3 in best is dying me, I damaged the badger hair by placing the brush in hot water while I was showering. I also use distilled water. No matter what soap I use, it'd be struggle to whip up a good lather.
Going back to Zingari for today's shave, even with a very ineffective brush, Zingari did not let me down. The lather was thin and bubbly with minimal sheen to it, and yet I was able to get a close irritation-free shave out of it. It got a point where for the final clean up after the third pass I had to apply the bare soap on my face and apply water with my hand! It still worked. It speaks to the quality of this soap for those who haven't tried it yet.
I stuggle to develop a great lather when using one of my Semogue boar brushes. I don't have that issue with my Omega boar, or with a variety of badger, horsehair and synthetic brushes. When I am lathering a new soap for the first time, I generally pick a synthetic brush as they seem to work with nearly any soap. Other brushes seem to work best with certain types of soaps.
hmm.. interesting. My tub of Wanderer is up next in rotation and I'll have to pay more attention... I rotate through 5 different soaps and hadn't noticed that Z-Man was any harder to use than the others. i usually soak my brush in my bowl with hot water for a few minutes while i get everything else setup. When i finish a shave I rinse the open tub under running water to clean the outside and leave a small amount of water inside when i cover it... doing both of those things seems to help everything i have lather nicely. Like i said tho... I'll pay closer attention to my next shave. 
hmm.. interesting. My tub of Wanderer is up next in rotation and I'll have to pay more attention... I rotate through 5 different soaps and hadn't noticed that Z-Man was any harder to use than the others. i usually soak my brush in my bowl with hot water for a few minutes while i get everything else setup. When i finish a shave I rinse the open tub under running water to clean the outside and leave a small amount of water inside when i cover it... doing both of those things seems to help everything i have lather nicely. Like i said tho... I'll pay closer attention to my next shave.
ZM tallow soaps are quite easy to lather if you are using a good brush.
I would not recommend leaving any water in the tub when you cover it. While that is acceptable with hard tallow pucks that will be used every day, for artisan soaps that do not contain preservatives, leaving excess water is inviting spoilage. I always leave the top off a soap overnight to allow the soap to dry thoroughly before I replace the cap. Many others recommend doing this as well. If you only have five soaps in rotation, you might get away with this, but if you add more soaps to your collection, you are inviting trouble.
With artisan soaps, I put 1 Tablespoon of hot water into the tub and swirl it around for about 10-15 second to thoroughly wet the surface of the soap and develop a milky liquid. I then pour the liquid into my lather bowl and us it to create my lather. That water contains lots of goodies you do not want to pour down the drain. With hard tallow pucks that have been allowed to dry out completely, I will allow the water to bloom the soap the entire time I am in the shower, but that is not normally necessary for artisan soaps, even the harder ones. With the softest artisan soaps and creams, no blooming is necessary at all.
@RayClem good to know... My brush is an Omega 636 and I've had great success with it and that may contribute. thanks for the detailed insights. and when i mention that i put away the soap with a little water i perhaps wasn't as clear as I should have been given your comments about spoilage. The only water left in my tub when i close it is whatever remains after holding it sideways and letting it drain... the soap is wet but there isn't a puddle.
@RayClem good to know... My brush is an Omega 636 and I've had great success with it and that may contribute. thanks for the detailed insights. and when i mention that i put away the soap with a little water i perhaps wasn't as clear as I should have been given your comments about spoilage. The only water left in my tub when i close it is whatever remains after holding it sideways and letting it drain... the soap is wet but there isn't a puddle.
Leaving ANY water in a container is asking for trouble if you do not use a soap for a while. A five day rotation should not be an issue. Besides, when you let water drain out of the tub you are losing valuable ingredients. Some soap ingredients are more soluble than others, so anytime you pour water out of a tub and down the drain, you are changing the characteristics of the remaining soap. I am not saying you will destroy the soap, but many artisans recommend against blooming their soaps because you can destroy the effect the artisan was trying to achieve through their formulation.
I shaved with my Explorer today. It's one of the creamiest lathers out there. Whips up easy and takes in plenty of water without breaking down. It had good slickness and residual. The blade still bit me as I'm not used to it but at least the lather was doing its job.
Like that razor! What is it?
Love my zingari man, especially explorer. One if my favorite scents. How is their recovery splash?
I have their recovery splash in The Wanderer scent. It's milky white, but definitely a splash, thin liquid. I use it more like an aftershave. No alcohol in it. It contains witch hazel.
It's a CJB kamisori shavette. Takes in AC blades and shaves efficiently.
