Thread: Dry, dry soap...

After considerable research into the subject, I tried shaving with soap for the first time last night (Col. Conk Amber). I got a wonderful, almost free of irritation, shave.

However, there were some issues as I could not keep a wet lather on my face for love or money. I spent half my time reapplying the lather, I could literally watch the soap dry to scum on my face.

What frustrates me is that I am sure that the brush was loaded correctly (I had oodles of lather), could it be a bad puck of soap?

What am I doing wrong?

I'm VERY new to straights, but I've been using soap and a brush since I was a teenager, so I've got that solid.

How much lather are you putting on your face?

It may be that you are loading the brush correctly, but being to firm handed in how you apply it, and leaving it too thin.

If you get the right lather, you should be able to apply it to you face thick enough that you can't see skin at all, and you shouldn't have any trouble getting it to stay there.

Try adding a little more water to the mix and take a little more time building the lather. I had the same problem at the start and it's a fine line between too much and too little of the wet stuff. If it dries too quick, too little. If it drips of the blade, too much. There are some good videos that show the process well, Mantic's spring to mind.

Originally Posted by AlanII

Try adding a little more water to the mix and take a little more time building the lather. I had the same problem at the start and it's a fine line between too much and too little of the wet stuff.

+1. It sounds like the lather has more of a merengue consistency, where you should be shooting for more of a whipped cream consistency. When mine is right the brush can stand up by itself in the lather bowl. It has a rich moistness to it, not a bubbly texture. The bubbly textured lather disappears very quickly.

Thanks for this thread. I'm currently using the Col. Conk Bayrum and the first couple weeks was getting the whipped cream consistency, but the past few days I've not been so successful in getting that. I've been getting more of the bubbly stuff. Guess I need more practice.

Add more water, gradually, and lather/agitate more.



- Scott

It might have to do with time it takes you to shave as well. I have some conk and it lathers well. But no matter what soap I used when I first started it would take me so long to get one side of my face done by the time I went to the other side the lather would be dry so I would have to reapply. I don't have that problem now but my shaves have gotten a lot quicker, so even when I use the conk I don't have those problems anymore. I have found out that there are better soaps my favorite right now it anything from TGQ.

+1 on adding more water and making it wetter though it will probably help. Just add small amounts at a time you can always add but you can't take away the water. Normally I just wet my fingers and let a little bit run off them into the scuttle.

You can also try other soaps.

The soap I use is actually made, no joke, in an iron kettle on a very old wood burning stove in a very old farmhouse in a tiny coastal town in Oregon.

They make all sorts of soaps from the ultra-girly to pumice soaps made with kerosene and of course, classic men's shave soap. No artificial additives, very nice scent of cinnamon an cloves. And the stuff simply will not dry out.

I can make a nice thin lather for a cartridge razor that does the job without clogging things up, or I can lathery it up like whipped cream, and either way, it just doesn't dry out.

If anybody is interested, I'll see if I can find their address. I never mail order from them. I just buy a year's supply once a year at a festival they sell at. Every year.