Stirling Soaps - How do you lather yours?

Dipesh

Dipesh

Messages
3,846
Evening gents,

We were lucky enough to have a GB sorted for us by Erik (Thanks Erik!) and I've had a week or so to try to get to grips with lathering it.

So this leads me to the question, how do you lather yours?

I'm a face latherer and if I use my usual load heavy and hydrate on my face with a few dips in my old spice mug.

Now this method doesn't work to well for me for whatever reason. The lather goes too thin rather than the usual explosion I get.

The method I've had great success is to load and lather on the puck. I found it quite sensitive to water so once the brush is full of lather a wet face is enough to lather on my face.

So.... How do you guys lather yours?
 
Load circa 30 seconds
Transfer to Bowl
Work It Baby - Add Water - Work It Baby - Add Water - Work It Baby - Add Water - Work It Baby
Eventually you'll get there
 
I have the impression from somewhere that the soap's don't all follow the exact same formula? I've only used my Anise sample the once so far. I soaked the puck for a couple of minutes before loading for 30-45s with a well-shaken 2-band badger. It didn't exactly 'explode' with proto-lather and face lathering took a bit of work. It seemed a bit miserly at that initial point. But after a good scrub with the brush and four or five dips of the brush under the tap, I got a very reasonable lather. Not voluminous or fluffy(?) lather in the way that you expect from, say, Cella, but a fairly rich coating that stayed closer to the skin. Enough for 4 or 5 passes.
 
I put this on another Stirling thread

In this my brush was to wet, so not the best and not repeated again

[video=youtube]http://youtu.be/TfNWaAbYb_M[/video]
 
Helveticum said:
Face lathering didn't work with Stirling for me either. Probably need to try loading more.
Click to expand...

Works ok with me, around a minute of loading with a fairly damp brush. Last pass can be a little thin but works fine for me.
 
I load the brush heavy from the puck this takes a while as I load more than any other soap even MWF. I would say over a minute wetting the brush tips as necessary.
Then take the brush to the scuttle and work in there a while it seems to come together in the 3 times I've used it this week. The soap was Smart Dressed Man.
The lathers not fluffy clouds but thick yoghurt consitancy, very slick and moisturising.
 
Everyone is looking at the soap and technique for the problem/solution and no-one seems to have considered the hardness of their water. You need enough soap to neutralise the hardness effects of your water and then enough soap to produce lather.

Stirling soap does not contain foaming agents, it relies on tallow, lanolin, animal fats to lather - means you have to work at it. A lot of hard water out of proportion to the amount of soap loaded will kill lather dead..
 
Bechet45 said:
Everyone is looking at the soap and technique for the problem/solution and no-one seems to have considered the hardness of their water. You need enough soap to neutralise the hardness effects of your water and then enough soap to produce lather.

Stirling soap does not contain foaming agents, it relies on tallow, lanolin, animal fats to lather - means you have to work at it. A lot of hard water out of proportion to the amount of soap loaded will kill lather dead..
Click to expand...


I've asked the question like that on purpose, keep it simple, just on techniques.

The idea being we get a list of techniques to try out with whatever water we have.
 
Dipesh said:
Bechet45 said:
Everyone is looking at the soap and technique for the problem/solution and no-one seems to have considered the hardness of their water. You need enough soap to neutralise the hardness effects of your water and then enough soap to produce lather.

Stirling soap does not contain foaming agents, it relies on tallow, lanolin, animal fats to lather - means you have to work at it. A lot of hard water out of proportion to the amount of soap loaded will kill lather dead..
Click to expand...


I've asked the question like that on purpose, keep it simple, just on techniques.

The idea being we get a list of techniques to try out with whatever water we have.
Click to expand...

But the technique to give good or best results in your bathroom is dependant on the water issuing from your taps!
 
Bechet45 said:
Dipesh said:
Bechet45 said:
Everyone is looking at the soap and technique for the problem/solution and no-one seems to have considered the hardness of their water. You need enough soap to neutralise the hardness effects of your water and then enough soap to produce lather.

Stirling soap does not contain foaming agents, it relies on tallow, lanolin, animal fats to lather - means you have to work at it. A lot of hard water out of proportion to the amount of soap loaded will kill lather dead..
Click to expand...


I've asked the question like that on purpose, keep it simple, just on techniques.

The idea being we get a list of techniques to try out with whatever water we have.
Click to expand...

But the technique to give good or best results in your bathroom is dependant on the water issuing from your taps!
Click to expand...


But the point of the thread is to see how people lather the soap up. Not how it lathers with different water hardness.

My water is going to be the same regardless but there may be another technique/method which I am not aware of that another member is using that may get even better results. Due to my water being the same and me lathering this soap differently to all my others, it's why the question is purely on technique.

jb74 said:
Anise is defo one of the tougher ones.
Click to expand...

I've been using this all this week. Great post shave, scent but it does take a little longer than usual.
 
jb74 said:
Whatever is in the Anise it leaves my skin feeling fantastically moisturized (could be the black Australian clay)
Click to expand...



You know what, I'm thinking the same. No idea what it is but you don't even need a balm.

The scent is amazing. I love black jacks!
 
ive now got it down to a tee

(ive got two pucks in an OS Mug sheep pine when i get through that it will lead to sharp dressed al h).
i use a damp brush on the dry soap then just add water to the mug and load for a minute building a small lather in the mug then face lather as normal
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom