Eucris Shaving Soap HOWTO

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Trumper's Eucris is a wonderful scent for those who can stand it ... not at all musty coffins and decomposing funeral flowers; deep earthiness, floral and powdery, then fruity and green.

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Anyway ...

The soap. It gets a bad rap for being a tough one to lather and not without reason. It is, basically, and when you put the brush into the soap it just foams up, giving a weak lather which can practically disappear within a few minute.

Well, I've found a method that works well for me and I hope it will for you ...

Loading the brush

1. Use an almost dry brush. Soak the brush in hot water and flick out all the water. You don't have to be over-zealous with this, just make sure all the water held in the brush is out. I don't have a badger brush, just a synthetic, but I imagine the principles are the same, just that the badger will need an extra good shake out.

2. Roll the brush around the soap clockwise and anti-clockwise. I go with 10 in each direction three times (so, 60 swirls). Again, not having a badger I am not sure how loading will go but I imagine the extra bloom over synthetics will load up more, possibly quicker. I'd be keen to hear.

Face Lathering

1. Perform a first lather - this is not the lather you'll shave with, but the first step in making the lather shave worthy. Wash your face in the hot water and get most of the water off. Water should not be forming drips on your chin. Lather up and perhaps add a drop or two as you go. The lather will appear good, but it gets better ...

2. Put the brush aside and wash the lather off. I'm not sure what happens when you put the brush aside, but in a few minutes when you lather again it will be substantially better.

3. Wash your face in hot water and repeat the lathering method from step 1. This time, the lather is much thicker and you can build up layers quite well. It should be noted that the brush will appear quite dry - mine has that tell-tale "hole" in the middle indicating that the brush wants more water, but don't succumb to its tempting ways! Drop at a time. Drop.

Bowl Lathering

1. Immerse your bowl in hot water, remove and drain. While still hot and ever so slightly wet, whisk your brush around the walls of the dish vigorously. Perhaps add a drop of water, and I mean a "drop".

2. Set the brush aside, as in the section above.

3. Several minutes later, add a further drop of water and start to build your lather as normal, adding water in VERY small quantities every so often. If you get a hint of it foaming up, stop, push it back down and perhaps leave it a moment before proceeding. Again, do not read the brush - it will tell you it is too dry. Add drops at a time and don't over-water the soap.

I have not tried these methods over pre-shave treatments.

So, it would appear that simply putting the loaded brush aside is what makes the difference. Time? Perhaps 3 or 4 minutes? What happens is a mystery. Don't spoil it with science, eh? Let's leave it as a mystery :D

On the face, that Eucris scent is there but not in the same full majesty as the EDT; berries and green is the main push, to my nose.

You might say, "why bother" when there are so many soaps that just work. Well, isn't traditional shaving itself quite a beggar about when you could just squirt of some gel and run a modern Gillette over?

It comes down to whether the juice is worth the squeeze and with Eucris, I think it is.
 
I'm no expert but a lot of folks speak of keeping the brush wet. It just seems to make a sloppy lather in the soap container and that all.

I started squeezing out a well soaked brush and loading. It certainly picks up more soap and due to the lack of water doesn't build a lather.

I thought that's what you wanted, more soap on the brush.
 
Paul, you didn't say how the lather turns out in the end. Does all this effort create a slick, protective fun lather or does it create an average or below-average lather?

I tried this Eucris soap and it just made me angry :icon_evil: so not a pleasant experience at all. I really wanted it to work as I dig the scent a lot but however hard I tried it just resulted in a thin short-lived lather. In the end I figured it wasn't worth my time. Respect to those who get it working though.

My evil plan is to purchase the cream version of this as I've heard that this is simple to lather. I will enact my plan when I get round to it or I see it on offer (which I never do). Meanwhile I get my fix from Trumpers Eucris stick deodorant and EdT, both of which are excellent and seem to last forever.

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Wha burst the ba said:
I'm no expert but a lot of folks speak of keeping the brush wet. It just seems to make a sloppy lather in the soap container and that all.

I started squeezing out a well soaked brush and loading. It certainly picks up more soap and due to the lack of water doesn't build a lather.

I thought that's what you wanted, more soap on the brush.

The soap would appear to be mega-concentrated, or something like since what you do pick up builds a regular lather. In the soap dish, the job is to load the brush; building lather is a second job which tends to be done in a separate bowl or on the face.

With Eucris, I just can't see it working with a soap puck in a dish and trying to build lather on the soap - it's just too foamy ... unless in a large dish, after several goes with something like a Rubberset 400 whisked like a Chef, the soap gets the idea and starts behaving.

It's a peculiar one and doesn't play by the regular rules ...

fancontroller said:
Paul, you didn't say how the lather turns out in the end. Does all this effort create a slick, protective fun lather or does it create an average or below-average lather?

"This time, the lather is much thicker and you can build up layers quite well ..." ... thick, slick, protective and smells great!

No the thickest, nor the slickest, but it paints over itself in layers and well worth the effort.

I'm just going to edit the first post to point out that throughout, the brush will appear to be a little dry - with that appearance using any other soap, you'd be adding water; a lot more water. Not with Eucris.

fancontroller said:
I tried this Eucris soap and it just made me angry :icon_evil: so not a pleasant experience at all. I really wanted it to work as I dig the scent a lot but however hard I tried it just resulted in a thin short-lived lather. In the end I figured it wasn't worth my time. Respect to those who get it working though.

Next time I use it, I'll get some pictures of the lather.

fancontroller said:
My evil plan is to purchase the cream version of this as I've heard that this is simple to lather. I will enact my plan when I get round to it or I see it on offer (which I never do). Meanwhile I get my fix from Trumpers Eucris stick deodorant and EdT, both of which are excellent and seem to last forever.

Likewise, I'm going to get the cream. The EDT is quite sublime.
 
I have had 3 attempts with Eucris since I received some of the factory seconds from 'a close shave' from here.

first try was a palm lather as a test. I got an excellent lather with a boar brush, which seemed really slick with lots of rich lather. I had placed a few drops of water on the puck and just given the boar a quick rinse and shake.
2nd attempt was a disaster. The puck had a 5 minute soak with a fair bit of water on top and the boar was left to soak for the same amount of time. Despite shaking most of the water out, I ended up with the foamy, disappearing mess that has been described above.
For the 3rd try, I went back to a rinsed and shaken almost dry boar with a dry puck. Once I had loaded a decent amount of soap (upto a minute of loading), I went to my face with the still very dry soap. I very gradually added water by lightly dipping my brush in the sink and ended up with an excellent lather.
I should add that my water is pretty soft.
 
It occurred to me that the absolute, basic, underlying "issue" with this soap is getting sufficient off the puck to lather.

Whether this is achieved by soaking the soap to soften it, going for an extended loading carefully done so as not to foam up, or whatever, the "issue" is with getting sufficient soap onto the brush to make a decent lather ...

... which got me thinking.

Why not just apply the soap directly to the face, warmed with a wash and with residual moisture contained in the soon to be shaved beard ... like a shaving stick? Well, I popped the soap out, applied to face and you know what? Loads of soap ... loads of lather. Controlled lather, not foaming up but with an almost dry brush evened up around the face and then a quick dip of the tips in the water and we're away! Loadsa lather!!!

My quest now is to make a Eucris stick ... and so, I have popped up a request in the BST forum for an empty deo stick.
 
pjgh said:
Why not just apply the soap directly to the face, warmed with a wash and with residual moisture contained in the soon to be shaved beard ... like a shaving stick? Well, I popped the soap out, applied to face and you know what? Loads of soap ... loads of lather. Controlled lather, not foaming up but with an almost dry brush evened up around the face and then a quick dip of the tips in the water and we're away! Loadsa lather!!!

My quest now is to make a Eucris stick ... and so, I have popped up a request in the BST forum for an empty deo stick.

Couple years ago I made a stick outta the soft soap Toots creates cedar/vetiver I think. Used a container made for that but it turned out pretty ugly after cutting off small chunks and cramming em in the tube. Hah, I remember she was disgusted by the picture.
 
Going slightly off topic I was interested to learn that others face lather by applying the soap puck directly to the face. I am a fan of D R Harris soaps and used to buy their shaving sticks. The sticks weigh in at 40 grams and the pucks at 100 grams but cost the same.
Consequently, I tried using the puck as an oversized stick with great results. The puck loads the face far more effectively than with a stick and more economically.
 
Taffy said:
Going slightly off topic I was interested to learn that others face lather by applying the soap puck directly to the face. I am a fan of D R Harris soaps and used to buy their shaving sticks. The sticks weigh in at 40 grams and the pucks at 100 grams but cost the same.
Consequently, I tried using the puck as an oversized stick with great results. The puck loads the face far more effectively than with a stick and more economically.

I am going to "face puck" my Eucris tomorrow. :icon_razz:

I'll let you know how it goes.
 
paul-ss1 said:
Taffy said:
Going slightly off topic I was interested to learn that others face lather by applying the soap puck directly to the face. I am a fan of D R Harris soaps and used to buy their shaving sticks. The sticks weigh in at 40 grams and the pucks at 100 grams but cost the same.
Consequently, I tried using the puck as an oversized stick with great results. The puck loads the face far more effectively than with a stick and more economically.

I am going to "face puck" my Eucris tomorrow. :icon_razz:

I'll let you know how it goes.

Well the face puck method didn't really work for me.

I have managed to get better (but not perfect) results but loading a fairly wet brush with quite a bit of the soap and then vigorously working the brush in to a bowl. I have been trying a very quick side-to-side action to build a thicker lather.

The trouble is, when the lather sits on my face it just doesn't last as I'd want it to. Shame. I will peservere as I love the scent but it comes to something when a £2 stick of Arko does better!!
 
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