DR Harris - bad lather!

J

jhclare

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517
Hi all,

Had to get this off my chest.

I have a puck of Harris Arlington, and while the scent is nice, I can't get a decent lather out of it.

Oh, it's much better than MWF in that regard, but although there lots of it, and it seems quite thick, it's just not slick enough for me. I've tried varying the amount of water.

On close inspection I notice there are larger air bubbles in it than I get with all my other soaps.

I really wanted to like Harris but the performance is really mediocre for me. I once finished my first pass with it, was so unhappy with the slickness, I completed the shave with Cella. Night and day.

I get superlative lather with Valobra, Cella, Mama Bears, Tabac, Cade, IK, La Toja, MdC, heck, even Palmolive and Boots soaps.

Am I the only one?

John
 
I dont get a nice,thick,rich lather from Harris as I do from other english triple milled soaps like Cyril R Salter,T&H....But something I can tell you:MFW makes a better lather than Harris and gives better shaves.
And having MdC and IK dunno why you wanna use Harris.I have been shaving woth MdC 3 days on a row and the lather that MdC makes its hard to beat,and its skin care properties are the best that you can find on a soap.
 
I had the same problems with the Harris Almond soap, I could create a nice dense lather (I face lather) which would be stable and hold long enough from the brush for two passes.

The problem being as you have mentioned, the lather offered absolutely no glide and resulted in razor skipping. When I tried adding more water to the mix it resulted in an unstable lather that offered very little protection.

Of all the soaps i've tried, this had the smallest sweet spot in creating a lather (lazy latherer) :?

I look at it as “tried it, didn’t like it, move on”.

Noticed that vinny (not joe) uses this as a staple soap in his setup and that's after a massive cull in his horde of soaps, HFC’s.
 
antdad said:
You have to learn it like every other soap, there shouldn't be any visible air bubbles.
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+1

I have to say that if you can't get a decent lather from a Harris soap or MWF, you're doing something wrong. You're possible adding too much water.

I'll dig out my cake of Arlington tomorrow and give it a whirl. Not used it for ages.

Ian
 
IanM said:
antdad said:
You have to learn it like every other soap, there shouldn't be any visible air bubbles.
Click to expand...

+1

I have to say that if you can't get a decent lather from a Harris soap or MWF, you're doing something wrong. You're possible adding too much water.

I'll dig out my cake of Arlington tomorrow and give it a whirl. Not used it for ages.

Ian
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I lather all my soaps the same way - my technique is sound. Start with damp brush, load the hell out of the soap for a minute or so, slowly add drops of water. Some soaps need more water than others and I just stop when the lather is right. This doesn't happen to MWF for me.

Of all the soaps I've tried, MWF has been the hardest to lather, to the point where it's almost unfit for purpose. The sheer number of threads on this topic from experienced shavers on other forums proves that I'm not the only one.

DR Harris lathers well enough, at least the appearance. It's the performance during the shave I have issues with. I've tried face, bowl, boar and badger. It's just a poor performer for me.

I think it's my water in London.

John
 
Wow, loading for a minute?

I use D R Harris (Almond) and it is the best soap I've used . . . and I've used LOTS.

Damp brush, quick* swirl on soap, paint on face a bit, bit more water on brush, swirl on soap again* then face-lather.

* 5 seconds.

But, as you say - your way is sound with other soaps so don't waste any more time on it. Chuck it away . . . my way.
 
DRH is particularly hard and would benefit from being used on daily basis. Overload it and make sure the soap has softened adequately.

Although not particularly hard it's the same with MWF, I was breaking in a boar brush on some dehydrated MWF , after a week and more of doing this the puck was really hydrated and I was able to use a softer badger on it no problems.

MWF can be superb once you get it going even with London water.
 
Part of me wants to buy another puck of MWF as a challenge, but the other part thinks I should spend the cash on a soap I haven't tried yet!
 
I very much agree with using hard soaps regularly, when I take a hard soap out of the stash I usually submerge it for 10 minutes the day before and make a quick lather. Then using it each day after it seems to get easier, I do this with most of the milled soaps I have, especially Dr Harris, MWF and the really hard cakes.

With my DR Harris Marlborough I use a dryer brush than normal (give it an extra shake) and the cake usually has some hot water on top for a few mins before I use it. The drier brush and the softer soap creates a paste which is easily picked up on the brush. Some people get water and swirl that on top of the soap but I find it better taking that paste mix to a bowl and lathering it there. I don't often face later anyway I do prefer a bowl.

Sometimes the amount of swirling to get the lather right on the face is more effort than it is worth to me, by the time I get it perfect I am getting skunnered of it sitting on my face.
 
I pulled my cake of Harris Arlington from the back of my soap drawer for this morning's shave. I haven't used it for AGES.

I smeared a very small amount of warm water on the top of the cake with my fingers, and that soaked in (or evaporated) while I got myself organised.

Took a damp New Forest 2201 brush, and whizzed it around the soap for about 30-40 seconds and loaded the brush. Built the lather on my palm, adding very small amounts of water as I went until the lather looked and felt 'right'. The lather on my hand I smeared on my face and into my beard, followed applying the lather from the brush with swirling and then painting actions.

Left the lather on my face whilst I cleaned up the bowl and one or two other things, then shaved.

3 full passes WTG, XTG and even ATG - no issues.

John - I'm wondering if something has happened with your soap. I did have an MWF soap that went 'off' once, maybe it's died?

Ian
 
IanM said:
John - I'm wondering if something has happened with your soap. I did have an MWF soap that went 'off' once, maybe it's died?

Ian
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Perhaps he could send it to you to try and evaluate. At least then he'd know if its the soap or him. Assuming, that is, you don't just say, its had and keep it for yourself. You wouldn't do that, I'm sure.
 
Thanks for your input everyone.

I hate feeling "defeated" by any soap - I'm going to give it another go!

I have to say though - my favourite soaps by a large margin are MdC and Valobra stick. Simply awesome lather. :mrgreen:

John
 
jhclare said:
Thanks for your input everyone.

I hate feeling "defeated" by any soap - I'm going to give it another go!

I have to say though - my favourite soaps by a large margin are MdC and Valobra stick. Simply awesome lather. :mrgreen:

John
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+1

Valobra & Speick sticks, plus the MdC are three top soaps. The first two edging it price wise.
 
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