What am I doing wrong? Wool Fat.... New to DE

tomstephens89 said:
Wow thanks for all the replies. I was practicing like a total loser today, I can't get the thick lather by face lathering, however whipping it up for even a little while in my proraso shave mug thing seems to get it working easier.
I have a nice Gruti stainless bowl that arrived today so Tommorrow I will really give it a go in there see what happens.
There are so many different opinions on MWF online... However two main suggestions being:

A. Don't use lots of water. Just a teaspoon and a damp brush.

B. Soak the soap for a whole day or something until it's absorbed all the water.

I think I am going give B a go and then use my bowl. It is very dry and still cracked up, I soaked it for nearly an hour yesterday.
Im not giving up just yet, I do have other soaps, Proraso Green, Wilkinson Sword and an Arko stick. However the feeling and soapy smell of MWF on my skin along with the legendary like praise it gets online really makes we want to work out how to get the best from it. If that means a bowl lather and a pre soak for every new puck then so be it, my water is very hard.
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It's a divisive soap, to be sure. Personally, I get on well with it. However, I don't think (for me, that is) it deserves the holy grail status some afford it. There are some outstanding soaps out there.
 
tomstephens89 said:
Wow thanks for all the replies. I was practicing like a total loser today, I can't get the thick lather by face lathering, however whipping it up for even a little while in my proraso shave mug thing seems to get it working easier.
I have a nice Gruti stainless bowl that arrived today so Tommorrow I will really give it a go in there see what happens.
There are so many different opinions on MWF online... However two main suggestions being:

A. Don't use lots of water. Just a teaspoon and a damp brush.

B. Soak the soap for a whole day or something until it's absorbed all the water.

I think I am going give B a go and then use my bowl. It is very dry and still cracked up, I soaked it for nearly an hour yesterday.
Im not giving up just yet, I do have other soaps, Proraso Green, Wilkinson Sword and an Arko stick. However the feeling and soapy smell of MWF on my skin along with the legendary like praise it gets online really makes we want to work out how to get the best from it. If that means a bowl lather and a pre soak for every new puck then so be it, my water is very hard.

The whole ‘lathering experience' thing doesn't sit well with me. I have designed and built huge datacenter networks and server estates in my profession, this is just some GODDAMN SOAP GODDAMN IT!!! It can't be hard.
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The long soak method really does work Tom

I too live in a very hard water area, and found it very difficult to get consistent results

Don't give up on it - the post shave feel is awesome when you get it right too
 
Paul L said:
The long soak method really does work Tom

I too live in a very hard water area, and found it very difficult to get consistent results

Don't give up on it - the post shave feel is awesome when you get it right too
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I have just filled the ceramic dish up to the top and put the lid on, will take a look in the morning and if there's any water still left I'll leave it. If it's drunk the lot I'll top it up.
 
Philtrum said:
If it's a new puck of soap, try blooming it whilst in the shower and your brush is soaking. Use the bloom water on your face, shake the brush a couple of times and load your brush for a good 30 seconds before face lathering. You might need to dip the tips of the brush in water a couple of times but don't overdo it.
Another thought is that it might be your new brush which needs to break in - I've had this problem with new brushes.
With my Omega 49 a single loading of MWF gives me more than enough lather for 3 passes plus clean up.
If you still think it's your hard water you could try filtered or bottled water to check on this.
MWF is my favourite soap and I get thick, luxurious lather with it, but I live in a soft water area.
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That's pretty much the same as I do, works every time.
 
Missoni said:
Welcome to the forum.

Bin the MWF it is crap or use as a bath soap.
Many, many shavers have reported exactly the same experience as you - it does not work!
You will hardly ever see MWF in SOTD photos despite all the fan boys that will tell you how easy it is to lather.
Go down to Superdrug and purchase 2 Palmolive shave sticks for about £1; grate these, with a cheese grater into a suitable container; press down hard with your thumbs. It will easilly produce mountains of thick, creamy lather with any brush. No requirement to watch tips and tricks videos. Enjoy. :)
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We all have our preferences which is what makes wet shaving so interesting but I disagree. I think it, along with Tabac it's pound for pound one of the best performing soaps out there. Yes there are easier soaps to lather such as Martin de Candre but it's the slickness and post shave where it excels. It's also great value at around £7 a puck and lasts a very long time. I would persevere for a bit longer if you can, it's remained unchanged since 1893 for a reason, it's good.
 
NeilJ said:
We all have our preferences which is what makes wet shaving so interesting but I disagree. I think it, along with Tabac it's pound for pound one of the best performing soaps out there. Yes there are easier soaps to lather such as Martin de Candre but it's the slickness and post shave where it excels. It's also great value at around £7 a puck and lasts a very long time. I would persevere for a bit longer if you can, it's remained unchanged since 1893 for a reason, it's good.
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Every wet shaving forum is awash with threads on the problems with lathering MWF; indeed a quick search on this forum will confirm same. It is not an isolated user experience but a common issue.
 
Inspired by this thread I got my Fat out tonight.

Rubbish face lather really, that's with derbyshire soft water and a synthetic brush. Much better as a bowl lather in my experience.

But regardless I enjoyed it anyway, and thats all that matters. Great post shave feel.
 
Skylarking said:
Inspired by this thread I got my Fat out tonight.

Rubbish face lather really, that's with derbyshire soft water and a synthetic brush. Much better as a bowl lather in my experience.

But regardless I enjoyed it anyway, and thats all that matters. Great post shave feel.
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I am soaking mine as we speak but my experience so far has been a useless face lather but a quick test yesterday in a bowl looks promising. So I am keen to see how this weekends shave with a bowl lather after the long soak turns out.
 
Missoni said:
Bin the MWF it is crap or use as a bath soap.
Many, many shavers have reported exactly the same experience as you - it does not work!
You will hardly ever see MWF in SOTD photos despite all the fan boys that will tell you how easy it is to lather.
Go down to Superdrug and purchase 2 Palmolive shave sticks for about £1; grate these, with a cheese grater into a suitable container; press down hard with your thumbs. It will easilly produce mountains of thick, creamy lather with any brush. No requirement to watch tips and tricks videos. Enjoy. :)
Click to expand...

giphy.gif


:p
 
Well its still soaking.... Just had a shave and used Taylor of old bond street coconut cream, dollup on the brush and straight onto a wet face. Lathered up a treat really quickly.

But its missing the wool fat super clean soap smell and super slickness.
 
Well I have decided to stop the soak of my MWF now. Its had over 24 hours and has expanded to fill the pot. Its slightly goey on the top now so I have drained the remaining water, left the top shiny wet and put it away.

When I next shave in a couple of days we shall see whats what.

IMG_5106.JPG
 
Just seen this thread. Don't worry Tom I'm quite far in to my traditional shaving journey and the only soap I've ever had real trouble with lathering up is MWF. I too live in a very hard water area. I revisited MWF about a year ago by buying a new puck as I'd moved on the first one in the ceramic jar that I'd previously bought. This one seemed a little better and I wasn't doing anything different. I then decided to grate the puck up and squash it in to a slightly wider bowl. This actually improved it again somehow. Still too much effort though after getting spoilt by easy to lather artisan softer soaps from the US and UK.
 
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