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- 602
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I used MWF this evening and got a beautifully thick, creamy lather. I find it no harder than any other soap to be honest. I load a damp but not dripping brush for 30 seconds, apply to face then gradually paint in water similar to how Cris (anothercutabove) on YouTube does it (MWF can take a fair bit of water) then splay the brush. I'm hoping you can stick with it as it is a wonderful soap with amazing post shave properties (for me anyway).
Creams are always going to be easier to use than hard soaps, the downside being that they don't last as long and are less tolerant of getting wet, hence a lot of people scooping out of the tub rather than loading from it.
One thing I have noticed with MWF is that the lather looks ready before it is, when you think it's done paint in a bit more water and work it some more with the brush. You can get away with adding quite a lot before you kill it. Other than that I've never found it harder to use than any other hard soap, but it does give me the best lather of anything out there and lots of it.
And like some of the wiser gents already articulated, always soak your brush for at least 10-15 minutes.
Badger hair doesn't absorb water? I've got a Simpson capt.2 in best, not only does it absorb waterI only soak boars and only for a couple of minutes. Badger hair doesn't absorb water and neither do synths.
Or you could get a synth with sufficient backbone and avoid soaking altogether; and get consistently good lathers when you've worked out your technique.So ‘the fat' is turning out to be a bit of a rum go eh? Personally, I've found that boar works the best on a hard soap.
The hairs are solid, and ‘pointy', perfect for digging up little chunks of soap that work up a proper lather.
Make sure that the brush your using doesn't have too much ‘loft', or it will be ‘floppy'. Try and find one with a bigger knot
and a shorter loft, for a ‘ scritchier' brush. Also handle length isn't important since your'e loading your brush on the soap.
And like some of the wiser gents already articulated, always soak your brush for at least 10-15 minutes.
A decent scuttle will help too, by breaking down the big bubbles, and thereby removing air from your cream.
If you use a scuttle, you will want a longer handle so your fingers won't come in contact with the soap, and get slippery.
So stay calm and keep shaving!
Well played sir, came right up to the net on that one, didn't you! Scotshave makes an excellent point. One of theOr you could get a synth with sufficient backbone and avoid soaking altogether; and get consistently good lathers when you've worked out your technique.
I tend to be one of those cold water shavers, with a penchant for face lathering; but I dare say the synthetic bristles will have good thermal retention. I've found them very good in bowls too.Well played sir, came right up to the net on that one, didn't you! Scotshave makes an excellent point. One of the
benefits of a synth brush is that you don't have to soak it, just run it under some water, and your ready to load your
brush. In point of fact, I use a synth brush when I do a single pass shave before I go to work.
The other benefit of synth is that, unless you live in an extremely humid environment, it will dry faster, and you can
basically use it every day. That is why they are so popular as ‘travel' brushes.
Now, when I use my synth, I use it to bowl lather a soft tube cream. So I don't have the experience with a hard soap
that the gentleman from Edinburgh has, but as he alluded to, if you get one with a sufficient backbone, and I would
presume a decent knot diameter, I don't know why it wouldn't work.
Having said that, I still feel for a multi pass shave the badger still retains heat in a superior manor. However
if you use the synth in conjunction with a warm scuttle, it may work just the same.
What say you, Scotshave ?
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