Who's afraid of Virginia Woolfat?

I’ve just had a conversation with Kalie from Kent and she said I could return my batch number 9265 soaps and they are posting replacement soaps out to me. She is a credit to Kent Brushes and their excellent customer service. Lets hope that this mistake by Mitchell’s can be a positive for Kent
 
NeilJ said:
I’ve just had a conversation with Kalie from Kent and she said I could return my batch number 9265 soaps and they are posting replacement soaps out to me. She is a credit to Kent Brushes and their excellent customer service. Lets hope that this mistake by Mitchell’s can be a positive for Kent
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Yes, it seems Kent/Kalie are doing the best to sort out this situation.

Who else bought one from batch 9265? @Eurofighter send them an email and you will get a tallow one.
 
I bought a MWF from Amazon but it was a 9029 batch which was confirmed good. It won’t go wrong in my drawer. Not actually bothered they’ve changed the formula. Just think it’s damaging to the company trying to pass off the new version as tallow to Kent. Lots of mistrust ahead for Mitchell’s I think. If sales drop off a cliff edge will they reconsider?
 
donnie_arko said:
Yes, it seems Kent/Kalie are doing the best to sort out this situation.

Who else bought one from batch 9265? @Eurofighter send them an email and you will get a tallow one.
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I’ve had the same exchange with Kalie, who has been very helpful. I will returning mine for a tallow replacement as per her instruction. Kent have been admirable in their response.
 
I'm still a bit shocked by the fact that Mitchell's "forgot to tell Kent about a change, and used the old stickers". And it's not just some ingredients that are 19th and 23rd on the list, it's the first one! How would you trust this supplier about anything anytime soon?
Arguably very few people notice - given how big their production runs are (just Kent alone said 1000 from last December, and they already have a new batch of 4000) and how small (but ... let's say meticulous) the communities around forums/reddit are...
Kent has to act because for now it's their brand that's selling something with a wrong ingredient list. But I think Mitchell's is going to keep on cruising just fine.
(I personally don't really care one way or another, I am not that picky yet, and there are mass produced non-tallow soaps that work well for me, like (the new) Tabac and Lea sticks, and Culmak; but the way it all went down with MWF looks a bit ... unprofessional to me.)
 
Drew71 said:
I bought a MWF from Amazon but it was a 9029 batch which was confirmed good. It won’t go wrong in my drawer. Not actually bothered they’ve changed the formula. Just think it’s damaging to the company trying to pass off the new version as tallow to Kent. Lots of mistrust ahead for Mitchell’s I think. If sales drop off a cliff edge will they reconsider?
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If all the wet shavers on all the forums never ordered MWF again, I doubt it would represent 0.5% of their shaving soap sales. The average person probably wouldn't notice or care that the formula has been changed.

The sudden cessation of recommendations for MWF on the forums will hurt them quite a bit in the long term. I doubt they realize how much advertising they get from word of mouth recommendations on the internet. It will take years for the effects of that to be felt by the people at MWF, and they will probably chalk it up to a changing business environment.

It's obvious that they are/were completely oblivious to the fact that people cared about the formula. They figure as long as it still has lanolin in it, it's a Mitchell's product, and will still sell, and people won't care. Maybe they are right. There's been a few people who don't really see any performance difference between the old and new formulas.
 
exists said:
(Agree with the rest of the post, just to comment about this bit:)
They have "original 1983 formula" very prominently of the box and the ceramic lid...
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Where it's been since about 1980ish, when they first introduced the shave soap.
pjgh said:
Formula = Soap+Lanolin
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Yep. The super secret 1893 formula is *insert random soap here* and add lanolin to it, apparently. All the artisan soaps with lanolin ought to add "original 1893 formula" to their tubs too. It will be as true as MWF's claim, anymore.
 
I hope Kent source a new supplier who use tallow, glycerin and lanolin and the new soap spanks Mitchell’s both old and new with a large oak paddle. Serve ‘em right!

Like Matron taking Roast Beef off the menu without telling us patients and substituting <insert-utter-pish-here> instead. Sunday veg day? Fine but where’s my meat, Matron? Slipping into your cottage pie? Eh, EH?
 
Kent 9027 confirmed bad @Fuzzy on another forum. Experienced user. Grated puck.

Poor guy is getting raked over the coals with well meaning advice. The denial is strong in the B&B community. He posted a pic, and it's bad lather. He also posted a comparison pic with vintage Williams.

I suppose it could be an extra dry puck, but I would think grating it would counteract that. We'll see.
Screenshot_2023-06-07-21-38-35-23_0311c9f6806a66343c45622522faa000.jpg
 
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As a point of reference for double-checking stock of the hallowed stuff arriving from Kent.

MWF 8287 [purchased Summer 2020] - Dud ... absolutely incapable of a stable lather @pjgh (purchased by @NatJag)
MWF 8345 [purchased October 2020] - Good < confirmed by @jimmyc
Kent 8419 [purchased September 2020] - Good < confirmed by @NatJag
???Kent 8923 [purchased December 2022 & January 2023] - Dudder than a dud thing from Dudville < confirmed by @Gairdner
Kent 8923 [purchased ???] Good < confirmed by brucered (B&B)
MWF 9027 [purchased September 2022] - Dud. It's okay, but not up to usual standard @pjgh (purchased by @exists)
Kent 9029 [purchaed December 2022] - Good < confirmed by @donnie_darko @exists
Kent 9139 [purchased November 2022] - Good < confirmed by @NeilJ
MWF 9139 [purchased February 2023 - Shaving Shack] - Good < confirmed by @Blademonkey
MWF 9223 [purchased February 2023 - Executive Shaving Company via Amazon] - Good < confirmed by @mfurie2540
MWF 9223 [purchased February 2023 - English Shaving Company via Amazon] - Good < confirmed by @Zorro

MWF Veg 9265 [purchased May 2023 - Connaught Shaving] - Good < confirmed by @pjgh
Kent Veg 9265 [purchased May 2023 - ???] - Good < but confirmed as mis-labelled Veg

*I've put a ??? on 8923 as this has also been found to be fine by brucered on B&B. @Gairdner can you give one another go, or try the others you bought?

It is possible that Kent's remaining stock (that 4000 and counting) contains 8923.
 
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