Who's afraid of Virginia Woolfat?

pjgh said:
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
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Today I took delivery of a Kent with the 9265 batch code but mine is labelled as a tallow version.
Does the last line where I've quoted mean that was actually tallow mislabelled as veg. or actually veg. mislabelled as tallow?PXL_20230621_162437774.jpgPXL_20230621_105813606.jpg
 
Can't believe there isn't one of these threads here when I search!

[@BBS There is and I've just moved this post into one - Globalm ]


MWF is notorious for being hard to lather for some, with a narrow sweet spot to dial in. Many give up, me included (twice). But in the recent uproar about them quietly changing their formula and ditching tallow, I snagged two final pucks of the original. I think scarcity has helped me focus on dialling it in.

Previously I followed advice to soak it heavily, letting it grow to fill the ceramic dish that can be bought with it. And then to use it almost daily, or if not, to put a little water on each day to keep hydrated. It rewards frequent use - another aspect people didn't care for if they neglected or used other soaps. If not, it turns into a cracky dry mess.

This time round I didn't soak it to expand it. Instead I simply used it as normal, covering afterwards in it's dish. 6 weeks in and it looks identical - no cracks, same size, and safely welded to the bottom of the dish so it doesn't spin. I think I've worked it out - before, by expanding it to fill the tub, it was then even more prone to cracking if it dried out at all, as it was "stretched". Now by using roughly 3 times a week and closing the lid, it is maintaining it's shape and texture perfectly. I've also worked out that a boar works best with it to pick up more soap to get optimum lather - not a soap to skimp on. It's the only soap I use my boar on these days, and also needs a dry-ish boar with plenty of water gradually added, not a wet brush too early that otherwise creates fluffy airy rubbish and is hard to get back into shape. My 2p worth!
 
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I don't do any maintenance whatsoever on my soap. It just sits on my shelf until I fancy using it and use my badger or boar that I shake until it's pretty dry and I have never had any issues with lathering or the soap cracking.
 
BBS said:
Can't believe there isn't one of these threads here when I search!

[@BBS There is and I've just moved this post into one - Globalm ]


MWF is notorious for being hard to lather for some, with a narrow sweet spot to dial in. Many give up, me included (twice). But in the recent uproar about them quietly changing their formula and ditching tallow, I snagged two final pucks of the original. I think scarcity has helped me focus on dialling it in.

Previously I followed advice to soak it heavily, letting it grow to fill the ceramic dish that can be bought with it. And then to use it almost daily, or if not, to put a little water on each day to keep hydrated. It rewards frequent use - another aspect people didn't care for if they neglected or used other soaps. If not, it turns into a cracky dry mess.

This time round I didn't soak it to expand it. Instead I simply used it as normal, covering afterwards in it's dish. 6 weeks in and it looks identical - no cracks, same size, and safely welded to the bottom of the dish so it doesn't spin. I think I've worked it out - before, by expanding it to fill the tub, it was then even more prone to cracking if it dried out at all, as it was "stretched". Now by using roughly 3 times a week and closing the lid, it is maintaining it's shape and texture perfectly. I've also worked out that a boar works best with it to pick up more soap to get optimum lather - not a soap to skimp on. It's the only soap I use my boar on these days, and also needs a dry-ish boar with plenty of water gradually added, not a wet brush too early that otherwise creates fluffy airy rubbish and is hard to get back into shape. My 2p worth!
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Thanks @globalm - I'd searched Mitchells and Fat but not the intricately titled thread!

FYI all, good news and bad. Good is that Kent still have some original tallow stuff - the lovely Kalie there confirmed as I ordered two more today. The bad is that there are only 7 (7) remaining... I saw they were out of stock last month, so must have unearthed a little more.

The other interesting fact I saw was that Mitchells are still showing their soap with tallow on their site, the cheeky gits. You have to zoom in a little on the labels, but it clearly is the one starting with tallowate, also no other info I found on their site that flags their ingredient change.
 
Hello All,

As a follow up to this thread, I am still enjoying the puck of (original tallow) MWF i bought a while back and mentioned in this thread.

I particularly like its moisturising (?) quality on the skin post-shave which i understand was largely because of the lanolin / tallow.

I would like to ask if the new formulation still has that quality, and if not then can anyone recommend a soap / croap / cream that has similar skin softening and moisturising qualities. In my very limited experience of shaving soaps and creams, the only one that has had a similar effect for me is the blue cap Proraso cream, the one with Aloe Vera.

Thanks in advance for any Sage advice you can offer.
 
Zorro said:
Hello All,

As a follow up to this thread, I am still enjoying the puck of (original tallow) MWF i bought a while back and mentioned in this thread.

I particularly like its moisturising (?) quality on the skin post-shave which i understand was largely because of the lanolin / tallow.

I would like to ask if the new formulation still has that quality, and if not then can anyone recommend a soap / croap / cream that has similar skin softening and moisturising qualities. In my very limited experience of shaving soaps and creams, the only one that has had a similar effect for me is the blue cap Proraso cream, the one with Aloe Vera.

Thanks in advance for any Sage advice you can offer.
Click to expand...
I would like to add any of the Trumpers creams into the choice.
My skin feels the best ever after use to the point I don't bother adding moisturiser.
 
Zorro said:
Is "new" Kent shaving soap the same as the new formulation Mitchells Wool Fat ?
Click to expand...

Yes.

When the formula changed, seems Kent were not informed. They released the first batch of the new formula inside packaging with the old ingredients list. For a short while, Kent had stocks of the older formulation but that's probably gone now. What they're selling now is almost certainly the new formulation.
 
Something I spotted (being an ingredients geek) but don't think it's been said out loud ...

The new MWF formulation is practically the same as the latest (good) T&H formulation but with lanolin ... so, also TOBS and Floris but with shea butter (urgh!). Good for me as I love T&H and immediately got on very happily with the new MWF.

MWF
Sodium Palmate, Potassium Palmate, Aqua, Potassium Stearate, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Palm Kernel Acid, Parfum, Sodium Chloride, Lanolin, Titanium Dioxide, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Pentesodium Pentetate, Sodium Gluconate, Tetrasodium EDTA & Limonene

T&H Sandalwood
Sodium Palmate, Potassium Palmate, Aqua, Potassium Stearate, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Parfum, Palm Kernel Acid, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Potassium Pentetate, Sodium Gluconate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Citronellol, Coumarin

I dearly wish Trumpers would stop with the "nobody has ever complained ... ever" bullshit and flip Soapworks for the Culmak? formulation.
 
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