P160

[Drubbing]

Cella is pretty much the same thing. Only the smell separates them IMO.

 

[Nick the Knife]

Used this soap last night.
Jesus it's easy to lather compared to MWF!
I had the nicest, slickest lather I think I've ever had. My only fear is that this stuff is rare and I will run out :O

Ah so you've taken the leap from lurker to poster eh? ;-)

Good to hear you liked it, oh well I've got 3 bags of it left for sale so grab another while you can....seriously can't believe I still have any left at all...tsk tsk tsk, some people eh.

 

[eggbert]

Good to hear you liked it, oh well I've got 3 bags of it left for sale so grab another while you can....seriously can't believe I still have any left at all...tsk tsk tsk, some people eh.

It's the almond / marzipan smell that puts some of us off, or I would have bought some. A lot of the enjoyment of a good cream or soap is the smell for me, so just allowing the smell to go off is a waste in my mind.

Well that and the fact I already have "too much shaving stuff in the bathroom already" apparently.

 

[Nick the Knife]

It's the almond / marzipan smell that puts some of us off, or I would have bought some. A lot of the enjoyment of a good cream or soap is the smell for me, so just allowing the smell to go off is a waste in my mind.

Oh I understand completely - its a bit of an acquired scent. I can only imagine that the whole almond/marzipan scent is a cultural thing with Italian shaving soaps, kind of like Lemon scent is to Turkish ones...as it seems nearly all of them have it.

As I think I've mentioned before, I found that an easy way to deal with this (as with any softer or glycerine based shaving soap) is to combine it with another one....I have done this very successfully with plain old Arko. And both the scents seem massively dumbed down but you have the best of both their lathering properties, which as you could imagine is pretty impressive.

As these are both tallow based you have to squish them together but its easy enough...glycerine based ones could be melted together....and hard triple milled soaps could be grated.

Well that and the fact I already have "too much shaving stuff in the bathroom already" apparently.

Yes, well I think a lot of us have that same challenge.

 

[renagade]

It's the almond / marzipan smell that puts some of us off, or I would have bought some. A lot of the enjoyment of a good cream or soap is the smell for me, so just allowing the smell to go off is a waste in my mind.

Well that and the fact I already have "too much shaving stuff in the bathroom already" apparently.

My wife said it smells like Amoxicillin. I hate the smell, but can deal with it for the sake of a good shave. My wife loves the after smell. Really soft, creamy soap.

 

[renagade]

While I think this soap is excellent and easy enough to lather I find the lather I'm building up to dry out quickly, at least the loaded brush does.
What is your technique for loading the brush and lathering the soap? What do you do with it between passes??
Cheers

 

[Nick the Knife]

While I think this soap is excellent and easy enough to lather I find the lather I'm building up to dry out quickly, at least the loaded brush does.
What is your technique for loading the brush and lathering the soap? What do you do with it between shaves??
Cheers

I've never had it dry out quickly between passes etc.....I think it's so easy to lather that really any ole technique will suffice but for soft soaps I generally:

1. Soak brush in warm water for 5mins
2. Drop a lil water on the soap (which is pressed into a screw lid container) just to soften the surface
3. Lift brush out of water NOT shaking or squeezing out the water
4. Invert the soap container and load brush with it inverted - so the water stays IN the brush
5. Build lather on face, adding a few drops of water to brush if needed
6. After use as with all my soaps I ALWAYS leave them out overnight to dry before putting the lid back on them.

Is a very easy soap to use - I don't know that I'd call it a great soap, I've never used the myriad of other Italian soft soaps (cella, valobra, 3p, figaro etc etc etc) but I'd imagine they'd be pretty similar. If I'm being REALLY honest I do dislike the odour of P160, the scent is just too over the top for me......hence I've found it PERFECT to mix it with a stick or two of Arko. If anything it enhances the results (Arko while a great latherer can not be as moisturising as P160).....both their odours kinda blend out.

That said I do look forward to using a soap I actually LIKE the scent of....Pjotr was kind enough to swap me for some Dutch 'De Vergulde Hand Soap' (odd name but is intended as a shaving soap I'm told.....smells great but the lather was weak and VERY drying on the skin (has a lot of nasties in its ingredients)....left me feeling a lil icky from it so have been reluctant to use again.

Hopefully those sample from Mike's Natural SOaps will be the real thing as would like to order a few of them.

That said I've also got a few bars of a hard to get Turkish soap 'Camelot' which I've not even tried yet!

 

[renagade]

Thanks Nick,
I haven't heard of the upside down technique before and will give it a go.
I also haven't left the soap over night to air out. Do you wash away the residue lather or just let it dry out?

 

[SmallYetDeadly]

Renegade...

Here are my thoughts:

If the lather dries quickly and on the brush you aren't hydrating it enough. Depending on how you prep your brush and the hair it is made from (boar) the bristles can soak up water too as it sits between passes.

Try adding more water as you build your lather to get past the "meringue" or "lather in a can" stage and get a nice slick consistency. More like coffee crema type of consistency. This won't dry out between passes.

I always rinse my face between passes which adds a little water and often a few drops on to the end of the brush to refresh the lather.

Hopefully that helps. Good luck!

I don't have much luck keeping extra water in the brush at the start. I always make a mess. I'm not shy about dipping the brush in the sink as I'm building the lather though.

 

[Lynchy]

I don't have much luck keeping extra water in the brush at the start. I always make a mess. I'm not shy about dipping the brush in the sink as I'm building the lather though.

+ 1 I always kick off with a drier brush and will dip the tips in water numerous times throughout the lathering!

 

[Drubbing]

I use boars with soap and never soak them, they tend to go too soft and wet to load well. I just dunk them in the sink til they've got damp through and go to the soap. It needs a bit of backbone to load them, but soft soaps work well with badger too. Min 20 secs on the soap loading, and I make sure it's creaming up, not tacky and pasty.

Then add water as you lather up, and always a bit more than you think you need. Then you don't need to worry what the brush is doing between passes.

I can't concur with the sopping wet brush method, I know some like it, but it's Marcoesque and a recipe for a slopfest imo. I have tried it and I find it really messy and inconsistent. Building lather is a process of adding water for the soap you've got, otherwise you've got to work it through the foam party stage.

 

[JugV2]

I can't do the soaking of the brush in the water for any period of time.
Either boar or badger I just run it under the warm water and then shake it out and start loading. I add more water to the tips as needed.

 

[Nick the Knife]

I have to agree with the others in that the upside down (or as Drubbing said Marcoesque method - which comes from the guy on YKW who came up with it) does tend to leave itself open to making a bit of a messy. HENCE whilst it does work pretty well I can't see that it has any advantage (on a technical level) over rinsing then dunking the brush/dripping water into it as you go along.

Again truth be known I've only been using it my past dozen or so shaves and with a gentle hand it works well but even with the best of care sometimes a bit chunk of lather will come flying out etc......pre-this I tended to use the MWF method for all shaves (wet brush, squeeze out all water, load, lather on face and slowly add water to brush as you go)....this is mainly as my first soap was MWF and well the method again just works.

Might try not soaking the brush for as odd as it sounds I've never tried this....like a lot of things this was what I first read up to do and so I always have. Being that I like the backbone and exfoliation of a boar this could be a good thing.

 

[renagade]

Lots of different techniques to try now, thanks guys.
Since I've started using the 160 I haven't gone back to the MWF. I might have to give that a try.

 

[Pjotr]

Dip in water before loading and dip a bit more when needed. It's hard to load soap with a dry brush and that's about as tehnical as it gets. It's just one of those rituals that gets taken to the nnth degree. By the way, on a not completely off topic point, does anybody here shave with cold water? I can't imagine it personally and haven't been game to try it. Just can't see it working.

 

[Pjotr]

........That said I do look forward to using a soap I actually LIKE the scent of....Pjotr was kind enough to swap me for some Dutch 'De Vergulde Hand Soap' (odd name but is intended as a shaving soap I'm told.....smells great but the lather was weak and VERY drying on the skin (has a lot of nasties in its ingredients)....left me feeling a lil icky from it so have been reluctant to use again......

That's a bummer. Haven't tried any myself. De Vergulde Hand (the gilded hand) is a dutch shave soap. Many dutchies (and others) swear by it but based on your experience I'd say it's more out of a sense of patriotism.

 

[Drubbing]

Can't offer an experience with MWF, cos it was all bad for me. I couldn't get it to lather for shit. If you're having trouble being consistent with soaps in general, it's probably not a good one to work with.

I hate to sound to anal over lathering methods, whatever you like that works, works and you should try anything, til you find what it is. It's more the ooze of sycophancy on Marco threads that just gets to me. And the way they all get over excitable, as if Jesus had returned, and set up a national chain of discount gun stores.

 

[Pjotr]

I turned my puck of MWF in to sticks and didn't find it any different or more dificult to use than any other stick I've got. Might behave completely different in puck form.

 

[SmallYetDeadly]

My MWF results improved when I started pickinng up the soap and rubbing it on ala shave stick. I think it's just hard as heck and you can fail to load enough pretty easily by rubbing the brush on it.

I don't think you need to soak the brush as such but I do plonk it in the sink for a few seconds and give it a swish around to make sure water gets to the heart of the knot. If the centre of the knot stays dry with a boar it is going to wick moisture into it. If you are loading a buttload of soap for a lot of shaving it can actually help you get more soap through the brush but for a normal 2-3 passes I can't be bothered with how much longer it takes to wash out the brush properly from the soap getting right up in the knot.

 

[Lynchy]

I hate to sound to anal over lathering methods, whatever you like that works, works and you should try anything, til you find what it is. It's more the ooze of sycophancy on Marco threads that just gets to me. And the way they all get over excitable, as if Jesus had returned, and set up a national chain of discount gun stores.

Lol that actually made me laugh out loud.

....there is also a guy that quotes his (Marco's) Grandfather in their Sig??? Weird!