Queen Charlotte Soaps - Key Limes

[~Spyne~]

Took a break from my jar of TOBS SJS today and decided to give one of the QCS samplers that I received the other week a go (also got sample jars of Cedarwood+Lemongrass, Vostok Lite, Unscented, and Rose).
Didn't DE shave since it's a work day, just usual shower while brush soaks in warm water, then grab brush and bowl while in shower and get to it.
scopped out a good almond sized bit of the soap/cream (it's not as soft as a cream, nor as hard as a soap...) and mashed it onto the bottom of the bowl.
Shook out excess water from my 1305 brush and started swirling...kept swirling....kept swirling...man this was taking a bit longer to get going than the SJS cream.
Added a few drops of water and kept working it, then a bit more water and it finally started lathering. I'm still working on my lather technique - having trouble getting that right point between too dry and too wet, could be the brush but I'll put it down to technique for now (only made about a dozen lathers).
Started applying the lather to my face, nice covering without being too thick or 'clumpy' - maybe even a little on the thin side...
1st pass WTG using my Hydro5 (a very decent 'modern' cart) and then rinse off.
2nd pass XTG/ATG (cheeks+lip/throat+chin) using some of the squeezed out lather from 1305 to thicken the covering for the ATG areas.

Overall a nice shave with good protection from the lather.
The scent in the tub is a very fresh lime, one of the better lime scents I've smelt. Once lathered the scent lessens quite a bit (compared to the SJS) and once I was finished and dried off, the scent was basically undetectable by me - however my girlfriend gave my face a nice sniff and said it was really nice and fresh smelling.

Tomorrow I might give the Rose (not a fan of floral scents on men, but will give it a try) or Vostok Lite a run. Will report back

 

[Drubbing]

Sounds like one of the Italian cream/soap hybrids for texture. I'd just treat it like a soap and load the brush on top. Saves having to mash out any solid matter, and just lather it.

 

[Pjotr]

Start face lathering. Less stuff to clean up. What a waste of effort knocking up goo in a bowl when you could use all that action to rub in to your stubble. You can actually feel it on your face when you need to add water. Every other post by newbies concerns some sort of question regarding bowl lathering. With face lathering you can make lather out of anything. In the days when I wasn't too fussed about shaving soaps/creams I'd use any old hand soap. It works. Dries your face out something bad after a few times. I think in desperation I once used shampoo. Can't remember what that turned out like. Probably wasn't very good I would imagine!