Mike's hand made soaps from Brooklyn.

[AHBayArea]

Well gents,I went with a fully watered brush, bowl lathe red and added small amounts to get a wetter lather than usual. Still dried my skin out resulting in a so so shave. A dry lather isn't my problem,its that the soap dries my skin out. I had enough creamy lather for a 10 pass shave.

I will try the unscented next and see if that makes a difference. Looking like Mikes just isn't for me.

 

[attime6]

Out of curiosity what's your post shave routine? Just to make sure it's not coming from that.

 

[Emanon]

How about adding a drop or two of Glycerin to the soap?

 

[Lamboy]

Well today I received two tins from Mike's Natural Soaps (thanks to Dantheman on BST) containing Lime and Orange, Cedarwood, Pepper. I have tried both and shaved with the Orange. Both are fantastic period. I was able to get pretty good lather also with my moderately hard water.


This one was of the Lime. Both are definitely going into the rotation. I think these may bump out the MWF possibly because of such nice scents and better performance it seems as of the first attempt..

 

[mistercitizen]

I read your thread title and I thought Mike's came out with another scent combination for his soap. Now I get it. Orange, Cedarwood & Black Pepper is maybe my favorite Mike's scent. Lime.... I didn't care for too much. It seemed so mildly scented.... I'll stick with GFT Limes cream I guess. The performance of Mike's is awesome..... agreed.

Ben

 

[Emanon]

Looking at your photo reminds me of my first lather with Mikes. I wasn't able to shave with it. I lathered it up and it lathered very well. Actually it looked very much like your photo....which was the problem. It looked so creamy I ate it!!! I was already late for work so I just left. No shave.

 

[shaverjoe]

Good looking lather. Mike's is a fantastic soap. I like the lime, though I agree with Ben, it is very lightly scented compared to Mike's other offerings. His Hungarian Lavender and Peppermint/Rosemary are also nice.

 

[Rockminer]

I have the exact same two tins from mike. I must have gotten the lucky batch ( i'm not saying his soaps vary from batch to batch ) my lime is stronger than my orange cedar and black pepper. I like them both as well as many other scents, he offers.

 

[AHBayArea]

I've got mike's oc&p in a stick tube. I just rub it on my wet face, and then lather with a damp brush. Works great for me. Never had a problem with it being too thick. Try using more water. Do you bowl lather or face lather?

I've been using Mikes for the past two weeks and I have done both face and bowl. Mostly recently I've been using a bowl to keep all the watery stuff that initially comes off the brush.

 

[AHBayArea]

Out of curiosity what's your post shave routine? Just to make sure it's not coming from that.

Good question, lately its just a cold water rinse with the AoS Unscented ASB.

 

[AHBayArea]

How about adding a drop or two of Glycerin to the soap?

Certainly possible and maybe worth a try, but I would also love to find a soap I can just later without having to add anything. We'll see.

 

[Heron]

Good advice. I had the same problem of Mike's drying on my face. I'll try more water next time. I knew I was doing something wrong, with all the rave reviews of Mike's on the forum. Tomorrow will be my third time trying it. The first two didn't work very well. We'll see.

 

[taco8slo]

Certainly possible and maybe worth a try, but I would also love to find a soap I can just later without having to add anything. We'll see.

I have sensitive skin as well, lately I have been using Van Der Hagen Deluxe shave soap, it works really well IMO and it is super cheap. I get it at Walmart but you can find it online as well.

Tabac is great too, not that fond of the smell, but the performance is top notch.

Italian Croaps work well too (Cella, Vitos...)

 

[badger_knight]

Well gents,I went with a fully watered brush, bowl lathe red and added small amounts to get a wetter lather than usual. Still dried my skin out resulting in a so so shave. A dry lather isn't my problem,its that the soap dries my skin out. I had enough creamy lather for a 10 pass shave.

I will try the unscented next and see if that makes a difference. Looking like Mikes just isn't for me.

Hi AHBayArea,

Ah! So you're saying your actual Lather during shaving is fine?

But you're saying your *skin* feels dried out after your shave routine?

You said you're using AoS AS (Unscented). Perhaps it's the amount of alcohol (or some other ingredient) in that After Shave that's the culprit?

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product.php?prod_id=506000

Just a thought before you write off Mike's Natural.

 

[Emanon]

Hey all,

I ordered 5 samples of Mikes and have been burning through them. Here is my problem, I am a recent convert from cream and was getting some great shaves with the puck of Jack Black but I was having an allergic reaction to some part of my routine. I ordered the Mikes to try a different soap. My issue is I get a fantastic lather and the smells are amazing but the soap starts drying my face once its on. I can barely do a touch up in an area that has already been shaved.

The only thing I can think that is different is the tallow. Does this happen to anyone else?

Any recommendations of a soap I can try that is not tallow but similar to Mikes? I'm pretty bummed its not working for me.

Actually I was a little confused by the post. I thought the lather was drying also until reading his second explanation that you have quoted above. So then I went back and read the original post. I think he is saying it is drying his skin as he is shaving to the point where he can't shave over that spot anymore. The lather isn't drying up but the skin is? As he is shaving? Which I don't fully understand, but apparently is hasn't happened with other soaps.

 

[AHBayArea]

Actually I was a little confused by the post. I thought the lather was drying also until reading his second explanation that you have quoted above. So then I went back and read the original post. I think he is saying it is drying his skin as he is shaving to the point where he can't shave over that spot anymore. The lather isn't drying up but the skin is? As he is shaving? Which I don't fully understand, but apparently is hasn't happened with other soaps.

Yup, hard to explain I guess, but my razor skips and stutters while shaving with this soap. I've used at least one other soap that is slicker than snot with no skipping, but I am possibly allergic to something in it- hence trying out Mikes. So for Mikes, I need to figure out what in it is making my skin feel dry WHILE shaving.

Badger Knight, VERY interesting. I never thought an ASB could be the culprit. Ill try a different one today and see what happens.

 

[AHBayArea]

I have sensitive skin as well, lately I have been using Van Der Hagen Deluxe shave soap, it works really well IMO and it is super cheap. I get it at Walmart but you can find it online as well.

Tabac is great too, not that fond of the smell, but the performance is top notch.

Italian Croaps work well too (Cella, Vitos...)

I'll be damned if I didn't just get the smoothest darn shave from my twice-test lathered puck of VDH. Hell, I don't even know if its the deluxe version but night and day (to me) from Mikes.

I will keep trying Mikes, but wow. What a great shave.

 

[Heron]

Good advice. I had the same problem of Mike's drying on my face. I'll try more water next time. I knew I was doing something wrong, with all the rave reviews of Mike's on the forum. Tomorrow will be my third time trying it. The first two didn't work very well. We'll see.

It was fine this time. Mike's uses a lot more water than my other soaps.

 

[Emanon]

It was fine this time. Mike's uses a lot more water than my other soaps.

See, and I get good results with less water. Funny thing this shaving stuff

I have worked up good lathers with Mike's using more water and today I used extra water. The most yet. I got more lather than usual and it was nice and creamy. But I tend to like thicker lather. It seems to have more cushion. So I will pull back on some of the water. I have mixed Mike's fairly dry also and really liked it. It lasted and it had great cushion while still having nice glide. I don't get as much lather that way, but I get just enough. Another true "YMMV!"

 

[badger_knight]

Yup, hard to explain I guess, but my razor skips and stutters while shaving with this soap. I've used at least one other soap that is slicker than snot with no skipping, but I am possibly allergic to something in it- hence trying out Mikes. So for Mikes, I need to figure out what in it is making my skin feel dry WHILE shaving.

Badger Knight, VERY interesting. I never thought an ASB could be the culprit. Ill try a different one today and see what happens.

Hi AHBayArea,

Ah! I see. Well definitely check out how your AS reacts with you and see how that goes.

In regards to the *Lather* literally drying on your face, it might be not enough water. I haven't used Mike's yet (it's on the way! , but for Kiss My Face, early on, I had a couple shaves where the Lather looked pretty "thick and had stiff peaks," but I noticed it drying out on my face. After some great advice and help from all the veterans , I tried adding *just a touch* more water to my usual Lather Building Routine, and sure enough, I found a sweet spot where it lathered up great, was thick and slick and *didn't* dry out on my face any more.

Turned out I had too much product (soap) and not enough water.

Just a thought. Good luck!