Finally got La Toja to work for me

[rmac]

Purchased 10 of these sticks after reading multiple good reviews. First couple of attempts at lathering was only producing a thin airy lather, which I put down to either the hard water in my area or the low quality brush (a Vie Long wooden handle horse hair brush).

Fast forward to this afternoon and I decided to give the stick another try. Changed the brush to a Zenith synthetic and boom! I applied a liberal layer of soap to my skin and the Zenith instantly transformed this into a rich thick lather. Cue an extra close shave with a Baili tech clone and rapira swede and one happy rmac!

At least now I have a reliable option for travelling with carry on.

 

[BigJ]

Congratulations! La Toja is an excellent soap IME!!

 

[Captain Howdy]

When you want a no nonsense shave it's hard to argue with the user friendliness of a decent synthetic. I also wonder if you weren't using enough soap? As naturals eat more soap and water, they require heavier loads...or thicker application in the case of a stick , like La Toja.

I'd wager that horse would work with more soap.

 

[NorthernSoul]

Just make sure you start with a sufficient amount of soap. That can be hard to judge at first when using a shaving stick. When you have the right amount of La Toja, it should more or less explode with lather.

Also, remember you can grate or slice up a couple of sticks, wet the soap and press it into a container to form a more conventional puck.

 

[musicman1951]

I use it when I travel. I originally purchased it because of the small size and the many good reviews. It did take me a few tries before I got enough soap. I usually load the brush from the puck. I found that a relatively quick soak in warm water and then rubbing it ATG on my chin and jawline produces enough soap for tons of lather. Nice soap.

 

[borwish]

@rmac I assume that if you bought 10 you found a good bulk price. Would you mind sharing? I would like to stockpile more sticks. 10 at Giftsandcare would be about $40.

 

[rmac]

@rmac I assume that if you bought 10 you found a good bulk price. Would you mind sharing? I would like to stockpile more sticks. 10 at Giftsandcare would be about $40.

I got the bulk deal off a well known auction website, cost about £36 with postage included. Works out at around 3-3.50 per stick which is pretty good in my mind.

If it didn’t work for me I’d not be at a great loss and would probably sell it on to someone.

 

[Marco]

The truly great one was the La Toja Manantiales puck in the wooden bowl with cork lid, sadly discontinued. Last year the magnificent creams were discontinued as well. How disappointing...

 

[Hawkeye_90]

I use this as my travel soap with a silver tip badger brush and I struggle with it, but not enough to where it doesn’t work for me, but I won’t buy anymore.

 

[ksblazer]

Not trying to change the subject. But I have kind of noticed that some not all hard soaps take a few uses before the soap will load quicker, from when you first start using them.

La Toja was one of those soaps for me. After about a dozen or so shaves. I almost gave up. Thinking that it takes either too much effort to load enough soap or it just didn’t lather very well.

I knew from the people on here that use La Toja, that I must be doing something wrong. Glad i stuck with it and didn’t give up. As now it seems to load around the same time as any of the other sticks I use.