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L'Occitane Cade shaving soap: How to produce good & slick & cushioning lather?

Hey Folks,

having purchased the L'Occitane Cade shaving soap (refill - as I do not need the container) I first discovered that there is NO Karité-Butter (shea butter), Cold Cream and Macadamia Nut Oil in it (although these ingredients are mentioned on all of their world-wide websites, especially in the Cade shaving soap section. Well, this is strange but as I had contact with the chief of the German L'Occitane customer-service, he also was "shocked" but immediately send a mail to France (headquarters). This was on Friday, so I'll have to wait for an additional reply.

Nevertheless, what frustrates me most is the fact, that I do not get any good lather out of this soap. Neither starting with a fairly dry nor wet badger silvertip brush (shavemac, dense, so enough soap is skimmed - I load the brush for nearly one minute). The lather is airy and deflates within the first (shaving) pass).

What am I doing wrong? I do possess other French, German and British shaving soaps and have never experienced such a bad performer. Is this soap that BAD?

Hoepfully not...

Guys, thanks for more information, suggestions.

Sunny greetings from Germany -

Chris.
 
Hi Christian,

you might like to read through this thread and try some of the tips in there. I only used my puck for the month and then PIFd it away- for some reason, I didn't seem to have much scent in my soap and the performance didn't excite me either.
I hope that things work out better for you....
 
David beat me to the punch!


We did a Cade Challenge a wile ago. Basically we used the soap everyday until it was gone. If you read through the thread there is some excellent advice on how to lather Cade. Initially, my puck was very temperamental, I really needed to load it for a long time and be careful that I didn't add too much water to fast. By the end of the challenge I wasn't having any problems generating lots of great lather.

Good luck.
 
I don't have any trouble lathering up Cade ... and it does not seem to be critical to hit a certain water/soap ratio, either. It responds well no matter what brush I use, or whether I bowl or face lather. I'm using a small chunk of Cade that I hold in the palm of my hand when I load the brush, but that shouldn't matter. Sometimes, I will rub it directly on my wet face if I'm in a mood to face lather, too.

Nonetheless, go through the usual remedies of trying more water, less water, distilled water, etc. You can also try re-milling it. Just cut off a small portion for experimental purposes, run it through a grater, and see if that helps with the lathering.

If you want to add in some Shea Butter, try some KMF Lavender/Shea cream. The two go well together, and it will kick up your lather by a few notches, too.
 
Hi Guys,

thanks so far for your tips. I even took the soap out of my bowl to through it away but will be more patient with it. So or so, seems to be a soap requiring special treatment. I do have another soap that is a mixed performer (I Coloniali shaving soap with Mango Oil - declared as a cream but it is a soap). This one, the IC, behaves, if everything in the procedere has been done correctly, LIKE NO OTHER SOAP IN MY BATHROOM. Gives me outstanding, superb shaves.

Cheers
Chris
 
I used my Cade this morning and had more than enough good lather. I used a Vulfix 2234 Silver tip. The brush was soaked for about 15 minutes. I let the excess water drip out and went after the puck for a full minute. I added some additional water while working it in my bowl and had enough great lather for my three passes and alot left over.

It seems it takes a little more work than my tallow based soaps but it does really work with a little effort. Don't give-up on it.
 
David beat me to the punch!


We did a Cade Challenge a wile ago. Basically we used the soap everyday until it was gone. If you read through the thread there is some excellent advice on how to lather Cade. Initially, my puck was very temperamental, I really needed to load it for a long time and be careful that I didn't add too much water to fast. By the end of the challenge I wasn't having any problems generating lots of great lather.

Good luck.

Perso i can achieve a good "looking" and protective , slick lather but I is vanishing before I do the second "half of my face"

Tried a lot of different ways and brushes,,,,,


Tam
 
Chris, my only suggestion would be to try loading longer and add a few drops of water toward the end then load a little more. Apply to a wet face and go back to the soap if you need more. I always get good shaves with Cade. I'm indifferent to the scent ( to my nose almost scentless) this soap works good for me. Good luck.
 
I guess this is a case where YMMV (your mileage may vary). I've never had a problem lathering Cade or MWF but many say they do. The more I use both the better they work for me.

The soaps that annoyed me are the melt and pours (aka glycerine). I turned those into shavesticks.

If you struggle with L'O Cade for much longer, grate it into a deodorant stick container and try using it as a shavestick.
 
I use a modified Marco method (wet brush with a small quick shake to get rid of a bit of loose water) and go at it for a full minute of no pressure swirling. Lift the brush to my dace and start lathering. Thirty seconds later, i have a nice thick lather that gives me a great shave. It is one of the best of the non-tallow based soaps. I will get my hands on some MdC this week and see how much better it can be.
 
I use a modified Marco method (wet brush with a small quick shake to get rid of a bit of loose water) and go at it for a full minute of no pressure swirling. Lift the brush to my dace and start lathering. Thirty seconds later, i have a nice thick lather that gives me a great shave. It is one of the best of the non-tallow based soaps. I will get my hands on some MdC this week and see how much better it can be.

You will be amazed!!:thumbup1:
 
I use CADE right now and have never had a problem with it. I just soak my brush in the sink and whip up the lather in my mug on top of the puck.
 
I am a fan of Cade as well. Marco's method works great on this soap. I have noticed that the scent has disappeared, so basically I use it as an unscented soap. Now I also have the Cade cream, which is terrible in lathering ability, but it does have that Cade scent which I love. When in the mood, I make a superlather with both cream and soap. Now that is some good juju.


Jeff
 

nemo

Lunatic Fringe
Staff member
I use CADE right now and have never had a problem with it. I just soak my brush in the sink and whip up the lather in my mug on top of the puck.

Same here, I started using it again after the week of MWF and was surprised at how much nice lather I got. Wet badger brush, whip 30 seconds on top of the puck in the Old Spice mug and finish up on the face.
 
Hello!

First of all: Thanks so much for your replies so far. Most of you have no problems with the L'Occitane shaving soap, with building a good lather for shaving. Having tried all the different techniques I was suggested, non has been working. So, in the end, it must be my very hard water (much calcium aka chalk in it) which inhibits the soap's performance. Very sad. DAMN

Cheers
Chris
 
Having tried all the different techniques I was suggested, non has been working. So, in the end, it must be my very hard water (much calcium aka chalk in it) which inhibits the soap's performance. Very sad. DAMN

Why not pick up a bottle of distilled water? Even if you find it is a hassle for every day use, at least you can have an idea of how the soap really performs... (You might find it is worth the trouble.)
 
Why not pick up a bottle of distilled water? Even if you find it is a hassle for every day use, at least you can have an idea of how the soap really performs... (You might find it is worth the trouble.)

+1

Also, looking at your post count it seems you are fairly new to wetsahving. This may be a case where your technique is off. I know I dismissed a few soaps early on that are now great performers for me.
 
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