Does anyone here microwave their shaving soap before shaving?

**Poodle Head Mikey** · 01-24-2012, 07:28 PM

Say: put some water in the mug with the soap and microwave it all for 30 seconds or so? Seems like it would make for a nice hot-lather shave.

My mother was a barber and the shop was part of the first level of the house. She had a machine which took what I now know to be standard shaving soap cakes and whipped it into a great lather before dispensing it very hot out the front of the machine.

I guess it kept the little tank of water hot all the time and then whipped up the hot lather on demand.

But now that there are microwave ovens - is anyone using them to make hot later with?

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**Mischka** · 01-24-2012, 07:30 PM

No.

It would cook your soap, literally.

IMHO, a bad idea all around, sorry.

**joeboom** · 01-24-2012, 07:41 PM

It would ruin your soap.

**Go West Young Man** · 01-24-2012, 09:18 PM

Hot water comes right out of the taps out here.

**CanisiusHistGrad** · 01-24-2012, 10:02 PM

Originally Posted by Go West Young Man

Hot water comes right out of the taps out here.

I can even get some pretty cold water out of the same tap if I tried hard enough.

Seriously though, 30 seconds is long enough for even melt & pour base soaps to turn to liquid and I dare say fairly ruined.

**Sqratch** · 01-25-2012, 05:00 AM

Originally Posted by Poodle Head Mikey

Say: put some water in the mug with the soap and microwave it all for 30 seconds or so? Seems like it would make for a nice hot-lather shave.

My mother was a barber and the shop was part of the first level of the house. She had a machine which took what I now know to be standard shaving soap cakes and whipped it into a great lather before dispensing it very hot out the front of the machine.

I guess it kept the little tank of water hot all the time and then whipped up the hot lather on demand.

But now that there are microwave ovens - is anyone using them to make hot later with?

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are you asking to put the puck in the microwave or put the whipped up lather in the microwave. I think both are a bad idea. If you want warm lather just buy a nice scuttle they will warm it right up for you.

**michiganlover** · 01-25-2012, 05:24 AM

Really bad idea. Tallow based/ Triple Milled soaps will burn in the microwave, and "melt and pour" soaps will be fully melted by the 30 second mark.

A much better idea would be to simply soak your brush in water as hot as your tap can produce.

Originally Posted by Poodle Head Mikey

She had a machine which took what I now know to be standard shaving soap cakes and whipped it into a great lather before dispensing it very hot out the front of the machine.

I have never heard of such a machine, and have no idea how it would even function. The machine you are likely thinking of is the Campbell Lather King, but it uses a special designed concentrated shaving cream to produce the hot lather; it's not a standard shaving soap, or shaving cream.

**TheVez2** · 01-25-2012, 05:36 AM

Originally Posted by Poodle Head Mikey

She had a machine which took what I now know to be standard shaving soap cakes and whipped it into a great lather before dispensing it very hot out the front of the machine.

I've never heard of anything like that either, only ones like John just described. If that is in fact what she had, could you track down the brand name or get some info on it. I'd really be curious to read it.

**TnutsShave** · 01-25-2012, 06:19 AM

No, but I'm generally not a big fan of the microwave...now spit-roasted or slow-smoked? Now we're talking....delicious.

**DFSDAILY** · 01-25-2012, 06:22 AM

The only time I microwave a soap is the glycerin soaps such as VDH, so when it cools it's fit to the container and won't fall out or move around on me.

**Poodle Head Mikey** · 01-25-2012, 06:30 AM

What is a "scuttle" in this context?

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Originally Posted by Sqratch

. . . If you want warm lather just buy a nice scuttle they will warm it right up for you.

**Poodle Head Mikey** · 01-25-2012, 06:49 AM

I can remember is that it was faded black; dull, weathered looking, about 10" high, about 6" deep, maybe 10" left-to-right. Removing the whole top exposed a soap puck - which I think rotated in it's recess/container. I remember that they were standard pucks by seeing the same pucks now - like a Williams. I even picture now that I can remember the Williams puck boxes - but I'm not 100% on that. <g> There were always several kept in a small drawer which had a small glass window in it - the glass was about 3" by 4" - which always puzzled me: what the hell could you see through That? <g>

There was a tank of water in the machine. That had to be refilled manually. But it was always plugged in and hot, you pushed a button on the top of the machine, (it was more like a lever that did something mechanical as well as actuating the motor's switch) and the unit made a whirring sound. After a short time the whirring sound became muffled which meant that the lather was ready. There was a chrome (or stainless) cover with a lifting tab to expose the chute where the lather came out. I would catch it in my palm but my mother always used the backs of her fingers and then applied it with the back of her hand. She would strop the razor both before and after lathering the face.

My earliest memory of that machine would have to be from the late fifties / early sixties. Somewhere there is a picture of me getting my hair cut by her. It was taken for a newspaper story about her being a barber. That was in maybe 1964. I wonder if the machine can be seen in that picture. <g>

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Originally Posted by michiganlover

. . . I have never heard of such a machine, and have no idea how it would even function. The machine you are likely thinking of is the Campbell Lather King, but it uses a special designed concentrated shaving cream to produce the hot lather; it's not a standard shaving soap, or shaving cream.

**Poodle Head Mikey** · 01-25-2012, 06:57 AM

http://tinyurl.com/7xafyh2

But the lather came out on the top of one end, rather than the side, and that round protrusion wasn't there. Weirdly; that looks like my mother's hand in the picture. <g>

This ad says: 1940's so I guess we had a slightly newer version. Although my mother had bought used straight razors - some where from the 10's and 20's. So maybe she had gotten a used lather machine too - who knows?

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**Mischka** · 01-25-2012, 07:34 AM

The ad says it took standard soap pucks - very, very, cool indeed. Thanks for sharing your memories with us.

**takeshi** · 01-25-2012, 07:56 AM

Originally Posted by Poodle Head Mikey

Say: put some water in the mug with the soap and microwave it all for 30 seconds or so? Seems like it would make for a nice hot-lather shave.

As stated above, it would ruin triple milled soaps which I use. Heating the water would be a generally better approach. In my case the microwave's downstairs and I'm not running up and down the stairs to use it for shaving.

**Poodle Head Mikey** · 01-25-2012, 11:15 AM

How about using boiling water in the soap mug? Warming the mug in hot tap water is OK - but it's hardly 'hot lather' to my standards.

To make coffee (I only make one drip cup at a time) I always put an inch or two of water in the coffee cup first and give it 90 seconds in the microwave. It makes the cup hot and then the resulting cup of coffee is hot.

That's what gave me the idea of microwaving the shaving cup. I guess I could do it if I didn't leave the soap in the cup all the time - that is; only microwave the cup and then put the soap into it. But I really dislike having the soap loose in the cup.

It's not easy being me! <g>

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**Poodle Head Mikey** · 01-25-2012, 11:25 AM

http://tinyurl.com/6lqobl7

That lever got pushed down and the machine started. When the sound changed you pushed up that little cover an inch or so and nice hot lather came out.

I can only picture that the puck rotated under a brush somehow. Or maybe next to a brush - and it worked on the edges of the soap puck? I didn't often look inside and can't remember it perfectly.

It seems to me that the pucks got flat - not smaller in diameter - with use.

I used to get in trouble for 'shaving' with the straight razors. <g>

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**Mike'sWorld** · 01-25-2012, 05:23 PM

Wow, thanks for sharing. By the way, a scuttle is a double walled pottery vessel where you fill the outer wall's cavity with hot water and use the inner container as a lather bowl. This keeps your brush and lather hot for your shave.

**Poodle Head Mikey** · 01-25-2012, 05:48 PM

Wow; I had no idea. "Skuttle" makes me think of coal. <g>

I guess I sort of fake-a-skuttle by putting the soup mug I use for soap and the brush into a sink filled with hot tap water to just below the level of the mug's top edge. Then I steam my face for a while with hot towels and by that time the mug, soap, and brush are all pretty warm.

As is the resulting lather.

Skuttle eh? Looks like I just may have to build a larger shaving stuff shelf. <g>

Which isn't the worst thing I guess. The need to build the first shaving shelf caused me to build an entire woodshop in which to build it - and I really like having the woodshop now. <g>

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Originally Posted by Mike'sWorld

Wow, thanks for sharing. By the way, a scuttle is a double walled pottery vessel where you fill the outer wall's cavity with hot water and use the inner container as a lather bowl. This keeps your brush and lather hot for your shave.

**michiganlover** · 01-25-2012, 08:09 PM

Wow, I had no idea such a lather machine existed, or could be even made to work!! Pretty awesome!!

I figure it must not have been very popular, as the Cambell Lather King still exists today, and is considered the standard device for creating hot lather for barber's, and has existed for quite some time.