Australian Palmolive Shave Stick

Hi All,

On reading reports of how good the European version of Palmolive's shaving stick is I decided I would give the local Australian version a try (Different packaging and supposedly different performance).

Unfortunately I am really struggling to get a good lather worked up. I either have a small amount of thick, dry lather or a massive explosion of non lubricating bubbly foam after dipping my brush in water.

I am using a Turkish No. 6 horse hair to bowl lather and I have milled the soap into a container rather than applying directly to my face (I'm not a massive fan of soap sticks), I am also using cold water and Adelaide has some of the hardest water found in any of the Australian capital cities.

Given that I can still get an excellent lather with my usual green tub of Proraso soap using the same set up I am leaning towards saying the soap is just not up to scratch.

What gives? Has anyone else had the same experience? Anything I should change?

It won't be the end of the world if I have to turf it out (the shave stick cost me $1.50) but it would be a shame not to be able to take advantage of a cheap readily available soap.

Cheers,

Higgie

I have had rather good experiences with the AUS-Palmolive stick, though it is not in the same league as the EU-version, and I think it is just a matter of finding the right product/water ratio. Use enough product with a damp brush and try to add water (drops at the time) till you have what you are looking for. The #6 can hold a huge amount of water so it is not the easiest to control brush for starters but it should do the job easily.

+1 to the above. It's not the best stick, but it does get the job done once you hit the right balance to lather up.

For what its worth, I face lathered with mine and i found that helped.

Hello Higgie,

As a fellow Adelaidian I feel your pain when it come to water hardness. There are two thing I do that help maximise the lather - use more product or use a tallow based product. The modern Oz Palmolive is an average performer at best, the vintage stuff is good if you can find it because it has tallow. I like the Italian soft soap/creams (proraso, valobra, figaro) as they are easy to load and make lots of lather.

Thanks for the input guys!

Sounds like I need to have more of a play around with the amount of water I am adding. I will definitely try to use a bit more product then add my water drop wise (rather than dipping the brush tips in water) and see how it goes.

lenard said:

I like the Italian soft soap/creams (proraso, valobra, figaro) as they are easy to load and make lots of lather.

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I am only starting out so have a pretty small soap collection but Proraso has been my go to soap so far! I think i might grab a tub of Razorock next time I am down Melbourne street (barber/hairdresser there has a reasonable range sitting in his window).

I have nothing, yay Adelaide.

1) Adelaide water is 75% dirt, so that is going to make the job harder.

2) face lather. Rub the stick on your stubble like a kid with a crayon, then build the lather on your face.

3) let the good times roll.

Tried the Palmolive stick...and the tubed cream. Although cheap and plentiful in our supermarkets I was underwhelmed by the performance. When I can pick up a tub of Proraso for a fiver at Mediterranean Wholesalers on Sydney Rd I find it tough to justify wasting time/effort on this stuff. But hey, they still make it so some crazy cats are using it...

Try more product.

talibeard said:

I have had rather good experiences with the AUS-Palmolive stick, though it is not in the same league as the EU-version, and I think it is just a matter of finding the right product/water ratio. Use enough product with a damp brush and try to add water (drops at the time) till you have what you are looking for. The #6 can hold a huge amount of water so it is not the easiest to control brush for starters but it should do the job easily.

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good advice ! I like the Au stick,no problem getting lather,I think the brush may make a difference,but keep experimenting and you'll discover the proper ratio.

Hi Higgie,
I also have the Aust palmolive, but live in Melbourne where the water ridiculously soft. In fact the water is so soft i couldn't keep any fish alive in it until i figured out I had to add salts/minerals to the water! The fish swelled up because they couldn't expel the water fast enough due to not enough minerals in it. Think of a balloon filled with salt water floating in a tub of fresh water. Never had that problem where i used to live. Anyway, bit off topic now.

When I started I too couldn't get a good protective lather with that stick until I realised I needed to add more product (I had too much water). That stick is HARD, much harder than the proraso you are used to so it's possible you're not getting enough product. I also had that problem again when i switched to the No6 horse-hair from my cheapo boar brush. I wasn't getting enough product again. Might help if you put a few drops of water on top of the soap to soften it for a few minutes before loading (while in the shower for eg). Shake the excess water out of the brush and load like there's no tomorrow.

As for the hard water, a lot of soaps have Tetrasodium EDTA in it to soften hard water. I just checked and the Aus Palmolive shave stick also has that ingredient so I would think that would do the job. Many cities in Australia have hard water so I would think they would make a product that would also work in hard water.

btw, Where did you find it for $1.50? Best I could find it for was $1.89 at the two big supermarkets. Always wondered if it was cheaper elsewhere.

Best of luck, let us know how you get along.

You can also read this thread for more info: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/258838

Awesome response thanks guys! I will post some progress once I have another go (my face has just about recovered from the last attempt).

ford_g2001 said:

] Where did you find it for $1.50? Best I could find it for was $1.89 at the two big supermarkets. Always wondered if it was cheaper elsewhere.

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Just at my local Coles, it has a 'Markdown' or 'Cut price' tag thing on it. It wasn't exactly $1.50 (maybe $1.59?), that just stuck in my mind as to the price point, I will check next time I go past there!

Righto, I have had another go at the Palmolive and progress has been made!

This time around I let the soap soak for a good 10 minutes to soften it up before I used it, draining the excess water off just before swirling. Was also more careful shaking the brush out before I started and loaded up a bunch more soap than I had been on previous attempts. Still bowl lathered with it but added a drop of water at a time rather than dipping the tips of the bristles in the sink.

Bad news is that the lather was fading by the time I finished the first pass so it probably needs a bit more experimentation, might still have added a couple of drops too much water.
So yeees, practice will make perfect i reckon, should at least be good enough to keep the soap in a travel bag at any rate! thanks for the tips guys

Since I am apparently not smart enough to make pictures work (They become thumbnails in text?) I have just attached a shot of the loaded brush and lather

How did you load the brush and for how long?

Higgie said:

Bad news is that the lather was fading by the time I finished the first pass so it probably needs a bit more experimentation, might still have added a couple of drops too much water.

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When your lather dries or fades too early my bet is you still don't use enough product but congrats on your improvement!

We have nothing up here in Canada including Palmolive sticks. It sucks.

Seadooer said:

We have nothing up here in Canada including Palmolive sticks. It sucks.

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[cough] Williams shave soap [/cough]

We also have a few local products made by a few local artisans that are on this forum!

Luc said:

How did you load the brush and for how long?

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Swirling on my container of soap, 30 seconds or so

Higgie said:

Swirling on my container of soap, 30 seconds or so

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That should be enough but try load it for a bit longer (45-60 sec) and see where it takes you. If not, try superlather with Proraso, it should work perfectly and you won't use as much Proraso.