I Coloniali lathering

Last week I received my I Coloniali Mango shaving soap. I do love the scent. However, I’m having trouble building a good lather. I normally need lots of lather (3 passes on my head and 3 on my face) and make it a bowl. This soap is much harder than the others I tried (Cella, Tabac, MWF, Klar) and wouldn’t load well. I even tried to face lather. Results were pitiful. I used Semogue 610.

Any recommendation?

I like to start with a dryer brush and build it up slowly. Keep in mind that I Coloniali doesn't have great volume, but is more of a dense lather.

I can make you a video of how I do it if you'd like.

I am by no means an expert on building lather with this soap since I've only used it a dozen times at the most over the past year but what I do know about this soap is that it creates a very slick lather in particular.... but has never produced a large volume of lather easily for me. I would also say that it does not have the cushion as some of the other great soaps like Tabac, MWF, D.R. Harris, etc. I believe that I've only every used a badger brush, but I know that I've always let it soak with a layer of water on top for a few minutes before attempting to load the brush. When I have the trouble that you are having with a soap, my solution is to always used more loading time and more water (a little at a time). Some soaps lather easier than others.... and this soap may be in the "others" category..... but from what I remember, the lather is very slick and smells great and has always resulted in a great shave for me. I am not a head shaver, so I do not need to produce as much lather as you, but I do seem to recall that getting a large amount of lather from this soap takes a bit of effort.

Ben

VT_Hokie said:

I can make you a video of how I do it if you'd like.

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A video would be great!

The IC mango croap is one of my favorites. I have found it to be ridiculously easy to get a thick and slick lather from day 1 without even having to think about it. I typically use a wetter brush for most of my soaps, so I'm sure that's what I do with this as well.

Get the soap to soften up by soaking it in hot water for a while. Then, rub the puck directly onto your face and head. Gradually, add water. Be careful not to add too much water, as I Coloniali can get thin very quickly.

gash said:

rub the puck directly onto your face and head.

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The puck is in a ceramic bowl. I guess I can try to pry it out.

I Coloniali is soft enough as it is - I personally would not recommend soaking the puck. Soaking it may make it turn to mush.

In terms of what to do, I honestly am struggling to come up with any ideas. IC is one of my easiest, most consistent soaps. Like others have mentioned though, it doesn't create massive wild billowy clouds of lather - more like a controlled dollop of yogurt.

Okay, super awkward video alert.

We just moved down to Charleston and are living in a one bedroom apartment while our house is being built. Normally wouldn't be a problem but my girlfriend works from home and was on the phone with a client, so you get the awkward silent video with a few seconds cut out here and there for background noise. Sorry.

Stuff I used was a Rudy Vey 2XL in 2-Band and I Coloniali soap. You can see that I shake most of the water out before I start going at it, only because this product is extremely soft and easy to load. You'll see that there isn't any excess water dripping out of the brush or soap container when I'm loading. While you can attack it with a wetter brush, I find that I end up picking up way too much product, have to spend considerably more time hydrating the lather and end up with enough for 10 passes.


720p, as always, looks better.

seizure said:

I Coloniali is soft enough as it is - I personally would not recommend soaking the puck. Soaking it may make it turn to mush.

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Hmmm...you may be right. I suggested it because I thought the OP wrote that the puck was hard (my puck dried out and became very hard, necessitating soaking). Upon a second reading, the puck's firmness isn't as clear to me.

ShaverGN, if the puck is still a bit soft (not like a hard, triple-milled soap), then I'd agree that you should not soak it. If it's dried out and like a hard soap, I think you may need to rehydrate it if you want to be able to rub it into your scruff.

It takes a couple of uses for the soap to soften up.
It is the same as other soaps except for 2 things (in my experience)

a. Need to load slightly longer for Icoloniali (time reduced as soap gets softer over time). With a damp (and slightly wet brush), I load and build lather partially in the soap bowl (can see some suds) until the suds 'dry up' on the brush a bit, then move to my face for full lathering.
b. It is not as dense as, say. MWF. But it is very slick (I go for its slickness than trying to achieve MWF's denseness)

Shaver,

Did you try lathering it again today? How did it go? Was the video at all helpful or are you still stuck?

Nice video Matt!

Ben

mistercitizen said:

Nice video Matt!

Ben

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Thanks, Ben.

VT_Hokie said:

Shaver,

Did you try lathering it again today? How did it go? Was the video at all helpful or are you still stuck?

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Thanks for the video. Tried this soap again this am. A bit better lather. Still not enough volume for the head and face shave. Had to reload. Will try again over the weekend. Can't spend that much time in the morning. Do love the scent.

To be honest with you, and I'm sure there will be people who would disagree with me on this, that's the main reason I made a departure from Boar brushes.

I used them exclusively for a few years and had a great time and great success with them. My one and only issue was that their lack of density proved to not be capable of holding the quantity of lather that I desired.

You can see from the video that my 2XL churned out enough lather for a head and face shave in a very short period of time. The I Coloniali is extremely dense and only requires a very thin layer of rich, slick lather to be effective.

merkur59 said:

It takes a couple of uses for the soap to soften up.
It is the same as other soaps except for 2 things (in my experience)

a. Need to load slightly longer for Icoloniali (time reduced as soap gets softer over time). With a damp (and slightly wet brush), I load and build lather partially in the soap bowl (can see some suds) until the suds 'dry up' on the brush a bit, then move to my face for full lathering.
b. It is not as dense as, say. MWF. But it is very slick (I go for its slickness than trying to achieve MWF's denseness)

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This.

The puck I have in my terra cotta dish is quite hard. I've actually tried to mash it down (to no avail), because it spins in the dish while I'm loading. The hardness may be why a really wet brush works well for me. I have a backup puck still in its pouch that I can tell is much softer.

What does it smell like? I've heard it described as mouldy bananas in never washed gym socks and it's always put me off.