Mystic Waters Lather Tutorial

brucered said:

And my journey is done . I just couldn't get it to work for me this time around. Not sure if my taste or methods are changing, but the lather was drying out on my face no matter what I did or what method I used. I overloaded, used wet brushes, dry brushes, bowl lather, face lather, no heat, distilled water and it was the same each time. Shaves were still OK, but they took a bit of effort and re-lathering during the pass to get it hydrated and acceptable.

Even after watching my own Lather Tutorial, I wasn't happy with the outcome of the lathers. This is a soap that can work, but having used and experimented with a ton of others since my last go round with MW, it wasn't worth the time and effort for me when so many other work right out of the gate, take heat of scuttles (a big bonus in Canada) and are more accessible up here with shipping.

Great scents, great ingredients and Michelle is a fantastic lady to deal with.

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Wow! This is a phenomenal surprise!

bosseb said:

I certainly hope so.

Michelles soaps have brought me the best shaves of my life. I would not want to be without them!

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+1 This is, principally, my only soap!

Rocco11 said:

I gave up on this soap over a year ago, yet the negative experiences continue. Amazing. I can think of no other soap with lathering issues like MW. Life's too short folks, if it works for you, great, but if not, there are killer alternatives out there, cut your losses.

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Mitchell's Wool Fat

celestino said:

Congratulations on the success. Just use more soap and add water little by little and work it for more time.

You might want to consider unrefined shea butter for your dry skin as an after-shave balm. [emoji106]

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Thanks celestino. I've been using almond oil. But I'll give shea butter a try

I pushed myself to use Mystic Water a few extra times last week because I miss the thick lather that has the great post shave. I had a really hard time getting quality lather although the shaves were still great. I am going to try a couple different brushes, 2 in which I know work. One is a Muhle STF XL synthetic and a M&F L7 2-Band Badger. These both are fairly big and have great backbone with density.

I do not like that I have to start with brushes that have very little water in the knot. I try to let the tips of any brush do the work and sometimes when loading the MW, I have a habit to get inpatient and press down too hard. I also put a couple new pucks in a larger diameter loading bowl. I think this will help as well.

11 pages of lather tutorials. Hmm... I cannot believe that this soap is so difficult for people. You only need one advice: USE MORE PRODUCT!!!

I just opened another puck after my Wild Lavender died.

This time it's the Vanilla Sandalwood. This soap has Moroccan clay, lanolin and allantoin among the ingredients. It's better than any of the numerous soaps from Michelle that I have used before. I was aiming at the last jar of Martin de Candre Fougere but it will have to wait (again)!

I am now on shave No 23 with a NOS British Wilkinson Sword blade and the blade has just hit the mellow spot. I would be very surprised if it doesn't last for at least 50 shaves. like the Polsilver SI.

I will be contacting Michelle to inquire about whether it's the clay or the lanolin/allantoin that elevates the post shave feeling to new heights for me. Since I'm in Sweden I save on the postage by ordering 6 pucks at a time. Oh - the sheer luxury...

Seems like Haslinger, Pré de Provence, Cade and Martin de Candre are on permanent hold in my den.

As much as clay as an ingredient has been maligned and questioned recently, the only difference between the Vanilla Sandalwood and my other lanolin containing soaps is the addition of Moroccan red clay. I'm glad you liked it, Bosse. By the way, there's a mistaken idea about clay, that somehow any soap containing clay is "clay based"...not true, clay is always a miniscule percentage of the total ingredients; the "base" of a soap is always the largest percentage of the primary oils, which could be palm, tallow, stearic acid, coconut, etc. Other luxury oils, goat milk, silk, clay, lanolin, allantoin, etc. may be added to enhance (or ruin, according to your tastes) a soap, but there are no lanolin based, or clay based soaps.

Cl3anShav3 said:

Thanks celestino. I've been using almond oil. But I'll give shea butter a try

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Good luck with the unrefined shea butter!

bosseb said:

11 pages of lather tutorials. Hmm... I cannot believe that this soap is so difficult for people. You only need one advice: USE MORE PRODUCT!!!

I just opened another puck after my Wild Lavender died.

This time it's the Vanilla Sandalwood. This soap has Moroccan clay, lanolin and allantoin among the ingredients. It's better than any of the numerous soaps from Michelle that I have used before. I was aiming at the last jar of Martin de Candre Fougere but it will have to wait (again)!

I am now on shave No 23 with a NOS British Wilkinson Sword blade and the blade has just hit the mellow spot. I would be very surprised if it doesn't last for at least 50 shaves. like the Polsilver SI.

I will be contacting Michelle to inquire about whether it's the clay or the lanolin/allantoin that elevates the post shave feeling to new heights for me. Since I'm in Sweden I save on the postage by ordering 6 pucks at a time. Oh - the sheer luxury...

Seems like Haslinger, Pré de Provence, Cade and Martin de Candre are on permanent hold in my den.

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I usually go with 20 pucks, just to be sure!

Vanilla Sandalwood???? How have I never tried this???

Jefebadskin said:

Vanilla Sandalwood???? How have I never tried this???

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It is a wonderful scent!

celestino said:

It is a wonderful scent!

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Lavender Lime was a great one too.

Mystic Waters isn't the easiest soap to lather, but it is one of the very best performing soaps I have ever used.

celestino said:

Wow! This is a phenomenal surprise!

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I'll be back. I'm guessing I was stuck in a Stearic Acid Croap Funk and once I break that ease of lathering method, I'll pull out the tub of Green Fairy and I'll be good to go.

Speaking of which, that may be my overall favourite scent of any soap.

Best of luck to you, Bruce! I can't imagine not being able to use this soap as Michelle's scents are just remarkable!

Her new scens Brown Windsor and Lemongrass & Blue Gum are very lovely and I am also enjoying her Jasmine.

I have always been an advocate for performance in a soap - for me this is has been my only interest.

Lately I have however become very aware of the wonderful and complex scents of Michelles soaps. This Vanilla Sandalwood scent is very surprising to me as I associate vanilla to cheap synthetic ice cream and the Rioja wines of the '80s. The vanilla of this soap is however much more natural and full. I have even gone back to using Michelles soaps from a container with a lid just to preserve the scents through the whole lifespan of the soap instead of using it as a gigantic stick.

I will be ordering more soaps containing lanolin/allantoin (and perhaps) Moroccan clay as something in these ingredients elevates my primary soap even further. The post shave feeling is noticeably better than with the ones not containing lanolin/allantoin. I don't think that the Moroccan clay would affect the post shave feeling but I'm not sure.

I agree bosseb, the allantoin and lanolin is a cut above. The scents are important to me, it improves the experience, but I also enjoy an undcented shave frequently. I'm glad I can lather it no problem, MW is easily my favorite soap.