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Help. I've lost faith in hard soaps

That's why I rarely recommend artisan soaps. Very hit or miss.

Try a proven soap that's been around forever. Tabac, Haslinger, DR Harris are all great soaps. Or for cheap you can try some sticks like Arko, Palmolive, or Speick. Arko actually comes in a tub now, and if you go on eBay you'll probably find one for $5 or so with free shipping.

Soak the brush then squeeze out the water. Swirl on the puck until the end of the brush gets a sticky paste on it. Then start to build your lather, adding water slowly.
 
I'm having the opposite problem. I was trained in the school of T&H soap, which is one of your typical hard, tripled milled, British soaps. I can't get anything to lather quite like my T&H (though I always make a mess with it:blush:) I'mm with other folks on not having confidence in a brand with that sort of name. Get some Arko, or better yet, something English and you'll understand.
 
Judging all hard soaps based off of a single use of Bebe would be a poor mistake (bebe is not a great soap). Plenty of fantastic hard soaps out there.

Valobra
Ballinger
DR Harris
Pre de Provence
Old AOS
Czech and Speaks

Many others

+1. Some good suggestions.

I would also add Haslinger's (any) if you want a 'tallow' soap that is easy to lather (don't use much and do lather on your face), Ogallala or Institute Karite if you want a 'non-tallow.' IME these all lather very well.

Main thing is to give this a fair try, meaning good prep, time and more than one or two tries until you dial in the proper mix for each soap. Worth the effort IMO!
 
I have never heard of that soap (Bebelush).

I use a similar routine as described by Shiloh (with a few differences)
Here is my basic technique for all hard soaps (I get great lather from my GFT and Truefitt & Hill soaps this way):

1) pre-soak the soap with a little bit of warm water, and the brush (any type will do, but I find boar works better for me) for 10-15 minutes, basically while showering
2) pour off all the pre-soak water if any remains
3) squeeze all the water out of the brush and shake 1-2 times
4) load the brush heavily -- for at least 40 seconds (maybe a minute until there is a wet paste on the brush).
5) bowl lather to start, add a few drops of water as needed.
6) finish by face-lathering. As you work the lather on your face you will feel it become thick and yogurt-like (as you go back and forth with paint-brush strokes).

There are many great soaps to try. Some easier ones for me are Tabac, Proraso, Arko, Dr. Harris, TOBS, Queen Charlotte Soaps, and Barrister & Mann.

Good luck with your soaps.
 
Of course the other thing is that if you don't like hard soaps for whatever reason, there's no harm in just sticking to creams. Lots of good ones out there.
 

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
Hard as in triple milled, get a puck of Czech and Speake or Valobra, C&S is made by Valobra. You're at the top so you don't have to wonder if there's anything better.

Cheers, Steve
 
Of course the other thing is that if you don't like hard soaps for whatever reason, there's no harm in just sticking to creams. Lots of good ones out there.

That is fine for him to feel that way, he should just try a decent hard soap first.
 
As mentioned, plenty of great hard soaps. Add Pre de Province to the Tabac, DR Harris, etc.

The lather you describe means one thing: Use More Product.™

Load extravagantly.
 
Just buy yourself a puck of Arko. Mix it WET and sloppy. You'll have so much lather you could shave a buffalo, and you'll forget you ever had a worry.

If i'd started there, it would have been very difficult to face a second day of DE shaving.

Lots of great advice on 'working' the product, hard soap, to get the quality lather that they are very capable of producing.
dave
 
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Thanks for all the suggestions! The length of my shopping list just gets longer and longer :laugh:

And welcome to BnB, a lot of enablers we are :)

For what it's worth I've found Tabac, Valobra, D R Harris, Haslinger, Palmolive and Wilkinson stick, all great soaps of the harder variety.
 
I will also echo the D.R. Harris chant, their hard soap is great. One I don't see much here is Saponificio Varesino which IMHO is another fantastic hard soap.
 
If you can get a puck of Old Spice shaving soap, it will make you very happy. The stuff lathers if you look at it!

Same with Tabac. Both have good scents and are tallow based so give you good protection leave your skin soft and smooth.
 
Barrister and Mann Lavanille
Haslinger Schafmilch
Caties Bubbles - anything
If the Haslinger or Caties Bubbles don't lather for you it's user error. If you don't like the Lavanille PIF it to me
DR Harris is always a good choice.
 
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