A noobs first lather results from MWF

I'm a noob to soaps, I've only tried a soap my friend made & gave me, and I've used that 3-4 times.
However my MWF was delivered today and I just had to try lathering it although I won't be shaving until morning.

Did I do it right? I immersed my badger brush in water for a few seconds, then used the brush to get the puck wet, then without waiting I loaded the brush for maybe 30 seconds, and since I was getting a lather in the bowl I transferred to my mug and spent another 30 seconds building a lather. It wasn't any harder than using my TOBS cream. My lather might need more water I suppose, but I was blown away by how easy it seemed to me. My water doesn't seem very soft to me btw

Looks good to me; how did it feel? If you were satisfied with how it felt then you are on the right track. Most soaps take a bit of "dialing in" to get the lather desired.

The Accountant said:

Looks good to me; how did it feel? If you were satisfied with how it felt then you are on the right track. Most soaps take a bit of "dialing in" to get the lather desired.

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It felt nice and creamy, much better than my TOBS, Castle Forbes cream, and my friends soap.

Looks good to me. Well done. Final proof is in the shaving. Good luck and enjoy.

A nice Paladin brush.

I'm sorry to say, that lather doesn't look shave ready for me. Not thick or creamy enough and could probably use some more product. MWF seems to work best with a drier brush and slowly incorporate water, at least for me.

Bottom line, if it works for you, that's all that matters.

My MWF lather gets more water and doesn't have peaks, but I straight shave a fair bit. Given that this is lather-1 from a new puck, it looks pretty good. Feed the puck with a dribble of water every night and watch that baby expand. Loading will be a breeze, but it looks like you didn't have too much trouble right out of the gate.

There are no shave police. Work your MWF however it is best for you.

I think you will get better results if you load twice as long.

brucered said:

Bottom line, if it works for you, that's all that matters.

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What Bruce said. If it works, perfect. Play around using some of the suggestions the guys have made. You may find a thicker lather better or worse depending on your preference. I like mine a little thicker than your photo, but depending on how long I've gone since the last shave, a thinner lather is sometimes more effective.

I am currently 3017ing (Using from start to finish), a puck of MWF. This is what I like my lather to look like for my DE shaves. No real peaks or glamorous lather shots, but wet, creamy and full.

This was after face lathering a pass, no squeezing and how the brush looked when I put it down.

^^^
What you have left over is about 3 day's worth of lather for me.

rockviper said:

^^^
What you have left over is about 3 day's worth of lather for me.

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I still do a second pass (I think this was pass one, I forget now) and use the leftover to apply to my face during cleanup of hardware.

MWF feels great when left on the face after the final pass/rinse. It's my normal routine and use of the leftover lather, especially with soaps known for being great moisturizers.

Start out with a brush that's only damp and lather it like you have it. Swirl on the soap for a solid two minutes and see what results you're able to get.

Thanks for all the info guys. I'm a noob like I've said, so I'm looking for pointers.
I'll be honest, after all the comments I've read about how hard MWF is to lather, I expected to spend 4 hours just building a lather that looked like week old Elmer's glue.

Nuke said:

A nice Paladin brush.

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Thanks I love it.

valkabit said:

Thanks for all the info guys. I'm a noob like I've said, so I'm looking for pointers.
I'll be honest, after all the comments I've read about how hard MWF is to lather, I expected to spend 4 hours just building a lather that looked like week old Elmer's glue.

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Yeah, people get psyched out and afraid to try some of these items....Feather blades come to mind too.

It's a legendary soap for a reason.

brucered said:

I'm sorry to say, that lather doesn't look shave ready for me. Not thick or creamy enough and could probably use some more product. MWF seems to work best with a drier brush and slowly incorporate water, at least for me.

Bottom line, if it works for you, that's all that matters.

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I just did another practice run, I probably loaded for 60-90 seconds with only a damp brush, then worked on the lather in the mug before adding water, It definitely created a lot of lather, about 3x what I had the first time. I'd say it was thicker as well, although I still had the peaks. Maybe I'll wake up early so I can spend more time shaving

The lather on your palm looks a little thin to me but like some others have said, if it works for you that way, all is well! The only suggestion I have is not to let the puck dry out between uses. You won't ruin it if you do, but I think it behaves better if you keep it wet, or at least moist.

I've always found that MWF lathers very nicely for me with little effort.