Wow! All I can say is this soap lives up to the hype. Truly fantastic shaving experience this morning. Wow!
I decided to do my full Foolproof process discovery method with this soap, although I did not think I needed to. After taking about a week of shaves to dial in another favorite, my Ethos Grooming Dragonsbeard, which is a bit finicky with hydration, I decided I should take my own advice and simply do this with every new soap I try. I now get perfect lather with Dragonsbeard every time, but I did not in the beginning. The Foolproof process helps one understand how a new soap behaves and how to get the absolute most out of it.
I did discover what I thought I would, however, and that this is a very easy soap to use. I started with a damp dry brush, and about a 30-second load, figuring it would be more than needed (it was) and slowly added water by dipping the tips of the brush in water and working it in the Captains Choice ceramic lather bowl. After 3-4 water additions, I had what I like in a lather, peaks that hold but are not particularly stiff. Soft floppy peaks, I guess you'd call it and a fairly glistening sheen to the lather. Then I added up to about 7 dips (I think) and the extra water had not made the lather unusable, so I stopped rather than taking it to failure because it was not necessary. It was a little thin, but 30 seconds of lathering in my palm brought it up to right where I wanted it again.
So, what this demonstrated, is that this soap has a fairly forgiving (wide) hydration window, you won't have trouble nailing your lather easily. Ethos, on the other hand, has a very narrow window and when you get it to almost what you think is ideal, and you want to dip the tips in water one more time--DON'T--you are already at the ideal lather. You add that last dip of water, and you could easily go past the ability to hold water and the lather will be too thin. I get perfect lather every time now, but I wish I had done my discovery process first. Click the link above if you don't know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, I rinsed everything and started again, this time with a 15 second load and a damper brush, two dips of the brush tips in water and I was at perfect lather. This is about as easy to lather as Tabac, Cella, any TOBS cream, I simply cannot imagine anyone having trouble with it, but go through the process anyway so you know what this can give you and you can get it to your personal ideal consistency.
The shave was fantastic. Lots of blade buffing, this stuff is very slick, no discomfort, and 4 hours later I still have a true BBS feel to my face. I don't normally opine on skin friendliness of products because I have zero sensitivities, but I'm going to go out on a limb here because of the simplicity of the ingredient list, and say you are not likely to have any issues with this except maybe if you have a reaction to rose essential oil. I understand some folks do with some oils, but I've also read that rose oil is actually good for sensitive skin and so it is unlikely to cause issues. I finished the shave with Witch Hazel and Lavanda Lavender A/S to keep the floral theme going, and my face feels great!
This is in my permanent rotation, for sure! I now get why people own several (or even all) of the MdC scents.
I decided to do my full Foolproof process discovery method with this soap, although I did not think I needed to. After taking about a week of shaves to dial in another favorite, my Ethos Grooming Dragonsbeard, which is a bit finicky with hydration, I decided I should take my own advice and simply do this with every new soap I try. I now get perfect lather with Dragonsbeard every time, but I did not in the beginning. The Foolproof process helps one understand how a new soap behaves and how to get the absolute most out of it.
I did discover what I thought I would, however, and that this is a very easy soap to use. I started with a damp dry brush, and about a 30-second load, figuring it would be more than needed (it was) and slowly added water by dipping the tips of the brush in water and working it in the Captains Choice ceramic lather bowl. After 3-4 water additions, I had what I like in a lather, peaks that hold but are not particularly stiff. Soft floppy peaks, I guess you'd call it and a fairly glistening sheen to the lather. Then I added up to about 7 dips (I think) and the extra water had not made the lather unusable, so I stopped rather than taking it to failure because it was not necessary. It was a little thin, but 30 seconds of lathering in my palm brought it up to right where I wanted it again.
So, what this demonstrated, is that this soap has a fairly forgiving (wide) hydration window, you won't have trouble nailing your lather easily. Ethos, on the other hand, has a very narrow window and when you get it to almost what you think is ideal, and you want to dip the tips in water one more time--DON'T--you are already at the ideal lather. You add that last dip of water, and you could easily go past the ability to hold water and the lather will be too thin. I get perfect lather every time now, but I wish I had done my discovery process first. Click the link above if you don't know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, I rinsed everything and started again, this time with a 15 second load and a damper brush, two dips of the brush tips in water and I was at perfect lather. This is about as easy to lather as Tabac, Cella, any TOBS cream, I simply cannot imagine anyone having trouble with it, but go through the process anyway so you know what this can give you and you can get it to your personal ideal consistency.
The shave was fantastic. Lots of blade buffing, this stuff is very slick, no discomfort, and 4 hours later I still have a true BBS feel to my face. I don't normally opine on skin friendliness of products because I have zero sensitivities, but I'm going to go out on a limb here because of the simplicity of the ingredient list, and say you are not likely to have any issues with this except maybe if you have a reaction to rose essential oil. I understand some folks do with some oils, but I've also read that rose oil is actually good for sensitive skin and so it is unlikely to cause issues. I finished the shave with Witch Hazel and Lavanda Lavender A/S to keep the floral theme going, and my face feels great!
Saturday, March 8
- Preshave = shower
- Captain's Choice stoneware lather bowl
- Yaqi Ghost 90SB DS head on Cosmetics Spiral Ti handle (China)
- Dorco Prime #5 (Viet Nam)
- Eveready 150 vintage reknotted w/22mm TGN Finest badger (USA)
- Martin de Candre Rose (France)
- Thayer's WH (USA)
- Lavanda A/S (Portugal)
This is in my permanent rotation, for sure! I now get why people own several (or even all) of the MdC scents.
Last edited:
This stuff is amazing! I think I had more water in the brush than I should have at the start, so I did 30 (exactly) swirls, then went to my face. Did not see a lot of soap on the brush tips, but it really face lathered into a mountain of lather! Had tons left over after the shave.
