Mikes Lather

[rxonmymind]

Mikes is known for being difficult to lather. I KNOW this. As hard as Mikes soap is it's ironic that it was my floppy brush that whipped up the best lather, not the SOC boar. Something about the boar lack of water retention compared to my floppy badger which holds a lot of water was the ticket. What I found helped a LOT was giving Mike's it's own dedicated bowl. By doing this I believe you'll have better results.
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/336407-Mikes-soap-review?highlight=

As you can see above ^^the Soc boar didn't do to well.
Below....

 

[mwhitcraft]

I have been using Mike's exclusively since I first tried it (just over a month ago). While my SOC is one of my best latherers, it doesn't seem to work as well for me with Mike's. My Thater silvertip badger does better and what works best of all are my two Vie-Long horsehair brushes. If you haven't tried a horse brush yet, they can be had pretty cheaply and perform very well.

 

[Infernal2]

I've found that the secret for a SOC Boar is to soak the soap as well as the brush before lathering just to soften up the face. To be honest, I can get around 4 passes from one load in my SOC but I primarily face lather. I pour some of the water from my brush bowl on top of the Mike's soap, prep my face, brush my teeth, comb my hair, and then I pour off the excess water from the soap and give the brush a good strong flick. After about thirty seconds I have enough of a load for my regular shave plus some. The same goes for my Badger brushes as well.