Pre de Provence -- a short review

[Swistak]

The AoS creams work really well as pre-shaves, when diluted with some warm water. I've been using the Lemon recently. The AoS creams came from the bargain bin, so why not?

Never thought of that. The creams themselves are quite good in normal use. I don't always care for the scents; Oud was too sweet and Bourbon was too pungent/acrid. I still enjoy the Sandalwood cream, which smells subtle and excellent and is a great cream.

 

[krusty]

Hard soaps like PdP are quite easy to use. Lather directly from the puck. Use a synthetic brush. Wet the brush, and let the excess water drip briefly. Lather. When you feel drag, you’ve got more than enough to shave with. Apply to face. Drip a bit of extra water into the brush and apply again to face. Slap the brush back and forth like a paintbrush. Done. Shave.

 

[Swistak]

Update:

I have discovered the culprit of my 2 primary difficulties with PDP

1) Skin irritation was caused not by the soap but by brush burn from face lathering with too little product.

2) PDP is slow to lather in my situation due to very hard water.

A nice solution I discovered just today was to bloom the puck in my mug with boiling water. Filled to the top of the mug with several inches of boiling water. Just a minute or 2 is enough. Poured all of it off. Loaded up with a damp but not dripping boar brush. The most effortless shave I've had with this soap. Loaded up in 30 seconds instead of 2 minutes. Re-load here and there if you need more in between passes. A huge difference.

Cheers

 

[Steve56]

Why not use a small ramekin etc of distilled water to lather with? I usually do just for consistency. Warm it up in the microwave if you like.

 

[Swistak]

Why not use a small ramekin etc of distilled water to lather with? I usually do just for consistency. Warm it up in the microwave if you like.

A good idea. Thanks!

 

[Steve56]

YW and good luck sir.

 

[ChriWilson]

@Marco has also said that La Maison Du Savon de Marseille is the same as PDP but made for the European market, with 2 different scent profiles. This is well established; PDP and LMDSM are the same soap base.

#63 is a good soap, nothing bad to say about it, but rather unremarkable to me aside from its aroma. I’ll be using it tomorrow to see if I’ve missed on something. I recall getting the best out of it when I use a boar or synth against it - used as a stick.

A while back I ordered 2 pucks of Monsieur from LMdSdM shortly after starting with PdP.

Made for a good bath / shower soap as mine were not the same formula (lacking Potassium?) and would not lather to save its life. After seeing an ingredient list from I believe RayClem, pretty sure I got a puck pre transition.

 

[cymric]

A nice solution I discovered just today was to bloom the puck in my mug with boiling water. Filled to the top of the mug with several inches of boiling water. Just a minute or 2 is enough. Poured all of it off. Loaded up with a damp but not dripping boar brush. The most effortless shave I've had with this soap. Loaded up in 30 seconds instead of 2 minutes. Re-load here and there if you need more in between passes. A huge difference.

Your loading routine is really effed up. Sorry to put it so bluntly, but it is.

You'll really just ruin your puck of soap by covering it with boiling water. I can load PdP with ice-cold water without issue if need be (and have done so on several occasions, when the boiler was out to lunch, or in case of camping).

Seriously, let your brush be wetter. Don't go at it with something 'damp': that's bone-dry as far as the soap is concerned. All soaps needs water to dissolve. You however don't give it water, you give it a few droplets at best; and compensate by practically melting the puck of soap with intense heat from scalding water.

The brush full of water from its general soak is too much. Damp is too little. Somewhere (about 3/4 to 4/5 of the way to dampness) is the happy middle ground where you have sufficient water to dissolve the soap while not overflowing everything with suds. In your case, because you know what a 'damp brush' is: put the brush on the dry puck, then add a modest splash of water you can fit between the fingers of one hand, then carefully load for 30 to 45 seconds. Try not to get too much air in there for the moment.

And you would be done.

 

[Steve56]

The brush needs some water in it of course, if not there’s nothing to dissolve a hard soap.

But if you’re having trouble lathering a hard soap, try changing brushes. Some are much better than others and the only way you’ll know is to try them.

 

[Lane101]

Your loading routine is really effed up. Sorry to put it so bluntly, but it is.

You'll really just ruin your puck of soap by covering it with boiling water. I can load PdP with ice-cold water without issue if need be (and have done so on several occasions, when the boiler was out to lunch, or in case of camping).

Seriously, let your brush be wetter. Don't go at it with something 'damp': that's bone-dry as far as the soap is concerned. All soaps needs water to dissolve. You however don't give it water, you give it a few droplets at best; and compensate by practically melting the puck of soap with intense heat from scalding water.

The brush full of water from its general soak is too much. Damp is too little. Somewhere (about 3/4 to 4/5 of the way to dampness) is the happy middle ground where you have sufficient water to dissolve the soap while not overflowing everything with suds. In your case, because you know what a 'damp brush' is: put the brush on the dry puck, then add a modest splash of water you can fit between the fingers of one hand, then carefully load for 30 to 45 seconds. Try not to get too much air in there for the moment.

And you would be done.

@Swistak, cymric is right. This is similar to my mug soap lathering technique that you noted worked well for you in your earlier post above.

 

[borwish]

Yall made me pull out the PdP 63 this morning. I used a completely dry puck that hadn't been touched for months. I used a synthetic Yaqi 26mm Timberwolf. I briefly ran the brush under a stream of cold water and gave it two half hearted shakes. I swirled the damp brush on the completely dry puck for 15 seconds. I worked the brush on my wet face for 15 seconds. I then added a little more cold water to the brush and worked my face for about 15 seconds give or take. I had plenty of great lather. It wasn't billowing like Arko, but it was slick and creamy with enough for 4 passes. I rock an anchor beard, but past experience tells me it would have been plenty for 3 full face passes. To keep the plum vibe going I followed with Razorock X.

PdP is a great soap that is easy to work for me. I would never bloom it. I highly recommend PdP.

 

[Swistak]

Your loading routine is really effed up. Sorry to put it so bluntly, but it is.

You'll really just ruin your puck of soap by covering it with boiling water. I can load PdP with ice-cold water without issue if need be (and have done so on several occasions, when the boiler was out to lunch, or in case of camping).

Seriously, let your brush be wetter. Don't go at it with something 'damp': that's bone-dry as far as the soap is concerned. All soaps needs water to dissolve. You however don't give it water, you give it a few droplets at best; and compensate by practically melting the puck of soap with intense heat from scalding water.

The brush full of water from its general soak is too much. Damp is too little. Somewhere (about 3/4 to 4/5 of the way to dampness) is the happy middle ground where you have sufficient water to dissolve the soap while not overflowing everything with suds. In your case, because you know what a 'damp brush' is: put the brush on the dry puck, then add a modest splash of water you can fit between the fingers of one hand, then carefully load for 30 to 45 seconds. Try not to get too much air in there for the moment.

And you would be done.

Y’all seem to be opposed to boiling water, but not hot water. I have hard water and am not keen on loading PDP for +2 minutes, which is what it normally takes (in my case). The boiling water speeds that up considerably. I have noticed nothing gone wrong with the soap when doing this. The lather is nice and warm and forms much more quickly.

If SV recommends that users pour BOILING water on the puck, why can’t I do it myself? It works for me!

 

[Swistak]

The brush needs some water in it of course, if not there’s nothing to dissolve a hard soap.

But if you’re having trouble lathering a hard soap, try changing brushes. Some are much better than others and the only way you’ll know is to try them.

I found that too much water makes lathering less effective. Even my Mistura when over-wetted does a poor job with PDP, as it still takes a long time to load. I even purchased this stuff brush for the purpose of lathering my puck of PDP; didn’t help much, oddly enough. With the boiling method, all of my brushes, even the softest, make quick work of PDP.

Hard water is less effective at dissolving soap. Instead of loading for a crazy long time, I speed up the process by softening up the soap instead.

 

[Swistak]

I suppose I have broken some B&B conventions, but the boiling water works better than any of the other methods recommended here. Not that those methods work poorly, but that with my hard water they do not work as well.

Shaving is a pleasurable activity but also a utilitarian one. I simply do what works for me. I have gotten better shaves with every other soap or cream besides PDP, but blooming it with boiling or near boiling water is what made it useable and a good soap for me.

I don’t think twice about pouring boiling water on the soap, just like I don’t think twice when using my others tools and treating them like what they are: tools to be used to accomplish a certain job. In this case, I needed PDP to work for me, and water hot enough to soften the puck is what did it for me.

As it was said below, “it’s just soap!”

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Y’all seem to be opposed to boiling water, but not hot water? I struggle with hard water and refuse to load PDP for +2 minutes, which is what it normally takes. The boiling water speeds that up considerably. I have noticed nothing gone wrong with the soap when doing this. The lather is nice and warm and forms much more quickly.

If SV recommends that users pour BOILING water on the puck, why can’t I do it myself?

Do what you like, it's just soap. Have you tried using distilled or filtered water? My water isn't particularly soft but I've never had to load any soap for two minutes.

 

[Swistak]

Do what you like, it's just soap. Have you tried using distilled or filtered water? My water isn't particularly soft but I've never had to load any soap for two minutes.

I will give filtered water a try. The boiled water is easier in my case, as I usually have a kettle boiled for morning tea. The excess gets poured into my shave mug if I want to bloom PDP that day. I think of it as a soothing morning routine. More pleasant than pouring bottled water into my mug.

Evidently others think this is psychopathic. I am thoroughly humored.

 

[Steve56]

Boiling water on your soap? The last time that I saw that was with modern Williams, rofl!

Try using distilled water and a synthetic brush.

I am a bit perplexed, myself and many others have no problems lathering PdP, but I can’t tell from your posts what the difference is.

 

[Swistak]

Boiling water on your soap? The last time that I saw that was with modern Williams, rofl!

Try using distilled water and a synthetic brush.

I am a bit perplexed, myself and many others have no problems lathering PdP, but I can’t tell from your posts what the difference is.

I suppose it is perplexing. The soap simply doesn’t lather well for me, and maybe that’s a problem with my technique. I have tried many different methods, and the most conventional ones too. The boiling water helps soften the soap which otherwise remains quite resistant to being formed into a stable lather. Too much water — bubbles. Adequate water but too little time — bubbles. Bloomed with boiled/HOT water ? — easily loaded soap in a reasonable (according to my standards) amount of time.

I tried lathering up this evening as you all recommended (have not yet tried the distilled water) and did not have as much success. Maybe the fault is with my touch, but, then again, I will continue to use PDP as I please, and with this method, I very much like the soap.

 

[Swistak]

Update: it must have been the water. I’m visiting family out of state and lathering PDP here is no issue, no matter the brush.

 

[Lane101]

Update: it must have been the water. I’m visiting family out of state and lathering PDP here is no issue, no matter the brush.

Thank you for posting. It's nice to see what is in effect a controlled experiment where the only variable changed is the water source. This helps confirm water quality as a potential issue for fellow B&Bers that can be the root cause for some of the different YMMV shaving soap experiences that are posted here.