Barrister and Mann

It sounds like this soap lathers like Crown King. Is that a safe assumption? If so, I look even more forward to it. The trick with CK is to add a ton of water, more than any soap I have ever owned. I read the directions for use on B&M's site and it says to add a lot of water. None of the other soap formulas on B&M say add a lot of water, so it sounds like that is the key.

I'll be ordering my first reserve today most likely, or as soon as I can decide between Cool and Spice. I will report back to this thread with my results afterward.

With still limited experience with both Crown King and Barrister’s Reserve soaps, I can only say that I’ve been very pleased with the lathers using my usual lathering method and my usual amount of water. Perhaps I’m doing something right.

Looking forward to your impressions of the Reserve soap, Hobbyist!

So I had that shave this morning with B&M Cologne Russe and it was incredibly wonderful as I expected it would be.  

Theres something I have to get off my chest and it pains me to say this but I have a tub of Barrister's Reserve Cool and I cannot get it to work for me.  I don't know what it is but it won't lather the way I want it to and it won't even brush on to my face  properly, its like oil and water.  Maybe its my water which is softened.  I've tried different brushes and techniques, more water, less water.  I'm not a rookie at this and I've overcome challenges in the past but I'm tapping out on this one.  I'm ok with it but only because there are so many fantastic soaps in my cupboard including 50+ Barrister and Mann soaps so its not that bitter a pill to swallow.  I can tell from the posts I've seen on DFS that I'm in the minority (the only one?) on the BR soaps and I can't quite figure it out.  Karma?  I think I'm a good person but maybe I'm not as good as I think I am.

Hi Marko,

I did an experiment today and I was able to reproduce your experience with the B&M Reserve Cool - the brush did not release the soap to my skin AT ALL! And after a few test runs I realized that the reason was:

TOO MUCH soap with too little WATER.

During one of the trials I severely overloaded the brush and could not get it to start face-lathering until I brought out my faithful captain choice bowl and added a LOT of water. Suddenly everything changed -  tons of dense, slick and shiny lather, which remained stable for more than 15 minutes after I finished my usual  3-pass shave.

So I am pretty much sure that you are a good person... you just did not add enough water... or loaded too much... or both.

but this soap is not just crazy good - it is SCARY GOOD!  And it pairs so wonderfully with my favorite Floid Blue

I echo this advice, Marko. Push the soap to the point where you think you will drown it. Then push it more. Trust me.

This sounds promising because I do think I had a pretty heavy load on the brush I was using which was a Thater 4125 series silvertip size 5 with a monstrous 32mm knot. Its an awesome brush but it does really load up the soap. I'll wrestle this one to the ground and let you know how I fare. I really appreciate the advice.

After trying a dozen or more soaps in the past year and a half of my journey into wet shaving, B&M is at the top. My favorite is Arctique. Cool, slick and great lather.

The best lather I've been able to produce with the BR soaps is by doing what ANG69 did-moderately loaded brush, a Captain's Choice bowl, a synthetic brush (worked slightly better than the badgers with this soap) and LOTS of water. The lather was extraordinary, both in appearance and performance.

I'm in the minority here as I've never enjoyed the B&M soaps nearly as much as others, and I either PIF'd or tossed mine. But it's been a couple of years and you've inspired me to give them another try. Will report back.

I'm in the minority here as I've never enjoyed the B&M soaps nearly as much as others, and I either PIF'd or tossed mine. But it's been a couple of years and you've inspired me to give them another try. Will report back.

Please let me know if I can answer any questions.

Today was shave number 2 with Barrister's Reserve Cool. Yesterday I had a great shave and the lather was stable, but I knew it wasn't dialed in. Today I scooped the entire sample into a shave soap jar I had on hand, which made loading much easier than yesterday when I scooped out a small amount for one shave.

I loaded heavy like always, them moved on to face lathering. I had absolutely no issues building an awesome lather that was thick, ultra slick, and had a beautiful yogurt like sheen. As I suspected it behaved like Crown King when lathering with that gooey or stringy texture, which just means it needs a lot of water.

Cool is going in to permanent rotation. Now I just have to order the matching aftershave and full size soap. Great job Will! I love it!

I'm pretty sure Seville is my number 1 soap followed pretty closely by Stirling SDC. It's the excellent post shave feel that really gives B&M the edge to me at least.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

Really close to purchasing each reserve soap and A/S. Are they all really good? And does anyone know about this Fern and Lavender Reserve? I keep reading old posts else where about these two scents but have not actually seen them.

Really close to purchasing each reserve soap and A/S. Are they all really good? And does anyone know about this Fern and Lavender Reserve? I keep reading old posts else where about these two scents but have not actually seen them.

I can recommend the aftershaves and from what I have read, people are really impressed by the performance and formulation of the Reserve soap. I think the lavender and fern are soon to come out, maybe a couple months but can't quite remember. I am anxiously awaiting the release of both of those scents.