Blooming! your veiws please

I've never found it to be noticeably advantageous with any of the soaps I have used.

Used to. Not necessary.

It might be time to re-vitalize this thread.
I don't bloom ANY soap. If I'm not using our soaps, I'm using a triple milled of some type. (except Proraso red)

Now that we're revived, I "bloom" a few soaps. It's easier on the knot. That's my experience after 8 years of traditional shaving.

Now that we're revived, I "bloom" a few soaps. It's easier on the knot. That's my experience after 8 years of traditional shaving.

I'm in the brush "masher" category like Lipripper660. I don't own any super expensive brushes that cause me to worry about that at all.

Now that we're revived, I "bloom" a few soaps. It's easier on the knot. That's my experience after 8 years of traditional shaving.

I'm in the brush "masher" category like Lipripper660. I don't own any super expensive brushes that cause me to worry about that at all.

I do, so I do. That simple.

I did bloom years ago but stopped. Now I scoop a bit of soap and smear it in a lather bowl and build the lather there. I’m finding most soaps these days to be so soft that they’re virtually creams. Many of them could easily be put  into  tubes. I don’t know why nobody uses tubes. It would be better for quality control. I’m guessing it has something to do with not wanting to invest in a tube filling machine.

I did bloom years ago but stopped. Now I scoop a bit of soap and smear it in a lather bowl and build the lather there. I’m finding most soaps these days to be so soft that they’re virtually creams. Many of them could easily be put  into  tubes. I don’t know why nobody uses tubes. It would be better for quality control. I’m guessing it has something to do with not wanting to invest in a tube filling machine.

+1

I prefer to bloom my soaps for a few reasons.
Warm or hot water seems to bring out the scent of many soaps.  I then load the soap on a dry brush, and face lather. 
I think it helps me control the amount of water I use, and makes it easier for me to make the thick lather I prefer, while increasing my enjoyment of the scent.

I do a sort of blooming ...

I'm a synthetic brush man. I like to put about a teaspoon of water directly onto the soap (so, just a quick flash of water from the tap) and then straight on with a dry brush. I get a really good loading doing that. Onto face and lather up. I don't let the water sit for any length of time and don't have to pre-soak the brush. I'd a sort of blooming.

I prefer to bloom my soaps for a few reasons.
Warm or hot water seems to bring out the scent of many soaps.  I then load the soap on a dry brush, and face lather. 
I think it helps me control the amount of water I use, and makes it easier for me to make the thick lather I prefer, while increasing my enjoyment of the scent.

This is exactly what I do and why I do it.

Quite a few dry loading synthetic users here. I love it. This is precisely how I use my soulless brushes. I personally don't notice a difference in scent except among those of poorer quality where the little bit of heat pulls the oils out of the soap.

You Sir Made My Day….

7 years ago the Gents here thought Synthetic knots were soulless… nothings changed.  Carry on Lads

I did bloom years ago but stopped. Now I scoop a bit of soap and smear it in a lather bowl and build the lather there. I’m finding most soaps these days to be so soft that they’re virtually creams. Many of them could easily be put  into  tubes. I don’t know why nobody uses tubes. It would be better for quality control. I’m guessing it has something to do with not wanting to invest in a tube filling machine.

As far as tubes goes for one the viscosity has to be just right, there’s a difference between a soft soap and a real shaving cream. In order to reduce the particles you need an homogenizer, which is a piece of equipment that can be very costly. You would also need a tube filling machine and then a tube crimping machine to seal the ends once filled.  So quite a costly investment

2nd option is to go to a contract manufacturer who does tube filling ( not all do )  but then your talking runs of at least 5000 units per scent.  I’m thinking that would be beyond most artisan soap makers.  That’s why you mostly see tubes from big companies like Proraso and Palmolive to name  a couple. 


On blooming I think it’s a personal thing. I have customers that say it works great for them and others that never do it or feel the need to. So the old saying goes to each their own.