What soap/cream did you use today?

Today's soap is DR Harris Marlborough soap.  It always surprises me when folks mention a lack of slickness in this soap.  I find it very slick and a joy to use.  I do, however, know I'll be using a balm post-shave as this soap is drying.  No sweat, I'm using Shea for a finish daily anyway. I was not really fond of this scent when I got it but I sure do like it now.  Cedar is the dominating note in this one and the scent lingers.

Traditionnel v. (Le Père Lucien) lemon, rosemary, thyme, lavender, eucalyptus

Most of us enjoy shaving with a different soap each day. Picking a soap each morning to match the weather or our mood can be entertaining, and collecting soaps from around the world is one of the more pleasurable parts of this odd hobby. One of the side effects of this diversifying approach to shaving, though, is that many of our soap tubs sit on the shelf for months between uses. Is this what the soap makers had in mind when they designed these products? Are soaps really meant to be drenched and then dried for weeks between latherings?

One of my first shave soaps, a wooden tub of Windsor, was an immense pleasure to use. I have to admit, though, that my first shaves with it were abysmal. Windsor is a very hard puck, and at first I just couldn’t get enough soap into the brush to make a protective emulsion. After a few days, however, the puck softened up and got easier to load from. The more I used it, the better that lather came out. I soon found myself dipping into Windsor nearly every day. This was a good approach, and I only abandoned it because I went hog wild for the gazillions of soaps that started to appear online.

Now I’m thinking of going back to the old ways for a spell. For the next month I’ll try to stick with a soap for three to five days (maybe longer if I really like) to see how it responds to repeated use. That’s why today I went with this tin of Traditionnel again. It’s much softer than it was yesterday, and the lather came together with only half as many swirls. Today the fragrance seemed more intense, especially the lemon, and the slip was even slicker than before. Results like this make me really curious to see what may happen in the next few days.
    

Very interesting proposition.  I've thought to do the same thing so I'm in.  I'll follow your lead my friend.

Good luck to both of you!  One of the things I love about this hobby is the variety.  Using a soap more than a couple days in a row is difficult for me as a I enjoy switching it up.  About the only time I use the same soap on multiple days is when I'm away from home.  By the 3rd or 4th day on long trips, I've really grown tired of whatever soap I brought.

Used a little too much water as I was in a hurry and not paying attention to what I was doing.  Regardless, the scent was still mesmerizing and the light mint scent was perfect for a cool/rainy Sunday morning

Today's soap is DR Harris Marlborough soap.  It always surprises me when folks mention a lack of slickness in this soap.  I find it very slick and a joy to use.  I do, however, know I'll be using a balm post-shave as this soap is drying.  No sweat, I'm using Shea for a finish daily anyway. I was not really fond of this scent when I got it but I sure do like it now.  Cedar is the dominating note in this one and the scent lingers.

Speaking of awesome brushes....wow!  Great color-combo and style - is that an SHD knot?

Crabtree & Evelyn Sweet Almond Oil shaving soap (vintage)

Wholly Kaw Lav Sublime

Today's soap is DR Harris Marlborough soap.  It always surprises me when folks mention a lack of slickness in this soap.  I find it very slick and a joy to use.  I do, however, know I'll be using a balm post-shave as this soap is drying.  No sweat, I'm using Shea for a finish daily anyway. I was not really fond of this scent when I got it but I sure do like it now.  Cedar is the dominating note in this one and the scent lingers.

Speaking of awesome brushes....wow!  Great color-combo and style - is that an SHD knot?

Thanks!  I poured the blank and my son cut it for me.  And yep, that's a maggard 24 SHD knot at 53mm loft

Traditionnel v. (Le Père Lucien) lemon, rosemary, thyme, lavender, eucalyptus

Most of us enjoy shaving with a different soap each day. Picking a soap each morning to match the weather or our mood can be entertaining, and collecting soaps from around the world is one of the more pleasurable parts of this odd hobby. One of the side effects of this diversifying approach to shaving, though, is that many of our soap tubs sit on the shelf for months between uses. Is this what the soap makers had in mind when they designed these products? Are soaps really meant to be drenched and then dried for weeks between latherings?

One of my first shave soaps, a wooden tub of Windsor, was an immense pleasure to use. I have to admit, though, that my first shaves with it were abysmal. Windsor is a very hard puck, and at first I just couldn’t get enough soap into the brush to make a protective emulsion. After a few days, however, the puck softened up and got easier to load from. The more I used it, the better that lather came out. I soon found myself dipping into Windsor nearly every day. This was a good approach, and I only abandoned it because I went hog wild for the gazillions of soaps that started to appear online.

Now I’m thinking of going back to the old ways for a spell. For the next month I’ll try to stick with a soap for three to five days (maybe longer if I really like) to see how it responds to repeated use. That’s why today I went with this tin of Traditionnel again. It’s much softer than it was yesterday, and the lather came together with only half as many swirls. Today the fragrance seemed more intense, especially the lemon, and the slip was even slicker than before. Results like this make me really curious to see what may happen in the next few days.
    

Very interesting proposition.  I've thought to do the same thing so I'm in.  I'll follow your lead my friend.

Good luck to both of you!  One of the things I love about this hobby is the variety.  Using a soap more than a couple days in a row is difficult for me as a I enjoy switching it up.  About the only time I use the same soap on multiple days is when I'm away from home.  By the 3rd or 4th day on long trips, I've really grown tired of whatever soap I brought.

I used this approach for a long time. I used each soap for three straight shaves. My goal, however, was slightly different--to refine my technique. I wanted to master the lathering of each soap and to learn its particular nuances. And one of these nuances was that certain soaps respond well to repeated consecutive use. Saponificion Varesino Opuntia is one of those--it lathers more easily when used day after day.

Another nuance is how each soap responds to different brushes. You learn some real subtleties with regard to how your various brushes lather a soap.

I think three consecutive shave days is a minimum for this approach.

Another byproduct of this approach is that your shaving technique tends to improve. By keeping the soap the same from shave to shave, you minimize the change in that one important variable, keeping it more or less the same. You can concentrate a bit more on your razor, your blade and your actual shaving technique. You can change any one of these, one at a time and see what that does.