Anything that can go wrong will happen while I'm shaving...

I find MacDuff can often be too soft to lather off the tub. I scoop and bowl lather so have more flexibility to get it right. One drawback with scoop and bowl lathering is that if I’ve scooped too much it can take a while to get it all incorporated. Yes I could just leave some unincorporated soap on the bottom of the bowl but then it’s wasteful. Not sure how much more wasteful than rinsing a bunch of unused lather down the drain but…

The being soft is the thing that keeps me from reaching for MacDuff's soap and makes me consider moving mine on. 3rd world problems, I know but just my thoughts. Shame as it's a great lather.

This is basically where I am. I like hard soap, as I like to load from the soap dish and face lather. The soft soap makes that difficult.

Since I already have a tub of it (well, half a tub of it) I figure this is the best answer. Just a little palm lathering in between to water it down and I can finish up on the face. I could use a bowl for that, too, but there's no point.

McDuff's is great soap, don't get me wrong. I just rather use something in line with my lathering techniques.

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If it’s any comfort, it firms up over time. The bowl lathering is a good way to approach too soft soap. Today I did a brush load off the tub (Hallows) then built the lather in the bowl. Great lather great shave. I try to be flexible. Sometimes. I place MacDuff’s soap in my personal top 5 soaps of all time. Maybe even top 3. That’s saying a lot seeing as Sean hails out of Edmonton and is probably an Oilers fan. Being from Calgary we’re supposed to be sworn enemies but that soap…

The being soft is the thing that keeps me from reaching for MacDuff's soap and makes me consider moving mine on. 3rd world problems, I know but just my thoughts. Shame as it's a great lather.

This is basically where I am. I like hard soap, as I like to load from the soap dish and face lather. The soft soap makes that difficult.

Since I already have a tub of it (well, half a tub of it) I figure this is the best answer. Just a little palm lathering in between to water it down and I can finish up on the face. I could use a bowl for that, too, but there's no point.

McDuff's is great soap, don't get me wrong. I just rather use something in line with my lathering techniques.

Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk

If it’s any comfort, it firms up over time. The bowl lathering is a good way to approach too soft soap. Today I did a brush load off the tub (Hallows) then built the lather in the bowl. Great lather great shave. I try to be flexible. Sometimes. I place MacDuff’s soap in my personal top 5 soaps of all time. Maybe even top 3. That’s saying a lot seeing as Sean hails out of Edmonton and is probably an Oilers fan. Being from Calgary we’re supposed to be sworn enemies but that soap…

There is a post by RayClem  on blooming which I have found to be an immensely helpful guide and starting point.  Among other things, it has helped me deal with softer artisan soaps, most recently MacDuff's Harvest Sky.  I won't reference the URL here because the post is from another forum, and I am not sure what etiquette and/or our forum's rules may demand.  Suffice it to say that for softer artisan soaps, RayClem recommends measuring a 1/4 tsp into a bowl and blooming it with 1 Tbsp hot water for the duration of a shower.  Of key importance, the bloom water is always retained - even for hard soaps - so as not to lose soluble ingredients.  (Hence a bowl is always needed.)

I have made what I believe are minor adaptations to RayClem's approach - adaptations that work for me.  In the case of "softish" soaps (like MacDuff's Harvest Sky), I weigh about 1.5 - 2.5 grams by subtraction onto a flexible makeup spoon.  I generally wind up with too much soap, so going forward, I plan to try targeting 1.0 - 1.5 grams to see how that works.  OTOH, of the tools I have tried, the humble plastic makeup spoon is the easiest to wipe clean in the bowl.

I know some of you prefer face lathering, and for you, this approach has a baked in drawback.  But for me, MacDuff is among the makers whose jars are, all factors considered, just about indistinguishably excellent.  So for me, the question is "Would I be willing to bowl lather a soap which is that good?", and the answer is simple.  But of course, that's just me.

The being soft is the thing that keeps me from reaching for MacDuff's soap and makes me consider moving mine on. 3rd world problems, I know but just my thoughts. Shame as it's a great lather.

This is basically where I am. I like hard soap, as I like to load from the soap dish and face lather. The soft soap makes that difficult.

Since I already have a tub of it (well, half a tub of it) I figure this is the best answer. Just a little palm lathering in between to water it down and I can finish up on the face. I could use a bowl for that, too, but there's no point.

McDuff's is great soap, don't get me wrong. I just rather use something in line with my lathering techniques.

Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk

If it’s any comfort, it firms up over time. The bowl lathering is a good way to approach too soft soap. Today I did a brush load off the tub (Hallows) then built the lather in the bowl. Great lather great shave. I try to be flexible. Sometimes. I place MacDuff’s soap in my personal top 5 soaps of all time. Maybe even top 3. That’s saying a lot seeing as Sean hails out of Edmonton and is probably an Oilers fan. Being from Calgary we’re supposed to be sworn enemies but that soap…

Since HighSpeed mentioned me, I thought I would comment.

Although I have tried a lot of soaps, I have not tried McDuff's. Since it is based on stearic acid and tallow supplemented with a variety of vegetable oils and butters and goats milk it looks like a soap I might enjoy. I have so many great soaps in my collection, I just do not need to add new artisans.

The ingredients are: Stearic Acid, Tallow, Glycerine, Castor Oil, Kokum Butter, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Camellia Seed Oil, Mango Butter, Aloe, Goat Milk, Hydrolyzed Oat Protein, Sodium Lactate, Argan Oil, Jojoba Oil, Pumpkin Seed Oil, Tremella Seed Extract, Silk Peptides, Green Tea Extract, Yogurt, Parfum.

Because I have very sensitive skin, I try to minimize the contact time and pressure between my skin and the shaving brush. Thus, I bowl lather and apply the finished lather to my face. If a soap is too soft to load directly from the tub, I try to load 1/4 heaping teaspoon of soap (around 1.5 grams) into my shave bowl and add 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) of hot water. That gives a ratio of 10 parts water to 1 part soap. If the soap is firm enough to load from the tub, I pour 1 Tablespoon of hot water directly into the tub and allow the soap to "bloom" for around 10-15 seconds. That loosens the top layer of soap so it will load easily onto the brush. The bloom water will be milky and contains lots of good stuff, so be sure not to waste it. I pour it into my lather bowl and use it to produce my lather, adding additional water if I load too much soap. If you face lather, you can pour the bloom water into a dish and use it to wet your face and to dip your brush as needed to build the lather on your face.

Because I have already added water to the tub, I load with a damp brush. I soak badger and boar brushes, but then squeeze and shake out as much excess water as possible. For horsehair and synthetic knots, I just dip them in water right before building my lather, but then shake out the excess. I have found that horsehair is less likely to tangle if it is not soaked. Since the top layer of soap is already loosened, swirling the brush on the surface of the soap in the tub is sufficient to load around 1.5 grams of soap.

With better artisan soaps, I can usually build a smooth lather in about 30 seconds of swirling in my lather bowl, which in my situation is the mortar bowl from a mortar and pestle set. The rough surface of the mortar is designed for grinding, so it is an ideal surface against which the shaving brush can work to build a lather quickly. If your bowl is smooth, it will take longer.

Traditional triple-milled hard pucks do not respond well to this method, especially if the soap has dried out between shaves. It can take anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour of blooming to soften the soap. Please do not try to bloom a softer artisan soap for more than 30 seconds as you can end up with a soggy mess. I got distracted one time and bloomed to the soap for several minutes; I turned the soap into a cream. It took weeks to dry it out.

Even if you like face lathering, you might want to use a lather bowl to build a proto-lather. Then you can finish lathering on your face.

So, I'm a bit shocked at how fast this Macduffs is going. I can already see a sizable hole in the center. That did not take long!

On a positive note, tonights shave was awesome. Not sure if all the credit goes to the soap, but it definitely did an amazing job.

Unfortunately, I don't know how many ounces I had left on this tub when I started back, a few shaves ago... Probably south of 2oz. Nonetheless, I'm still curious how long this will last with my tub loading. Time will tell.

Additionally, I borrowed the stand from my new "backup" Karve to hold my primary shaver. Used some glue dots to hold it in place on the shelf. Viola! I think it looks nifty. Much classier than just sitting on its side, at least. It looks more refined.


Have a good evening folks!

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Great repot, Paul! We're going to start calling you Ace if you keep on knocking out tubs like that!! Anxiously awaiting my (2nd, but this will be only) aluminum OL. Your red and black in the stand looks very refined, don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Great repot, Paul! We're going to start calling you Ace if you keep on knocking out tubs like that!! Anxiously awaiting my (2nd, but this will be only) aluminum OL. Your red and black in the stand looks very refined, don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Lol, thanks Eric.

I tell ya, the soap does not do well with my (tub) lathering techniques. Still, they've been good shaves so no complaints.

I agree on the stand. Never thought about using one in the past, now I'm happy I got it.

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The being soft is the thing that keeps me from reaching for MacDuff's soap and makes me consider moving mine on. 3rd world problems, I know but just my thoughts. Shame as it's a great lather.

This is basically where I am. I like hard soap, as I like to load from the soap dish and face lather. The soft soap makes that difficult.

Since I already have a tub of it (well, half a tub of it) I figure this is the best answer. Just a little palm lathering in between to water it down and I can finish up on the face. I could use a bowl for that, too, but there's no point.

McDuff's is great soap, don't get me wrong. I just rather use something in line with my lathering techniques.

Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk

If it’s any comfort, it firms up over time. The bowl lathering is a good way to approach too soft soap. Today I did a brush load off the tub (Hallows) then built the lather in the bowl. Great lather great shave. I try to be flexible. Sometimes. I place MacDuff’s soap in my personal top 5 soaps of all time. Maybe even top 3. That’s saying a lot seeing as Sean hails out of Edmonton and is probably an Oilers fan. Being from Calgary we’re supposed to be sworn enemies but that soap…

When Ethos first came out, Frank's base was very soft. Loved the lather but like Doug and others, I am a puck loader-face latherer and I really prefer hard pucks.

The great thing with Frank was that he saw a pretty significant portion of the guys were in my preferred category, and were not going to purchase the croapsn; and so he adjusted creating the current firm and soft bases respectively [F & S].

Interesting post script is Marko's point that it hardens with time. Frank's original S base soaps I have are as hard as the current F base.

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This is basically where I am. I like hard soap, as I like to load from the soap dish and face lather. The soft soap makes that difficult.

Since I already have a tub of it (well, half a tub of it) I figure this is the best answer. Just a little palm lathering in between to water it down and I can finish up on the face. I could use a bowl for that, too, but there's no point.

McDuff's is great soap, don't get me wrong. I just rather use something in line with my lathering techniques.

Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk

If it’s any comfort, it firms up over time. The bowl lathering is a good way to approach too soft soap. Today I did a brush load off the tub (Hallows) then built the lather in the bowl. Great lather great shave. I try to be flexible. Sometimes. I place MacDuff’s soap in my personal top 5 soaps of all time. Maybe even top 3. That’s saying a lot seeing as Sean hails out of Edmonton and is probably an Oilers fan. Being from Calgary we’re supposed to be sworn enemies but that soap…

When Ethos first came out, Frank's base was very soft. Loved the lather but like Doug and others, I am a puck loader-face latherer and I really prefer hard pucks.

The great thing with Frank was that he saw a pretty significant portion of the guys were in my preferred category, and were not going to purchase the croapsn; and so he adjusted creating the current firm and soft bases respectively [F & S].

Interesting post script is Marko's point that it hardens with time. Frank's original S base soaps I have are as hard as the current F base.

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I agree, Frank seems to have listened and followed the requests of his customers. That's good business sense, IMO.

That, of course, makes me feel like I'm slighting Macduffs. Not the case at all. Fwiw, though I never tried it, I've been told their previous iterations were softer. So, MacDuffs has also evolved to folks preferences... It just hasn't hit the level of a hard croap yet. I'll keep my fingers crossed for future versions.

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Thanks Eric and Dave!

Next conquest will be the Macduffs Aspen Parkland. I'd like to see that one through to the end, if I can. It's still 50%+, so it'll be some time. Still, it's nice to have a plan.

Have a good day everyone!

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...maybe... (To the above)

Last night I used the MacDuffs and the shave wasn't all that great, at least compared to what I've been enjoying the past few months (with Zingari).

I'm going to chalk this one up to the lather consistency. Tub loading from a hard cream, like MacDuffs, can be tricky. It's too easy to end up with a joint compound consistency. I'm going to try finessing the load in my palm, with some water. That'll better tell me if I've just become accustomed to harder soaps over the past months of straight Zingari.

Happy Friday folks!

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Hey Dave in KY or Marko ... can we kick this idiot out of the forum? He seems to be way out of touch with reality, stating MacDuff's wasn't all that great. What an idiot. Seriously, no one should ever listen to this guy.

In other words: Another great shave with MacDuffs and I'm basically eating crow. They have all been fabulous, other than my brief loading mishap on the first shave back. Also, with the consecutive uses, it's hardened up a bit (just as someone mentioned above). Still likely using it faster, but man is it good.

The final step in my 'walk of shame' here... I think I'll be replacing this after all

Time for some dinner...

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