Barrister and Mann

I no longer have a single best soap but rather 5 or 6 that I consider my best top tier soaps - B&M is clearly one of those and if you judge purely by number, its the soap I have the greatest number of, followed closely by WK, L&L, T+S, Mikes, Stirling..... and some other wonderful soaps. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying a I like all soaps equally because I don't. I'm going up to shave with B&M Cologne Russe right now...

I honestly didn't think Will could improve on his glissant line, but when I tried the Barristers Reserve line, it exceeded my expectations. I have several other tallow soaps that I appreciate-L & L Grooming comes to mind, it's a superb soap-but the tallows can sometimes leave a 'heavy' post-shave feel. Sometimes, I don't want that 'heaviness'  especially here in the desert where it was 111 degrees yesterday and figures to be hotter today.

The Barristers Reserve leaves a very 'light' feeling post shave, and the performance is just remarkable. I'd be hard pressed to name a better tallow soap in my den.

Barrister & Mann, Desmond's Barrow, and Sudsy Soapery are probably my top three brands. Honestly, though, I am hard pressed to leave out Stirling, L&L Grooming, Tallow+Steel, and Soap Commander. For me, what we collectively call artisan soaps, have come so incredibly far in the last five years or so and are so superb in both top notch performance and choice of scents that if I was asked to choose just one favorite brand, I don't honestly think I could do it.

Agreed up there with CRSW. I like CRSW works scents more.

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.

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.

Have you tried bowl lathering with it? That might give you more "space" to play around until you find the right combination of soap and water. I haven't used a cream in a long time, but I do have some TOBS Sandalwood that I use now and then. I always bowl lather that stuff. It's the only stuff I bowl lather, but......

Just a thought.

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.

Have you tried bowl lathering with it? That might give you more "space" to play around until you find the right combination of soap and water. I haven't used a cream in a long time, but I do have some TOBS Sandalwood that I use now and then. I always bowl lather that stuff. It's the only stuff I bowl lather, but......

Just a thought.

It's very soft, but wouldn't quite call it a cream.

And Marko, I know you hate synthetic brushes, but that's all I use anymore and I haven't had any issues except maybe overloading (if that's possible!). Maybe next time I use it I'll break out the boar or badger and see if I have any trouble just to rule out the possibility of water being the culprit.

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.

Have you tried bowl lathering with it?  That might give you more "space" to play around until you find the right combination of soap and water.  I haven't used a cream in a long time, but I do have some TOBS Sandalwood that I use now and then.  I always bowl lather that stuff.  It's the only stuff I bowl lather, but......

Just a thought.

Thanks for the tip Floyd Eye , I haven't bowl lathered for a while but its definitely worth a try. I gave up bowl lathering in favour of face lathering a while ago because I thought that the ridges on my bowl were unnecessarily harsh on the bristles of my brushes although boars broke in quickly. I'll give it a try and see what I come up with. I'm also considering using hard water - I have a couple of faucets in the house that bypass the water softener so if I heat up some of that and give it a go we'll see if it makes a difference. Will did say that he was aiming at people with hard water with this soap. I'll post my results.
Thanks

Pretty close to the consistency of TOBS.

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.

Have you tried bowl lathering with it?  That might give you more "space" to play around until you find the right combination of soap and water.  I haven't used a cream in a long time, but I do have some TOBS Sandalwood that I use now and then.  I always bowl lather that stuff.  It's the only stuff I bowl lather, but......

Just a thought.

It's very soft, but wouldn't quite call it a cream.

And Marko, I know you hate synthetic brushes, but that's all I use anymore and I haven't had any issues except maybe overloading (if that's possible!). Maybe next time I use it I'll break out the boar or badger and see if I have any trouble just to rule out the possibility of water being the culprit.

Hate is a strong word, I prefer natural bristles for sure though. I do have a couple of synthetics so maybe I'll give those a try as well.