Experiment #4 with hard water and Mystic Water soap

Ok, I hit the MW (Marrakesh) again today with the 830 boar and am reporting back the results. Good news and bad news.

First the good: was able to generate enuf lather for multiple passes. So, there is no issue with a really floppy 830 boar.

Now the bad: lather still dissipates on my face (literally disappears & dries before I can complete a single pass, right before my eyes). Also, the amount of time it took me to generate that lather would relegate this to a weekend only soap as I just dont have time to mess with a soap that long during the work week. I did my best to follow the Merkur Man method faithfully. I can confirm that this soap can handle an ungodly amount of water. Once I managed 3 passes by repeatedly painting new lather on my face in mid-pass (which is ok, but there is no cushion & I nicked myself twice trying to race against the disappearing lather), I just started adding more and more water to see if that did anything and to try and find the lather break point. Well, more water didn't help with the disappearing lather phenomena, but I was never able to actually break the lather by over watering either. I finally just gave up trying - it's really thirsty, no joke.

At this point, I am frustrated. I really want to have this soap in my rotation. But after over a year of wet shaving & using probably 30 or more soaps and creams, I have NEVER encountered a persistent soap failure on this level. I am about at the point where I just want to add a dab of Prorasso Green to it each time and call it a day (which I almost did today).

If you have some more suggestions, I am all ears.

Skype tutorial?

Ok, I'll bite - when? I am in the US on central standard time (daylight savings time is about 3 weeks away).

Celestino - good news: I solved the MW lathering puzzle, at least on the badger brush. Been doing a lot of reading on multiple forums about the lathering issues some people have had. One thing that caught my eye was someone mentioned that MW protolather tends to want to ride up from the tips deep into the knot. This tendency is exacerbated if one really splays the knot out in a bowl while trying to build the lather. I believe I then compounded this tendency by only sweeping the tips of the brush under the drizzling water in trying to execute the Merkur Man method. So, this time, first off, I bloomed the sample half puck of Irish Traveller while I showered. This time I also did not quite wring the brush out totally - left just a little bit of water water; previously I was really wringing it out. Next, I held the bursh near the tips rather than the handle while generating the protolather in the bowl. I was able to quickly saturate the tips with way more protolather than previously. It hens started swiping more of the brush under the drizzling water as necessary while building up the lather. I could see right away that this was a very different, more yoghurty lather than I had before. I took care not to splay the brush too much in the bowls and alternated swirling with brushing motion. Then as the lather started saturating the entire brush, I swept it under the water near the base and the lather then exploded. I had enuf lather for at least 5 passes easy and had zero issues with drying lather. Had a 3 pass DFS, with no nicks, cuts or burns. I am very pleased. Now looking forward to transferring what I learned to the 830 boar in the next few days.

Here is a quick pic I took just as the lather was starting to build (after this I hit it with a little water at the knot base & it exploded into yoghurt-like consistency as I worked it more):



Thanks for giving me hope that I could eventually figure it out - took me 4 lather attempts in all.

Nice lather LegalEagle1!

Just used my newly aquired MW Marrakesh for tonight's shave. I was lucky enough to get a great lather on my first go round despite my crazy hard water. Mostly thanks to tips in this thread.

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This thread makes me want to use Mystic Water shaving soap soon. I've had some inconsistent results with this soap. Some outstanding, incredible lathers. Some, not so much. I need to try some of the pointers from this thread to see if I can develop some consistency.

Blade4vor if there is ever any improvement you will be able to make with this soap, the Merkur Man method along with Celestino's advice will be the starting point. Listen to them and you'll see some significant advances in the quality of your lather.

Dale LegalEagle1 , congratulations, my friend!  


Dave drjenkins , congratulations on the first attemp!  


Rob Blade4vor , let me know if you need any help. We can Skype if you want a demonstration.  

Blade4vor if there is ever any improvement you will be able to make with this soap, the Merkur Man method along with Celestino's advice will be the starting point. Listen to them and you'll see some significant advances in the quality of your lather.

Rob Blade4vor , let me know if you need any help. We can Skype if you want a demonstration.  

Thanks, NeoXerxes  and celestino!  You gotta love the outpouring of offers for assistance around here.  DFS is awesome!

Like I said, it's actually been hit or miss for me.  The times the lather has hit right on the money, MAN, it's hard to beat!  I think I do better with MW when I use it in a stick, but I also like options.  I was thinking all of the problems were due to my seemingly very hard water, but I'm fairly confident that I can get it dialed in with what I've read in this thread.  I'll post back here with the results after a few more tries.

I also have to share this thread with a friend.  He mentioned that he has the mysterious disappearing lather problem with MW.

Blade4vor it was the same way for me. The method improvements helped some, but a good portion of the time my lather would simply be unstable, lacking slickness, and would dissipate mid-shave. Acquiring a water softener solved the problem permanently (I noticed a HUGE difference - I can't stress this enough), but you might have better luck than I did with alterations to your technique.