grim thank you for pointing that out, the free shipping threshold was 100 now it's 150.
Regarding the refills, I will do them sooner or later, but I don't think the refills would cost much less than the whole thing, since the cost of a artisan soap is mostly due to the making, not the ingredients or the containers. Actually in this case the refills would require more work for me, for the paper wrapping which is not needed with the containers...
@Mickey Oberman I've explained that elsewhere and it requires both expertise and will power
I'm not sure if it works well for straight razors, but with safety razors is an excellent technique and I do that everyday.
I think that bowl lathering has a problem: you have some water trapped in the brush hair, some more water in the bowl to allow the lather to whip up, and presumably more water on your face. That's too much water! I believe that there's not much difference in performance between soaps when they are overhydrated, their qualities are wishy-washy, just like if you add water to a good wine. Water is a sort of quality-leveling in that respect. People often try to replicate the same fluffy foam you get from canned goo, but that's all air! You can see many pictures on the net of semi-transparent, bubbly, thin "lathers". Do we really need that slickness? I don't think so, slickness is no good for a wet shaver!
So here's the thing, try it if you want and let me know your impressions.
The brush's hair should be all well hydrated, but then try removing
all the excess water from it. The soap should be dry if it's soft, just slightly wet on the surface if it's a hard soap (add water and then turn the container upside down to let it drain). Load the brush very well, the tips should be all covered with soap. The downside of this method is that it's a soap killer. Wet your face: that's the only amount of water you'll need, so use it all. You have to resist to the temptation of adding more water, it's going to be super thick, like paint, and that's good! The razor will stick to your face, and that is the good part, just try to do long passes without ever rinsing the razor. If the razor doesn't jump it will cut the hair and not irritate your skin. Test: if you can finish an entire pass without ever rinsing the razor and with all the lather still on, you've been good! Before the second pass, rinse your face again, because you will need a thinner lather if you go against the grain. For the third pass I don't rinse to avoid adding more water to the mix.
That's it. It's not a lather, it's a thick unlathered soap layer, that will quickly reduce your soap stocks to last half the expected time (which means only 500 years)
stroppinglad I'm from Rome
do you speak Italian?