Lathering Saponificio Varesino

Gents,

I recently tried SV, and the fragrance and performance was amazing! Now I have three pucks that I will be working my way through over time. At any rate, my first attempt at lathering the puck produce a good lather, but I was not happy with it, and knew that I did not maximize its performance.

So I went on their website and found these instruction

Saponificio Varesino’s formulations contain active ingredients that, in order to five the best perfomance, need to solubilize and/or melt. The maximum performance can be obtained in this way: cover the soap surface with a thin veil of hot water for few minutes. Soak a badger shaving brush, rinse it well and then pour the thin veil of water that bloomed the soap on the brush, and then start loading (20-30 seconds), face or bowl lather without adding water.

I poured very hot water onto the puck, let it sit there for five minutes while I had my brush soaking in a tea cup. I shook out all of the water I could from the brush, poured the hot bloom water into a bowl, and loaded on the puck for 60 seconds.

Then I took the brush, and started swirling it around my lather bowl into paste. Once pastey, I dipped the tips of the brush in the bloom water, and shook it out. Then I went back to making the lather in the bowl, when it needed more water I simply dipped the tips, in the bloom water, shook it out, and then went back to lathering. I did this until I had the consistency I wanted, and I was very pleased with the results.  

I just figured I would share this technique for folks trying SV for the first time in case it helps.

Vr

Matt

SV is one of the best soaps around and felce smells amazing!

I LOVE Felce and remain bummed I no longer have the green aluminum container. I have had a refill puck for months and will get it into rotation again soon in a PETG jar from Maggards that I have stored somewhere.

I wish a circular label was easily obtainable for the lid. I'll have to settle for my choppy, hand-cut circle from the box to glue to the lid.

Yes Sir...the Felce is an amazing scent!  I am using it for my next shave, then Colonia, and the  Dolomiti after that!  I will post some lather photos/updates, because I find this soap interesting and high quality!

Have a great weekend!

Vr 

Matt

I can see it coming as a publication in the future: Matt's compendium of lathering techniques for all the favorite soaps.

I used SV Felce Aromatica again today, and achieved even better results!

Beautiful shave! I also used a vintage Wilkinson blade that was out of a 1981 box of 200 of them. It was on its second use, and just sublime!

I hope that everyone is having a nice Easter!

Vr

Matt

Thanks for creating this thread, Ols67. Though in recent times I’ve added some Saponificio Varesino soaps into my rotation, I’m still trying to figure out the best way to use them. I don’t know that one can really go wrong with Saponificio Varesino any which way, but I’d definitely like to optimize its performance.

The “challenges” these particular soaps present to me are:
• Saponificio Varesino “likes” warm water – I’m mainly a cold/tepid water shaver.
• These are hard, triple-milled soaps, whereas I’m used to extracting some croap or cream from its container and loading it from a separate bowl.

I’d be very interested in hearing how others SV users use these great soaps. I’ve heard that some people will just rub the whole puck directly on the skin, as if it were a shaving stick. Saponificio Varesino also sells various types of containers (marble, resin, wood) for their soaps. If anyone stores their SV soap in those, what is your preferred method of actually using the soap?

Saponificio Varesino is one of my favorite shaving soap makers. Their soaps smell great, they last forever, and they make a thick, unctuous lather almost effortlessly, provided I remember to bloom the puck with "a thin veil of water," as Saponificio Varesino recommends. Does the water have to be hot? I don't think so. I use regular tap water. It's warm (about 100°F) but certainly not scalding. I bloom the puck while I'm showering. By the time I get around to lathering, the bloom water is room temperature. I should also mention that my water is very soft.

I've used all sorts of brushes – badger, boar, synthetic – all work fine. I think I prefer the synthetics, though. The lather seems to come out a little smoother and richer. 

I've never tried to shave off some soap from the puck and spread it in a lather bowl. I think this approach would work best with beta 4.3 soaps, which are considerably softer than earlier betas. I've also never rubbed a puck on my face. Sounds like fun. Might have to try that tomorrow.

Saponificio Varesino sells some of their soaps in aluminium tins. They look lovely and work well. Other soaps, though, are simply boxed pucks. These I mash into wooden dipping bowls that I pick up at a local market. When not in use, these bowls rest upside down on my soap shelf. This keeps the scent in the soap. 

Saponificio Varesino finishes sort of heavy on me. I really love using these soaps when I'm in a bone-dry climate. But even here on this soggy beach, they go down well. 

Hope this helps, Matt!

Bouki, thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences! Very helpful.

Gents,

Today I scraped some off of a NOS puck of Dolomiti, and pressed it into the bottom of my shave bowl.  I bloomed it with hot water from the tap, and lathered normally.  When I needed more water, I simply dipped the brush into the bloom water, and shook it out.  It worked like a charm, and I really had a very nice shave.

The Dolomiti fragrance is FANTASTIC!

Vr 

Matt