What soap/cream did you use today?

Earth of Mankind (Oaken Lab) chocolate oud
Shave 1 ・ 115 g left

Chocolate, cloves, tobacco, oud, ... and fish food? Didn’t see that last part coming. This is really an unusual scent full of quirky twists and abrupt corners. But it presses all my buttons, and I have to admit I like it a lot. Warm, exotic, and a little dirty, it takes me places I’ve never been before. The fragrance, crafted by an ex-pat American living in Jakarta, is supposed to summon up images of colonial Java. Is it historical? I don't know. But it is undoubtedly bold and interesting. If you like Tallow + Steel’s Maya, you’ll probably get a kick out of Earth of Mankind too. But bear in mind that Earth of Mankind is far drier, and it doesn’t have any citrus.

So that’s the good part. But what about the performance? Well, my first outing with this soap base was disappointing. I’d read that Oaken Lab gave up a thick, slick lather that rivaled some of the best tallow soaps. I loaded long, but even after 120 swirls my brush was barely filled. The lather came out airy and thin (but at least it was very slick!). I’ll have to keep tinkering with this soap until I get a decent emulsion. Any tips are appreciated.

The name of the soap is taken from the book This Earth of Mankind, a semi-fictional account of an Indonesian scholar caught up in the social and political intricacies of colonial rule. The book is remarkable for its detail, which transports readers to late nineteenth-century Java. It's easy to see why Oaken Lab turned to it for inspiration.
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Razor 1984 Gillette Super Speed ・ Blade Gillette Platinum ・ Brush Amber Aerolite ・ Cologne Lutens Borneo 1834 ・ Hoard 17,229 g (⇣20,619 g)

Head Shave

Blackbird Ti
Grizzly Bay “Wander” V17
PAA Blue Samhain

Thursday November 17, 2022
Razor: Gibbs Adjustable
Blade: Wizamet
Brush: Lutin/Badger
Soap: Ethos Succès
AS 1: Thayers Witch Hazel
AS 2: Ethos Succès SFS
Fragrance: Ethos Succès EDP
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,472

I’m a fan of Stirling soaps.  Performance is excellent and at almost 6 oz per tub, value is exceptional.  Stirling is like a kid I grew up with named Mike.  On the baseball team you could put Mike anywhere and he contributed.  Every position on the club, we had someone who could do it better, but Mike could do it all pretty well. Good, not great, hitter.  Great, not exceptional infielder.  A most decent outfielder with fast enough wheels, strong enough arm, and good enough read, to be dangerous. he wasn’t Marty Humphries good, but boy was he dependable.  Mike could pitch, catch, field, run, think, and be willing, and if a coach had a whole team of Mikes he didn’t need a whole team of rock stars to win.  Yep, Stirling and Mike have a lot in common.  There was one thing Mike could do that none of the rest of us could though.  Mike could run forever.  He was a miler on the track team and not only was he excellent, nobody, not once, ever beat Mike in a mile in high school.  EVER.  He often beat the pack by 200 yards.  He posted times that would win some D1 track meets.  Determined and special, Mike went to college on a scholarship. I’ve often wondered if that university ever learned all the things Mike could do?  Well, Mike ain’t soap so I best get back to it.  Christmas Eve performs well and it smells good but it’s not the best holiday scent I have.  B&M Dickens takes that honor but it cost me twice as much too.  Ah Stirling.  The pine scent in it is a bit too “air freshener”.    The Vanilla and spice pretty much takes the edge off that through and what I’m left with is a scent that for a soap most certainly speaks Christmas.  I’m glad you are around Stirling Christmas Eve.

Soap Commander / Honor

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I’m a fan of Stirling soaps.  Performance is excellent and at almost 6 oz per tub, value is exceptional.  Stirling is like a kid I grew up with kid named Mike.  On the baseball team you could put Mike anywhere and he contributed.  Every position on the club we had someone who could do it better but Mike could do it all.  Good, not great, hitter.  Great, not exceptional infielder.  A most decent outfielder with fast enough wheels, strong enough arm, and good enough read to be dangerous but he wasn’t Marty Humphries good but boy was he dependable.  Mike could pitch, catch, field, run, think, and be willing, and if a coach had a whole team of Mikes he didn’t need a whole team of rock stars to win.  Yep, Stirling and Mike have a lot in common.  There was one thing Mike could do that none of the rest of us could though.  Mike could run forever.  He was a miler on the track team and not only was he excellent, nobody, not once, ever beat Mike in a mile in high school.  EVER.  He often beat the pack by 200 yards.  He posted times that would win some D1 track meets.  Determined and special, Mike went to college on a scholarship. I’ve often wondered if that university ever learned all the things Mike could do?  Well, Mike ain’t soap so I best get back to it.  Christmas Eve performs well and it smells good but it’s not the best holiday scent I have.  B&M Dickens takes that honor but it cost me twice as much too.  Ah Stirling.  The pine scent in it is a bit too “air freshener”.    The Vanilla and spice pretty much takes the edge off that through and what I’m left with is a scent that for a soap most certainly speaks Christmas.  I’m glad you are around Stirling Christmas Eve.

That's a fantastic analogy and oh so true!

After reading Bouki's post last night, I decided to use Oaken Lab today.  Generally, I get really good lathers with Oaken and was a bit surprised to read the description "thin and airy."  Granted, the variables won't be the same as I'm sure our water is different.  But here's what I did this morning:

1.  Bloomed the soap with hot water for about 2 minutes
2.  Loaded with a synthetic knot and loaded for about 30 seconds (btw, this was way too much...the knot was full of lather and there was a good amount of proto-lather in the tub)
3.  Face-lathered for about 6 minutes, maybe 6.5
4.  I would dip anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 of the knot every 30 seconds or so
5.  Face-painted for the 1st two minutes
6.  Alternated between face-painting and swirling for the remainder of the lathering
7.  I did more swirling than I typically would do but that's because I had so much loaded

Performance was really top-notch - great cushion - and the slickness was definitely there.  After rinsing after the 1st pass, I could feel a thin layer of soap and may have been able to do a few cleanup passes without reapplying. 

Hope this helps Bouki and if it was one of my posts that pushed you over the edge to buy it, I do apologize