Slightly Updated Instructions for Use of Grandad's Shave Soap for Sensitive Skin

Puck Consistency & Wrapping
It is a soft soap, having the malleable consistency of modeling clay. It is white, and the sample comes flattened into a small pancake of soap (about 1/4-inch thick for shipping in an envelope rather than a box to keep packaging cost down), and the pancake is wrapped in a simple rectangle of wax paper.

To remove the soap from the wrapping paper, simply slide a butter knife between the soap and the paper. The tacky soap can be rolled into a ball and pressed into your favorite mug or bowl.

The is the unwrapped soap pancake, which can be separated
from the wax paper with a butter knife. Again, the razor and
nickel aren't included; they're just to show sample size.

Lathering the Soap
When the puck is new or if you never re-use clean lather, the following steps should work:

1. Wet your brush. (The soap likes water, so it isn't necessary to shake much or any water out, but this will depend on your brush and your water. If you prefer to face lather, to keep the mess to a minimum, it may be best if you give the brush a shake or two, and then as you lather, if it is too pasty, you can always add water.)
2. Swirl the wet brush on the soap cake for 20 to 30 seconds: one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi, etc. The exact duration depends on many factors, but 20 seconds is a good starting estimate.  The time to load sufficient soap on your brush will also vary by the size of the soap cake/puck. As the supply in your mug/cup diminishes, it may take longer to load sufficient soap onto your brush. (If you decide to save, dry, and re-use clean lather, you can reduce the swirl time for subsequent shaves.)
3. Whip into a lather for about 30 to 60 seconds. I find this works best in a larger (5" diameter) lathering bowl, but also works well face lathering. (As I said in step 1 above, if you face lather, it may be better to shake a bit more water out of your brush initially, and add water appropriately as you make lather.) Make sure you have added sufficient water, which this soap accepts readily. The lather will be rich, smooth, and creamy. Remember, because of the superfatting, the lather is not stiff, but creamy.

A morning's clean, left-over lather to be dried
and re-used for tomorrow's shave.

Using the Lather

The soap works well for me using cool water for the entire shave: in my brush for lathering, on my face as shave prep as well as for between-pass rinses. If you like warm or hot water, great! Remember, this lather is creamy and soft, not dry and stiff, so if you're getting rich, creamy lather, that's how it should be. If the lather is thin and frothy, load more soap onto your brush. If the lather is pasty, add more water (remember, this soap likes water). When I apply the lather to my face, I usually finish by painting with my shave brush for a thin, even, semi-opaque layer.

For more information on the soap including how to get a sample, click here. For information on how to obtain a normal-sized quantity (four onces or about 113 grams) of the soap, email me now, or hang on and I'll post an article about that in the near future.

Happy shaving!