First try of Mitchell's Wool Fat
Brush: TSW 452 24mm synthetic
Soap: MWF
Razor: Rockwell 6c (3)
Blade: PolSilver Super Iridium
Post-shave: Alum, B&M Reserve: Classic
Well, I shaved yesterday afternoon for a New Year's Day catch-up with family.
Everyone in this thread, seemed to have started the year with some MWF and it seems to be on just about everyone's "top products" list.
So, I decided this was a good time to try the unopened puck I had in my drawer.
The Lather
My last couple of shaves were with GFT (f-ck them) Limes... Terrible terrible product. It sliced me to bits with it's non-existent lather.
Fortunately, a suitable proto-lather soon formed off the fresh MWF puck with the TSW synthetic.
I transferred this to my lather bowl and proceeded to add a little water. I managed to generate an acceptable lather. Not great like some of the other's I'm used to (APR, B&M, WhollyKaw). But it could just be my inexperience with hard pucks.
At this point it's probably worth mentioning that I really had to punish the TSW brush. This is a very soft brush and lacks significant backbone which might have helped with a hard puck.
Next time I think I'll use my St. James of London synth and see if I get a better result - This bush is too scratchy for face lathering. But, might be just the ticket for a hard puck and face-painting.
Does anyone have any success with MWF and a Yaqi?
Do Yaqi's have more backbone than a TSW?
The Shave
For the first pass I was thinking "This stuffs good. But I don't really see any distinguishing qualities". Also, the scent is very - "soapy".
I finished my pass and rinsed. That's when the differences appeared. This soap has significant residual slickness... Even after a rinse. Quite impressive.
I finished 2.5 passes and got a very easy, smooth and close result.
The Post
This is where I started having problems.
I generally leave a lather on my face for a few minutes before a final rinse in order to get any post-shave benefits. Not all soaps benefit from this. And indeed, if I'm going to get an allergic reaction to something, it'll be now. I noticed a slight stinging and redness in my cheeks.
I did my final (cold) rinse. Everything definitely felt soft. But I was also quite red.
With a certain fear I proceeded to use my Alum block... Stinging... So much stinging... Owww...
Once that had dried I applied my B&M Reserve splash... This is normally quite a pleasant experience. But not this time - Dear Mother of Tallow that stung!!! Definitely one of those "that was a mistake" moments.
Verdict
When I turned up to my function, all anyone could talk about for the first ten minutes was "what's wrong with your face? Are you ok? Have you had an allergic reaction to something?". One of those awkward situations where they just wouldn't let it go without my entire history. Coupled with the brutal bluntness that only family can provide... sigh. Eventually the redness went down somewhat (2+ hours). But, the emotional damage was done.
So, do I think it's a failure? No. I noticed enough good qualities that I feel I need to take all recent events into consideration... Namely my recent GFT (f-ck them) debacle.
It had only been a few days since that terrible experience and I think most of my issues this time can be attributed to not having yet recovered from that.
I think I will wait a few more days before giving it another shot.
TL;DR My face hasn't recovered from my recent GFT (f-ck them) experience. Therefore, no shave was ever going to go well. I'll try again once my skin has recovered a little more.
