Review (5/5): Love The Fat
Mitchell’s Wool Fat has a reputation of being finicky about the right amount of water. It took me a while to figure it out, but with some tips from the Mitchell’s company, I have come up with this process.
1. When you receive your puck and are ready to put it to use, place it in a container slightly larger than the puck and cover it with water. The Mitchell’s Crock is the perfect size for this.
2. Check the puck every day and top off the water if necessary. When the puck expands to fill the container from side to side, drain the water and leave only enough on the surface to keep it from drying out.
3. Soak your brush in warm, not hot water while you take a shower.
4. Remove the brush from the water and squeeze our the excess. You want the brush wet, but not dripping water.
5. Drain the bloom water off the puck into your lather bowl. If you face lather, use it to wet down your face.
6. Swirl the brush over the top of the soap for about 30 seconds. Add another 30 seconds if you have hard water.
7. If you bowl lather, swirl the brush in the bowl until the bloom water is incorporated into the soap. Add a few drops of water and continue to swirl. Repeat this process until you have the later you desire. Even with too much water, The Fat will provide a slick layer on your face. With the right amount of water, you will get thick rich lather. If you start to get large bubbles in your lather that don’t disappear, then you’ve got too much water. You can fix this by loading more soap from the puck.
7B If you face lather, go from the puck to your face and build the lather by brushing in circular motions on your face. Dip the tips of the brush in warm water to add more water until you have the lather you desire.
8. Shave and enjoy the slickness that only The Fat can provide.
9. Rinse between passes with cold water and again after your final pass.
10. When you are done, apply your alum block to your freshly shaved face, then after about a minute, milk the remaining soap from your brush and use it to clean the alum from your face. Rinse in cold water and perform the rest of your shave routine.
If you decide to purchase a puck of The Fat and put in the time to learn how to lather it, you won’t want to use any other soap. The only thing missing from the fat is a perfume scent. The Fat smells like clean fresh linen. That’s why I only gave it three stars for the scent. I love the smell, but most of you are looking for some artificial flower smell...you won’t find that in The Fat.