In India, this soap is repackaged and sold as Kent Shaving Soap. One thing to note though - lanolin will cause white goo all over your shaving gear. Not a deal breaker, as stearic acid leaves white residue too and we all have to clean our stuff. But keep in mine lanolin residue is actually sticky and hard to get off.
Great stuff. I honestly dont know why this stuff has a reputation for being hard to lather. I've used it with very hard water, with soft water, with a very soft silvertip brush, great results every time. Thanks for the video. Very informative for anybody thinking of trying a product!
I know why it has a reputation for being hard to lather. The first puck I tried was terrific and I too couldn’t understand why anyone would have a hard time creating a lather. The second puck I bought was terrible. No matter what technique I used the lather was thin and disappeared as soon as it hit my face. I finally threw it out and resolved not to buy it again. But since my daughter gave me a puck, I opened it and used it. It was terrific. The lather was cushiony , slick and produced a fantastic shave. I guess they must have put out some product that was just defective.
I like Mitchell's - still way easier to lather than Williams, that's for sure. If my skin is beat up over winter, this stuff soon sets it right. Great stuff.
You will love shaving with this soap. Unlike many other soaps (even top ones), this one actually does protect the face from the blade edge irregularities, and I would definitely say that it does it better by itself compared to other soaps combined with preshave oils.
This truly is some amazing soap! I am going to pair it with the HTGAM/Razorock pre-shave soap in my next ODS (Our Daily Shave) video and see how it does. Stay tuned!
Load it up using a damp brush (not wet) and a dry puck and spend a good minute or so doing that. It works like a charm starting off dry. I've been using it for the past 5 years.
For an ultimate close comfortable shave Mitchell's is a top quality shaving soap. Apply a good amount to your best brush then right to your face. Work it in for at least 8 minutes with some distilled water and you'll be surprised at how it softens and lifts the hair. The cushioning and slickness is amazing with a pleasantly mild fragrant smell. The lanolin definitely has a great moisturizing effect the leaves your face baby bottom smooth. Mitchell's is one of the best for sure.
I've slept in this stuff for years. Lasts long time and that lanolin is slick like a cream, the slickness is slightly better than Proraso cream which I love. I had my doubts but am a life long fan now. Scent reminds me of those unisex body powders from the 70's and 80's my dad had, a clean slightly soft perfume smell. Post shave feeling is great. I face lather with a synthetic, 20 second load. Avoid real soft top brushes or be prepared to just load longer. I have water leaning on soft on the PPM scale.
I've never tried any of the soap pucks, but definitely interested to try. I was curious how the puck is stored between shaves. Would it be something that you would just let dry and stay in the bowl, and re-soak before each shave? Maybe a video on the "post shave puck storage tips" would be good to see, if I haven't already overlooked it.
Thanks for the review Nick. I just ordered some MWF, Cella, RazoRock Bay Rum, and a Merkur 1906/1904 open comb. I'm super excited for the MWF and the open comb razor. I will let you know how it goes.
I always grate my MWF puck into a pyrex bowl. Grating makes it easy to load and turns the soap into a different animal. It becomes easy to lather, and you don't have to take any special steps to get a good lather. I highly recommend grating MWF.
As always, nice review! I would love to see a review of Haslinger Schafmilch soap- made with sheep's milk and lanolin. I've read great things about it on the forums, but have yet to find a video review. Would you be willing to work this into your list of reviews?
I found I could easily get a nice bowl lather with a pure badger and only a 10 to 15 second load time. I found that the techniques and water mixture is almost identical to proper technique Williams -- I finally figured out how to get a good lather with Williams that is moist, thick and long lasting but it took hours of playing around with it get the technique down. I let a thin layer of water sit for about ten minutes while my brush soaks and then pour it into my mixing bowl. You will probably need a little more than you would think you might need (much like Williams). It takes some practise but the effort is worth it. I would recommend using Williams as a cheap substittute while you are learning the technque. Also, I have found that using the right size mixing bowl really helps, it should be one that is large enough to do a full swirl but small enough to allow you to keep the lather close toghther during the mix. I use a 1 1/4 cup mixing bowl from Betty Crocker that works well with hard tallow soaps in my experience. One caveate, I do have soft city water here (55ppm) so those with harder water will likely need to work harder to get a good lather.
nick shaves I'm always interested to see how such different techniques often lead to very similar results depending on so many veriables in technique and environment. Just goes to show that lathering really is an art!
Did you ever try the Haslinger Soaps from Austria? They could be tricky to get in the US, but theiy're nice hard soaps and cheap, too. They come in various scents. Especially try the "Haslinger Schafsmilch", wich is a tallow based soap with Linolin and sheeps-milk. Very nice alternative to Mitchells Wool. It is a lot easier to lather up and does a great job!
I believe that all cosmetics sold in the EU have to have a shelf life assigned to them. It's similar to the way that bottled water has an expiration date on it. It doesn't really mean much. There might be some concern if you have a soap that comes from primarily unsaturated fatty acids, but I'm not very certain on the chemistry of soaps and saponification. To be more specific, I'm not certain what happens to the chains of fatty acids and whether or not they can go rancid once they become soap. Hope that helps.
Try this way please: DO NOT SOAK THE SOAP!! (it makes lanolin desolve into the water), load the previously soaked brush for no more then 30-40 seconds (just the usual loading), go to the bowl (any bowl will do, no need for fancy stuff) and start making lather while periodically adding a generous number of water drips. Lathering will take a few minutes, but the results will be just great. My only fuss about this soap is when I do a face lather. My arm feels soar after all that work :)
Hey Nick, this isn't a question about the soap but about the brush. Do you have any tips/advice for defunkification of a new brush? I just got a Might Midget and for that thing to be so small it packs a full barnyard in the scent department.
Jeremy - haha! Yeah, now boar brushes smell pretty bad. I do have a few recommendations though (first of all, check out my video on how to break in a new brush in my beginner series of videos). I wash it first with dish soap, then create a lather with the brush and let the lather dry in the brush over night. This seems to get the "funk" out (some funk for your listening pleasure! Carl Douglas - Kung fu fighting(original)
It took you almost 7 minutes in to the video to be happy with the lather. I am glad I saw this video as I now know for sure there is no point putting in so much effort into it when there are so many other better options available.
Mihir Govilkar I mean it always takes me a little bit get a good leather when I first get a new soap, once you figure it out it shouldn’t be hard. If you want really easy, try a Taylor of Old Bond Street cream
all i did was fill the sink , put my brush into the water , left it for about 30 seconds , opened the soap container ( i did not put the puck in water! it was bone dry ) - i got the ceramic version and just drained the excess water off my brush and began circular movements with the brush ... i used a mixed boar and badger brush , worked ok. Not sure why people have problems with it personally . Ok isn't as throffy as cream , but still does the job... smooth shave to be honest .
Good to know! I will watch out for it. I am planning on keeping my face really dry after I get a good lather - don't want to add in too much soap and ruin that lather
Hi Nick, great video, can I ask for some comparison feedback for MWF? I'm a new shaver and started with TOBS cedarwood. Should the lather be as creamy as TOBS? Mine seems slightly pasty and I slowly added water during the face lather but i think i missed the sweet spot. Also it seems to dry really fast on my face unlike TOBS which stays slick for ages. Any suggestions appreciated, thanks.
Hi Nick, i like this review, i also watched your review on TOBS sandalwood soap. Which out of the two do you think is slicker with a better cusion, im not concerned about the scent or how easy it is to lather. Your response would be very helpful as im tossing up betwen the two to add to my collection. Thanks in advance!
Hey there Nick... I'm just curious what is you're skin type? I mean I have sensitive skin! would this soap be okay for my sensitive skin? Or would you suggest something else? I would like to know you're personal opinion! I've tried a lot of different soaps & creams but I find a lot to have harsh Ingredients in them such as alcohol...
I can't use it because the smell really put me off I only used it three times before I threw it out, but with a boar brush it does make a great lather.
Tip for using MWF: DO NOT SOAK THE PUCK. Soaking will cause the lanolin to leach out of the soap, rendering it useless. I just had to toss out a puck of MWF because soaking it caused all the lanolin to pool up on the top of the puck and I was using cool water too.
I have little doubt that people that have to work harder to lather this or any soap live in dry climates. In my opinion water hardness has nothing to do with it. I live on the humid gulf coast and have very hard water. Mwf just explodes within seconds for me.
Yea. I had this one with holder and cream. Now i have also 11137 (same knot as in cheap ones, i think), 10048 and Semogue 1305. I will pick any Omega over Semogue any time.
To my opinion if you know how to lather Williams mug(modern) you'll know how to lather mitchell. I dont say williams is good as Mitchell's it's just the lathering technic is almost the same. Gino
Yeah... even if it eventually lathers up... I would rather have one that lathers easy... Then when you finally get a lather, it tends to dry up while your shaving.... I hate it.
Nice review as always Nick but for me it's a soap that's disguised like natural but it's not natural at all! It has Tetrasodium EDTA which is a preservative that’s made from the known carcinogen, formaldehyde and sodium cyanide.
Simon Goulding wow it's a pretty shit soap you obviously haven't used it because you would know it takes about 20 minutes to build a decent lather if you did
I tried Mitchell's Wool Fat for the first time today. Wow, the soap left my face so smooth and the soap is sooo slick. A quality product!
In India, this soap is repackaged and sold as Kent Shaving Soap.
One thing to note though - lanolin will cause white goo all over your shaving gear. Not a deal breaker, as stearic acid leaves white residue too and we all have to clean our stuff. But keep in mine lanolin residue is actually sticky and hard to get off.
What soaps would you recommend? Thanks
Great stuff. I honestly dont know why this stuff has a reputation for being hard to lather. I've used it with very hard water, with soft water, with a very soft silvertip brush, great results every time.
Thanks for the video. Very informative for anybody thinking of trying a product!
I know why it has a reputation for being hard to lather. The first puck I tried was terrific and I too couldn’t understand why anyone would have a hard time creating a lather. The second puck I bought was terrible. No matter what technique I used the lather was thin and disappeared as soon as it hit my face. I finally threw it out and resolved not to buy it again. But since my daughter gave me a puck, I opened it and used it. It was terrific. The lather was cushiony , slick and produced a fantastic shave. I guess they must have put out some product that was just defective.
I like Mitchell's - still way easier to lather than Williams, that's for sure. If my skin is beat up over winter, this stuff soon sets it right. Great stuff.
You will love shaving with this soap. Unlike many other soaps (even top ones), this one actually does protect the face from the blade edge irregularities, and I would definitely say that it does it better by itself compared to other soaps combined with preshave oils.
This truly is some amazing soap! I am going to pair it with the HTGAM/Razorock pre-shave soap in my next ODS (Our Daily Shave) video and see how it does. Stay tuned!
It's an awesome soap Nick, definitely has become my go to!
Load it up using a damp brush (not wet) and a dry puck and spend a good minute or so doing that. It works like a charm starting off dry. I've been using it for the past 5 years.
Top class old English product.
For an ultimate close comfortable shave Mitchell's is a top quality shaving soap. Apply a good amount to your best brush then right to your face. Work it in for at least 8 minutes with some distilled water and you'll be surprised at how it softens and lifts the hair. The cushioning and slickness is amazing with a pleasantly mild fragrant smell. The lanolin definitely has a great moisturizing effect the leaves your face baby bottom smooth. Mitchell's is one of the best for sure.
8 MINUTES?!? Maybe on a Saturday, I suppose...
I've slept in this stuff for years. Lasts long time and that lanolin is slick like a cream, the slickness is slightly better than Proraso cream which I love. I had my doubts but am a life long fan now. Scent reminds me of those unisex body powders from the 70's and 80's my dad had, a clean slightly soft perfume smell. Post shave feeling is great. I face lather with a synthetic, 20 second load. Avoid real soft top brushes or be prepared to just load longer. I have water leaning on soft on the PPM scale.
One of the first soaps I purchased when I started straight razor shaving hobby.
Nice! Do you like it?
I like it very much. MWF is my favorite soap besides Tabac.
Valdi b
That's because you haven't tried Henry Cavendish Luxury Lather!
I've never tried any of the soap pucks, but definitely interested to try. I was curious how the puck is stored between shaves. Would it be something that you would just let dry and stay in the bowl, and re-soak before each shave? Maybe a video on the "post shave puck storage tips" would be good to see, if I haven't already overlooked it.
Thanks for the review Nick. I just ordered some MWF, Cella, RazoRock Bay Rum, and a Merkur 1906/1904 open comb. I'm super excited for the MWF and the open comb razor. I will let you know how it goes.
Awesome! Sounds like a great setup!
I wonder if distilled water would help
Great video, I have been hesitant to get the Mitchells. I think I'll take the plunge.
I used to bowl lather Mitchell's but now I go straight to face with the loaded brush. Much easier.
I start out with a lot more water in my brush than you did here and get a perfect lather. MWF is one of my favorites.
Good to know! I need to experiment more with this soap to learn about its properties
I always grate my MWF puck into a pyrex bowl. Grating makes it easy to load and turns the soap into a different animal. It becomes easy to lather, and you don't have to take any special steps to get a good lather. I highly recommend grating MWF.
MWF - One of the greats ♥
If you use a badger brush, like I do, you don't spend as much time "lathering it up". Great video!
As always, nice review! I would love to see a review of Haslinger Schafmilch soap- made with sheep's milk and lanolin. I've read great things about it on the forums, but have yet to find a video review. Would you be willing to work this into your list of reviews?
Thanks! I have that soap on my "wish" list - I should have it here pretty soon
nick shaves Awesome! I will look forward to that review.
I found I could easily get a nice bowl lather with a pure badger and only a 10 to 15 second load time. I found that the techniques and water mixture is almost identical to proper technique Williams -- I finally figured out how to get a good lather with Williams that is moist, thick and long lasting but it took hours of playing around with it get the technique down.
I let a thin layer of water sit for about ten minutes while my brush soaks and then pour it into my mixing bowl. You will probably need a little more than you would think you might need (much like Williams). It takes some practise but the effort is worth it. I would recommend using Williams as a cheap substittute while you are learning the technque. Also, I have found that using the right size mixing bowl really helps, it should be one that is large enough to do a full swirl but small enough to allow you to keep the lather close toghther during the mix. I use a 1 1/4 cup mixing bowl from Betty Crocker that works well with hard tallow soaps in my experience.
One caveate, I do have soft city water here (55ppm) so those with harder water will likely need to work harder to get a good lather.
Thanks for the feedback! For me, I found that I need a lot of soap loaded into the brush - then slowly add water when I am making the lather
nick shaves
I'm always interested to see how such different techniques often lead to very similar results depending on so many veriables in technique and environment. Just goes to show that lathering really is an art!
Yup, It's the best of all shaving soaps. I always come back to Wool fat.
Easily my favourite of all time.
Its really some amazing stuff! A classic for a reason
Did you ever try the Haslinger Soaps from Austria?
They could be tricky to get in the US, but theiy're nice hard soaps and cheap, too. They come in various scents.
Especially try the "Haslinger Schafsmilch", wich is a tallow based soap with Linolin and sheeps-milk. Very nice alternative to Mitchells Wool. It is a lot easier to lather up and does a great job!
Nick... What does the 36M thing mean, next to the ingredientlist?
you can use that product for 36 months after you open it
I don't know...
Ahhh! Thanks
I believe that all cosmetics sold in the EU have to have a shelf life assigned to them. It's similar to the way that bottled water has an expiration date on it. It doesn't really mean much. There might be some concern if you have a soap that comes from primarily unsaturated fatty acids, but I'm not very certain on the chemistry of soaps and saponification. To be more specific, I'm not certain what happens to the chains of fatty acids and whether or not they can go rancid once they become soap. Hope that helps.
This is a EU standard to tell how long the product lasts and did you know that it is compliant with ISO 8601
Im from bradford but cannot find the post code if you know please tell me
Dr. Nick
Do you have soft or hard water? Nice review.
Hard water - downtown here its pretty bad water overall
Try this way please: DO NOT SOAK THE SOAP!! (it makes lanolin desolve into the water), load the previously soaked brush for no more then 30-40 seconds (just the usual loading), go to the bowl (any bowl will do, no need for fancy stuff) and start making lather while periodically adding a generous number of water drips.
Lathering will take a few minutes, but the results will be just great. My only fuss about this soap is when I do a face lather. My arm feels soar after all that work :)
Hey Nick, this isn't a question about the soap but about the brush. Do you have any tips/advice for defunkification of a new brush? I just got a Might Midget and for that thing to be so small it packs a full barnyard in the scent department.
Jeremy - haha! Yeah, now boar brushes smell pretty bad. I do have a few recommendations though (first of all, check out my video on how to break in a new brush in my beginner series of videos). I wash it first with dish soap, then create a lather with the brush and let the lather dry in the brush over night. This seems to get the "funk" out (some funk for your listening pleasure! Carl Douglas - Kung fu fighting(original)
It took you almost 7 minutes in to the video to be happy with the lather. I am glad I saw this video as I now know for sure there is no point putting in so much effort into it when there are so many other better options available.
Mihir Govilkar I mean it always takes me a little bit get a good leather when I first get a new soap, once you figure it out it shouldn’t be hard. If you want really easy, try a Taylor of Old Bond Street cream
all i did was fill the sink , put my brush into the water , left it for about 30 seconds , opened the soap container ( i did not put the puck in water! it was bone dry ) - i got the ceramic version and just drained the excess water off my brush and began circular movements with the brush ... i used a mixed boar and badger brush , worked ok. Not sure why people have problems with it personally . Ok isn't as throffy as cream , but still does the job... smooth shave to be honest .
Soap always seems to explode into lather the moment it touch's my facial hair.
Always disappointed on the second pass never as thick as the first lol.
Good to know! I will watch out for it. I am planning on keeping my face really dry after I get a good lather - don't want to add in too much soap and ruin that lather
Hi Nick, great video, can I ask for some comparison feedback for MWF? I'm a new shaver and started with TOBS cedarwood. Should the lather be as creamy as TOBS? Mine seems slightly pasty and I slowly added water during the face lather but i think i missed the sweet spot. Also it seems to dry really fast on my face unlike TOBS which stays slick for ages. Any suggestions appreciated, thanks.
Great!
Hi Nick, i like this review, i also watched your review on TOBS sandalwood soap. Which out of the two do you think is slicker with a better cusion, im not concerned about the scent or how easy it is to lather. Your response would be very helpful as im tossing up betwen the two to add to my collection. Thanks in advance!
Hey there Nick... I'm just curious what is you're skin type? I mean I have sensitive skin! would this soap be okay for my sensitive skin? Or would you suggest something else? I would like to know you're personal opinion! I've tried a lot of different soaps & creams but I find a lot to have harsh Ingredients in them such as alcohol...
A puck is around $15 on Amazon. Pretty expensive.
I can't use it because the smell really put me off I only used it three times before I threw it out, but with a boar brush it does make a great lather.
Yeah, it definitely has a classic "soap" scent - which isn't my favorite either
Great review man ! Loving the authentic face lather just sayin! Kinda weird looking at your hands all the time lol
Tip for using MWF: DO NOT SOAK THE PUCK. Soaking will cause the lanolin to leach out of the soap, rendering it useless. I just had to toss out a puck of MWF because soaking it caused all the lanolin to pool up on the top of the puck and I was using cool water too.
I have little doubt that people that have to work harder to lather this or any soap live in dry climates. In my opinion water hardness has nothing to do with it. I live on the humid gulf coast and have very hard water. Mwf just explodes within seconds for me.
I tried this wish it didn't make my skin blotchy I think it was cause of the lanolin
I have heard that the lanolin can irritate a lot of people! I hope that it doesn't happen to me
I love this Omega's brushes. :)
This is a great Omega brush - and it very cheap, only 8 dollars
Yea. I had this one with holder and cream. Now i have also 11137 (same knot as in cheap ones, i think), 10048 and Semogue 1305. I will pick any Omega over Semogue any time.
To my opinion if you know how to lather Williams mug(modern) you'll know how to lather mitchell. I dont say williams is good as Mitchell's it's just the lathering technic is almost the same. Gino
Ah the Fat. This was the first soap that I bought. Nothing makes my face feel smoother post shave.
I agree! The post-shave is just incredible
Yeah... even if it eventually lathers up... I would rather have one that lathers easy... Then when you finally get a lather, it tends to dry up while your shaving.... I hate it.
been around forever? no, just since 1893 ;)
Thats true, I guess relatively..
nick shaves been around for longer then anyone alive on this planet. Forever enough.
I'm getting ready to shave with the "Fat" for the first time in a few minutes.
Good luck! I used it for the first time yesterday
Jack Rockwell How was it?!
Nice review as always Nick but for me it's a soap that's disguised like natural but it's not natural at all! It has Tetrasodium EDTA which is a preservative that’s made from the known carcinogen, formaldehyde and sodium cyanide.
akis hd I
This crap is way too finnicky and touchy and expensive to bother with when Tabac exists.
Not a good soap, too watery the stuff fades on your face
I hated this soap way to much effort to lather
can i get the Tyler Bramlett's program online and where?
i think the link is broken or something on his website
Wow......effort to lather?........You really shouldn't be shaving.
Simon Goulding yea pretty much lol. Some slick stuff.
Simon Goulding wow it's a pretty shit soap you obviously haven't used it because you would know it takes about 20 minutes to build a decent lather if you did