Who's afraid of Virginia Woolfat?

pjgh said:
I've had a detailed look at the ingredient lists of the soaps that I own and found that the new MWF looks very close to T&H Sandalwood (latest offering) which I enjoy very much indeed and that soap came as quite a surprise, given poor reputation from some years ago!

This bodes well ...

MWF
Sodium Palmate, Potassium Palmate, Aqua, Potassium Stearate, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Palm Kernel Acid, Parfum, Sodium Chloride, Lanolin, Titanium Dioxide, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Pentesodium Pentetate, Sodium Gluconate, Tetrasodium EDTA & Limonene

T&H Sandalwood
Sodium palmate, Potassium palmate, Aqua, Potassium stearate, Potassium palm kernelate, Sodium cocoate, Glycerin, Sodium stearate, Sodium palm kernelate, Parfum, Palm kernel acid, Titanium dioxide, Sodium chloride, Tetrasodium etidronate, Potassium pentetate, Sodium gluconate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Citronellol, Coumarin

Not to put myself in direct opposition to @PLANofMAN for sake of an argument, quite the contrary; for me, I tend to prefer soaps that leave me with a taut feeling. What I like about MWF is an almost unique behaviour whereby I get that but without dryness, something I ascribe to the lanolin, and I say that because I get similar from LEA stick and the Wilkinson Sword stick. In some respects I'm rather hoping for that extra dryness.

I particularly like vintage soap, especially Boots and Culmak, and what I don't know is the ingredient set because they're from a time when ingredient listing was not mandatory. I have an ingredient list for an older Culmak (not current formulation) that I picked up from a forum and it bears a lot of similarity with Edwin Jagger & Muhle ... and this new MWF formulation.

Again, this bodes well ... I hope.

On the flip, MWF has just become "yet another much of a muchness (crap shoot?) British hard soap of the same formulation as everyone else" ... but with lanolin? Of course it won't be the MWF that we know, but it will still be MWF. Personally, I'm really looking forward to trying it out.

... or, it might just be another Trumpers-style fail and forever be known as the King that lost his crown.
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No argument from me. I agree with everything you said. I get that "taut" feeling from (old formula) MWF too, but it still leaves my skin feeling soft and moisturized.

Edit: except the "looking forward to trying it out," part. I'd just as soon put that off for a few more years.
 
Back on track with Mitchell's-watch!

MWF 8287 [purchased Summer 2020] - Dud ... absolutely incapable of a stable lather @pjgh (purchased by @NatJag)
MWF 8345 [purchased October 2020] - Good < confirmed by @jimmyc
Kent 8419 [purchased September 2020] - Good < confirmed by @NatJag
Kent 8923 [purchased December 2022 & January 2023] - Dudder than a dud thing from Dudville < confirmed by @Gairdner
MWF 9027 [purchased September 2022] - Dud. It's okay, but not up to usual standard @pjgh (purchased by @exists)
Kent 9029 [purchaed December 2022] - Good < confirmed by @donnie_darko @exists
Kent 9139 [purchased November 2022] - Good < confirmed by @NeilJ
MWF 9139 [purchased February 2023 - Shaving Shack] - Good < confirmed by @Blademonkey
MWF 9223 [purchased February 2023 - Executive Shaving Company via Amazon] - Good < confirmed by @mfurie2540
MWF 9223 [purchased February 2023 - English Shaving Company via Amazon] - Good < confirmed by @Zorro

MWF Veg 9265 [purchased May 2023 - Connaught Shaving] - Good < confirmed by @pjgh
 
Fresh puck of the mighty Mitch (well, mighty is maybe premature?) from the good folks at Connaught and yes, it's the veg formula ...

I couldn't resist a test lather and play about with the suds. While it's not a proper shave, I did get a good feel for the soap and can confirm it ain't a dud, not by a long stretch. I did my usual ten swirls in either direction and felt it did want a bit more, so another ten in both directions and a few more for good measure - that's pretty much how I'd load from L'Occitane or DR Harris or Cyril R Salter or Truefitt & Hill. No drama.

Wet face, rest ... wet face and wipe off the most of the water. Face lather. I am very happy to say that this new formula pulls up that recognisable Mitchell's yogurt-thick and so readily overpaintable lather. I let it sit for a few minutes to ensure that it didn't just disappear. Then had some more fun, just overpainting and overpainting and lathering a up little more, little thicker. Wiped off as a virtual shave and re-lathered. Same again. Wiped off and re-lathered for a third play (remember, I'm a single pass shaver, two at most) ... and on this play, I kept adding water until it became too thin and weak to function.

I have a really good appreciation of how it plays - it's not as water-sensitive and it does pull up a really good lather, certainly in-line with any of those names I mentioned above. It is different to tallow MWF, of course it is. Had I not known about the formula change, any difference I would have likely just chalked up to new puck behaviour, shrugged and moved on. Difference is less noticeable than the tallow/veg Tabac reformulation ... to me, anyway.

Post-shave? Well, I didn't shave, but it's been about 30 minutes since I had a play in the bathroom and my face does feel to have that Mitchell's feeling. Initially, it was taut but not quite as dry as tallow MWF leaves me after a shave. That said, I usually splash a good, strong alcoholic splash after my shaves. Half an hour on and my face feels more taut, I'd say. Probably indeed dryer. Folks who balm or splash with a propyl glycol aftershave will probably not notice this.

I will need a number of back-to-back shaves to compare the tallow to the new. In preparation, I've just popped a fresh puck of tallow into my ceramic dish and have this veg formula in another dish. I have just one tallow puck left in reserve now. Should I panic buy? Huh! This stuff will be coming out of the woodwork for months and then in years time it'll be the dribble through to the vintage market - even now you can still get fully sealed Old Spice, for example, and the kinda places I've seen MWF for sale out and about are those little craft and tat shops where people buy "nice things" for birthdays and Christmasses ... that vintage market will appear in due course, I'm sure.

Oh, I meant to say ... my hands, which have been well and truly covered in the lather are not as dry now as they were last night when I had a cheeky palm-lather with the tallow version after popping that new puck into my ceramic dish. Hands, less dry ... face, perhaps more? Dunno. We'll all get a much better feeling for this as we use it.
 
pjgh said:
Fresh puck of the mighty Mitch (well, mighty is maybe premature?) from the good folks at Connaught and yes, it's the veg formula ...

I couldn't resist a test lather and play about with the suds. While it's not a proper shave, I did get a good feel for the soap and can confirm it ain't a dud, not by a long stretch. I did my usual ten swirls in either direction and felt it did want a bit more, so another ten in both directions and a few more for good measure - that's pretty much how I'd load from L'Occitane or DR Harris or Cyril R Salter or Truefitt & Hill. No drama.

Wet face, rest ... wet face and wipe off the most of the water. Face lather. I am very happy to say that this new formula pulls up that recognisable Mitchell's yogurt-thick and so readily overpaintable lather. I let it sit for a few minutes to ensure that it didn't just disappear. Then had some more fun, just overpainting and overpainting and lathering a up little more, little thicker. Wiped off as a virtual shave and re-lathered. Same again. Wiped off and re-lathered for a third play (remember, I'm a single pass shaver, two at most) ... and on this play, I kept adding water until it became too thin and weak to function.

I have a really good appreciation of how it plays - it's not as water-sensitive and it does pull up a really good lather, certainly in-line with any of those names I mentioned above. It is different to tallow MWF, of course it is. Had I not known about the formula change, any difference I would have likely just chalked up to new puck behaviour, shrugged and moved on. Difference is less noticeable than the tallow/veg Tabac reformulation ... to me, anyway.

Post-shave? Well, I didn't shave, but it's been about 30 minutes since I had a play in the bathroom and my face does feel to have that Mitchell's feeling. Initially, it was taut but not quite as dry as tallow MWF leaves me after a shave. That said, I usually splash a good, strong alcoholic splash after my shaves. Half an hour on and my face feels more taut, I'd say. Probably indeed dryer. Folks who balm or splash with a propyl glycol aftershave will probably not notice this.

I will need a number of back-to-back shaves to compare the tallow to the new. In preparation, I've just popped a fresh puck of tallow into my ceramic dish and have this veg formula in another dish. I have just one tallow puck left in reserve now. Should I panic buy? Huh! This stuff will be coming out of the woodwork for months and then in years time it'll be the dribble through to the vintage market - even now you can still get fully sealed Old Spice, for example, and the kinda places I've seen MWF for sale out and about are those little craft and tat shops where people buy "nice things" for birthdays and Christmasses ... that vintage market will appear in due course, I'm sure.

Oh, I meant to say ... my hands, which have been well and truly covered in the lather are not as dry now as they were last night when I had a cheeky palm-lather with the tallow version after popping that new puck into my ceramic dish. Hands, less dry ... face, perhaps more? Dunno. We'll all get a much better feeling for this as we use it.
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Great write up, I'm not so concerned about it now, still have a few old cake's left so I'm in no hurry to restock with the new MWF but I will sometime and now without worrying about it. :)

Paul.
 
isaiah53 said:
For someone who has never got on with mwf, is the new version worth a bash? Asking for a friend...
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I guess it's down to "what didn't you like about it?" ...

I'd say the way it loads, lathers and plays on the face is more akin the big name British & French hard soaps. But, it does have the lanolin which is ever-present. Some folks get an unpleasantness from the lanolin with a burning or itchy sensation post-shave.

That's still there. That's still its character.

If you were one of those weak-wristed folks that just couldn't lather it (and I can't believe that of a stolid northern lad) then you're probably in luck. I say that because I (clearly) had no issue with the lathering and didn't with this ... but back to my first point: it lathers more like big name British & French hard soaps.
 
pjgh said:
I guess it's down to "what didn't you like about it?" ...

I'd say the way it loads, lathers and plays on the face is more akin the big name British & French hard soaps. But, it does have the lanolin which is ever-present. Some folks get an unpleasantness from the lanolin with a burning or itchy sensation post-shave.

That's still there. That's still its character.

If you were one of those weak-wristed folks that just couldn't lather it (and I can't believe that of a stolid northern lad) then you're probably in luck. I say that because I (clearly) had no issue with the lathering and didn't with this ... but back to my first point: it lathers more like big name British & French hard soaps.
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I just found it at best very average and at worst just a total fanny on :D I just gave up on it, that was with two different pucks.
I so want to like it, and love the scent. If it lathers like a Frenchman I may well see if my wrists can cope with it :)

Edit: my friends wrists... Ahem...
 
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hotmetal said:
The King is dead, long live the King!

So the consensus is that the bad batches from before weren't early veg formula releases, just bad tallow batches and the new formula is OK?
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That seems to be the consensus, yes.

If you're a die-hard tallow fan, no, the new formula is not okay.

If you couldn't lather the old formula, you won't have the same issue with the new stuff.

The reports coming in from various forums seem to indicate that the new stuff seems to leave the skin slightly more dry but lathers easier. The scent is largely unchanged. The "spicy" under scent some people notice seems to be gone from the new formula.
 
There's correspondence between Mitchell's and a vendor in the Badger & Blade thread and they are keeping the tallow base for the bath and hand soaps apparently. Not sure what to make of that lol
 
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