Bloom your soap?

Been reading up last sleepless night and it seemed some of us bloom/soak our soap.

So when do we use it?
1) Hard soap
2) Croap
3) Cream ( I hope not)

What type of water to use?
1) Hot
2) Tap - water is water
3) Distilled - hard water in your area
4) I prefer cold water personally due to the hot weather.

How deep?
1) whole soap
2) surface of soap
3) few drop
4) I just use elbow grease.

Any quirks?
1) I saw someone do a grande version of a scuttle, to keep the soap warm
2) same person soap the brush as well to spread soap and water
3) particular Brand’s that only works for you if you bloom your soap. Ok no mention of elbow grease if a particular brand is mentioned.
4) I didn't read enough to find other quirks.

Any negative to blooming? I'm not averse to the slightly faster usage if it means better shaving experience.

I shave with cold water regardless of temperature outside. For hard soaps and croaps I just swirl the tips of the brush in cold water, a quick shake, then to the soap and a quick shake to put some water on the soap and begin loading the brush. Skim the brush tips, shake water on soap and load some more soap. Repeat till I have enough pasty soap loaded then start face lathering on a wet face. Skim brush tips, a quick shake and build lather some more. Repeat till I have the lather built the way I want it to be. Works well for me with all soaps/croaps that I have tried. The very odd time I use a bowl/scuttle I do it the sane way but I build the lather in the bowl and use the brush to spread it on my face.

Bob

I never bloom my soaps. I just wet all of my brushes, boar or badger, under warm tap-water for 5-10 seconds, apply the soap to my face in a shave-stick form, then go to work on my face with the brushes. It is a great way to start the morning.

I bloom most my soaps.  Try if for yourself and see what works best for you.

Never bloom.
Quality soaps just don't need it.

I find there is no need to bloom if you have a damp bush. I have super hard water and I shave cold every time. I simply wet the brush and shake off excess, and dribble in water as needed. Blooming, the few times I did try it at when I first started wet shaving, did more to cause problems than assist with anything.

(02-10-2016, 07:16 AM)celestino Wrote: I never bloom my soaps. I just wet all of my brushes, boar or badger, under warm tap-water for 5-10 seconds, apply the soap to my face in a shave-stick form, then go to work on my face with the brushes. It is a great way to start the morning.

C, you don't soak the brush for a few minutes prior to loading?

Put me down for no bloom.

I guess I'll be the contrarian here. I bloom both hard and soft soaps- anything that comes in a tub! I use water as warm as it comes out of the tap. I use the bloom water on my face as a preshave and I feel like the blooming helps with loading the brush.  Is way I don't have to remember which routine for which soap. Bloom them all!

I've experimented quite a bit with both and I agree that no quality soap needs blooming to generate excellent lather, but at the same time if you're in a pinch for time, blooming the soap can cut down on loading/building time.  With the softened/bloomed soap you can pick up an awful lot of soap with just a few swirls of the brush.  I do not usually do it, but I am not opposed to using blooming if I need to build lather quickly.

I bloom all my soaps, I don't use creams. I think it works so I will continue to do it. I tend to fill the tub up to the top with water, just because that quick and easy instead of measuring it out. It's interesting to see what people do, I am surprised more people don't bloom. Those that face lather it makes sense not to bloom.

Happy shaving

I face lather and bloom everything but super soft soaps (like strop shoppe or Catie's bubbles). A brush with scritch, backbone, or a short loft - I find it less useful. This seems to be a personal preference. Generally, threads like this tend to bring in a lot of contrarian opinions, and proclamations that a dry brush against a dry puck is all you need. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Two soaps I will always put water on top of during the shower are SV and Mike's. I have stopped doing this to B&M as per Will's directions not to.

I bloom my DR Harris since it's a hard soap. Just a few drops from the tap on the surface while the sink fills.

I bloom all medium to hard soaps. I'm sure you can load successfully without it, but it just takes longer. Anything that reduces repetitive stress on the body is a major benefit imo.

I don't bloom most soaps, but do get better results by blooming a few harder soaps, such as I Colonaili and Czech & Speake. I can only think of one soft soap that I like to bloom, Mystic Water.

I only soak hard soaps, and only a minute or two. I like it because it helps the scent to fill up my bathroom. Most soaps don't need it, but there are two or three I use that I soak a bit longer because for me it helps the performance.
I do not soak soft soaps. There is enough water in those soaps already, and I find it softens the soap too much for my liking.
But, like others, I use a fairly damp brush to load with.

I bloom my harder soaps, but just a few drops of warm water on the surface.

A few drops of water for me. I hate using this over complicated terminology though. It's soaking!!!!

(02-11-2016, 11:44 PM)Dipesh Wrote: A few drops of water for me. I hate using this over complicated terminology though. It's soaking!!!!

I guess youre right....I do bloom my brush though Dipesh