Anyone have problems with Arlinton soap?

[Quercus]

Has anyone had problems with DR Harris "Arlington" soap? I bought a bowl of Arlington Soap in a wooden bowl from Greenpond.com, and no matter how hard I try, it just doesn't whip up into a creamy lather. I've tried all kinds of different water levels, and no matter what happens, any cream I get from it is airy, bubbly, and just low quality. Plus, the scent is too subtle and barely registers. I thought it was my technique at first, but after trying it with different brushes, water;soap ratios, and various methods of lathering, and it just doesn't whip up!

[rick]

I just recently got me some......soap, that is ;)
and I didnt find the Arlington to be any easier or harder to lather up.
I will say this:
Triple Milled soaps are a different beast all together than the glycerin-based cold pours.
TM's are much more needy and picky with the water / soap ratio.
Try loading your brush with more soap than you think you need and use more water than you think you should.
Good luck to you.

[msandoval858]

Harris soaps are very hard and not floppy brush friendly at all, at least from my limited experience with them. The brush I could best get a good lather out of Arlington is my Duke 2, which is a short and dense "scrubby" brush. As Rick said, tripple milled soaps are different and take some more work. I think Harris are even a step further as my Trumper soaps lather with less effort.

[rick]

Yeah.
What he said....:o
I use my Simpsons Super Chubby1 or Rooney Super Small3 (both scritchy little brushes) to build the load off the puck.
Floppy / Flexible brushes will definately give you more grief.

[Leisureguy]

I can use a fairly soft brush on the Arlington and still get good lather. Wet brush, shake, and briskly rub the tips of the bristles over the soap. A lather will start to form. Ignore it. Continue rubbing briskly for 30 seconds more at least, rotating the brush a little to pick up soap across the full top of the brush.

Vigorously brush that all over your wet beard. It will be mostly soap, and you'll get some lather, not much. After you've brushed it well into the whole beard, add a driblet of hot water to the center of the brush, and brush vigorously again. You should have a good lather at this point. With my brush, that's usually enough water, but you can try a driblet more in the spirit of experiment.

See how that works. Is your water especially hard? Probably not---sounds as though you've had success with your other soaps.

[Quercus]

I just finished trying it again with the suggested methods. While it was definitely a little better, it still wasn't as creamy as I had expected. I really, really love the scent, but damn is it ever subtle...almost too subtle. I find the lather to be just a little bit light and airy, so I'm hoping it will get better as I keep trying and experimenting. The shave quality was good, but I need to figure out how to get a creamier thick lather.

[Quercus]

Well, I tried the DR Arlington again, and nope, no luck! This is defnitely a bunk puck! Maybe the heat en route messed it up, but something funky happened to it. I tried the Arlington this morning, and it was thin, bubbly, airy, and dried out within seconds on my face. I washed it off, tried my Tabac, and BANG!!! MEGA-LATHER!!!! What gives?

[qhsdoitall]

Well, I tried the DR Arlington again, and nope, no luck! This is defnitely a bunk puck! Maybe the heat en route messed it up, but something funky happened to it. I tried the Arlington this morning, and it was thin, bubbly, airy, and dried out within seconds on my face. I washed it off, tried my Tabac, and BANG!!! MEGA-LATHER!!!! What gives?

Unless they somehow blew the batch, triple milled soaps are tough and survive a wide range of environmental conditions. Creams and glycerin soaps are a different thing altogether.

[TraderJoe]

Well, I tried the DR Arlington again, and nope, no luck! This is defnitely a bunk puck! Maybe the heat en route messed it up, but something funky happened to it. I tried the Arlington this morning, and it was thin, bubbly, airy, and dried out within seconds on my face. I washed it off, tried my Tabac, and BANG!!! MEGA-LATHER!!!! What gives?

Could be an old puck???

Try soaking it in hot water for a while. Maybe the soap somehow developed an "anti-lathering" -Film- :eek:

::

[Quercus]

I'm beginning to think that I just don't like the way it lathers. I mean, it latheres fairly well, but it's the quality of the lather that bothers me. It's light, fluffy, airey, and lacks any creamy consistency. When I apply it, it doesn't coat the entire face, and after about five seconds, it looks transparent and I can see right through the film to my face. I've tried it every which way possible, and I just can't do it. So, Mr. Arlington is going to be filed away in the circular filing cabinet.

[Mottern Man]

I'm beginning to think that I just don't like the way it lathers. I mean, it latheres fairly well, but it's the quality of the lather that bothers me. It's light, fluffy, airey, and lacks any creamy consistency. When I apply it, it doesn't coat the entire face, and after about five seconds, it looks transparent and I can see right through the film to my face. I've tried it every which way possible, and I just can't do it. So, Mr. Arlington is going to be filed away in the circular filing cabinet.

Send it to me, I will run some tests on her. ;)

[Baloosh]

So, Mr. Arlington is going to be filed away in the circular filing cabinet.

Don't do that -- that's valuable stuff to other people. You can get some good trades with that puck...

[TraderJoe]

Send it to me, I will run some tests on her. ;)

Don't do that -- that's valuable stuff to other people. You can get some good trades with that puck...

You guys are vultures :D

---> Send it to ME ;) :rofl

[Mottern Man]

You guys are vultures :D

---> Send it to ME ;) :rofl

Smell your own Joe?

[a-cut-above]

I, and a member of another wetshaving forum, also had trouble with D.R. Harris Arlington soap. I have the other DRH soaps, Tabac, Trumpers Violet, MWF, T & H, Williams, and some non-tallow cold pours. I have no problem getting ideal lathers from any of these. I cannot get the Arlington to work; same as Quercus. It turned out that my puck and the puck from the member of the other forum were both obtained from Greenpond.com! I/we believe our pucks were either switched out and replaced with cheap junk or are a knock-off fake. Whether this occured at the distributer or Greenpond, I can't say but the coincidence is too strong. Now Quercus has the same experience from the same vendor! I plan to get another puck of DRH Arlington soon from somewhere else (need to justify working up a good order to spread out the shipping) to see if my hunch is correct.

[jfrancisco]

I/we believe our pucks were either switched out and replaced with cheap junk or are a knock-off fake.

OUCH::ban

I have two pucks of Arlington. They are both different in that one is white and the other is yellow. The white puck, if you just look at it will whip up a lather on its own. It has to be the easiest soap I've made a lather with and its scent is lighter. The yellow puck has a stronger scent and is overall a harder soap. So I took my little Hoffritz LC1 and loaded the brush (about a dozen times across the puck.) Then I worked the brush in my hand and add some water, worked and added some more water, still worked and added some more water . . . considering the size of the brush, I must have added two tablespoons of water to the mix. In the end, the lather was thick and rich with it overflowing my hand and getting all over the sink.

I find it interesting that the pucks are so different and yet the end result is similar with a rich, slick, pleasant smelling lather that plays its part in a BBS shave. I'd be willing to loan or sell (or trade) the yellow puck to someone who is having difficulty so that you can compare the two.

[a-cut-above]

Curious as to where you got the one that doesn't work as well. I'll be in NY in a couple of weeks and I'm hoping to get to one of those fancy drug stores and pick up a puck of Arlington there. One from the Internet, one from a real store. I'll let you know if they are different.
Dave

[Scorpio]

Just curious to see if there is an update to this soap story??

Raf

[a-cut-above]

Trip to NY in two weeks. I'll let you know.

[barbarosa]

OUCH::ban

I have two pucks of Arlington. They are both different in that one is white and the other is yellow.

That's interesting ?!

[msandoval858]

I just picked up a puck of the Lavender. I never had problems with Arlington, just didn't care for the scent. My bowl now belongs to Rick and it appears to be working for him fine.

I'll have some feedback on the performance of the Lavender by next week.

[rick]

I just picked up a puck of the Lavender. I never had problems with Arlington, just didn't care for the scent. My bowl now belongs to Rick and it appears to be working for him fine.


Yep.
Mine.......:D
I have used the soap a few times and find it does take a bit more product to make enuff lather for 3P shaves.
Still working on my face lathering technique but its pretty solid.
Less water on brush.....more soap on brush.
Dribbles of hot water into BREECH when needed.
This works for me 90% of the time.

[jramire2]

Didn't realize it, but it sounds like I got the "bad" puck from Quercus in trade recently.

I haven't used it yet, but I will tomorrow. I've had good luck w/the Harris lavender puck that I have, so we'll see how the Arlington performs.

Simply in regards to triple mills, the problem might've been a water issue. I have several triple mills, and some of them work well for me, and some I get the same fluffy/airy lather that Quercus had.

For instance, I can get aboslutely fantastic lather out of Floris JF, Floris Elite, and Harris Lavender. But unless I really really really work at it, I get fluffy/airy lather out of L'Occitane Cade, T&H luxury, and Mitchells Woolfat. I traded the T&H, think I finally figured out the MWF, and am considering trading the Cade (and it's fancy bowl).

I just can't get the Cade' to work for me, the scent is light, and the note of cold cream is beginning to be dominant to my nose anyway.

[a-cut-above]

The problem with the Arlinton puck we had is that it would not, or would barely, lather. It was way past differences we all experience in shave soaps and creams...heck that's half the fun. Search any of the forums and we find posts claiming MWF or Trumper's Violet to be heaven sent and others claiming these are not worthy of dog soap. But the Arlington was different and all the "complainers" got their pucks from the same on-line source. "We was had.":mad: When I visit the Big Apple, I'll try to get to one of those fancy Manhattan drug stores, bite the bullet, kiss a $20 bill goodbye, and buy a refill puck of Arlington and see what happens.
Regards,
Dave

[jramire2]

Well, looks like I'm having the same problems w/this puck as the original owner. Can't seem to get it to lather worth the darn either. I'll try a few more times, but I don't think it will help.

One question, are the soaps from Harris that you get when you buy it w/the bowl larger than the refill pucks? I ask this b/c this puck of Harris Arlington is much larger than the puck of Harris lavender I have. Maybe it's not even Harris soap?

I can get great lather out of my Harris Lavender, but poor lather out of this Arlington puck. Reminds me of, "shudder", the poor excuse for lather I get out of my Ogallala Bay Rum soaps. And those familiar w/OBR soaps know how bad the lather is from them.

[qhsdoitall]

I can get great lather out of my Harris Lavender, but poor lather out of this Arlington puck. Reminds me of, "shudder", the poor excuse for lather I get out of my Ogallala Bay Rum soaps. And those familiar w/OBR soaps know how bad the lather is from them.

That's pretty bad then.

[msandoval858]

Thanks for the tip. I shall avoid the OBR soap.

[jramire2]

OBR has a great scent, tends to leave a super slick layer of stuff on your skin while you shave. But unfortunately, the lather is pretty bad. Super foamy/airy, tends to disappear, etc.

This puck of Harris Arlington isn't quite as bad as OBR, but it's definitely defective. The lather doesn't even come close to the lather I get from my puck of Harris lavender.

[msandoval858]

Well, I tried the Harris Lavender this morning. That stuff is amazing! My Arlington latered well but nothing like this stuff. There has to be something different with the two?

The Lavender easily produced one of the best lathers I've ever seen from a soap or cream. This one is a winner.

[a-cut-above]

Well, I picked up a puck of D.R. Harris Arlington SS at Pasteur's in NYC. (BTW, an incredible place for wet shaver's and reasonable prices.) There is no doubt the "bad" puck is a different soap. The new Arlington from Pasteur's has a yellow tint to it; the bad one is white. The good one has a slippery feel while the bad one is drier, almost powdery on the surface when dry. Although I had used it trying to get lather to form and so the shape was not original, it is obvious the good one is shaped differently there being more defined corners on the large and small sides whereas the bad one had a rounder small side. And the new one lathers like a dream, just like a D.R.Harris soap is supposed to. So, the "non-functional", bad Arlington is different. I guess it's impossible to prove whether it's a bad run from the factory or a fake/knock-off, as is common in the luxury goods business. I wonder how long it will last as shower soap? Has anyone got a bad puck from a vendor besides Greenpond?