Mitchell’s Wool Fat Shaving Soap Review – Traditional and Formal
Mitchell’s Wool Fat Shaving Soap
Mitchell’s soap is a softly scented shaving soap made from natural ingredients including Tallow and Lanolin. Perfect for sensitive skin.
Pros
Soft Scent doesn’t clash with any other products
Rinses Clean, won’t clog the razor
Lanolin and Tallow will protect the skin while you shave
Comes with a Ceramic dish that has a classic design
Cons
Decidedly Not Vegan Friendly
The scent is not really anything to write home about
Jumping from the Mediterranean to the North Atlantic today! Our last few soap reviews have come from Italy, so this time we are jumping up to the shores of England to get a traditional sort of shaving soap.
How does it stack up against the other soaps we have reviewed so far? Let’s find out.
About the Brand: Originally produced by a chemist in Bradford, Yorkshire, Mitchell’s Soaps are based on an old recipe that includes Wool Fat (Lanolin) and animal tallow. Made for sensitive skin, Mitchell’s Soaps include shaving soaps and bar soaps. Remaining based in England, Mitchell’s can ship all over the world, and often partners with other storefronts online.
Mitchell’s Wool Fat Shaving Soap Product Description
Arriving with a very fancy-looking ceramic bowl, Mitchell’s Soap felt very much like I was stepping back in time to use something my Dad or Grandad would have shaved with.
The bowl is heavy and thick. It almost looks like something I would find in an antique shop. That isn’t a bad thing though, as often people who wet shave are reaching into the past to rediscover more natural forms of skin and hair care.
Also for ceramic, it is very hard. I accidentally dropped the lid from a three-foot height and it didn’t break. I wouldn’t recommend attempting this yourself, but it did hold up without a chip, which is saying something.
The soap itself comes in puck form, wrapped in paper. This is good because when I run out of this soap I can just order another puck from Amazon or Shavenation without having to buy another bowl.
Scent
The scent itself isn’t really anything to write home about.
It is a floral scent you get with 99 percent of most commercial soaps on the market. That isn’t to say it is unpleasant but simply unremarkable.
What is nice is that it is very very soft. If you have another product that you use as part of your shaving routine, and that product has a very strong scent, it will not clash at all with this soap’s aroma. Most likely it will actively overpower it.
The soft scent also makes sure that the nose and skin aren’t irritated.
This leads us to…
Ingredients
Mitchell’s Wool Fat soap is formulated from natural ingredients to specifically be used with skin that is sensitive to strong aromas or harsh oils.
Lanolin and Tallow protect the skin from the edge of the razor, while letting the hair stand up for easy cutting. They also help to keep moisture in and on the skin while you shave.
If you are like me and make multiple passes while shaving, you are wiping away moisture with every pass. Lanolin and Tallow will keep that in every time you rinse to keep your skin feeling fresh and healthy.
The downside to this really is that the formula is in no way Vegan. While that may not sound like much to most guys, I can say that there is a growing amount of men who might want to keep that in mind when attempting to find a good soap.
The Lather and Shaving Experience
For this review I used my usual method of shaving with three passes: with the grain, across the grain, and against the grain.
No other pre-shave was used, specifically because I wanted to see how the soap felt on its own without any help from another product.
How does it Lather?
The lather of this soap is a nice and soft lather, coming out as something akin to marshmallow fluff or whipped cream. It just takes a good time to build up.
The soap puck itself is a dense brick of soap, and requires a good amount of water to get charged up. Following on from that, I would recommend anyone who tries this method with a shaving bowl use more warm water than they think you need when charging up both their brush and their soap.
Luckily, the ceramic bowl this soap comes with is great for collecting water and keeping it warm as it soaks into the Puck itself.
Lather from the Puck
For the first time in my short history of reviewing soaps for Shaving Advisor, we have a soap that makes the best lather when lathering directly from the soap in its ceramic dish!
I knew this would happen eventually.
To get the most out of this soap, it is a better option to just lather directly from the soap in its dish rather than attempt to build a lather in a separate bowl. You are going to find it takes far less time, and creates a more rich lather for your face this way.
Though you are still probably going to get soap all over your hands in the process.
How is the Texture?
This soap is very dense and heavy when you look at just the dry puck. Running my finger over it is like sandpaper, and none of it comes off.
Once it gets wet and charged up though, this soap has a very soft oily texture that feels very thin. It is not at all heavy or dense and rinses very easily from both the face and the razor.
At no point did I feel like it was too thin though. Some of the more dense triple-milled soaps feel like they might as well not be there at all, but this soap felt like it was actively nourishing my skin while I shaved.
How is the Overall Shave?
Overall the shave was pleasurable but very simple.
There was no major issue with it, and the scent wasn’t strong enough for me to really say wow.
Afterward, everything was rinsed and cleaned easily, and there were no real cuts or nicks on my skin.
Several hours after the shave, my skin still feels great with no razor burn to speak off.
Value for Money
Minor hang-up when it comes to money here.
With the ceramic bowl, you are looking to spend almost $40 USD before shipping. That’s expensive for a soap you may not even like.
The soap itself though is only about $13 USD, so what you are really paying for here is the nice ceramic bowl.
My honest thought here is if you have a soap dish already, just buy the $13 USD puck. You don’t need to add another dish to an already crowded space.
Common Consumer Complaints, Issues, and Positive Reviews
When looking at other customer reviews for Mitchell’s Wool Fat soap, most consumers seem to use the word comfortable when it comes to the point of describing how the soap feels. I can definitely agree with that. This soap feels nice and comfortable, like a familiar pair of shoes or an old favorite hat.
The other thing that seems to come up often is that this puck will definitely last you for a while. People who regularly shave every day or every other day comment that Mitchell’s Soap lasts them for at least a month and maybe more. This is great if you are on a budget and can’t really splurge for other more expensive soaps.
As far as consumer complaints are concerned, the chief one seems to be the thin nature of the soap lather when spreading it on the skin. This is a fair judgment, as it is rather hard to build a very thick lather quickly from this soap. You don’t need a very thick lather though, and if you build straight from the puck, that won’t be an issue for you.
Even as the lather slowly “deflates” it remains slick and protective of your skin and is definitely usable. Just some extra elbow grease to keep things fluffy is what it takes to make this work.
Final Thoughts – Who is Mitchell’s Wool Fat Shaving Soap for?
Overall, this soap is not for everyone. I would actually wager this soap is just for a niche.
If you are wanting to experiment with lanolin or tallow soaps, Mitchell’s is a great soap for you to try out. I would recommend just grabbing the puck itself though and not springing for the ceramic dish unless you REALLY want it.
If you are new to wet shaving, or you have found a soap you like already, then I wouldn’t waste your hard-earned ducats on this one. You might get stuck with a puck you don’t want for months until you find a way to use it all.
