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Author Topic:   Campbell Lather Machine
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 1 of 51 (305301)
04-19-2006 4:22 PM


For Christmas I got a hot lather machine. It clamped on top of either gel or shaving cream dispensers, and it heated the lather pretty good. I mostly liked it, but it was a pain to change containers, both gel and shaving cream tended to get watery when heated, and when you first pushed the button it would do a brief high pressure spurt.
Then I remembered that when I used to go to barbers they had hot lather machines, and I figured I should be able to buy one. I poked around on the net and found only one: the Campbell Lather Machine. You can buy it at any number of barber shop suppliers for between $175 and $200. I figured, "What the heck," and bought one.
And I love it! I've had it about two months and it works great. Does anyone else out here have one of these? I have a couple questions that I've been wondering about. I'll be answering these questions myself with a little experimentation, but that will take time.
One question is about the soap solution - what is it? Do I have to continue ordering it from barber shop suppliers? Or is just some kind of commonly available soap?
Another question is about the thickness of the lather. I tried doubling the amount of soap in the solution to get even thicker lather, but the machine stopped producing lather and I had to refill it with the recommended mixture. Anyone had any luck producing thicker lather?
Another question is about the cleaning solution. Is it something special, or is it really just what it smells like, which is regular old isopropyl alcohol?
--Percy
This message has been edited by Percy, Wed, 04-19-2006 05:39 PM

Replies to this message:
 Message 2 by ringo, posted 04-19-2006 4:54 PM Percy has replied
 Message 4 by Coragyps, posted 04-19-2006 7:56 PM Percy has replied
 Message 8 by Phat, posted 04-20-2006 10:38 AM Percy has replied

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 3 of 51 (305318)
04-19-2006 5:39 PM
Reply to: Message 2 by ringo
04-19-2006 4:54 PM


Ringo writes:
I haven't shaved since 1982, but I'm guessing it would have to be Campbell's Soup.
Oops!
Spell checkers are okay, but what I really need is a "what I meant" checker.
I'm fixing the OP.
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 2 by ringo, posted 04-19-2006 4:54 PM ringo has not replied

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 5 of 51 (305360)
04-19-2006 8:35 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by Coragyps
04-19-2006 7:56 PM


Coragyps writes:
Hot lather! Maybe I can find by genuine badger-hair brush and buy a cake of shaving soap somewhere.....
They sell this stuff in Walmart (unless you're really serious about genuine badger-hair). I gave it a try. It takes a minute or two to whip up enough lather, and it's all soapy and no creamy, I didn't really like it. The Campbell machine's lather is more soapy than shaving cream (which isn't like soap at all), but not so much that it bothers me (probably because it's whipped far more than you can do it by hand), and it seems to give a better shave than regular shaving cream.
My wife tells me that her father used to soap his face and then apply shaving cream over it, but I hear he had a really tough beard.
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 4 by Coragyps, posted 04-19-2006 7:56 PM Coragyps has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 6 by Coragyps, posted 04-19-2006 9:36 PM Percy has replied

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 7 of 51 (305444)
04-20-2006 10:22 AM
Reply to: Message 6 by Coragyps
04-19-2006 9:36 PM


Coragyps writes:
The solid soap I used to use with Mr Badger was Crabtree & Evelyn, and it was just about as creamy as the aerosol stuff. Kind of expensive, but hey - a cake lasted over six months.
Hmmm. So maybe better soap is called for. But I seem to recall another drawback to this approach. I'd add a little hot water to the shaving cup and stir things up with the brush to get lather, but by the time I had lather it was at room temperature. Did you have better luck getting hot lather this way?
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 6 by Coragyps, posted 04-19-2006 9:36 PM Coragyps has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 9 by Omnivorous, posted 04-20-2006 11:43 AM Percy has not replied

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 10 of 51 (305485)
04-20-2006 12:48 PM
Reply to: Message 8 by Phat
04-20-2006 10:38 AM


Re: Lathernecks and other tough guys
Phat writes:
It appears that classicshaving.com rejects the Campbell machine...I wonder why?
I found that site, too, before I ordered, and decided to ignore it. Once I received mine a possible reason became clear - it comes with no instructions. The company I ordered mine from included their own page of brief instructions, and it kept me from doing what was my initial inclination - just pour the container of soap into the hopper. This is far too concentrated a soap solution (by about 30 times) and would jam up the machine. I experimented a bit and found that just doubling the recommended soap concentration was enough to jam up the machine. When that happens you have to pour out the soap and solution and refill the hopper with the right solution to unjam it, and it takes a bit of playing with before it unjams.
Truthfully, Percy...I use cheap blades that I buy in an 80 pack from Cosco, so I am no lather expert. I hope that your machine works well for you, though.
I shave with one of those vibrating razors from Gilette that has three blades. I A/B'd it with both a non-vibrating 3-blade razor, and a non-vibrating 5-blade razor - it beat both. They all shave smooth - the difference can only be discerned about 8 hours later.
Coincidentally, my son called me just a couple hours ago and said he'd used my lather machine for the first time because he'd run out of shaving cream - he said he couldn't believe how much closer a shave he got. He usually uses an electric shaver, but he lost the cord a couple months ago, so he can't recharge it.
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 8 by Phat, posted 04-20-2006 10:38 AM Phat has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 11 by Trixie, posted 04-20-2006 6:33 PM Percy has not replied

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 21 of 51 (308435)
05-02-2006 9:21 AM
Reply to: Message 4 by Coragyps
04-19-2006 7:56 PM


Coragyps writes:
As to the nature of the soap, my bet would be that it's fairly generic stuff. But unless the label on your current container lists "laureth-3 sulfate" and the like, it's pretty hard to guess exactly what to try. I've got chemical company formularies for bunches of cosmetic stuff like shampoos, whitewall tire cleaner, and Windex, but I don't remember shaving foam mix in any of them. Let me know, though, if ingredients are listed on the stuff you get.
There are no ingredients listed on the container. Is this a suggestion to try soap that lists "laureth-3 sulfate" as an ingredient?
The unit whirs like a banshee, so I imagine there's whipping beaters inside. Even plain water emerges in a sort of frothy state.
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 4 by Coragyps, posted 04-19-2006 7:56 PM Coragyps has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 22 by Coragyps, posted 05-02-2006 11:19 AM Percy has replied

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 23 of 51 (308482)
05-02-2006 11:37 AM
Reply to: Message 22 by Coragyps
05-02-2006 11:19 AM


Coragyps writes:
Hell, dishwashing liquid would likely be just as good, especially if you'd been working under the car and needed degreasing.
Hmmm. Dishwashing liquid. I wonder if they still sell Ivory dishwashing liquid? The stuff they sell for the unit is pure white, maybe that's what it is. Certainly worth a try.
If the cleaner solution really *is* iso-propyl alcohol, and if the soap solution really *is* something like Ivory liquid, then I'd no longer have to order this stuff over the Internet.
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 22 by Coragyps, posted 05-02-2006 11:19 AM Coragyps has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 25 by Coragyps, posted 05-02-2006 3:03 PM Percy has not replied
 Message 37 by Coragyps, posted 05-03-2006 9:25 AM Percy has replied

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 39 of 51 (316250)
05-30-2006 10:17 AM


Experimental Results
I've carried out some experiments (sorry, Trixie, not the ones you wanted) and I have some preliminary results. I've tried two different soaps. One was a Dove shampoo with moisturizer, the other was Ivory Liquid Ultra (the white Ivory Liquid doesn't seem to be available anymore).
First, a little more information about the machine. The machine screams like a banshee, so I assume there are some really high speed beaters inside. It can even make foam out of water, and out of a water/alcohol mix.
Okay, on to the experimental results. Both Dove and Ivory displayed the same problem. Though both foam up nicely, nicer than the soap provided for the Campbell machine, once applied the lather collapses into soap film. I'm guessing that the bubbles from these products don't hold up as well as the Campbell product. What foam does survive the application phase quickly degrades to soap film over the course of a minute or two.
Increasing the amount of soap mixed into the soap solution results in a modestly thicker initial foam (I think - this was a subtle effect), but it doesn't change the final result. The foam just doesn't hold up, and it has a short lifetime.
Both Dove and Ivory produced a less close shave than the Campbell product.
So there must be something in the Campbell soap product that helps preserve the bubbles in the foam. What could it be?
I have three other soap products that I'm going to try, but I don't hold out much hope at this point.
--Percy

Replies to this message:
 Message 43 by NosyNed, posted 05-31-2006 1:17 PM Percy has not replied

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 42 of 51 (316574)
05-31-2006 1:12 PM
Reply to: Message 37 by Coragyps
05-03-2006 9:25 AM


Don't know if you saw Message 39, it got covered over pretty quickly.
One additional experiment this morning revealed that even tripling the amount of soap makes little difference to the foam's persistance, at least for Ivory Liquid Ultra. The foam is so fragile that it drips down the razor's handle, making it slippery.
One thought occurs to me. Is it possible that anti-sudsing agents are added to things like shampoo and dishwashing liquid? That might make the bubbles more fragile so that they burst more easily and quickly. I know they do it for dishwasher detergent.
--Percy
Edited by Percy, : Get rid of dumb looking duplicate signature so no one knows I did it!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 37 by Coragyps, posted 05-03-2006 9:25 AM Coragyps has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 44 by Omnivorous, posted 05-31-2006 3:01 PM Percy has not replied

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 45 of 51 (316652)
05-31-2006 4:13 PM


To Nosy and Omni:
Where does one find glycerin?
--Percy

Replies to this message:
 Message 46 by Omnivorous, posted 05-31-2006 4:21 PM Percy has not replied
 Message 47 by Omnivorous, posted 05-31-2006 6:52 PM Percy has not replied

  
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