Lathering Question re third/fourth pass

[jojo]

I have found, on the third or so pass, that the lather in my brush is considerably thinner than on the first and second pass. Does that suggest too much water to begin with, insufficient time building up the later, or simply to be expected. If I'm doing an ATG pass on my third or fourth pass, I would think I'd want an adequate cushioning lather. Do folks ever add some cream at that point and build new, richer lather?

[SilverKarn]

I'm not sure, usually lather gets THICKER as you go since the water evaporates out of the lather. how do you lather? in a bowl or on your face? The lather should be really thick, and be able to support its own peaks in the bowl.

what kind of cream/soap do you use?

I have never added cream/water to my lather after the first pass, it takes time.


Personally, i like to leave my lather EXTRA thick to start with, then apply to a VERY wet face.

[Haiku]

I find the same thing happens on my last pass or two. At that point I use one of the "natural" shave creams like Alba or Avalon. These do not lather, but are extremely lubricating. I just wet my face and rub some on. Both are extremely good for the skn as well. BBS with no irritation almost guaranteed.

[Antique Hoosier]

You can do the "Mantic" trick and SQUEEZE the Super Lather from you brush gently from the base to the tips on those final passes. If you lather on your face you can build up those first 2 passes lather by doing so on the face and then dip the brush corners into a mug of HOT water..I do this and it really works.

[BeeWolf]

The only problem like this that I've ever had was using water that was too hot in a scuttle. The heat seemed to deteriorate the lather rather quickly. Otherwise, i've had no problem with it. Whether I lather in a bowl or on my face, the later usually gets thicker as I go.

[Leisureguy]

If the lather gets thinner, it might be that there was water in the base of the brush that did not get mixed in with the lather. Try pumping the brush a bit as you work up the lather to ensure that all the water in the brush goes into the lather---and the lather completely fills the brush.

[daniel]

The first two passes for me are almost completely from the lather I made in the bowl. After that I switch to building the lather on my face by simply scrubbing my brush on my face in circular patterns until enough soap is on my face and then begin using the standard paint brush strokes to even and thicken it out a bit. There's a lot of soap in your brush that doesn't get worked into lather if you don't really work your brush in the beginning, and as Leisurguy points out, pump your brush a few times when making the lather and work the soap and water throughout your brush.

[JBHoren]

You can do the "Mantic" trick and SQUEEZE the Super Lather from you brush gently from the base to the tips on those final passes. If you lather on your face you can build up those first 2 passes lather by doing so on the face and then dip the brush corners into a mug of HOT water..I do this and it really works.

+1

I ran into this just today: I wanted to make a fourth pass, but there simply wasn't enough visible lather remaining on my brush. Then I remembered the "trick" that AntiqueHoosier mentioned, and gently sque-e-e-zed enough lather up-and-out of the bristles to give a nice coating to my jaw, chin, and neck. It was "BBS City"!

In any case, there's absolutely nothing "wrong" with adding a dab of shaving cream to your brush, or re-twirling it on your cake of shaving soap, if you find that you've run out of lather, or that it's too runny to be effective, etc.

Smooth shaving!

[Christoph]

For a third or fourth pass I will sometimes add a bit more cream. But often its not necessary. If I need more, I just need the smallest amount to finish the job.

[Brad]

I have only had this happen when I did not use enough water in the first place. This happened a lot initially with shave sticks lathered on my face. All the lather was at the top of the brush. When I added more water and continued lathering on my face before shaving, all of a sudden, I didn't run out of lather. Try more water and pumping like suggested earlier and I think you'll be fine. I find this happens less with a bowl or my hand as I tend to use more water in the first place.

Any more, the only time the lather gets thinner is when I method shave and want a thinner, slicker lather for the later passes "pulled" from the brush.

Brad

[hatton305]

I agree with Christoph, on my third pass, I dunk in some water and go back for about 4 swirls on the soap and I get a great lather again. Funny thing though, I do this because my lather gets a bit thick, as Silverkarn mentions. I do notice my lather getting thin and 'running out' when I use creams, and I guess I attribute that to the fact that I am too stingy and don't use enough cream in the first place. I'm more of a soap fan, but I do use one cream and that is Taylor's Avocado. I think that it lathers really well. I've noticed that Taylor's Almond doesn't lather as well and I tend to 'run out' of lather with it much more easily than Avocado.
John

[Dovi]

Just ran across this post, thought I'd toss a couple words in.

I actually ran into this problem when I first started on DE. After spending a week playing with creams and soaps, water to soap ratios, adding a dab more cream, etc., I finally figured out what the problem was.

Whilst rinsing my face between passes (with my eyes shut, of course), water was dripping into my lather bowl and onto my brush, thinning everything out. It wasn't much...just enough to make a difference.

Hope this helps, if you haven't got it sorted out yet.