Going back to the puck AND a brush question

[Toopskees]

1. I recently converted from using creams to using soaps, and currently have 4 in the rotation: MWF, AoS sandalwood, Cella, Tabac. My brush is a Shavemac #177 23mm silvertip. I face lather and always do a 4-pass shave. I have noticed that more often than not I run out of good lather before the final pass and have to go back to the puck to reload a bit more. Is this a common practice among soap users, or am I perhaps doing something wrong in my initial loading procedure? Do you get longer-lasting lather by bowl lathering as opposed to face lathering?

2. What do folks do with their loaded brush between passes? I put it bristles down in an empty bowl, but is there something better I can do to improve the lather (e.g. put a small amount of water in the bowl to further hydrate the bristles and soap)?

Thanks for your advice.

[CSG]

I primarily build my lather in a bowl so consider that in my response.

Use a little more product. I primarily use an EJ super badger brush and always have too much lather left over. Not the case with my boar brush but that's another story.

I set the brush in the bowl on the diagonal and find I almost always add a touch more water as I go through my passes but I'm also looking for wetter, thinner lather as my stubble is reduced on each pass. Soap is cheap, use enough.

Face lathering by itself makes only a little more sense to me than hand lathering. There are times I'll spend more time on my face but it's not really "face lathering" the way it's described on B&B.

[Artes]

Personally I do not stress over this. If I need more soap I just go back to the soap. The objective is to get a good shave rather than to create the "perfect" lather.

[brucered]

Use a little more product. I primarily use an EJ super badger brush and always have too much lather left over. Not the case with my boar brush but that's another story.

I set the brush in the bowl on the diagonal and find I almost always add a touch more water as I go through my passes but I'm also looking for wetter, thinner lather as my stubble is reduced on each pass. Soap is cheap, use enough.

+1. when you think you have enough product on your brush, use MORE....it's cheap and when you are thru the current puck, it's justification to buy another.

i'd rather have too much leftover then have to reapply.

ps, i'm a recent soap convert and find more water, more product works well, with emphasis on the MORE PRODUCT. check out Marco's thread (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/199887-My-lathering-technique-with-Italian-soft-soaps?highlight=) for a rough guideline to lathering soap and few suggestions and tips from others..they have helped me immensely

[franz]

Hm... there's no shame in going back to the puck for a little more product. I face lather, and I'm constantly tweaking the consistency of my lather during the shave.

As for your other question, I set the brush down on its base between lathering.

[Champion of Capua]

Do you wash your face off between passes? That little layer of water on your face should be more than enough to bring the lather back in your brush

[MilesTeg]

I have had the same results. I usually do a minimum of three passes, and sometimes up to 5 plus buffing if I have a big date with the wife. My plan is to get a dirty bird scuttle (with a dribble port) and just keep adding product (and water) as needed.

[noahpictures]

There is a great tutorial in the soap section about how to build lather. My version of building lather from a soap: Pour a teaspoon of warm water on the puck, load brush, repeat two more times. That gives me enough lather for more than four passes.

I also agree with Francesco that there is no shame in going back to the puck. If you feel that the lather is weak on the third pass (usually ATG) then it's a good idea to go back to the puck to get protective lather and avoid an uncomfortable shave.

Great gear by the way! The only one I've not tried is the AOS Sandalwood soap.

[dpmtherrien]

Hm... there's no shame in going back to the puck for a little more product. I face lather, and I'm constantly tweaking the consistency of my lather during the shave.

As for your other question, I set the brush down on its base between lathering.

This is what I too do most of the time. Other times I build a lather in my scuttle and just rest the brush in the lather while shaving.

[Toopskees]

The only one I've not tried is the AOS Sandalwood soap.

That was a present from my son and was my first experience with soap. It made me a convert, as I had used creams exclusively until then. It smells wonderful, and I keep the lid to the wooden bowl off after I'm done so that it permeates the bathroom with the aroma.

[gus1942]

MilesTeg, I love my DB scuttle but skip the dribble port. Mine gets plugged with lather. Easier to add drops of water with your fingers.

Gus

[turtle]

I have found that it depends on the brush. Some give up the later better than others so I have some favorite face lather brushes and some favorite bowl lathering brushes.

There is no shame in going back to the soap for more if you find your brush is not holding as much as you need.

[ThePatrician]

+1. when you think you have enough product on your brush, use MORE....it's cheap and when you are thru the current puck, it's justification to buy another.

i'd rather have too much leftover then have to reapply.

ps, i'm a recent soap convert and find more water, more product works well, with emphasis on the MORE PRODUCT. check out Marco's thread (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/199887-My-lathering-technique-with-Italian-soft-soaps?highlight=) for a rough guideline to lathering soap and few suggestions and tips from others..they have helped me immensely

+1 to this. When I'm done loading my brush I like to give it another few swirls and a few pumps. Since I'm a neat freak I like to try to wipe up all the "starter" lather off the puck. The amount of lather I build half-fills my lather bowl!

There are some great tutorials in the Wiki section about building lather. In one of Mantic's videos he talks about lathering on the face, whether applying lather or building it there. One tip he gives is to spend a good thirty seconds or so on applying the first layer of lather to be shaved. This really works the lather into the beard, and also further builds it in the brush. Hope this helps!


"But Lord, during the hardest trials of my life, why was there one set of footprints?"
"Because," said the Lord, "Sand People always ride single file to hide their numbers."

~Matt

[5savages]

ps, i'm a recent soap convert and find more water, more product works well, with emphasis on the MORE PRODUCT. check out Marco's thread (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/199887-My-lathering-technique-with-Italian-soft-soaps?highlight=) for a rough guideline to lathering soap and few suggestions and tips from others..they have helped me immensely

Since I've started using the Marco technique, lather quantity has not been an issue. I can usually whip up enough for 4+ passes. I do find, however, that I need to squeeze about half the water out of my brush so I don't get lather dripping down my neck and chest until it builds up enough thickness to hold up on its own.

[BlackBard]

Hm... there's no shame in going back to the puck for a little more product. I face lather, and I'm constantly tweaking the consistency of my lather during the shave.

As for your other question, I set the brush down on its base between lathering.

Exactly!

[Matt555]

4 passes is a lot. I usually run out of lather by my third and would need to go back to the puck as well. But as turtle said....a lot of it has to do with your brush. Obviously, a big... high quality brush will hold more lather.

[ieschwoch]

I would recommend bowl lathering. Many on B&B are face lathering advocates, but I've always found that bowl lathering gives me more lather. It also allows me to better judge the consistency of the lather and add water as needed. Typically if I bowl lather I will have a lot of lather left over after 3-4 passes, whereas face lathering tends to only generate enough for 2 passes plus touch-ups. As always, YMMV.

As a side-note, I used to own a Shavemac and found that its softness and density actually made it more difficult to build solid lather with than other brushes. It was almost as if the brush ate the lather.

[ieschwoch]

I primarily build my lather in a bowl so consider that in my response.

Use a little more product. I primarily use an EJ super badger brush and always have too much lather left over. Not the case with my boar brush but that's another story.

I set the brush in the bowl on the diagonal and find I almost always add a touch more water as I go through my passes but I'm also looking for wetter, thinner lather as my stubble is reduced on each pass. Soap is cheap, use enough.

Face lathering by itself makes only a little more sense to me than hand lathering. There are times I'll spend more time on my face but it's not really "face lathering" the way it's described on B&B.

Finally, someone that shares my view on face lathering! I've always preferred bowl lathering (although I've experimented with face-lathering from time to time).