Soap Lathering Technique

[Kyle Stoner]

Hello again freinds.

I received my Mysore Sandalwood Soap in the mail at the suggestion of a member here and I am very excited to try it out. But I am curious as to lathering techniques for soap.

The first 'proper' shaving cream/soap I ever used was William's Mug Classic. THe problem I ran into was with the soap spinning around in the bowl.

I am wondering how to most effectively build a lather with my new soap - is it best to lather on top of the soap, or just collect soap onto the bristles and bring that to my face? etc. etc. etc. Can any of you share your tips and techniques with me? I got an awesome bowl that I have been using for lathering that will fit my soap perfectly, I'll post a pic tomorrow. Thanks!

[rikrdo]

Hey Kyle !!

I water down my brush, give it a couple of shakes and then load it up with some soap. 3 0r 4 swirls is all. Then I take the brush to another bowl that has been soaking in hot water and build the lather in the separate bowl. I also use a mug warmer to keep the separate bowl and lather warm during the shave.
Not groundbreaking technique here.....but IWFM (it works for me) !!

[Tinzien]

I swirl the top of my brush 3-5 times over the top of the puck of soap, then wipe the soap along the "sides" of the brush to load on more. The brush is then transfered to my moss scuttle for lather building.

[htownmmm]

5-6 swirls; 2-3 pumps

then build lather in a separate mug that's been warmed with microwaved water


lather away!!!!! :w00t: :w00t:


Marty

[fuerein]

When I use soap I tend to swirl my brush on the soap until a very light lather forms, mainly I'm just looking for the formation of bubbles (I'm not going to give a specific number since it will be different for different brushes and differ kinds of soap). Once I have a decent amount of bubbles formed on the soap, I use the brush to transfer as much as I can to a second bowl where I build up the lather. Also, don't shake out most of the water from the brush after soaking (as many do when using a cream), the extra water will help get the soap to start lathering up. I tend to pull the brush out of the water it was soaking in and let it drain and then give it one very light shake just to get stop it from dripping, the brush should still have alot of water in it. YMMV.

[Stauff]

Step 1: pour hot water on top of the puck of soap and soak the brush in equally hot H2O. Give both a couple of minutes rest.
Step 2: let excess H20 drip from the brush (shake gently) and swirl at least 10 times -often more- until first lather is forming on the soap.
Step 3: start swirling in a seperate, moist and hot bowl.
Step 4: swirl like a maniac, sometimes pumping the brush up and down until meringue lather is achieved. This might take a minute. Stick with it and your lather will be so much thicker.

lather up, wait a minute or 2 and shave as normal.

When I do this with my trusty GFT rose soap or Tabac I get better lather than with most creams.

Good luck!

[webguru24]

Let brush soak in hot water
Run hot water over soap puck, then start swirling and pumping.
Once the later starts to "overflow" the container, I transfer the brush to my face and build the lather from there.

I've tried the bowl method for lather building, but I can't produce the same lather in there as I do on my face. YMMV.

[rustyblade]

I made a video last week here:

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=4819473570674247963&hl=en-CA

[Scotto]

Beware - for most folks 3-4 swirls will be nowhere near enough soap to get a good lather. Here is the Old Lathermeister's (tm) approved method:


Soak brush. shower, whatever.
Give brush another once over with hot water. Hold it upside down until it stops dripping
Hold soap container at an angle over your lathering bowl. Start building lather. The excess water will flow into your lathering bowl.
Work that soap for a good 30 seconds - 1 minute to get lather flying everywhere
Put soap down and lather in bowl. It will look like soup at first but will quickly build to gobs of gorgeous lather
Enjoy!

[Jim]

All excellent advice already, I would add this. While you are loading your brush on the puck pay attention to the brush and how it feels. I know I have enough soap when it just starts to drag on the face of the puck.

[rustyblade]

Beware - for most folks 3-4 swirls will be nowhere near enough soap to get a good lather. Here is the Old Lathermeister's (tm) approved method:


Soak brush. shower, whatever.
Give brush another once over with hot water. Hold it upside down until it stops dripping
Hold soap container at an angle over your lathering bowl. Start building lather. The excess water will flow into your lathering bowl.
Work that soap for a good 30 seconds - 1 minute to get lather flying everywhere
Put soap down and lather in bowl. It will look like soup at first but will quickly build to gobs of gorgeous lather
Enjoy!


I actually made that video to prove that you don't need a stiff brush (I use a BK8) or to do any fancy things like soaking the soap, etc, etc.

I also have soft water, so YMMV.

[Jim]

Richard
Very nice job on the Video, I await my kent delivery!
Thanks

[Kyle Stoner]

Beautiful! Thank you for your wonderful advie everyone! I love this community. Thank you for sharing, it is bound to enhance my shaving experience and I hope you all are exctited about that as I am! When I used Williams, I noticed what worked best for me was to wait until the brush started 'dragging' as well...could feel the soap getting onto the brush. Then I would go to my face. I will experiment with the different methods here and report back with a review of the soap, my brush, and maybe some other creams about how everything worked out!

[Drew]

well, I am an example of you CAN teach an old dog new tricks (I'm only 33, but still). Whether with cream or soap, I always used a painting motion, as opposed to cirulcar motion to apply the lather to my face. I had remembered reading somewhere that using a circular motion when applying lather to the face may compromise the bristles in the brush, and therefore should be avoided. I have surivived three years with the painting method, and it always treated me well.

Well, after watching one of mantic's "youtube" videos, one of Joel's shaving videos, and the Art of Shaving video, I figured I may as well give this method a try. Wow! Not only does this feel really nice (it really massages the face, it's awesome!) but it also produces a serious lather. It is more noticeable with soaps than with creams, but it holds for both. It's amazing how much lather on the face one can attain from just a small amount of soap on the brush (how does it do that?!). I also think I've been getting closer shaves using this method, as it makes sense that the circular motion would do a better job of lifting the whiskers as opposed to the "painting" method.

So, NOW my method for lathering soap is swirl it around several times on the soap until a nice lather starts to form, and then go to my face and build more lather with a circular motion.

Drew

[With The Grain]

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