How many bowls do you need?

**Stupid Question Alert** Ok, you've been warned.

I just bought my first shaving soap, L'Occitane Cade. I decided not to buy the bowl in an effort to save money.

This question is one of procedure. Do you wet the brush a little, do a few revolutions, then really go to town in another bowl or what? (thus negating the use of the bowl that they sell to hold the soap.)

And since I don't have a bowl, could I store the Cade in a zip lock bag when it is not in use?

Any ideas as far as that goes? Is it worthwhile to purchase the bowl that the soap comes in? And why do they make them so small?

Any help would be appreciated...

At Wal-Mart, I bought a pack of Zip-Loc storage containers, "small round" size. They are perfect for shaving soaps and very inexpensive.

Tim

I lather my soaps and creams in a seperate bowl. I bought a rice bowl at TJ Maxx for $3.00.

A couple of months ago a member recommended Anchor 1 cup bowls from Kmart-they come in a 4 pack. There great for storing soaps because they stack real nice-some soaps you can microwave for a few seconds and they form into the cup.

AJ

I do all my lathering in a old, small soup bowl (5 inches across).

And it was Free!

I will concur on the anchor 1 cup bowls at Walmart. You get 4 of them for $6, and they hold the shaving soaps. I actually bought them today from previous members suggestions on a similar topic. Glad to see I'm not the only one

Well Duggo you've certainly posted more than one question there. I think I'll answer the simplest one.. The nickel chrome-plated bowl for the L'Occitane Cade shaving soap is a knock-out for dressing up your shave shack. While on the somewhat expensive side, it is/was recently on sale for $21 with the soap complet. As far as that being too expensive, (AHEM, tongue in cheek mode on) why do you think we come with two of every saleable organ?

Duggo said:

This question is one of procedure. Do you wet the brush a little, do a few revolutions, then really go to town in another bowl or what? (thus negating the use of the bowl that they sell to hold the soap.)

Click to expand...

Oh boy... now I get to give you advice!!
What I've been doing lately with my soaps (and getting excellent results) is to wet the brush just a little bit. Even give it one small shake. Give the soap about a dozen swirls so it coats the tips with unlathered soap. Then I go to my face and just paint that on -- it's thick and doesn't lather. Then I wet the brush considerably more and go back to swirling the soap. This starts to generate some real lather. I then re-wet the brush and take it back to my face, lathering the unlathered soap that I painted on. Adjust the relative wetness per your personal preference, as you may need to repeat this process to get a really good on-face lather. By the time you've built up a good lather on your face though, your brush will be loaded. That's just what works for me. Some people like to do something similar in a bowl instead of on your face.

Is it worthwhile to purchase the bowl that the soap comes in? And why do they make them so small?

Click to expand...

I've got a few of the nice wood bowls, but as far as storage goes you can't beat the glass "anchor" jars with the blue lids they sell at Walmart in the kitchen department. They're in packs of 4 for like 3 bucks, and are approximately the size of your typical expensive soap container.

I soak my brush in very hot water in a rice bowl for about 5 minutes, shake some water out and then swirl the tips of brush onto soap. I then whip up the lather in the same rice bowl using swirling and pumping motions.

Empty shaving cream bowls work great for soaps, I have a few black T&H ones that work great and look nice. The writing on them buffs off easily for a more 'generic' appearance.

In regards to the L'Occitane soap bowl, they are great also but I'm fairly certain they are laquered aluminum and not nickel.

Dave

zip lock bowls for storage.
nice black target bowl at target for $2.5

sacmore21 said:

I will concur on the anchor 1 cup bowls at Walmart. You get 4 of them for $6, and they hold the shaving soaps. I actually bought them today from previous members suggestions on a similar topic. Glad to see I'm not the only one

Click to expand...

+2 on the Anchor/Hocking bowls with lids! Had some Honeybee Sue soaps sent to me and I use them for those. I just take the puck out, swirl the wet brush on it in my hand, and then lather in my $3.00 Wal-Mart black bowl.

Only got one, can't seem to get much variety in the soaps which are made for shaving.

jbc said:

Only got one, can't seem to get much variety in the soaps which are made for shaving.

Click to expand...

Huh?

I'm interested in this same thing.

If I'm going use soap to lather in a bowl, it seems the consensus is that the soap should be in one bowl and the lathering should be in a separate bowl.

Does that sound right? I'm sure I can do whatever feels right to me, but I'm interested in the opinions.

thadman said:

I'm interested in this same thing.

If I'm going use soap to lather in a bowl, it seems the consensus is that the soap should be in one bowl and the lathering should be in a separate bowl.

Does that sound right? I'm sure I can do whatever feels right to me, but I'm interested in the opinions.

Click to expand...

Ditto. Is it a good idea to 'lather up' in a seperate bowl, or should I do it on top of my soap cake in the little wooden 'bowl'?

I guess you could build lather anywhere. Personally, I lather directly on my face when using a soap. Only negative I can see from that is that it takes a bit of time to get the lather just right. If you have sensitive skin it could be impracticable for you. Lathering in a separate bowl means more cleanup but other than that I don't see a problem. Lathering in the soap container would probably lead to overuse of soap but you could still make perfect lather. Just have to find the way that works best for you.

thadman said:

I'm interested in this same thing.

If I'm going use soap to lather in a bowl, it seems the consensus is that the soap should be in one bowl and the lathering should be in a separate bowl.

Does that sound right? I'm sure I can do whatever feels right to me, but I'm interested in the opinions.

Click to expand...

I use two bowls. I put the soap in one bowl and start the lather. When I get the lather going pretty well, I remove the soap and put it back in its container. I continue building my lather in the same bowl.

I fill the other bowl a little more than half full of hot water. When I an finished making my lather, I nest the lather bowl into the hot water bowl to keep my lather warm while I shave.

Tim

Here's my L'Occitane CADE, second one down on the right. As far as lathering goes, I load the brush up on the soap, then either build the lather in a small bowl or directly on my face - depending on which brush I'm using.

Excellent! Thanks everyone!