water + brush = confused newbie

Okay, it's called wetshaving and people talk about how much water various premium brushes can hold, but it seems most tutorials show that the key to a good lather is relatively little water! Shake the water out of your brush. Load the brush with paste consistency soap/cream. Whip up your lather adding a little water at a time. I get plenty of thick creamy lather this way, but I'm left wondering what value there is in a brush that holds a lot of water.

Is the goal to add as much water to the lather as you can without getting to a big bubble sloppy state?

Thanks in advance!

ericesque said:

I'm left wondering what value there is in a brush that holds a lot of water.

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What really matters is that it holds a lot of lather.

ericesque said:

Okay, it's called wetshaving and people talk about how much water various premium brushes can hold, but it seems most tutorials show that the key to a good lather is relatively little water! Shake the water out of your brush. Load the brush with paste consistency soap/cream. Whip up your lather adding a little water at a time. I get plenty of thick creamy lather this way, but I'm left wondering what value there is in a brush that holds a lot of water.

Is the goal to add as much water to the lather as you can without getting to a big bubble sloppy state?

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

(1) The goal is to have the perfect balance of product (soap/cream) and water to have well hydrated lather. There are two ways to do this - (a) start with too much soap/cream and add water or (b) start with too much water and add soap/cream ... the former is easier.
(2) Even after lightly squeezing the brush and flicking there is still a fair amount of water left in the brush, but not enough water to make well hydrated lather. For more information on well hydrated lather refer to (1)

Robert Paulsen said:

What really matters is that it holds a lot of lather.

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exactly.

The more water it can hold, the more lather it can hold.

It's just a way of giving a standardized idea of the brush's capacity.

I recently started wet-shaving...and I can tell you that lathering takes practice...and you pretty soon figure out how much water to add to get the lather going...too much water...add more soap...brush feels dry...add a few drops of water...

Jasonian said:

exactly.

The more water it can hold, the more lather it can hold.

It's just a way of giving a standardized idea of the brush's capacity.

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Newbie here also pondering the same question. I think some video tutorial tells you NOT to squeeze, shake your brush before going for the soap/cream.

Any which way, I am gradually getting the technical parts behind me and starting to enjoy the whole process as a luxury, not a chore.

ohmmmm

ericesque said:

Okay, it's called wetshaving and people talk about how much water various premium brushes can hold, but it seems most tutorials show that the key to a good lather is relatively little water! Shake the water out of your brush....but I'm left wondering what value there is in a brush that holds a lot of water.

Click to expand...

I have been on these boards for 7 months, and have absorbed a ton of knowledge, and I am still confused as to why "Badger holds more water than Boar" is considered to be a legitimate argument for the superiority of badger brushes.

I am with you, if I am removing most of the water from the brush, the fact that badger holds a bit more water than boar seems like an entirely pointless argument.

I have both a badger, and a boar brush, and in my opinion they both perform equally well.

I think the reason badger hair brushes are so highly prized amongst wetshavers is the supposed exfoliating properties they possess. That being said I have read plenty of posts here by people who prefer boar brushes to badger.
It's a personal thing and as always YMMV.

Pete

I found that with my badger brush and some practice I know how much water it holds and I've become accustom to how much to squeeze to end up with about the right amount left in the brush to make my lather just as I like. I can not do this with my boar brush nor does it whip up as good of a lather as the badger. As well applying the lather to my face the badger once again is the clear winner. I get a nice even creamy coating.

If you start off with too much water/wet brush, it is way harder to get a decent lather up.

The benefit of water retention comes from the ability of the brush to hold it, even while damp, and helps build mountains of creamy goodness. When you consider a dense badger will take at least 24+ to dry completely, even after rinsing, shaking and a gentle towel strop, that gives an idea of its ability to hold water.

I've found that using a boar brush that is not shaken out at all but just held until it stops dripping and then taking it directly to a puck of soap and swirled until the really watery bubbles turn to a cream consistency is the best way for me to make lather. You probably go through soap a lot faster that way though.

The debate on brushes will continue as to each their own. The one thing I learned early on was to apply some downward pressure to the brush when lathering it up. If you are too ginger it will not lather as well. Boar or Badger or even synthetic, a bit a push results in a lot of lather for me.

I'm very much a newbie and this confused me as well. I bought a badger hair brush but I haven't received yet. In the meantime, I bought some cheap synthetic brush and began using it. With Tabac, I got an incredible lather that was great but then again I don't have a point of comparison. I'm hoping the Badger Hair brush I bought will be better. I'm sure it will be more comfortable but I guess will see.

As MichiganLover mentions above, I find it confusing. I have a VDH boar brush that performs very acceptably compared to my Vulfix pure badger and C&E best badger. I prefer the badger brushes since they have a better backbone, however, I expect if I had a nicer boar hair brush, I would be just as pleased with it.

I've had lather problems since day one but this is what's working for me right now. I get a ton of soap on by brush and what I think is the right amount of water. As I put it on my face, if I feel the brush I add a dash of water under the faucet until I only feel the soap against my face - the brush feeling pratically disappears. Also, I use a painting stoke which seems to pull more soap out of the brush. I'm getting closer but still searching! )

I can see where the confusion would arise...working on my lather in a mug though helped me learn how to build it up well enough for quite a few passes...when I was trying to build it on my face...I had a hard time determining the right ratio of water vs. soap...

I finally ended up picking up a vintage old spice mug...and have had no issues with lather since...

ssultan said:

I finally ended up picking up a vintage old spice mug...and have had no issues with lather since...

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Same here ive got a vintage old spice mug too, with the slight ribbing on the insides, presumable to hold soap in place or to help with later acquisition!

Awesome mugs, highly reccommend if anyone can find one, plus they are just pure class too!

michiganlover said:

I have been on these boards for 7 months, and have absorbed a ton of knowledge, and I am still confused as to why "Badger holds more water than Boar" is considered to be a legitimate argument for the superiority of badger brushes.

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That one I never got either; there are lots of reasons to prefer either boar or badger but this one is not a pro for badgers as long as boars hold more water than you really need. It probably just sounds good since it has the word 'more' in it...

After some experimenting, I fully understand that the whole point it how much lather the brush can hold. I bowl lather with my boar, and I cannot imagine face lathering with it, as I feel that it's both too stiff and hold not much lather inside --> making it hard to create lather on my face.

Whilst on the subject of lathering, I've found that if I want enough lather to shave God, all I have to do is to add my cream into the brush, instead of directly in the bowl Huge bubbles forms almost instantly --> perfect, thick and slick lather. Just something to try if you're not pleased with your current amount or up for some experimenting.

Bottom line, the water holding ability to any brush is quite important, even if we rid most of the water before starting to lather. Having lots of lathery goodness inside the brush is very nice, especially for that last pass! I assume one could make use of most of that lather inside the brush with a badger brush with softer bristles, as opposed to rather stuff bristles the boar brushes have? (without having to squeeze it out)...