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Why not use all soaps (pucks and sticks) as shave sticks?

I often read that people have trouble picking up enough soap on their brush to face lather. This can be because the soap is very hard (MWF?), the brush is too soft (some 2-band hair?) or the brush is too floppy.

So I have taken to using soap pucks as well as shave sticks as shave sticks, ie just rubbing the soap directly on my face. Then I face lather with my brush. Saves time too as you can start out with a wetter brush.

I know it may be more elegant to take soap directly from the puck but I hardly see the functional advantage over rubbing the soap directly on the face.

Am I missing something??:001_huh:
 
My mileage is varying here, but I find the best lather is created in the bore of the brush, not the ends of the bristles. By loading the soap into the middle of the brush then swirling I get a much more even and consistent lather. By the same token, I don't dip the tips of my bristles into water, I open the bore and let a couple drops fall deep in there.
 
So do you have to rub the soap stick on your face before each pass? I load up the brush for about 30 seconds and I am good to go for 3 or 4 passes of face lathering.
 
the best lather is created in the bore of the brush, not the ends of the bristles. By loading the soap into the middle of the brush then swirling I get a much more even and consistent lather. By the same token, I don't dip the tips of my bristles into water, I open the bore and let a couple drops fall deep in there.

So presumably you mash the brush into the puck when you load with soap. Can't you do this with the soap on your face?

Also, how do you open the bore of the brush to add water when it is full of lather?

So do you have to rub the soap stick on your face before each pass? I load up the brush for about 30 seconds and I am good to go for 3 or 4 passes of face lathering.

No need to load up between passes. It is good for 3 passes, in my experience. To be honest, I don't really see the difference between loading a brush on a puck vs. loading a brush on the soap already on your face??
 
I have often used soaps this way. For a long time I used William's as a bath soap and just rubbed the puck over my beard while still in the shower. It works out great and saves room in the dopp kit when traveling. I may have to try it out as a shampoo/toothpaste also :lol:
 
it'd be awfully hard with soaps like mama bear's that come in walled containers... That said, if it's a loose puck then i see no reason not to. In fact, i recently received some 'middles' (the soap that is left after four pucks are cut out of a sheet) and couldn't figure out how to get the soap onto the brush easily. So i just rubbed my face with the soap. Easy enough.
 
No need to load up between passes. It is good for 3 passes, in my experience. To be honest, I don't really see the difference between loading a brush on a puck vs. loading a brush on the soap already on your face??

I can get four passes out of a QED glycerin stick and a brush with a 18-21mm bulb-shaped knot. I doubt if those are atypical results.
 
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For some reason using the Moos, I don't get enough loaded into my brush for more than two passes. I do use some smaller brushes though as my current two heavy use brushes are a 22mm Golden Nib Finest two band and a Simpsons Duke 2.

Also, two-band hair is definitely more robust than three band silvertip in my experience. It seems stiffer, but still soft at the tips.
 
I don't see any reason not to use a puck like a stick, if that's what you want. On the other hand, I don't know how to get the brush loaded properly that way for multiple passes, maybe because I just haven't really tried it. I end up rubbing the soap on a little for each pass.

I also like to get water into the center of the brush--the breech as the method shavers refer to it. It's easy enough to open the breech while face lathering. Just do a few circular moves while pressing hard enough to fan the brush. It's pretty hard on the brush this way, though. Getting some water into the breech helps in building a lather because it helps work the lather through the bristles deep inside the brush. Another thing that's hard on the brush.
 
So presumably you mash the brush into the puck when you load with soap. Can't you do this with the soap on your face?


Sure, but I've found that rubbing the soap on your face leads to lather being created on the face and maybe the tips of the bristles. Loading the soap deep in the brush creates and stores a lot of lather inside the brush.

Obviously a lot of people like shave sticks, so I may be in a minority here.


Also, how do you open the bore of the brush to add water when it is full of lather?

It's a complex and technical move, not recommended for newbies until you've been shaving for several months. You have to insert your thumb and one or two fingers into the top of the brush..... and here's the tricky part..... move those fingers apart in different directions at the same time! :laugh:
 
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