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Bowls and Mugs and Scuttles, oh my!

I'm still very new to the whole traditional shaving scene. I'm enjoying it very much, but some things still puzzle me. One of those things is what to generate lather in (presuming you're not using the on-your-face method).

It seems to me there are a number of issues to consider:

1. It should have a width and depth appropriate to stir a brush in for two or three minutes.

2. It should hold heat fairly well.

3. Bonus if it's not super fragile or expensive. Who wants to spend their shaving time babying a piece of equipment?

I have seen many shaving bowls, mugs and scuttles for sale on the internet. Some of them seem to fail the first criteria in that they seem to small to build a proper lather in. No regular coffee-mug-sized item is going to be optimal, no matter if it has a manly boat anchor on the side of it or not. I'm also skeptical of anything that explicitly states that it is sized to hold shaving soap. I don't use shaving soap, I use shaving cream. And besides, that again seems pretty small to me. I have seen scuttles that have fun ways to hold heat, but that also seem to small to do anything but hold a cake of shaving soap.

Perhaps most frustrating of all are the numerous items for sale that do not list any dimensions and do not include a brush in the photo to establish scale.



Right now, I'm using something I saw at Wal-mart: a sub-$3 corelle berry bowl. It's about 5 inches across at the top and about 2 inches deep.

Are there others who generate not-on-your-face lather who would like to weigh in on what equipment they use?
 
I use a bowl and a mug-just depends on whether I am using cream or soap. what matters is that it works for me- I get the lather and heat that I want and my face is happy. :biggrin1:


Marty
 
a scuttle is kind of like a double-boiler for shaving cream...a ceramic bowl you fill with how water and a smaller bowl fits on top. At least that's what I THINK a scuttle is.
 
I use the same bowl from Wal-Mart. I think I paid $0.76, and it works great. After I build the lather, I float the bowl with the brush in it in the sink full of hot water to keep the lather warm. It's a poor-man's scuttle, but it works fine.
 
I do that same thing! I kind of sit the bowl in the sink, with an inch of hot water in the sink. Unfortunately you can't have more water than that because the thing tends to float and capsize, especially if you lay your brush in it while shaving. I expect if I had something heavier I'd be able to get away with having a little more water in the sink.
 
I've started using a small Pyrex bowl (about 5" diameter, 2" deep) bowl to build my lather in and it works great for me.
 
I started out using a cereal bowl from the set I've had for years, which worked fine but seemed to be a little too wide. Now I use a coffee mug similar to the one that Mantic uses in his video about building lather. So far I like the mug better because it's smaller and stays warmer longer. I also tried putting the mug in the sink to keep the lather warm but I end up getting too much water in it. Usually the lather is cool for my fourth pass which also happens to be my last pass so it doesn't bother me that much. Eventually I might get one of the moss scuttles but I haven't been able to talk myself into it yet.
 
I also liked the look of the mug in that video. It looked heavier than my berry bowl, it wasn't white so you can see the lather better, and it has a handle, and it seems wide enough. I wonder if I can track down a set of similar ones. I could use the others for lattes or soup.
 
Ah, I understand. I would think a scuttle would be popular among coffee and tea drinkers not in wet shaving. Please pardon my ignroance.
 
I also liked the look of the mug in that video. It looked heavier than my berry bowl, it wasn't white so you can see the lather better, and it has a handle, and it seems wide enough. I wonder if I can track down a set of similar ones. I could use the others for lattes or soup.
Funny, the bowl I used in the video is indeed labelled a "latte/soup mug." :smile:

--Mark
 
Not surprised! The only ones like it that I can find on the web are at promotional materials sites. Like you can order 500 of them with your business logo on them and so on. nobody is selling 4-piece sets or anything that I can find.
 
I have a shaving mug that I heat up under the hot water while I am showering.(Also soaking brush, cream/soap in container)
Then I take a candy bowl and lather the cream or soap in that.
I take the mug and place it on the side of the counter and put the bowl on top of that. The curve of my bowl is deep enough to allow the hot water from the mug keep it nice and warm. When I am ready for my next pas, I just whip the later a few times to bring the warm cream inside the brush.
My 4th shave is just as warm as my first.
 
Ingenious!

And yet I can't help thinking that some of us are working way too hard to get what we want here. Are there no vendors/manufacturers who make the kind of item we seek? If there were a scuttle with a large enough bowl, that would be interesting.

I'm eyeing up those 'apothecary' mugs with the knob handle on them. Some of them look like they could be okay, but I'm not sure yet.
 
Not surprised! The only ones like it that I can find on the web are at promotional materials sites. Like you can order 500 of them with your business logo on them and so on. nobody is selling 4-piece sets or anything that I can find.

I got mine at... anyone want to guess??... Target. Its white but I can see the lather good enough to know when I think it's ready. The first time I went and looked for one they didn't have any in stock. The next time I went, I looked again and they had two of them.
 
I found and use a Moss Scuttle. A little pricey but does it ever keep the lather hot. I've used mugs and they are OK. Bowls seem a bit overkill. I know many who use a bowl (bigger the better) because they feel they can't get the lather up in a smaller mug. The "old fashioned" scuttles are neat looking but the way they are made just doesn't work for me. In essence an older scuttle:

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has a place for hot water and your brush in the lower cavity. The upper section is where your soap and lather goes. The upper section has holes in it for drainage. I found I didn't like the lather draining through the holes. So, at first I made a make shift double boiler affair. Then I was introduced to the Moss Scuttle. Its a one piece pottery unit with two chambers. The top chamber does not have holes so your lather stays hot and stays put. The bottom chamber, like the older scuttles, is where your hot water goes. Really nice:

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They are made by a potter named sara Bonny up in Canada. She is great friendly and ships fast. They can be found at http://www.sarabonnymanpottery.com/contemp.htm

David
 
Looks great! But again, my question is: how wide is that upper bowl? How deep? if it's 3 inches wide and 1 inch deep, I'd be concerned that it isn't large enough.

Edit: I see the large is 10cm (4 inches) wide. But at what point? the upper lip? I suppose so. And how deep? I wish there were other views. I don't want to spent $50 on this and then hate it.
 
Beewolf,

Sorry I guess my dimensions got cut off ??? Oh well, that will teach me for not previewing my post.

Anywho, here are the measurements:

diameter of mug at the top 4.75"
width of opening 3.5"
overall height of mug 3.6"
depth of mug 2"

I hope these help you decide. I really love mine. The luxury of having piping hot lather is really great.

David
 
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