Wide, or tight brush swirling?

So last night I was lathering up a cream with my Penchetta Super Badger (23mm vulfix knot) in my tupperware lather bowl. This bowl has about a 5" wide opening and is fairly shallow. Works pretty well. Usually when I swirl my brush in the bowl I follow the circumference of the walls, but at one point last night I used tight, small circles and the lather really popped out.

Was this my imagination? I can't think of what aspect of the process would benefit from smaller circles other than having the bristles pass over a particular area/spot of lather much more often.

Smaller circles equates to faster rotation (tighter circle at same input speed) and that generally equates into a faster and better lather IMO. Just as you have found out.
It will get you closer to that "one minute" bowl lather too!

(Just similar to a "hurricane" where the most intense winds are closest to the eye.)

rodeo said:

Smaller circles equates to faster rotation (tighter circle at same input speed) and that generally equates into a faster and better lather IMO. Just as you have found out.

Click to expand...

Well it does make sense, in hindsight.

rodeo said:

It will get you closer to that "one minute" bowl lather too!

Click to expand...

Indeed, particularly with this brush. I love the look and I love the way it feels on my face, but it makes me work for the lather.

if you go back and review my video once again, notice how little my hand actually moves out of position at the bowl. Its almost like an 'up and down" movement as much as it is small tight swirls. You can actually hear the brush 'pop" as it bottoms out each time from the slight up and down.

rodeo said:

if you go back and review my video once again, notice how little my hand actually moves out of position at the bowl. Its almost like an 'up and down" movement as much as it is small tight swirls. You can actually hear the brush 'pop" as it bottoms out each time from the slight up and down.

Click to expand...

Maybe I'll practice some lathering tonight with this brush. We shall see if I have the time.

rodeo said:

if you go back and review my video once again, notice how little my hand actually moves out of position at the bowl. Its almost like an 'up and down" movement as much as it is small tight swirls. You can actually hear the brush 'pop" as it bottoms out each time from the slight up and down.

Click to expand...

Ken, could you possible point me in the right direction for your vid?

Also, Hokie I seem to use a combo approach. The majority is spent in tight swirls but I "scoop" all that great lather from the sides back down to the middle on occasion so that I can also beat it into submission.

kwsher said:

Ken, could you possible point me in the right direction for your vid?

Click to expand...

[POST=2286015]Here you go[/POST]

kwsher said:

Also, Hokie I seem to use a combo approach. The majority is spent in tight swirls but I "scoop" all that great lather from the sides back down to the middle on occasion so that I can also beat it into submission.

Click to expand...

I do that too, otherwise I get a mess of lather all over the sink

rodeo said:

Smaller circles equates to faster rotation (tighter circle at same input speed) and that generally equates into a faster and better lather IMO.

Click to expand...

I agree that fast beats (swirls) in mixing makes for great lather.

kwsher said:

Ken, could you possible point me in the right direction for your vid?

Also, Hokie I seem to use a combo approach. The majority is spent in tight swirls but I "scoop" all that great lather from the sides back down to the middle on occasion so that I can also beat it into submission.

Click to expand...

Absolutely, as I do too.

I will have to try that

Great post guys. I was curious about this myself.

I've been using Tabac for about a week and am slowly working my way to a better lather each try.

i've been doing a mix of tight/wide since I've also noticed that keeping the swirl tight gets a great lathering going and then i hit a wide swirl a couple times and then back in for a tight and so on... I use a relatively big bowl though that fits the profile of how i "lather-create".