Face lathering - big difference

**jlk819** · 08-13-2010, 01:18 PM

I've been using soaps for a while, and up until this past week, always built my lather in a bowl. This week, after reading a lot of the posts in this forum, I gave face lathering a try.

Wow. With only a 5 second swirl of my mama bear, I get plenty of soap to lather for 4 passes without a problem. My face feels slicker when I shave and I'm getting even less irritation than I did before... which was pretty minimal after switching to the mama bear. All I changed was leaving more water in my brush. Amazing that such a small change made such a difference.

**Marco** · 08-13-2010, 01:30 PM

I actually use both lathering methods, since I like to face lather soaps and to bowl lather creams. And I get great results anyway.

**Sniper** · 08-13-2010, 01:39 PM

I will have to give that face lathering a try with the mama bears, I tried a shave stick with dismal results.

**BladeRunner001** · 08-13-2010, 01:52 PM

+1 on Mam bear soaps. They have great glycerin content (I think 20%-ish)

I actually use both bowl and face lathering every day

. How? I build lather (actually überlather) in the bowl and then take the built lather and work it into my face (essentially face lather) for another 2 minutes. I enjoy both worlds.

Recently, I have tried a customized SC from Al Raz (Da Bomb)...this thing is a dense formulation that leads to a thick, slick and moist lather...a stand alone überlather, if you will

. I will try doing face lathering with it and see how it performs...I am sure very well

**Luc** · 08-13-2010, 02:00 PM

I love it! After 3 broken bowls in the bathroom, it's the way to go!

**cymric** · 08-13-2010, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by jlk819

Wow. With only a 5 second swirl of my mama bear, I get plenty of soap to lather for 4 passes without a problem. My face feels slicker when I shave and I'm getting even less irritation than I did before... which was pretty minimal after switching to the mama bear. All I changed was leaving more water in my brush. Amazing that such a small change made such a difference.

Frankly, I'm amazed that you even got to shave better at all. A 5 second-swirl doesn't pick up soap in any meaningful amount, and leaving more water in the brush just dilutes what little you have even further.

**jlk819** · 08-13-2010, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by cymric

Frankly, I'm amazed that you even got to shave better at all. A 5 second-swirl doesn't pick up soap in any meaningful amount, and leaving more water in the brush just dilutes what little you have even further.

The mama bear softens nicely with some hot tap water, and it's quite easy to load up the brush. I've used VdH Deluxe before and that required far more time to load my brush to get any meaningful lather out of it.

**goby** · 08-13-2010, 06:02 PM

Originally Posted by cymric

Frankly, I'm amazed that you even got to shave better at all. A 5 second-swirl doesn't pick up soap in any meaningful amount, and leaving more water in the brush just dilutes what little you have even further.

I do a 4.3 second swirl with Trumper Coconut and it works fine. Cade takes about 6 seconds. I give all the credit to my Semogue 830.

**Alacrity59** · 08-13-2010, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by Luc

I love it! After 3 broken bowls in the bathroom, it's the way to go!

Hang in there dude . . . you use a straight razor and the only damage so far is three broken bowls? I'm not even Catholic and I'm doing the sign of the cross and genuflecting . . . keep the blade away from your fingers . . . you type a fine message.

Mike

**Luc** · 08-13-2010, 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by Alacrity59

Hang in there dude . . . you use a straight razor and the only damage so far is three broken bowls? I'm not even Catholic and I'm doing the sign of the cross and genuflecting . . . keep the blade away from your fingers . . . you type a fine message.

Mike

Yup, I only have 3 broken bowls so far...

**Malacoda** · 08-13-2010, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by jlk819

Wow. With only a 5 second swirl of my mama bear, I get plenty of soap to lather for 4 passes without a problem. My face feels slicker when I shave and I'm getting even less irritation than I did before...

+1 I too saw an immediate difference when I switched to face lathering vs. bowl. My theory is that a) the rough skin surface created by the whiskers aerates the soap much quicker and more effectively than the surface of a bowl, and b) building lather right on the skin provides that much more time for moisture to transfer from the lather to the skin and hairs (softening both even more).

**Saturn** · 08-13-2010, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by cymric

Frankly, I'm amazed that you even got to shave better at all. A 5 second-swirl doesn't pick up soap in any meaningful amount, and leaving more water in the brush just dilutes what little you have even further.

I've wondered about this... I saw a mantic video where he's talking about how to make lather from a soap, and he says, "you don't need much soap, a three-second swirl should be sufficient", and then he literally swirls on top of the soap for only three seconds. I myself can never seem to get a decent amount of soap in my brush unless I swirl for at least 20 seconds (that's assuming I want lather for three passes as a minimum).

**muskokabrian** · 08-13-2010, 10:11 PM

I started bowl lathering but have gradually switched to face lathering except Saturday or Sunday when I take a little extra time and use a favourite cream. I find it works out much better with soaps, I enjoy it and I don't have a bowl to clean out afterwards. I wasn't getting good lathers from EJ soap and thought I wouldn't buy it again, however, now I swish around the small bowl I keep my cake in for perhaps 10 or more times. It picks up a lot of soap and immediately goes on my face in a lather. I could get 4 passes but usually only do two now. I alternate between a Semogue 1305 and an EJ badger and get great, although different results with each.

**cymric** · 08-14-2010, 02:42 AM

Originally Posted by Saturn

I've wondered about this... I saw a mantic video where he's talking about how to make lather from a soap, and he says, "you don't need much soap, a three-second swirl should be sufficient", and then he literally swirls on top of the soap for only three seconds. I myself can never seem to get a decent amount of soap in my brush unless I swirl for at least 20 seconds (that's assuming I want lather for three passes as a minimum).

Yes, I know those vids, and something is very strange here because he also recommend about an almond's worth of cream. There is so much more soap in an almond's amount (even taking into account that a cream contains glycerin and water too) than there is in a three-second spin that he simply must be shaving with completely different lathers. If you look at the vid where he demonstrates the 10 minute-shave, and then at the vid where he tries out the new Coate's, the difference is immediately apparent. He admits overdoing it a little on the cream, but what I call 'lather' is precisely that.

Originally Posted by malacoda

My theory is that a) the rough skin surface created by the whiskers aerates the soap much quicker and more effectively than the surface of a bowl, and b) building lather right on the skin provides that much more time for moisture to transfer from the lather to the skin and hairs (softening both even more).

a) is not quite correct: what happens is that the whiskers create so-called shear forces which literally shear the lather apart again and again. Think of kneading dough, or whisking cream or egg whites (either by hand or with a machine). The air bubbles in the mixture get sliced in two again and again and again, all the time being stabilised by the soap in the water. However, with a good brush with fine yet stiff tips you should achieve the same effect. As for b): it's not the moisture, for once your face is properly prepped everything is as hydrated as can be. The only thing which can make a difference is the action of soap softening the hairs a little bit more: soap is (slightly) basic, and this makes the dried cuticle cell remnants of hair swell up. But you'd get the same effect by massaging in bowl-made lather onto the skin for a while—if you just 'paint' bowl-made lather onto your face and then immediately start shaving you lose out on that effect.

Still, 3 second-spins... I'm not convinced.

**demaro** · 08-14-2010, 05:27 AM

Originally Posted by Marco

I actually use both lathering methods, since I like to face lather soaps and to bowl lather creams. And I get great results anyway.

+ 1 !!!

**ackvil** · 08-14-2010, 05:46 AM

Originally Posted by BladeRunner001

+1 on Mam bear soaps. They have great glycerin content (I think 20%-ish)

I actually use both bowl and face lathering every day

. How? I build lather (actually überlather) in the bowl and then take the built lather and work it into my face (essentially face lather) for another 2 minutes. I enjoy both worlds.

Recently, I have tried a customized SC from Al Raz (Da Bomb)...this thing is a dense formulation that leads to a thick, slick and moist lather...a stand alone überlather, if you will

. I will try doing face lathering with it and see how it performs...I am sure very well

Thanks to Robert's post on another thread, I am in the uberlather camp, also. The best of both worlds, IMO.

**TheRuckus13** · 08-14-2010, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by jlk819

I've been using soaps for a while, and up until this past week, always built my lather in a bowl. This week, after reading a lot of the posts in this forum, I gave face lathering a try.

Wow. With only a 5 second swirl of my mama bear, I get plenty of soap to lather for 4 passes without a problem. My face feels slicker when I shave and I'm getting even less irritation than I did before... which was pretty minimal after switching to the mama bear. All I changed was leaving more water in my brush. Amazing that such a small change made such a difference.

I posted almost this same experience just about three weeks ago, maybe less. I tend to get more of the Santa Claus thing going on with face lathering, same slickness, way more cushion. I just can't get lather to explode in a bowl like I can on my face. Our grand dads didn't use bowls anyways.